alanjjohnstone
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An interesting essay by Christopher Wong
Imperialism in its modern form is a product of capitalism. Capitalism is a world system, not merely the product of the decisions of individual countries. Replacing one capitalist empire with another is futile. Any form of anti-imperialist politics that focuses on nations invariably arrives at pitting one of the faces of capitalism against another, which can only ever reproduce the very system it claims to fight. Only through a confrontation with the entire capitalist world system, no matter the color of its flag, can the nightmare of empire end.
https://lausan.hk/2021/china-anti-communism/
Another interesting essay
The drive for international solidarity has been neutralized by the widespread disinformation campaign from so-called “anti-imperialists” to smear the entire protest movement as CIA-backed or fascist. This ignores how the movement has been resisting Beijing’s appropriation and perpetuation of colonial paradigms established under British rule. Standing in solidarity with Hong Kong is not about deciding which nation-state is worse; it’s about rejecting this false binary the ruling elites have crafted for us and resisting the spread and adoption of Western colonial frame-works by all states alike, especially China.
https://lausan.hk/2020/left-on-an-island/
Another
https://lausan.hk/2020/we-cant-let-china-apologists-stop-us-from-supporting-black-lives-matter/
Letting pro-CCP nationalists on the Western left discredit other social movements—especially movements that are also fighting against police violence—is not the path forward.The Lausan website hosts many other interesting articles from a left wing perspective and worth a good long browse.
But no doubt it is a CIA front.
The 38th Army were not rioters, were they, and they were not the only troops disaffected by the events. The 28th Army could not be relied upon by the government. Nor could the 64th Army’s 190th Division be trusted.
Lieutenant General Xu Qinxian, defied an order from the paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, to lead his troops to Beijing. General Xu took no part in the subsequent killing of hundreds of protesters around Tiananmen Square,
Note the article refers to hundreds, not thousands killed and it states around the Square, not in it
General Xu was jailed for five years. General He Yanran, commander of the 28th Army was court-martialed, and along with political commissar Zhang Mingchun and chief of staff Qiu Jinkai, were disciplined, demoted and reassigned to other units
Matt, i already posted the Wiki link. TS dismisses it as he always does as manipulated entry by persons unknown to discredit Furr.
The fact that Furr has no scholarly support for his “research” and his area of professional expertise is medieval poetry does not dampen TS or any other Stalinist. Those put on trial plus Trotsky were guilty of conspiring against the Soviet state.
They pleaded guilty, didn’t they (although not Trotsky)? That was sufficient proof even for the American ambassador.
Once again, our position is non-partisan, thieves falling out with thieves is our verdict.
Our sympathies go to the workers who resisted the Bolshevik rule.
Ante Ciliga wrote a very good book, ‘the Russian Enigma’
So the Palestinian struggle is an internal affair of Israel and that is the reason to not support the BDS campaign. And if a Palestinian is throwing rocks, the IDF are entitled to shoot them as in the Zambian case I referred to (proportionate response?)
Does it really matter whether it is a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand protesters were killed in the streets around Tiananmen Sq and not in the actual square? (I still remember the Kent State Massacre and only 4 got killed)
So because the shootings didn’t occur on the Square but in other streets, it means that there was no massacre…duh!
Prof. Ezra Vogel, author of Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
“…By 11:00 pm [on June 3], the troops, still unable to advance [from Muxidi], began firing live weapons directly at the crowds…People’s Liberation Army trucks and armored cars also began charging ahead at full speed, running over anyone who dared to stand in their path…By 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 4, soldiers had begun arriving from every direction. Around the edges of the square, on Chang’an Boulevard and at the Great Hall of the People, soldiers opened fire on civilians who had begun taunting, throwing bricks, and refusing to move…”The CBS reporter often cited as witnessing no bodies in Tinanmen Sq also wrote:
“But there’s no question many people were killed by the army that night around Tiananmen Square, and on the way to it — mostly in the western part of Beijing. Maybe, for some, comfort can be taken in the fact that the government denies that, too.”You fail to acknowledge British diplomatic cables as evidence although those were not used by the media but remained secret.
Similarly, you will dismiss USA diplomatic details also kept secret
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/#12-29
Again it reported that it is the 27th Army being held responsible for the indiscriminate shooting, and the local garrison troops of the 38th Army confronting them.
As for implying the protests in Hong Kong was to stop the extradition of a wife-murderer, the protesters offered very easy resolutions to that without changing the Hong Kong agreement with Mainland. The extradition bill was eventually withdrawn, but too late to placate the protesters.
TS can if he wishes construe any message to suit his position and ignore statements made that are contrary.
But his silence about the Palestinian BDS movement and China’s non-support appears to signify that he is willing to sacrifice the Palestinian aspirations to the growth of Chinese political, economic and military power. Much the same as the US, UK, and EU self-interest.
Once again, confirmation of our position that China behaves no differently from any of the other imperialist nations.
The moment Beijing perceived it was losing control of Hong Kong, it asserted its control more firmly. When it was resisted, Beijing imposed harsher restrictions.
Both the 2014 and 2019 protest movements were sparked by Beijing implementing legislation limiting the autonomy of Hong Kong residents. Rather than being initiated by foreign incitement, they were a reaction to moves by Beijing.
Distract all one wishes that it was a plot by the CIA/NED to undermine the Xi and the Chinese government. But the fact is that opinion polls show a majority were in favour of the pro-democracy movement and against the Chinese state’s repression.
There has been very little support for any actual breakaway from China and such had never been a demand of the protest movement.
It is as described, a campaign for democracy. Just as there were when Hong Kong was a British colony, protests have always arisen about the way Hong Kong has been ruled.
But as someone who believes that the deaths of protesters in 1989 at Tiananmen Sq is a hoax, TS is not known for his understanding of history, trusting in Grover Furr for his knowledge of Stalin’s Russia which is the same as relying upon David Irving’s history of the Hitler’s Germany.
“Should have Lenin rejected the Kaiser’s money?
Should have the 1916 Irish rebels refused the Kaiser’s help?”
Alan now asks why shouldn’t the CIA be funding and organising colour revolutions in nations the US targets for regime change.
Answer the question.
The maxim “the enemy of our enemy is our friend” has invariably been the practice.
Other than for ourselves, that is.
AidData keeps a huge database on official aid flows. It shows how much China appears to reward African countries that vote with it. Countries that support China do better. AidData reckons that if African countries voted with China an extra 10% of the time, they would get an 86% bump in official aid on average.
And yes, the US, the UK and the EU has the same policy – vote with us and get more aid. It is what we have been saying. Little difference.
Does the US,UK, EU prop up friendly dictatorships Yes. Does China? Yes. No difference.
Chinese support for BDS? Nope
Increasing trade deals with Israel
Partnering Israel with the Red-Med railway project as part of BRI
The management of the port of Haifa is shared with a Chinese corporation.
Israel ranks second only to Russia as a weapons system provider to China.
Israeli-Chinese military cooperation praised by the IDF
https://web.archive.org/web/20150924044419/https:/www.idf.il/1283-16842-en/Dover.aspx
It is still all about realpolitik. Xi is happy to reinforce Israeli power as long as it benefits China.
Once more I reiterate, there are no fundamental difference between imperialist nations that deserves working class support. None whatsoever.
National Endowment for Democracy money – No secret
https://www.ned.org/region/asia/hong-kong-china-2020/
And let us not forget George Soros and Jimmy Lai’s money.
Should have Lenin rejected the Kaiser’s money?
Should have the 1916 Irish rebels refused the Kaiser’s help?
China makes a list of American interference in Hong Kong with over 100 accusations. And I have no reason to think much of it isn’t true. We have readily conceded such things happen.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/wjbxw_673019/t1909400.shtml
TS has been claiming that the pro-democracy protests have been orchestrated and financed by CIA fronts. That it is a put-up job.
In this list, the most Chinese government has asserted has been that a number of prominent pro-democracy activists were guests of various US politicians and institutions.
These were well-publicised events as it was about giving the democracy campaign publicity and media exposure. Not any kind of secret plot.
What is missing from the charges listed by the Chinese government against the members of the pro-democracy movement is any mention of funding from the USA.
They say one should always follow the money trail. But there isn’t one to accuse the Hong Kong democracy groups of taking cash from the USA.
I think any reasonable person would conclude that if there was any evidence that would stand up that the protesters were financed by American interests, (other than perhaps travel, lodgings and meals to attend the before mentioned political meetings), the Chinese government would have presented that evidence.
There is no dispute that pro-democracy campaigners sought international support for their demands and appealed to foreign governments to apply diplomatic pressure.
But were they paid and bribed to protest? Were their organisation subsidised to subvert the Chinese authorities? It seems not.
They were acting sincerely and genuinely according to their individual consciences, not as puppets of outside foreign agents.
TS may insist they were mistaken and misguided but that is very different from smearing them as tools of a foreign power.
MS, this article is of interest that I found linked to at
https://www.pambazuka.org/print/98901#_edn49
“Imperialism is inscribed in the DNA of capitalism, and if China has embarked on the capitalist road, then it has also embarked on the imperialist road… Chinese state capitalism (for want of a better term) shows signs of developing a strategic challenge to Japanese, European and North American dominance in key industries… Class-conscious workers must maintain independence from both sides in this looming conflict … [by] opposing Chinese capitalist expansion and the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to forge an alliance with reactionary capitalist regimes in Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries.”
As TS rates Vijay Prashad, he will find this essay interesting
“What we have rather than an inter-imperialist conflict is an inter-capitalist conflict, with the BRICS states—mainly China—pushing for market share across the world and pushing back a weakened Western economic bloc.”
https://mronline.org/2018/03/26/in-the-ruins-of-the-present/
There is a power-play going on to re-balance the respective influences of nations. TS wants us to choose sides.
Our case is very easy to comprehend. We say that the policy of China is not so very different from that of other imperialist nations.
It is to acquire sources of raw materials and it is to acquire markets for its products or it to secure trade routes. Those three criteria determine a nation’s diplomacy and foreign policy.
Unlike TS, we are not taking sides and selecting which is the lesser evil.
A plague on all of them. None gets a get out of jail free card
For the chicken, there is little difference between the fox and the wolf.
Our position is simple, the conditions of a fellow worker anywhere are our concern. We are internationalists, world socialists.
All competing imperialists say they bring benefits to the undeveloped and developing nations and can provide long lists of the “generosity” of their “humanitarian aid”.
But the poverty levels of the African people has always remained constant, the standard of living stagnant.
“O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” -Jeremiah 5.21
I have read a lot of Vijay Prashad and much I found useful. But he also writes much I disagree with.
He is a leftist anti-imperialist and the Tricontinental Institute is a Havana-based thinktank with offices in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Johannesburg (South Africa), New Delhi (India) and São Paulo (Brazil)that presents its ideology on world events. It is as partisan as the organisations TS rejects. Perhaps someone can explain the source of its funding to me.
Our criticism of anti-imperialism remains sound even if such ideas of nation V nation are promoted by Prashad and not class V class
As an aside, Tricontinental magazine was one of the earliest I acquired in my youth
Thunberg and Fridays for Future return to the streets.
Has its rhetoric become more radical with the slogan ‘Uproot the System?
For us, the 6 demands are still petitioners appealing to the government to make the system more humane and not questioning its existence
I scour the internet to give fuller explanation to your claims.
The latest being “extractive industries account for the minority of Chinese investments in Africa. What of the other 60% of investments?”
Flooding the African market with cheap manufactured products that undercut the local makers thus driving them out of business.
BRIC member, South Africa’s proportion of exports of primary commodities to China in total from 2000-2018 rose sharply from 54% to 86%. South Africa’s top exports to China are rather basic, comprising of ores and concentrates of base metals, iron ore and concentrates, pig iron, copper, wool and other animal hair, pulp and waste paper, fruits, jewellery and articles of precious material and silver.
What of manufactured goods? The share of China’s exports of manufactured goods to its partner surged from 90 to 95%. Sadly, for South Africa, whereas in 2000 its share of exports of manufactured goods in total to China was a handsome 45%, by 2018 it experienced erosion to 14%.
China’s total exports of all goods of $ 104.5 billion in 2018, reveals that of the 55 African countries, 28 of them accounted for 95%, leaving the other 27 with only 5% or $5.0 billion in absolute values. In China’s exports of manufactured goods to Africa, 24 African countries accounted for 90% leaving 31 countries to account for only 10% or $9.0 billion.
Africa’s total exports of manufactured goods to China was only $2.3 billion in 2018, and, of this total 23 countries accounted for 99% leaving 32 countries with only 1% or $30.8 million.
Africa’s’ total exports of all goods to China of $54.4 billion in 2018, 16 countries accounted for 95% leaving the majority 39 with only 5% or $2.8 billion.
This is a huge trade imbalance – in favour of China and the extractive industry share is pretty much secondary and irrelevant to China’s economic dominance in their trading. Economists acknowledge that imports from China has affected South African manufacturing output and employment figures.
Of course, there is a lot of infrastructure being built by the Chinese in Africa. I already mentioned an unnecessary railway line in Kenya. But those ports and roads and factories aren’t gree gifts. African nations are borrowing from Chinese commercial banks and building huge debts and interest repayments.
China’s total loans to Africa during 2000-18 have been $148 billion, mostly in large-scale infrastructure projects that may benefit Africa’s elite but not its poor.
China presently is a leading bilateral lender in 32 African countries and the top lender to the continent as a whole. The list includes Angola ($21.5 billion in 2017), Ethiopia ($13.7 billion), Kenya ($9.8 billion), Republic of Congo ($7.42 billion), Zambia ($6.38 billion) and Cameroon ($5.57 billion)
China owns around 72 per cent of Kenya’s external debt which stands at $ 50 billion. Over the next few years, Kenya is expected to pay $ 60 billion to the China Exim Bank alone, sources informed.
Mombasa port can be lost if Kenya defaults on loan re-payment, according to Kenya’s own auditor general.In 2015, there was widespread discontent in Angola because of oil repayment against loans from China, leaving Angola with little crude oil to export.
Nigeria had to spend $195 million in 2020 as debt repayment to China.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking China philanthropic and benevolent. They insist on a hefty return for their investment.
