Boris Lokshin, publicist (New-York)
The most striking, although not the most terrible, thing about the Shanghai lockdown is the drones flying between and above the houses from which the announcement is broadcast: “Control the desire of the soul for freedom! Don't open the window and don't sing!" And also mechanical dogs that run through empty streets and bark: “Wear a mask, wash your hands, take your temperature!”
And the worst thing is how children with a positive test result, children of any age, even six-month-old babies, are taken away from their parents to no one knows where. And how, if the owners are taken to the quarantine barracks, their pets are slaughtered with sticks. And how people locked in their apartments literally die of hunger and thirst.
This is something like a gigantic, never before been conducted experiment: is it possible to lock up a whole twenty-six millionth agglomeration. And not to let anyone out of the apartments. Two weeks. Three. Four. Without any rational justification. Because zero covid is not a rationale. And not even religious. It's generally what the hell. Because the purpose of repression is repression. The purpose of torture is torture. The purpose of power is power.
It turns out you can. And people will be patient. Two weeks, three, four ... Until everyone takes a break ... And they will do all this to them more than once. And with us too. If we keep silent, do not notice, and stubbornly refuse to see what the quite foreseeable future is preparing for us, and who, in fact, is our main enemy.