The spies among us

Yes, this is real. No, I'm not being paranoid.

But first, a story.

A long time ago - but not so long ago that most of us can't remember it - there used to be an Evil Empire. An Empire so evil they were the target of anger, fear and gallows humour on the part of the people who lived there. Or escaped. Not that there were many that managed to escape. The border guards were there to keep people in more than to keep people out, and if you tried to escape - and many tried - you would be lucky to be sent to a gulag, or concentration camp. Escape was punishable, usually, by death.

This country was real. It was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, the CCCP, or just the Soviet Union. And don't let any communists in Sri Lanka - or anywhere else- fool you. The USSR was a bad place to live. Constant hunger and starvation, a lack of consumer items, long lines for the basic necessities, all while the top guys lived in comfortable houses, ate and drank foodstuffs brought from around the world, had dachas - houses - furnished with the best of what was to offer in the West.

But the worst thing of all was the lack of freedom. No matter where you go, you would be asked - Your papers, comrade! Of course, this is not new. The German Gestapo - whose antics were far from the bumbling antics of Herr Flick of the Gestapo in the comedy 'Allo 'Allo - and their masters the Schutzstaffel or SS were some of the most virulent users of this tactic in current history.

But I digress. I speak of something far more dangerous and insidious. A practice used by the Gestapo, the SS, and the Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosty or KGB, of the USSR. And not just those very popular entities. Countries such as China, Cuba, North Korea, and even the USA have used some form of Secret Police to keep tab of their citizens.

Citizens have been encouraged to spy on and report on their neighbours and friends. Children were told that it was a wonderful thing to turn in your parents for being anti-state.

But that was a long time ago right? In a totalitarian country far from here, right? Right?

In our towns and villages and neighbourhoods we had a group of people. Everyone did. They would look over fences and walls, visit homes in a friendly manner, take a good look around, and then go out and gossip it all to the people in the area. We used to call them busybodies, in some parts of the US they were called curtain-twitchers. And we all knew who they were and what they were up to. Even my parents have told me, more than once, to take my new toys inside because so-and-so is coming to visit. And I used to think that the person would steal my toys. Shows how much we know as kids.

But back in the day, those nosy sods, the busybodies were known. We knew who they were, we knew how to treat them. They would be shunned by society, blasted on the street. Ignored. What they said was given little credence because everyone knew that they were small-minded individuals whose main aim in life was to watch other people and gossip about them. Or maybe you remember them in school. The tattle-tales, the ones who would watch to see if you were doing something even slightly wrong and run off to tell the teacher.

Those, my friends, were the days.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot. The government has formed Civil Protection Committees. Ostensibly to watch for terrorist threats and report them. It was looked at with great enthusiasm. But the truth is, it has become nothing of the kind. The people attracted to such a duty are the gossips and nosy-parkers we were told to ignore as kids. The tattle-tales we used to beat up because their primary joy was to get us in trouble and gain a few good looks from those in authority. The stool-pigeons, the trustys, the spies. And they're now in the CPC. And they're watching us.

The thing is, they have no idea what a suspicious action is. All they know is to say that person is doing something I don't like, so I'm gonna use my powers and call the cops on him.

And so they do. No matter if you're just walking down the street. If he doesn't like the way you look, or maybe your clothes, or if he doesn't approve of the way you're holding your girlfriend/boyfriend, they call the cops and accuse you of being a tiger. Even if that doesn't happen to you, the spies are watching you. They watch you as you go past them on the street, or as you get on a bus, or do any of the things you normally do. Accuse them of being a busybody, and they accuse you of being a terrorist. And guess what, being a terrorist is illegal, but being a busybody is sanctioned, and even approved, by the government.

But its for your own protection, you whine. Those guys are not getting paid for their time to look after you.

But who says I need or want looking after? Thousands of us in the streets every day, and maybe a few get blown up in a bomb. More people die in car accidents.

We don't have CPCs watching to see if we're crossing the road safely. All they want to do is spy on us.

But the question is this. When and where will it stop? The cops and the government want to know what you're up to. They want to know if you're speaking against them. And in the CPCs they have willing spies and collaborators. Even when or if the war is over, the government will maintain the CPCs, so that they can keep an eye on us.

So what can we do about them? The same thing they do to us. The same things our parents used to do to gossips and busybodies in our villages. Know who they are. Avoid contact with them. Shun them. But this is our generation. We can now fight back. If they like looking at us so much, lets look back at them. Sit and stare at them as they walk past. Take pictures and be seen taking pictures. Let them know that the glass works both ways. As much as they watch us, we will watch them. And there are many more of us than there are of them. And while you're at it, start writing and screaming for the Civil Protection Committees to be disbanded. Write to the papers. Make a stink.

Remember. These busybodies and spies will be there for as long as they are providing a service for the government. The cops will use them for as long as they want to spy on us. The only way we can get rid of them, is by taking the action needed to stop them.