Even Hollywood luvvies turn on the EU

Quelle horreur! Hollywood luvvies, who are supposed to make statements of deep disdain for President Bush and his administration are now turning on the European Union.

Well, one of them is, but he is a big-time luvvy. Richard Gere has an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, in which he describes his recent visit:

“I was in Europe this month to receive an award from the Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945 Foundation on behalf of the International Campaign for Tibet. The Geuzen Medal honors the memory of Dutch resistance heroes who fought the Nazis by recognizing those today who resist repression, discrimination and racism, and the Campaign was recognized for promoting human rights and self-determination in Tibet through nonviolent means. It was a very proud moment for those of us who care deeply about Tibet and the brave Tibetan people--and certainly for me as the Campaign's chairman.”

Wonderful, you might say. Europe, having suffered from horrors, largely invented by its own people, recognizes the relevance of tyranny to all times and all peoples.

Well, not quite, as Mr Gere points out. Europe is, of course, refusing to recognize the problems that Tibet, Taiwan, Chinese dissidents, Chinese journalists, non-Chinese people in China and many millions of others face. Indeed, as Mr Gere points out in the article, the European Union is ready to reward China for its oppressive and tyrannical activity by lifting the arms embargo, imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Above all, Mr Gere wants Europeans to help “the Dalai Lama resist a future Tibet determined solely by Beijing's interests”. Not much to ask, is it, from countries that spend a lot of time remembering past oppressions and rightly honouring its victims and those who fought for freedom. Apparently, it is.