24 December 2004
So this is ChristmasAnd what have you doneAnother year overAnd a new one just begunAns so this is ChristmasI hope you have funThe near and the dear oneThe old and the youngA very merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet's hope it's a good oneWithout any fear
John Lennon Happy Christmas (The war is over)
Honorable Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Corporate Presidents, Chairmen of the Board, CEOs, and other very important persons...
On this Christmas evening, sitting at the table together with your family, the elders and the children within your family may sense something different in your usual jolly and dependable smile. It is not the usual smile on your face. It does not seem like that familiar smile that always tells that you are aware of existing problems but know you can handle and overcome them.
There is something strange in the air tonight. It feels like something out of this world. It seems as though you are aware of this. Is this the reason why you have that odd smile?
You were always there to solve the problems; you were always there to manage. That was your raison d'être. However, this Christmas is different. This Christmas these things cannot be "managed". And you, the managers, know this more than anyone else.
In this situation the problems are so deeply entrenched that there does not seem to be a way out. There is a smell of fear in the air. Once, during the terrible economic recession, US President Roosevelt had said that there was nothing to fear but fear itself. And it is the smell of that fear that politicians and managers are frozen staring at, with a paralysed smile and astonished look, spelling fear on their faces, as well as resignation.
Now, just before you and your family devour the sweetly-scented roasted turkey, the people of Fallujah, whose skin has melted as a result of the use of "non-conventional" weapons, may not come to your mind.
Before you start giving your children their presents packed in Christmas stockings hanging on the glittering Christmas tree, you may not be thinking of the two-year old Iraqi child lying in bed holding a plastic toy truck in his hand, with one of his skinny legs missing and the remaining foot lacking its sock.
When it is time for your liquor-filled chocolate needed for your digestion, you may be swiftly deleting from your memory the shadow of the little black children in Africa who are shaking their heads because of a mysterious disease that makes them unable to eat their staple diet consisting of porridge made of ground roots. These children inexplicably stop shaking their heads whenever given something different to eat, such as chocolate.
Hymns are chanted, food is eaten, gifts are given, jokes are told and now it is time for bed. While hugging your understandably spoilt young ones who you carried to bed, you may be dismissing the image that comes to your mind of the corpse of an Iraqi child lying down, hugging the headless torso of his beloved elder. You may also dismiss the image of the two kids in Nablus being killed with a single bullet fired by an Israeli soldier while they were walking to the casbah, their hands on each others shoulders as they had been smiling and joking.
While you are dressed-up and dancing with your friends at the fancy club that you went to after putting your kids to bed and leaving them with the yellow-skinned immigrant nanny on Christmas night, you may choose to dismiss the memory of 100,000 civilians killed during the US occupation in Iraq (excluding Fallujah, the city with the most casualities) confirmed in a report written by one of the most respected American universities and published in one of the most respected medical magazines in the UK. Instead, you may prefer to remember the official lies that deny these figures. Like the Pentagon, you may not be "doing body counts"...
When you see the joyful Santa Claus dancing on the dance floor, you may forget about the scientific reports revealing that the red-nosed reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh will be extinct because of global warming. You may prefer the official lies which deny these facts because you may not want to think of anything negative, rejecting them like the US officials and managers of corporate America.
Okay, we got it. What is this paralysed smile then? Aw, c'mon, let's erase it and join sainted Lennon and sing all together with the Harlem Children's Chorus:
A very merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet's hope it's a good oneWithout any fear
Translated by Tolga Temuge
