Tourists trickle back to village by China's Great Wall as virus curbs relaxed
China 2
Sun, 2020-05-03 00:14
#52
Sun, 2020-05-03 01:27
#53
The truth set out in a format even a idiot can follow. There is no equivalency in passing off bullshit US propaganda as the same as verifiable facts. All the fact in this cartoon are verifiable.
Sun, 2020-05-03 01:50
#54
This is an article with a pro-Chinese bias but it seems to be using actual facts and not half truths and lies like the Western billionaire's media. Imagine not having to talk about rent strikes and whether or not people will get evicted. Unfortunately the evil empire needs an external enemy to take the focus off the fact that in the US people are getting evicted and billionaires are getting tax dollars transferred into their accounts with a high speed modem. The Chinese people support their government and their system, why would they want to be like the US clones in Brazil and India. They get international news they can clearly see that everywhere there is a socialist government the outcomes are better because they think of the people first. In Canada the BC social democrats are doing far better than the Conservatives on the Prairies. This is a time for peace and international solidarity not brutal sanctions designed to kill civilians in other countries.
Many will simply chalk up China’s productive capacity to supply the world with critical medical supplies to China’s post-1990s integration into the global economy as “the world’s factory.” China’s centrally-planned economic production and its vast state-owned industrial infrastructure is at the center of its capacity to meet the pandemic public health demands of China and now the world. Simply put, socialism is beating this pandemic where capitalism has failed. State-owned construction firms rallied to build up China’s emergency care capacity, building two 1,000 bed hospitals in Wuhan alone in a matter of 10 days. State utilities firms cut electricity bills and rents—including guaranteeing electric service to Hubei residents unable to pay; state banks mobilized billions of dollars in low-interest loans, state-owned property developers such as China Resources lowered rent costs for small businesses; and regional coordination ensured stable prices and supplies of pork, grains, and other food necessities. And crucially, China directed the full force of its state-owned industries to prioritize the production of the very medical necessities now criss-crossing the globe via Chinese foreign aid: state-owned oil giant Sinopec built 10 new production lines for melt-blown fabric, the core material of N95 medical masks; China Construction First Group converted an industrial building a new mask factory in just six days, producing 250,000 masks a day; from automobiles to high-tech manufacturing, state-owned entities have shifted production schedules to prioritize medical necessities—bringing China to a productive capacity of some 20 million new masks per day. Meanwhile, cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou introduced laws to empower officials to seize private property from individuals or companies if necessary to produce items needed to control the outbreak. These measures make clear that decades of global integration and market reform have not altered the fundamental relationship between capital and the state: the Chinese Communist Party retains ultimate control over the means of production and is prepared to use that power to serve the people in times of crisis. As wealthier capitalist nations struggle to cajole private production towards public interest over profits, the benefits of a socialist market economy in which the state controls society’s means of production and can swiftly pivot resources is becoming clearer than ever.
https://www.qiaocollective.com/home/internationalist-solidarity-in-the-a...
Mon, 2020-05-04 14:03
#55
Yes, dictatorships are efficient but that doesn't mean life is better under dictatorship. In the beginning China did make mistakes but I fail to see how that excuses western leaders for their failure to act after the world was fully informed.
Don't bother trying to argue China's innocence. They are no more innocent that Canada or the US or the EU or the UK. They are all guilty.
Mon, 2020-05-04 14:05
#56
Coronavirus: American Factory boss says pandemic will change China’s role in global supply chain
- Cao Dewang, the Chinese owner of the Fuyao Glass America factory, says countries will cut their reliance on Chinese manufacturing after the coronavirus
- Global industrial chain will change, but rich countries will struggle to rebuild manufacturing at home after offshoring production for decades, tycoon says
But the trade war and the latest pandemic have cast a shadow over China’s future role in the global value chain.
It will be no harder than it was to build it here in the first place or harder than it was to offshore. Some items will become more expensive but also higher quality. The trend had already begun. It won't happen overnight. It took decades to move production to China and it will take decades to move some of it back.
Mon, 2020-05-04 14:37
#57
.Don't bother trying to argue China's innocence. They are no more innocent that Canada or the US or the EU or the UK. They are all guilty.
Innocent and guilty of what? Do you believe that all the different political entities you have listed have had the same responses and are thus equivalent. That is an interesting viewpoint but hardly one I think is correct.
Mon, 2020-05-04 18:07
#58
Innocent and guilty of what? Do you believe that all the different political entities you have listed have had the same responses and are thus equivalent. That is an interesting viewpoint but hardly one I think is correct.
The exact same response, no, but I still don't see one as more innocent than the others. They are all acting in the best interests of the wealthy and powerful in their respective nations or rather what they perceive is in their best self-interest. None are acting on the basis of morality.
I think that is an area the left goes wrong a lot. The left makes moral arguments and wants to inspire people to act out of altruism rather than self-interest when self-interest is the most powerful force that drives human behavior.
Mon, 2020-05-04 18:31
#59
On what do you base the accusation that the Chinese leadership was acting in the best interests of the wealthy and powerful. The Chinese society as a whole was mobilized. All levels of their regional and city governments acted quickly. This is an interesting article, you should read it.
Where China’s mass production of masks, test kits, and ventilators, construction of emergency hospitals, universal testing and treatment, and regional coordination of food production and distribution speaks to the power and dynamism of a socialist market economy, the U.S. response is emblematic of a system in which decades of neoliberalism have utterly neutered the state’s ability to meet the needs of the people without relying on the cooperation of individual corporate actors. Where China marshalled state-owned enterprises and confiscated private capital to meet the production needs of the pandemic, the Trump Administration’s coronavirus response has been a who’s who of the corporate class. A March 13 press conference saw Trump flanked by the CEOs of WalMart, CVS, and Target, who pledged vague support to continue operating stores and provide parking lot space for drive-through testing sites. Federal and state governments have failed to provide adequate medical supplies for hospitals, leaving hospital staff haggling with private sellers price-gouging protective masks and facing a proprietary monopoly banning third-party repairs on life saving ventilators and other medical equipment. Meanwhile, efforts to expand testing remain contingent on billionaire philanthropists like Mark Zuckerberg, shareholders are pressuring drug companies to hike prices, and the pharmaceutical lobby has prevented Congress from including language mandating affordable vaccine prices into its coronavirus response legislation. Meanwhile, a trillion dollar stimulus package currently being debated in Congress has been criticized by progressive Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for giving “a half trillion dollars to big corporations with few worker protections.”
https://www.qiaocollective.com/home/internationalist-solidarity-in-the-a...
Mon, 2020-05-04 19:58
#60
‘Too costly’: Chinese military strategist warns now is not the time to take back Taiwan by force
- Qiao Liang, seen as a hawkish voice in China, says the focus should be on achieving ‘a good life’ for all Chinese
- His remarks come amid rising nationalistic sentiment, with calls for Beijing to take action on the self-ruled island
Mon, 2020-05-04 20:01
#61
Coronavirus: China gets defensive during high-level EU event on fundraising and vaccine development
- In online event featuring world leaders, Beijing offers no additional financial pledges and does not promise to make any successful vaccine a common public good
- Chinese ambassador to the EU Zhang Ming, the lowest-level representative to participate, asked the world to stop the ‘blame games’
Mon, 2020-05-04 20:14
#62
China’s long-range Xian H-20 stealth bomber could make its debut this year
- Beijing ‘carefully considering’ unveiling the plane at the Zhuhai Airshow in November at a time of heightened regional tension
- H-20 will give China the nuclear triad of submarines, ballistic missiles and bombers
Mon, 2020-05-04 20:19
#63
The Deeper Roots of Chinese Demonization
https://asiatimes.com/2020/05/the-deeper-roots-of-chinese-demonization/
"The predominance of US narrative in the ongoing information war is now set in stone: COVID-19 was the result of a leak from a Chinese biowarfare lab. China is responsible. China lied. And China has to pay. The new normal tactic of non-stop China demonization is deployed..."
Mon, 2020-05-04 21:34
#64
On what do you base the accusation that the Chinese leadership was acting in the best interests of the wealthy and powerful. The Chinese society as a whole was mobilized. All levels of their regional and city governments acted quickly.
On what do you base your assumption that they were acting altruistically out of the goodness of their hearts?
I don't need to be a historian to know that the grand majority of rich and powerful people throughout history have priorized their own well-being and wealth first and foremost regardless of what country they were in control of. There are perhaps some rare exceptions but I'd say the onus is on the person claiming the powerful are acting altruistically to prove it. Being effective is not the same thing as being altruistic.
Wed, 2020-05-06 17:06
#65
I posted an article that supported my position. I think your viewpoint is basically nihilism and although I am very cynical I try very hard not to be a nihilist.
Sat, 2020-05-09 13:14
#66
Why China is Better Prepared Than Other Economic Powers For Any Global Crisis
"...Nobody, including Beijing, could have foreseen the depth and gravity of this pandemic, specifically the cryptic transmission parameters by which the COVID-19 virus spreads. It is truly a once-in-100 year pandemic event, said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies. According to him, China was better prepared because 'it is in a much healthier fiscal position compared to most advanced economies..."
Sat, 2020-05-09 16:59
#67
Like I said. I've never known this place not to answer an imperial dogwhistle.
And you, being the arbiter of political purity should know, right? China isn't doesn't get a free pass just because they went from one form of oppressive authoritarianism to another more palatable to socialists. And I say this as someone who voted for the Communist Party in the last federal election. There is nothing more tedious than an ideological pedant.
Sat, 2020-05-09 18:11
#68
It's not about a 'free pass' but a curious long-observed consistency and synchronization with the imperial choirmasters' song-sheet. Russia Russia Russia China China China etc.
"As the US provokes China, surrounding it with 400 bases including nukes, Washington's relentless drum-beat of propaganda suppresses the pro-fascist role of major US corporations in the greatest slaughter..."
Sun, 2020-05-10 15:18
#69
China reported
on Sunday, its first double-digit rise in 10 days. Eleven of 12 domestic infections were in the northeastern province of Jilin, which prompted authorities to raise the threat level in one of its counties, Shulan, to high risk, just days after downgrading all regions to low risk.
Sun, 2020-05-10 15:27
#70
From what I saw this weekend on my FB feed, of people all over BC deciding that the all clear has been blown and getting out and about, its not hard to predict a nasty spike in a week or two just when we were scheduled to start opening up.
Sun, 2020-05-10 18:33
#71
I Called Out A Sun Columnist For Spreading A COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory, And She Did Not Take It Well
Turns out I'm both "fake news" and a propagandist for China's Communist government
Trying to undercut trust in the mainstream press in favour of Malcolm’s brand of nonsense, especially at a time of national crisis, is playing with fire. If we don’t keep some level of trust in our institutions right now, the effectiveness of our response to this pandemic is going to be severely weakened.
What’s more, buying into whatever conspiracy theory we find on the internet that matches our worldview is giving a free pass to China’s actual crimes.
Beijing runs a brutal, repressive regime. It has built a rickety empire through exploiting its own workers and keeping them in check through a surveillance regime which they perfected via treatment of religious minorities. It seems fairly obvious now that Beijing has also tried to cover up the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, potentially robbing the world of crucial time to prepare.
Given all the ways in which we know Xi Jinping’s China is dangerous to its own citizens and others, why would we play fantasy?
After the 2003 SARS outbreak, shoddy Russian research helped spark a conspiracy theory in China that the virus was a biological weapon developed by the Americans. China has tried to do the same thing this time.
There is plenty of blame to be directed at China, both in their response to COVID-19 and on their human rights record. We don’t need to cling to unproven theories to hold them to account — and we certainly don’t need to start inventing them.
Mon, 2020-05-11 03:37
#72
VJ Prashad: China and CoronaShock
https://www.thetricontinental.org/studies-2-coronavirus/
"Growing xenophobia against China in the midst of coronashock...This is the first in a multi-part series on Coronashock. It is made up of three articles on how China identified the novel coronavirus and then how the Chinese govenrment and Chinese society fought against its wider diffusion..."
Thu, 2020-05-21 18:15
#73
Trudeau says China ‘doesn’t seem to understand’ Canada’s judicial independence
https://globalnews.ca/news/6968640/justin-trudeau-china-meng-wanzhou/
Thu, 2020-05-21 18:24
#74
heh heh heh...
Thu, 2020-05-21 18:33
#75
heh heh heh...
That's more than a heh heh heh, it's a full LOL.
Thu, 2020-05-21 19:11
#76
China might get more credibility if they treated its 2 Canadian prisoners the same way Canada
is treating its Chinese prisoner The contrast is glaring to most Canadians
Thu, 2020-05-21 20:51
#77
China might get more credibility if they treated its 2 Canadian prisoners the same way Canada is treating its Chinese prisoner The contrast is glaring to most Canadians
he he he
Fri, 2020-05-22 12:17
#78
The China Model and Its Implications
Presentation by Prof Zhang Weiwei in Berlin, July 11, 2017
Fri, 2020-05-22 17:26
#79
Quite the contrast between the CBC coverage below and Global TV coverage which I won't link to.
Hong Kong's future thrown into doubt with planned Beijing legislation
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-hong-kong-proposal-1.5579975
Fri, 2020-05-22 17:45
#80
Excellent as usual from Crawford Kilian
Canada and China: Can this Relationship Be Saved?
It needs to be. Not because we endorse their rulers, but because the world is what needs saving.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/05/21/Canada-China-Save-Relationship/
Fri, 2020-05-22 18:29
#81
I presume whoever loses will appeal, eh!
B.C. Supreme Court to rule in Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case next week
Fri, 2020-05-22 18:54
#82
Coronavirus Vaccine in China Produces Neutralizing Antibodies in Early-Stage Trial
https://twitter.com/isgoodrum/status/1263889360941801478
"This vaccine is the one being developed by the People's Liberation Army. So the question remains: Why would the Communist Party need to steal vaccine data from the US when its military is miles ahead of everyone else?"
Bodes well for the Sino-Can vaccine collaboration and a possible early supply guarantee for Canadians.
Fri, 2020-05-22 21:21
#83
Excellent as usual from Crawford Kilian
Canada and China: Can this Relationship Be Saved?
It needs to be. Not because we endorse their rulers, but because the world is what needs saving.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/05/21/Canada-China-Save-Relationship/
He makes a few good points but then he has to throw in the propaganda lines. Too bad but that is what it takes to have a regular column on any of our liberal media. Fuck him and his China couldn't be trusted bullshit.
The suppression of data on COVID-19 early this year only made matters worse. China might make reliable smartphones, but it couldn’t be trusted to alert the world to a dangerous virus. The Chinese had dithered for a crucial stretch of time, which made them look both oppressive and weak.
Fri, 2020-05-22 22:10
#84
Clearly Crawford wasn't attacking Chinese people, but he does raise some serious issues concerning the Chinese government just as he frequently does about the USA government.
Sat, 2020-05-23 16:01
#85
Anti-China drivel. There was no 'dithering', but even if there was, the earliest response by North American governments came long after the danger of this new virus was made known by China/WHO.
Sat, 2020-05-23 16:03
#86
I think I'll go with the progressive credible journalist's point of view.
Sat, 2020-05-23 21:25
#87
[quote=NDPP]
Anti-China drivel. There was no 'dithering', but even if there was, the earliest response by North American governments came long after the danger of this new virus was made known by China/WHO.
[quote=NDPP]
WHO Timeline - COVID-19 (and vid)
https://www.who.int/news-room/default/27-04-2020-who-timeline---covid-19
When were substantive measures taken in response here?
Sat, 2020-05-23 22:30
#88
China Determined to Fix Hong Kong National Security Loophole, Ready for US Sanctions: Experts
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189235.shtml
"...Yuan Zheng, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) told the Global Times, some separatists in Hong Kong used to think the central government may be hesitant in enforcing stronger measures in Hong Kong considering its special economic stature. This is why the rioters and secessionists are becoming more savage regarding their actions. As for China-US ties, Yuan said that bilateral relations have already been strangled by the US and no one from the US side is doing anything to improve it. 'The US keeps exerting pressure on China, hoping to make it bend, which will never work and may incur strong countermeaures,' Yuan said, noting that China would not make any compromises in regard to national security.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Canadian FM Francois Philippe Champagne made a joint statement on Friday saying that 'we are deeply concerned regarding proposals for introducing legislation related to national security in Hong Kong..."
'Make Hong Kong Great Again!'
Hong Kong Opposition Unites With Washington Hardliners
"While claiming to fight for 'self-determination', Hong Kong opposition leaders are collaborating with regime-change neoconservatives in Washington to 'preserve US's own political and economic interests'.
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/22/hong-kong-opposition-unites-washingto...
Sun, 2020-05-24 14:45
#89
I think I'll go with the progressive credible journalist's point of view.
That is what I like to do however one should try and actually read the content and compare it to known facts. Since you accept everything in a article with out critical analysis because you like the journalist you are the perfect foil for our imperial media. They play you like a cheap violin and you sing off key on demand.
Sun, 2020-05-24 20:45
#90
Pepe Escobar: China: One Country, Two Sessions, Three Threats
https://asiatimes.com/2020/05/one-country-two-sessions-three-threats/
"...In a nutshell: no GDP target for 2020; a budget deficit of at least 3.6% of GDP, one trillian yuan in special treasury bonds; corporate fees/taxes cut by 2.5 trillion yuan; a defense budget rise of a modest 6.6% and governments at all levels committed to 'tighten their belts.' The focus, as predicted, is to get China's domestic economy past COVID-19 on track for solid growth in 2021.
Also predictably, the whole focus in the Anglo-American sphere has been on Hong Kong - as in, the new legal framework, to be approved next week, engineered to prevent subversion, foreign interference 'or any acts that severely endanger national security.' After all, as a Global Times editorial stressed, Hong Kong is an extremely sensitive matter.
This is a direct result of what the Chinese observer mission based in Shenzhen learned from the attempt by assorted fifth-columnists and weaponized black blocs to nearly destroy Hong Kong last summer. No wonder the Anglo-American 'freedom-fighter' front is livid. The gloves are off. No more free lunch. No more paid protests. No more black blocs. No more hybrid war. Baba Beijing's got a brand new bag...."
Fri, 2020-05-29 10:26
#91
‘At the precipice of death, we struggle for breath’: New avenues of resistance
Owing to the resilient struggle of the Hong Kong people and the dedication of its civil society to democratic life, our city has resisted the implementation of Article 23 for a full seventeen years. Today, the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has swiftly moved to clamp down on all the momentum generated by the 2019 anti-extradition movement under the pretext of national security, framing Hong Kong’s pursuit of democratic self-determination as rebellion, subversion, and secession.
But this is not the moment for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement to despair. The CCP’s move here provides indisputable proof that the Basic Law has always been riddled with spots of weakness and incongruent with the welfare of the Hong Kong people. The rule of law has always been a ploy to uphold the status quo; it cannot be relied on to defend the rights of the people.
The Basic Law is a patently unjust law. The way in which Article 23, Annex 3, and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress’ power for final interpretation leave Hong Kong defenceless to the CCP has raised the most eyebrows, but the Basic Law’s vulnerabilities don’t end there. In addition to stating that the path to universal suffrage must be “gradual,” the Basic Law also inherits from colonial rule the granting of unchecked authority to the Governor: the Legislative Council cannot impeach the Chief Executive, but it can conversely be disbanded by the Chief Executive, unilaterally unseating its power. Moreover, the Legislative Council requires approval from the Chief Executive to introduce motions related to public expenditure, the political structure or operation of the government, and government policies, rendering it unable to remedy Hong Kong’s unjust distribution in resources and power.
What the Basic Law does keep “unchanged for fifty years” is not Hong Kong’s spirit of freedom, but the status quo of a capitalist way of life. This includes maintaining a low tax policy, ensuring the free flow of capital, and providing an economic and legal environment that maintains Hong Kong’s stature as an international financial centre, all outlined in the fifth chapter of the mini constitution. It is unabashedly designed to ensure the upper class’s position of power.
Holding a press conference on the National Security Law, Carrie Lam emphasized that this move “does not undermine One Country, Two Systems; does not change the capitalist economic and legal system as practised in Hong Kong, nor the legal protections of foreign investors.” It’s obvious who the Basic Law is meant to safeguard.....
Fri, 2020-05-29 13:09
#92
Chinese Premier LiKeqiang Takes Questions from the Media (and vid)
https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/1265917033239048195
"We have all along rejected a 'cold war' mentality..."
Spokesperson @MFA China on HK (and vid)
https://twitter.com/MFA_China/status/1265609927302636922
"The issue of legislation to safeguard national security for Hong Kong is purely China's internal affair and [It] does not tolerate any external interference. We will take necessary measures to counter erroneous acts of external interference."
Sat, 2020-05-30 23:30
#93
The Heat: US-China Tensions
"Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, President Trump outlined strong measures..."
Sun, 2020-06-14 12:52
#94
‘Revolution everywhere’: A conversation between Hong Kong and Lebanese protesters
Editor’s note: In 2019, simultaneous uprisings in Hong Kong and Lebanon led activists, organizers, and writers from these two locales to engage with and think about each other’s struggles. Lausan spoke to Lebanese activist, writer, and scholar Joey Ayoub about the ongoing protests, the resonances between our respective sites of struggle, and the possibilities for transnational solidarity.
This interview has been edited for structure and clarity.
‘The people want the downfall of the regime’: Lebanon in struggle
Lausan Collective (LC): Can you tell us a bit about why the protests in Lebanon began?
Joey Ayoub (JA): In Lebanon, there exists a system of sectarianism, which is essentially a power-sharing agreement between sectarian elites. The example usually given is how the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. This means that, unlike in Syria or Libya or Egypt or Tunisia, or indeed in Hong Kong, Lebanon has no dominant symbol of power. There’s no Assad, Gaddafi, Mubarak/Sisi or Ben Ali, and there’s no Xi Jinping and Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
What this means is that Lebanon is both stable and fragile at the same time. It has managed to withstand sectarian strife for the most part, even though conflicts have always existed; and people have never had an obvious, individual target to try to take down. And so when Egyptians, Syrians, Libyans, Tunisians and so on were calling for the downfall of the regimes in 2011, only a minority of people in Lebanon made the same demands.
In 2015, there was a brief period of mobilization during the ‘You Stink’ protests in 2015, which was sparked by the closure of a major landfill and the piling up of trash on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and which was more broadly a protest against corruption in the political system.
But our moment really came in 2019, when years of widespread corruption and disastrous economic policies resulted in a severe and ongoing financial crisis, exacerbated by the nearby Syrian civil war. Finally, on October 17th, thousands of protesters gathered up the courage to chant: “The people want the downfall of the regime.” The movement remains ongoing to this day.
Between Hong Kong and Lebanon: Temporal angst and fears of ‘disappearance’
LC: What first prompted you to think of the connections between the October Uprising in Lebanon and the anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong?
JA: Immediately after the protesters started, we began to see Hong Kong protest tactics playing out in Lebanon. Protesters began to use high-powered lasers and blinding lights to distract and confuse security forces—something they had never done before. We also learned how to neutralize tear gas based on tactics from Hong Kong.
What’s curious is that the Lebanon-Hong Kong parallels aren’t really new. Before and during the civil war (1975-1990), comparisons between Beirut and Hong Kong or Hanoi were not unheard of: it was sometimes said that Lebanon was being faced with the choice of being Hong Kong or Hanoi. For some people back then, Hong Kong, as a colonial outpost, was synonymous with capitalism and imperialism, whereas Hanoi was synonymous with socialism and anti-imperialism. Although this binary was always too simplistic, it actually created space for a segment of Lebanese and Palestinian leftists in Lebanon to link up with struggles in Vietnam.
The 2019 protests offered me an excuse to revisit some of these dynamics, deconstruct them, and find the contradictions within them. For example: Hanoi has since turned into a major player in global capitalism while the Hong Kong protesters were directly threatening and hurting capital, such as through occupations of the airport. What would the few leftists in Lebanon who were using the Hong Kong/Hanoi analogy have to say today? I suspect not much, because binaries tend to create lasting rhetorical schema that outlive their initial “purpose.” Simplistic binaries stick.
A much more interesting, in my opinion, comparison between Hong Kong and Lebanon is how “temporally fragile” they both are. While in conversation with one of Lausan’s members, your colleague introduced me to Ackbar Abbas’ book Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance and I couldn’t help but think of the word “disappearance” as being as emblematic of the Lebanese experience as it is of the Hong Kong one.
Everything we’ve ever known has either disappeared or is in the process of disappearing. We grew up with tales of Beirut’s trams and Lebanon’s trains, which were destroyed during the war. We’ve seen public spaces erased with our own eyes, our ancient forests razed to the ground, our coastline privatised beyond recognition. Our cities are still riddled with bullets. We live in a country that has some of the oldest cities in the world (Byblos, Tyre, Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli); and yet we are now trapped in cycles of violence that are at best a few decades old.....
Sun, 2020-06-14 13:09
#95
In Lebanon, too many feminist activists have died in the struggle for women’s liberation. Here, I want to name Nadyn Jouny, who fought the Lebanese religious courts to keep custody of her child. Nadyn was a fellow organiser of the 2015 movement, and a truly brilliant woman and a kind soul. She died in a car accident just days before the 2019 uprising started—up till her death, she was fighting. I know that group of feminist activists was thinking of her when they chanted “revolution in every country.”
Protesters in Lebanon often chant ثورة بكل البلدان or "Revolution everywhere" in which they recall the struggles of other citizens from Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Hong Kong and others.
Sun, 2020-06-14 14:31
#96
Hong Kong's 'Pro-Democracy' Movement Allies With Far-Right US Politicians That Seek to Crush Black Lives Matter
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/09/hong-kongs-far-right-us-politicians-c...
A Hong Kong 'pro-democracy' leader denounced George Floyd protests while activists shutdown a local Black Lives Matter rally. Far from being in solidarity, HK's protest movement is allied with the same far-right Republicans seeking to crush BLM.
Sun, 2020-06-14 15:13
#97
Webinar: Activist Exchange—Notes from Black Liberation and Hong Kong
A Lausan x Borderless Movement event
The murder of George Floyd in May at the hands of the Minneapolis police has sparked a global uprising and re-centered the movement for Black lives in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has tightened its hold on the Hong Kong people with the imposition of national security laws, setting off a new wave of mass protests. These mobilizations against state violence, though varied in social and political contexts, are taking place amongst a surge of new movements across the world. How can we exchange notes for the continued struggle to build a global mass movement against state violence on the ground?
Join Lausan Collective and Borderless Movement for a webinar bringing together activists from Hong Kong, Seattle, and North Carolina for an organizers’ exchange this Saturday (6/13) at 7am PST / 10am EST / 10pm HKT. The event will be conducted in English. Cantonese live interpretation will be available on Zoom.
Participants will discuss unions, abolitionism, and other topics. Hongkongers will have a chance to learn about and support the current protests and struggle for Black liberation from activists, while Hong Kong organizers will share some updates on their own fight.
Speakers include:
- Jerrell Davis, Black organizer and cultural worker of Decriminalize Seattle and No New Youth Jail
- Maya, member of Take Action Chapel Hill in North Carolina
- Tony Wong, member of Hong Kong left-wing publication The Owl
- Leo Tang, organizing secretary of Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)
Sun, 2020-06-14 15:16
#98
Sun, 2020-06-14 15:25
#99
..doesn't sound to me that this aspect of the hong kong movement is denouncing protests or aligning themselves with the american right.
..the inability to see this aspect of what is going on in hong kong, is because, imv, of the primary focus on the geopolitical. as if that is the only arena that matters.
Sun, 2020-06-14 16:01
#100
..as has been said before the hong kong situation is complex.
To Hongkongers: How can we understand ‘Black Lives Matter’? ‘A riot is the voice of the unheard’
quote:
On the other side of the Pacific, Hong Kong protesters have been lobbying U.S. politicians to launch the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HKHRDA) and revoke Hong Kong’s special trade status as part of the laam chau strategy in opposing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In light of ongoing resistance, protest, and looting in the U.S., as well as rumors from many fronts that CCP-sent outside agitators are infiltrating and escalating the movement there, how should Hongkongers understand the current protests?
The complicated nature of Hong Kong’s political situation has required countless Hongkongers to educate, illustrate, and translate information for foreigners, so that they will be moved by the city’s struggles. It is difficult to explain to outsiders why many Hongkongers decided to support both peaceful protestors and militant frontliners through discussing the original extradition bill alone; only through explanations of post-Handover histories of dissent and resistance, as well as the failures of other attempts at political reform, do outsiders begin to grasp the origins of Hong Kong’s struggles. Similarly, only examining the current protests against George Floyd’s murder may not be enough for Hongkongers to have a full understanding as to why protesters in the U.S. have adopted radical tactics.
..re the laam chau strategy mentioned above. and the point ndpp raised.
quote:
Canto lesson: 攬炒 pronounced laam chau, literally embrace+fry, i.e. if I'm gonna fry, I'm gonna drag you in with me. It's the #HongKong version of "if we burn, you burn with us", and is used by the some of the so-called Scorched Earth tendency of #HongKongProtesters
Sun, 2020-06-14 18:35
#101
Unfortunate that some apparently believe 'Black liberation' will come by supporting US imperialism and its anti-China agenda in Hong Kong....
'Make Hong Kong Great Again!'
See also #96