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News :: Miscellaneous |
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And they call it democracy |
Current rating: 0 |
by Tod
Email: tod (nospam) wideworldwebs.com (unverified!)
Address: 118 E. Tarpon Ave. , Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 USA |
02 Jul 2002
Modified: 03 Jul 2002 |
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We know China is not a democracy, as dissent is quickly quashed. Yet in the US where people have free speech, they seldom choose to dissent. Is Bush really so much different than Chinese President Jiang Zemin? |
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Chinese President Jiang Zemin has said in
the United Nations that the principle of democracy must be
advocated and implemented in handling world affairs.
What, a dictator whose government arrests
dissidents (without due process), and confines them in
prisons for decades, is going to instruct us on the benefits
of democracy?
In a petition addressed to the Communist
Party's Central Committee, Liu Xiaobo and Wang XizheLiu
accused the Communists of going back on pledges made before
they came to power in 1949 that China's ethnic minorities
should have the right to self-determination and even "the
right to set up an independent country."
Such appeals from Liu and Wang to allow
Tibetans the right of self-determination, has meant a lot of
jail time for both men.
The most famous dissident of recent times,
Wang Dan, a student leader turned dissident after the
Tiananmen Square massacre, faces exile after these many
years of imprisonment. Shen Liangqing, a former prosecutor,
was sentenced on April 3, 1998 to two years in a labor camp
for meeting with journalists from the New York-based Human
Rights in China and the Hong Kong-based Information Center
for Human Rights and Democratic Movements in China, an group
Beijing has described as an "enemy organization."
"It is essential to fully respect the
diversity of different nations," Jiang continued before the
UN, "as well as religions and civilizations." Is this
supposed to mean diversity in his own country? Obviously
not. Now China is the big beacon light of the East, the
favored trading partner of the US. In the meantime,
ordinary Chinese people are employed true, just like
ordinary people in the service sector in America, people who
are working for low wages, and too busy working to realize
they are no longer free, but merely servants of the wealthy
class.
President Bush recently addressed the
Mideast crisis, calling on the Palestinians to "build a
practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty." No
matter that Israel is the anti-democratic state in the
equation, no matter at all! It sounded optimistic, I mean,
who can have qualms with the basic premise? But what we are
hearing from Bush is the same rhetoric we hear from
President Jiang, in China.
What is the difference between the US and
China? Both their leaders speak of democracy, and the
difference is - they mean the same thing! Free speech is
prohibited in China, while in the USA it is tolerated, and
why? No one listens to it!
No one cares to listen to dissent. Most of
the population are slaves to their work, and to TV. Black,
white, or whatever color you are, fine, so long as you don't
make waves. Few Americans can tell you the details of their
government, much less what goes on elsewhere. But everyone
knows w ho's playing who on Sunday football, and most
everybody can repeat the new mantra promoted by Mazda, zoom,
zoom zoom.
Is this not the sound of our society,
zooming right over the cliff? The multitude can choose
between Mazda, Lexus and Ford and whatever other car, each
with its options, and they call it democracy.
Red China is also, becoming a plethora of
consumer choices. No matter that those who dare to
challenge the system, end up imprisoned, China is not only a
favored trading partner, but an ally in America's war
against terrorism. On this basis, Jiang's government has a
license to kill, and persecute Ugher Muslims in Xinjiang.
China can now count on Western governments
to keep their mouths shut about human rights. Do we care
that this is the price of China gaining membership in the
WTO? Ask anyone on the street, and they will shrug, and
say, "Who cares anyway?" But so long as you say the Chinese
are killing Muslims in their country as a part of the US led
WAR AGAINST TERROR, you'll get a smile if not a free flag
lapel pin. |
See also:
http://www.inter-nation.org
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Sounds Like The Costs of Doing Business |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Jul 2002
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Spamming blogger writes:
"China can now count on Western governments to keep their mouths shut about human rights. Do we care that this is the price of China gaining membership in the WTO?"
You're asking the question of whether human rights are bad for business? Of course they are. Ask any capitalist as he sends the jobs of working Americans overseas. There is actually little in the way of labor rights in this country, but what little there is is more than enough to scare those jobs overseas for the greedheads that run our economy.
After conservatives and libertarians have worked so hard to make sure that human rights, which include labor rights, have no respect in this country, should it surprise them that so few citizens seem to care about human rights in China? It's just the cost of doing business and you'll get no apology from businessmen eager to cut the next "free" trade deal.
As for most of our readership, they need no lecture about human rights from you. They are well aware of the hypocrisy of US foreign policy. |
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BTW |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Jul 2002
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Spamming this to every IMC is not appreciated. You might take a moment and read this:
http://process.indymedia.org/letter_to_spammers.php3 |
