Submitted by zjr1130 t3_z5vd3n in washingtondc
iamnotjohnstathis t1_ixzgg6f wrote
Reply to comment by ProdigiousNewt07 in Candle Vigil for Urumqi Victims Against CCP will be in DC 12/5 5pm on Freedom Plaza by zjr1130
There are protests everywhere in China right now, and people are holding vigils for the people who died in the fire. The fire was just the last straw. There was the riot by factory workers who were forced to lock down in the factory, people committing suicide because they just couldn’t survive mentally or financially, pregnant women bleeding out outside the hospital because they were denied treatment. There were protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan. It might be hard to believe that not all Chinese people are part of a hive mind, and there are people who are willing to stand up and protest even though they know they might end up dead. Please at least show a bit of empathy for the people who died in the fire.
ProdigiousNewt07 t1_ixzmc1a wrote
I'm aware of the terrible news. From what I can gather, the protests are largely about the continued covid lockdowns. Excuse me if I express skepticism when most of the English language news sources rely on "unverified videos on social media", full of conveniently translated quotes that just so happen to parrot American foreign policy interests. The articles I've read can't seem to decide if Urumqi was on lockdown for 3 or 5 months and the only evidence I've found that "local officials blamed the victims’ “weak survival capabilities” was a single statement by Li Wensheng, head of the Urumqi City Fire Rescue department, that said "some residents’ ability to rescue themselves was too weak and they failed to escape in time".
I don't need to be lectured about empathy when you're using people's deaths as a political cudgel. If it were American conservatives doing this, you'd be making fun of them. Repeatedly we've seen the US tell half-truths and outright lies to shift the narrative against countries it considers adversaries and stoke hostility to push for regime change. It never works out in the people's favor. We don't need more war and conflict. All this anti-CPC rhetoric does is make things less safe for Asian Americans.
[deleted] t1_ixzq8i4 wrote
[deleted]
ProdigiousNewt07 t1_iy1jr3s wrote
I view most news media with skepticism, especially when it's from English language outlets about countries the US considers enemies. They have a well-documented history of lying. And that's not a just a poll, it's a long-term survey (that you clearly didn't bother to actually read) conducted by the Ash Center at Harvard University. Is Harvard "authoritarian" now too?
If you're worried about bias, it even says "compared to the relatively high satisfaction rates with Beijing, respondents held considerably less favorable views toward local government. At the township level, the lowest level of government surveyed, only 11.3 percent of respondents reported that they were “very satisfied.” The research gets pretty granular and makes note of differences in responses from urban/rural, rich/poor, and what challenges the CPC might face maintaining support in the future.
I included a link to that study because, as the authors importantly emphasize, "although state censorship and propaganda are widespread in China, these findings highlight that citizen perceptions of governmental performance respond most to real, measurable changes in individuals’ material well-being." The CPC took China from a war-torn, rural backwater to a highly advanced world superpower in a matter of decades. Global poverty would have increased in that same time frame were it not for China. But you don't really care about that, you're more concerned about imposing your ineffectual political beliefs on people you don't know halfway around the world because you're an idealistic "democracy" fetishist.
iamnotjohnstathis t1_ixzqahi wrote
I’m not using people’s death as political cudgel. I’m Chinese and I have friends who attended these protests and I’m genuinely scared for their life. The news articles have to use “unverified videos on social media” because no “official” news outlet in China would ever publish any real story about the protests. My friends and I who have been sharing the videos taken by people who were at the protest are getting shadow banned, some got their entire profiles wiped out, and we’ve lost contact with two. The US government might be using this all as political ploy, but how does this make Chinese people’s demand for freedom and end of authoritarian rule any less valid?? Sure, for some people they just want their lives to go back to pre-Covid, but for others they are finally opening their eyes to the atrocities that the Communist Party has committed and finally had enough to be not afraid and speak for themselves. I realize how Covid has negatively impacted Asian Americans, but this is a separate fight. The Chinese people is finally rising up and calling for change, and I genuinely hope the call for freedom and rights could be supported.
zjr1130 OP t1_ixzv1ke wrote
Amen!
ProdigiousNewt07 t1_iy1lucw wrote
> The US government might be using this all as political ploy, but how does this make Chinese people’s demand for freedom and end of authoritarian rule any less valid??
It doesn't make it any less valid, but you should be exceedingly cautious about soliciting American "support". What often results from US involvement in power struggles abroad is a government that is friendlier to US business interests, but retains all the negative aspects of the former regime. I hope your friends are safe and that their calls for change and justice are answered.
zjr1130 OP t1_ixzuyli wrote
My personal friends from Urumqi vouched for the length of that lockdown
MMoskovitz_II t1_ixzpyd8 wrote
Supporting the Chinese people against an oppressive Chinese government is making it less safe for Asian-Americans.
Ok.
ProdigiousNewt07 t1_iy1la2l wrote
Don't twist my words, I specifically said "this anti-CPC rhetoric". You might be able to "hate the government, not the people", but there have been plenty of instances where violent actors are unable to distinguish the two.
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