A heart-breaking programme on telly on Monday about the kidnapping of children in China (Dispatches – China’s Stolen Children)

A very informative programme, and I was surprised to find parents get lower prices for their child if the buyer is rich, because they feel their child will have a better shot at life in a rich family. And conversely, for the best price a parent/guardian must sell their child to a poor family.

I liked the way the interviews were conducted in a non-intrusive manner and the subjects were very open and frank, especially a broker of deals in human beings.

The programme also followed some vigilante rescuers who posed as buyers and then sprung the victims from their captors.

China’s One-Child policy got a lot of blame, and there was a lot to think about.

Yesterday’s movie was a German film The Edukators ‘die Erziehungsberechtigten’ (the film is known as “Die fetten Jahren sind vorbei” in German = The days of High-living are over) who set out to set right the evils of capitalism. Tired of useless demonstrations, they opt for more direct action, which leads to a spiral of events.

I really enjoyed the film for the underlying debate on how rebellion slowly fades into maturity without realising. A line in the film says something like “You rebel, then you start a family, buy a house and then you have commitments, then you want security, education for the kids costs, and suddenly one day you’re at the polls… voting conservative”.

Well, he said it better, but you get me. GO watch it.

Meanwhile at work I have Another Russian Deal to clinch….. 🙂