With Xi as dictator for life, China's aggression against neighbors in the South China Sea, the continued massive theft of IP from U.S., the internment of Muslims into reeducaton camps and taking away their children and tightening of the screws in HK, we can now see clearly that we, the U.S. have already been quite foolish in compromising our principles in chasing short-term economic benefit, and as a consequence, enriching China and enabling its Communist Party to absue ordinary Chinese citizens.
Now, with the brave youth of HK showing us the way and giving strength to Taiwan, we need to live up to our heritage and values.
Now, we can see clearly that it is time to face up to their threat and do our best to deter their conduct. We need to officially reverse the "one-China" policy, which is in conflict anyway with our Defense Treaty with Taiwan and our continuing sales of defensive military equipment to Taiwan.
Let us all get vocal and encourage both political parties and let all candidates for office know we stand behind them as our country faces a serious threat from China, not immediately on our shores, but nevertheless a certainty in time.
13
As I read this article, it struck me once more what a brave man Ai Weiwei is to stand up to the Chinese state like this. He reminds one of the Soviet and Czech dissidents of the 1970s and 1980s - Sakharov, Solzhenitsyn, Havel and many others. This should be an inspiration to all who understand that liberal democracy (with all its flaws) and the cause of human rights must be defended. In turn, he deserves our collective support.
And, of course, it goes without saying that the bravery of the young women and men marching in Hong Kong deserve our support as well.
18
One word: Crimea
4
Hong Kong is one of the richest state in the world with well educated citizens and well travelled professional class
rioting and violence by demonstrators is what happens when citizens are disenfranchised, their elected representatives are taken out and Chinese puppets are in the legislative councils
China, if u are listening, your citizens need an outlet so give them one
rule with wisdom from your centuries of wise rulers otherwise HK is but a harbinger of what is to.cime with your billion citizens
HK is indeed a labotory for what will happen next if u do not loosen up
4
The important part of this is that the West, addicted to cheap Chinese products, will not protest too much when Xi sends in the troops.
59
I respectfully disagree. The whole world is watching the Chinese Communist Party and it will reap what it sows.
21
@Jake
Foolish to think anyone will step on China's toes.
4
I just came back from a three-day trip to Hong Kong. While walking in Kowloon, we came across the thousands upon thousands of people marching. It was incredible to see. It was a peaceful demonstration, but I was so impressed to see the young people who made up the majority of those marching.
It was incredible to see and I wondered why aren't we doing the same?
98
Show your concern by boycotting Chinese goods.
10
China gives not one wit about Hong Kong or even Taiwan. China is simply biding its time.
Eventually those poor people will be brought into the fold whether they like it it not.
Like chastising a spoiled child, China will let them have their ‘tantrum ‘ and then enough is enough. They will be crushed unmercifully if only for their own good.
And the persistent troublemakers? They will be jailed and their families will be harassed. Indefinitely.
And China will continue doing what it does best, stealing America’s intellectual property.
8
Can the resistance win? Nope not a chance! If only because the PRC will drown HK in blood before it will let it go. They view repossession of HK has the righting of a great wrong. And what the west thinks about their actions in HK ? Doesn't mean a single solitary thing! It is a part of China and not the wests business PERIOD.
Some notes that will make me unpopular:
1) For all those calling on Ghandhi and pacifism will win? It won't! Simple question how far would Ghandhi have gotten if the Germany of that era had been running India? My guess? The nearest wall and a firing squad. Do you honestly believe the PRC is any LESS ruthless?
2) for all those calling for further resistance and the PRC will give in. Do you know the price these people will likely have to pay? I don't know if it's worth the price. That's not a judgement I or any of the commenters who don't live in HK should be making. It may be that some or all feel it's worth the likely cost of becoming involuntary organ donor or long term residents of a labor camp. I can't say. But calling for resistance when you stand to sacrifice nothing and the people you encourage to likely futile resistance will lose it all??? Well it is easy to call for someone else to sacrifice isn't it?
Personally speaking if I was one of the leaders of the protests? I would be getting out of dodge! If only because their future is very grim and likely very very short. The PRC is notoriously unforgiving.
5
As one NY Times article mentioned, once China was admitted to the World Trade Organization China doesn't need Hong Kong anymore because it doesn't have to use the Hong Kong route to to distribute its exports to the outside world.
As long as Xi Jinping, an extreme communist, is president of communist China, the Hong Kong residents can protest all they want but there is no chance Xi Jinping is conceding anything. Besides, Hong Kong will be soon under the fold of one law under Mainland China in 30 years. So we'll have to wait if Xi Jinping would have mellowed in 30 years time.
An example of this attitude, is China's response to the UN Tribunal ruling against them with regards to claiming almost the whole of the South China Sea. They ignored it. Xi Jinping will most probably do the same with the Hong Kong protests.
5
I think the US made a big mistake displacing Taiwan, a reliable and loyal ally, and going for the "one China" policy. At that time the West was very powerful in comparison to China and it would not have been difficult to impose on China the obligation to treat Taiwan and Hong Kong as neighbors to be respected. Both of them could actually be assets to China.
But for a small commercial advantage we gave up our loyalty to Taiwan and later Hong Kong, "married" mainland China, and now we are in the soup. It was like allowing a kitten free access to the chicken coop and pretending that the kitten would not eventually become a cat, thereby a threat to the chickens.
Well, as you sow, so shall you reap.
China's achievements are impressive. They have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. They can afford to be generous to both Taiwan and Hong Kong. But we who were very powerful at one time, failed to demand justice for Taiwan and Hong Kong. Now we are facing a big problem and our only recourse is to whine in liberal media! (smile).
5
The people of Hong Kong should never give up. Even if they fail, others will succeed. The totalitarian and theoretically non existent Communist Party of China is swimming against the current of reality, like all totalitarians. Our enormous and majestic universe works by one simple rule: entropy, that is creation, tends to a maximum. If this were not so, it would still be a cloud of hydrogen, or something even simpler, rather than the amazing system we inhabit. Human entropy is maximised by equality, so the key to human progress is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that demands that we all treat each other as equals. This Declaration is violated by all forms of supremacy, sexism, racism, and the obscene power arising from wealth, violence and corruption. Xi, the Pope and all the other autocrats in the world are the last gasp of a dying tradition, to be terminated by the cardinal virtues of faith in the real world, hope that we can make things better and love that makes the world turn.
3
What Hong Kong people see every day is the contrast between freedom of thought, relative to inside China and else where.
Back in 1984, I knew my speech and protests were of
no concern to anyone, because I was the average Joe and there was no way any government could keep track of all of us. This is no longer the case: technology. Dictators and would be dictators do not care about protesters, they see China as a role model of governace and a supplier of tools to keep their power, and their citizens under control.
We are all too busy earning a dollar to see all the small accumulative failures to maintain freedom. With the
end of the cold war, the end of colonialism, failure of Arab spring, the USA is returning to a new and isolationism.
We now approach the dawning climate apocalypse with
much indifference to the fate of those outside our border, except that they stay outside.
Sadly the fate of the world climate depends very much on high level cooperation between China and the USA. I would
be more optimistic about that if there was more sincere
dialog and less bombastic propaganda in both countries.
1
Sensible article by a prominent Chinese artist. China exploited its cheap labor to become a manufacturing country and their authoritarian establishment as well as affluent groups in the West benefitted from this expansion. Now Chinese president Xi is not going to loosen his grip easily and there maybe much trouble before things settle down.
2
"Will — can? — a free populace that wishes to remain free be annexed by an authoritarian machine?"
An armed populace will always give an invader pause. Taiwan remains free solely because they are armed. The people of Hong Kong should look to Taiwan's example.
This is the high tide of the Chinese Communist Party's rule; it will soon rapidly collapse.
2
I certainly hope the people of Hong Kong can succeed in retaining some degree of independence from the Xi government.
But to be honest we have to recognize two things. One is that China's record on human rights has always been somewhere between poor and non-existent. And secondly, this trend under Xi while more severe is not new.
The time to pressure China over its human rights record was 25 years ago when they sought admission to the WTO and were seeking foreign investment and favorable trade conditions.
The US should have and could have helped steer China toward better recognition of civil rights and liberties. But the lure of participating in the vast and rapidly growing market was too tempting.
When China pushed back on any rights issue, money ultimately decided our course of action. That money of course was rapidly increasing to the multi-billion dollar level, where it is today.
Now it may be too late. But at least the resolute people of Hong Kong have made it clear that they value their special status and are willing to fight to preserve it
The best we can do is find ways to support them however we can.
2
One question for you Mr. Ai: Yes I understand that people chase the ideals, but from what perspective you mentioned not a word about the violence created intentionally by some of the "democracy fighters". As a public figure, would you not condemn such ugly actions? I understand that the focus of this article might not be on walking readers through the whole incidents, but it still seems a bit one-sided coming out of a fighter and idealist like you. It seems like you've already given up upon the people in the mainland instead of trying to lead them in any possible way.
1
Yes it is one-sided. This side gets no attention in PRC. It’s the side of freedom.
u fail to understand
citizens riot when they are disenfranchised.
when they see their votes are useless when their elected representatives are taken out.
the ones breaking the law are the rulers of HK who allow China to not respect the contract they signed with the British to have one country two systems
they are now meddling with HKs system
that is a breach of contract law so the rules should go
China - heed this, HK is but a harbinger of what is to come in deep China as your billion Chinese wakes up to understand human rights are fundamental universal rights
start moving your money to swiss bank accounts as the end is nigh
Hong Kong is a blueprint for all the wannabee dictators around the world. The model is not new, it goes back decades if not centuries. It was used in a cruder version by other tyrants like Stalin and more recently Putin. What makes the difference here is that China is perfecting the model by adding a lot of technology in it: cameras, facial recognition, bots scouring the internet, apps on your phone, technology enhanced police... So the system becomes less crude and much more efficient.
3
Where human rights are regarded as less than inconvenient; where a brave people know what awaits them ... the moment they stop resisting, and where the rich in the West see China merely as a place to lower the costs of production; the script that will play is well known. The giant will wait for the protestors to expend themselves, to fall into fatigue, and for the world's attention to focus elsewhere. The giant is patient and relentless, and very, very determined.
What Hong Kong is for those outside is a dress rehearsal of what will happen if they become bound by the belt, and drawn down the road. Make no mistake, what happens in Act I in Hong Kong is foreshadowing of what will happen in Act III elsewhere. Ai Weiwei is right to compare China to a criminal underworld because that is how it operates, with a capo on top, and vested lieutenants who will do what it takes to advance their wealth and power - by any means necessary. In such a "society", human rights and fair courts are anathema, and the people of Hong Kong know this in their minds, hearts, and sinews. They know all to well what the giant will do, and so they resist as though their lives depend upon it, because they do.
In the West, where we still have reasonably fair courts and regard for human rights, we need to pay attention, and to support the very brave people who stand against tyranny, because what China wants for them today, they will extend further out tomorrow. We ignore them at our peril.
3
It is easy to criticize HK government dealing with the protesters. But it is very difficult for the HK police on the ground to do the right things to the protesting youngsters. The bottom line is that protesters need HK and HK doesn't need those protesters.
Mrs. Carrie Lam, the chief executive of HK, already postponed the legislation of the extradition law. She agreed to talk and discuss detailed issues with every level of HK society including students. But she would not agree to a preconditioned meeting to release all the rioters who broke the law during the protest.
Not until one is the victim, one will not feel a thing about the sadness and sorrow one suffers. The purpose of this amendment is to protect innocent civilian and expel criminals who committed crimes in foreign territories and escaped back to HK.
And Mr. Ai Weiwei will never experience any sorrow and sadness on this kind of unfortunate event.
1
simple - HK police has to understand that disenfranchised citizens will riot so let them
the ruling class are the ones to be arrested for not respecting the rule of law by not abiding to the deal they signed with the British which is one country two systems
so do not meddle with HKs system
Sadly, Hong Kong is no longer under lease by Great Britain and the well dressed communist pirates in Beijing will now grind any opposition into fine dust without as much as a whimper from the Brits.
File all complaints at:
10 Downing St, Westminster, London SW1A 2AA, UK
1
Sadly, this will not go well for Hong Kong. The Chinese authorities have great patience and a long-term view of big issues, so they will wait out the protests, then institute whatever laws they like, when it's to their advantage.
I'm sure there are other more restrictive measures that will follow too. As others have pointed out, communists cannot afford pockets of dissent and freedom fighters.
Unfortunately, this column will never be read by the Trumpsters. In the US we have our current state of elite right-wing politicians who care nothing of human rights. The GOP seeks to oppress dissent and voting rights. The Trumpsters fight on the surface but not so secretly want a police state like the Chinese. The Fox News crowd has no issue oppressing people.
2
Truly wolves adopting sheep clothing.
Nothing better then to dress in the finest garments to delude. But one should be wary to behave as befitting that dress.
One the british took Hong kong as a base for drug trafficking. The lease expired and Hong Kong was returned to China.
Two if your ideals are high, do not cast racial epithats against China.
Three do not wave the Union Jack nor drape it on the speakers podium. One wonders how americans would react if that happened in Congress.
Four. Speaking as a former subject of the Queen. Their interest is in your commercial value. They trampled on our human rights and jailed and killed where appropriate.
No. The Queen is not coming back.
Yes 2047 is but a blink of the eye away.
4
History suggests that the power structure of any political system operates to the benefit of those wielding power who will use any method including force to maintain control.
Without the use of force the United States and French revolutions as well as the revolts by Soviet the satellite states in Eastern Europe in the twentieth century would not have succeeded.
Though outside economic pressure might soften up Beijing, the reality is when push comes to shove; China will suppress by force any democratic movements, particularly those advancing the principle that the only legitimate rulers are the governed themselves.
Whether these realities and Enlightenment principles we adopted are sufficiently imbedded in the psyche of enough Hong Kong citizens to impel a revolution and instill a democratic system of their choice and under their control is an open question.
Mr Ai Weiwei
You may see
There come a day
Those in Hong Kong
Will organize and
Use their eyes and
Use their tongue
To rise up against
Oppression
Those in Hong Kong
Are very strong
It won’t be very long
Before they’ve achieved
What they’ve believed
That’s my impression
Mr. Ai Weiwei,
You write:
"At root, the confrontation with the West is not about trade. It is about two fundamentally incompatible political systems, two different understandings of what modern civilization is. The Chinese government’s model of human sacrifice in service of the wealth and power of the state (and of the super-elite) inevitably conflicts with democratic ideals. Western governments and businesses that piggyback on China’s system in search of their own profit should remind themselves: To know that your actions harm human dignity and to go ahead and continue them anyway is the essence of iniquity."
I would ask you, what is your understanding of what western democracy is? [Western Democracy] seems at odds with not only all it's citizens but the whole world. Who began industrialization, the rape and pillage of environment, the endless search for profit. There are also many similar cases of persecution, secret arrests, and police in the very places you write from in localities across the United States. Your story, there are many American youth that also fear persecution of the United States government just as you write. And what about the colonial history that has HK citizens believing themselves to be yellow while in so many ways acting white? Is not White the true color of the world power elite? Wouldn't it be a good thing if countries with people of color-yellow, brown, dark, took hold of the ship?
7
Hate to rain on the parade of holier than thou comments but here goes:
Prior to Western colonialism, none of the victim populations had Western style governments/democracies/“values”. Undoing colonialism does not have as a prerequisite the adoption of Western values.
Hong Kong was an asset gained by the drug trade. 19th century Britain was a narco state with the world’s most powerful navy and an army to boot. And the reality is, some in the USA made their fortunes from it (see the Delano family, the D in FDR). Based on American asset seizure laws, the Chinese could be demanding a whole lot more than the already agreed upon return of Hong Kong. If one doubts this, ask the question: how did all these Chinese antiquity art pieces wind up in British and Western museums?
Sounds like the so-called “liberal” commenters here are neocons in disguise, dedicated to regime change on a world-wide scale.
1
Hong Kong is a real problem for the Chinese leadership---totalitarian states cannot tolerate any form of democratic governance within their authoritarian walls---Problem of China is Hong Kong is no small state and no small economy---attempts at imposing one man rule in that region would be beyond ugly.
2
A frail man in India called Mahatma Gandhi proved people have more power than any autocrat and empire when people unite.
Mahatma ousted England, the most powerful empire at the time.
The only way people of the world will see equality and fairness is by uniting and stand up against the 1% holding all the wealth and politicians facilitating them.
Mahatma also said, "there is sufficiency in this world for man's need but not for man's greed", which holds true today!
2
@FactCheck Gandhi was opposed to abortion which is dear to progressive hearts. He was a deeply religious man who straddled conservatism and liberalism.
Compassionate conservatism, which George Bush promised but did not deliver, will have its day some time when the left and the right cease their quarrels and their fans become disenchanted with one sided views.
I’ll go out on a limb here: Hong Kong will submit to and to a large degree be subsumed by the mainland. Maybe not immediately, but guaranteed by the end of the term, and most likely sooner. We should be getting our heads around that now, not be surprised.
3
The communist authorities themselves fear that one day they will lose power. That’s why they’ve been increasing the surveillance and oppression of their citizens, while drumming up nationalist feelings in the hope that this emotional distraction will help to keep them in place.
The wealthy in China certainly have no faith in the current system. Those who can purchase property and obtain residence/citizenship in western countries as landing spots if/when things get tough.
The power of the Communist Party is based upon the lie that they are the only people fit to rule China. They know it’s a lie and fear that they will someday be swept from power as their brethren across the world have been.
The rulers in Beijing, then, fear nothing more than the love of democracy and freedom as shown by the peoples of Hong Kong, Taiwan and citizens like Ai Weiwei.
6
@Chris The difficulty is that we in America are so much in love with democracy and freedom that all our politics revolves around the freedom of those who are breaking our immigration laws. We are not even allowed to ask if someone is a citizen.
Perhaps China has too much order which can lead to oppression but we have too much disorder.
China has been building trains and airports while we have been busy invading countries. Watch this and weep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNzI-PL6TIc&t=336s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEX8vADhncU
Where is OUR money which could have bult similar trains? It is in Iraq and Afghanistan.
1
The world runs because of a balance between freedom and order. Both are needed. Without freedom, humans become cogs in a machine. Without order, there is no possibility of freedom.
Wei Wei is one of the most brilliant men on our planet. But is he capable of giving order its right place?
Is X'is China capable of giving freedom its right place?
6
It's funny how some journalists keep hoping that the Hong Kong protests have any impact on Chinese internal policies. You must be either uneducated or unable to read to hope that.
China is currently, according to the US Pentagon, holding 3 million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang re-education concentration camps. If you ever believed in the fairy tales that modern nations are unable to surpress free will or different cultures, or are unable to conquer and hold foreign nations, you must have watched too much Hollywood.
I strongly suggest to check out docu videos on those 3 million Uyghurs in China, to watch yourself how those indoctrinations work, to understand China and why modern China proves that modern nations can be much more efficient at surpressing other people than ever before, and that any Hong Kong what not is, of course, brave, but has almost no national meaning in China. Some scholars say that those Uyghurs camp foreshadows what our children will be dealing with, because it is striking how China proves that our Western optimism on rebellion and free will is naive.
3
Western elites would love to establish governing systems in their nations like that of mainland China, with its vast and growing surveillance apparatus, its "Social Credit System" to enforce obedience, its low wages for workers, strict censorship of dissident ideas, and religion of nationalist state capitalism. We've been trending that way for 40 years, ever since the Reagan/Thatcher revolutions declared open class warfare on the working classes. Thank you, Ai Weiwei, for bringing home the significance of the people's struggle in Hong Kong!
5
China is held together, rather than divided into several nations speaking several languages, by military force and the authoritarian Communist Party centered in Beijing. That is why the ruling authorities in Beijing cannot allow those in Hong Kong to assert much in the way of independence, why they oppress Buddhists in Tibet, and why they see an independent Taiwan as a threat. They have the power to crush such independence movements, and can be expected to use it.
2
@Penseur If we cannot even deal with unarmed migrants on our southern borders and are not allowed to ask if someone in the country is a citizen, how on earth are we going to stand up to China?
2
It's unlikely that much will change if China were to roll into Hong Kong. There will be a few protests internationally, but given time, all will be forgotten. Tiananmen Square is a symbol of 'China doesn't give a nickel'. Few if any Chinese or of Chinese origin know or care about the massacre. And these are those living in Western Societies. They repeat the Chinese line on Tibet. Smart people working as professors and who are now US citizens. Since a united front (TPP, TTIP) to confront the Chinese government has been abandoned, it's not likely that much will change. Hong Kong has transitioned from being a colony of the UK to being one of China.
3
I empathize with the people of Hong Kong. However, I have some emphathy for China. It was the west who plucked Hong Kong from China in the first place. It was the west who invaded China in the 1800's and used modern weaponry, gun powered, to attack China and humiliate them.
Ultimately it is this humiliation of China well over a century ago that contibuted to a divided Korea. China has a long history and thus a long memory of what the west did.
China is not going to let Hong Kong not be a part of its original homeland in all respects. It is not a question of whether it truly will be absorbed by China. It is when. I pray that China's patience continues and that China's ego does not get in the way of learning from the people of Hong Kong., their brothers and sisters.
3
@sbanicki
So what if Britain did humiliate China back in those days as you describe? Arguably, a proud civilization with a decaying order within invited just that. Britain did China a favour by plucking Hong Kong away from it into a separate sovereignty. Were it not for that you would not have these millions of mainly young people of Chinese ethnicity demanding that the government in Beijing respect their human and civil rights today. With historical hindsight it is truly a pity that the whole of China had not been annexed to the British Empire. Had that happened China would likely today be a functioning parliamentary democracy respectful of rule of law - much like India. Please do not send out mixed messages like that.
2
@sbanicki
Although you say you have empathy for the people of Hong Kong, your entire comment is void of any concern for the people of Hong Kong. Instead, it is full of such entities and ideas "the west," "China" (and here you speak of China in the 1800s or earlier in terms of nationhood that came later), "original homeland."
Ai Weiwei, on the other hand, does speak about "the people of Hong Kong," the specific young woman who threw herself to death, the other two young people who did the same, those young persons who have poured into the streets to protect themselves and their freedoms. He also speaks from experience of why their protests and demands are necessary.
2
President Trump admired how the Chinese government put down the Tienamen Square demonstrations. A friend of mine was in Tienamen Square at that time. He said China was a police state. Is that what Americans want now? Some perhaps see their own advantage in a police state. Or are they lulled into ignorance by the soporific of commercial culture?
4
Ai Weiwei's piece is both heartbreaking and a warning. I am afraid that it is true that the protesters will lose because the Chinese government/mafia is utterly determined to do whatever is necessary to accomplish their aims. Due to its economic and military power, and the complicit linkages with foreign corporations, and in this era of rising rightwing populism worldwide, the "success" of the "Chinese model" may well be an existential threat to democracy worldwide. The citizens, governments, and corporations of the world have a moral duty, and in the long term, a vital self-interest, in supporting Hong Kong's democracy movement.
2
I realize there is more to it, but the line below from this piece describing China sounds like it could apply to the US. The Republican tax cuts and Trumps attacking the press as an enemy of the people and his disregard for truth bring us even closer.
‘human sacrifice in service of the wealth and power of the state (and of the super-elite)’
4
The resistance won’t win. Hong Kong is part of China . Its freedoms will be eroded until it is like the rest of the country.
2
Is this really a battle between eastern and western ideals? It is a quaint notion from an earlier time but we, in the west, have also fallen victim to governments run by powerful thugs with little regard to their citizens.
The courage and collective action in Hong Kong should should not make us proud and self-satisfied that we live in the West. It should, instead, inspire us to follow their lead to protest the iniquity and dangerously restrictive laws like citizenship questions, roll back of a womam’s choice and affordable healthcare, and stop-and-frisk policies here.
8
Excellent comment. We here in the U.S. can learn from the people of Hong Kong that we must stand up to our current leadership. Leadership in name only because it is this Trump administration that is pulling the country down.
3
@William Taylor. What restrictions are you talking about? What can’t you do?
@Jackson
- We've lost our right to privacy.
Internet companies sell our personal data for profit, often by using cookies on our computers to track our activity.
- We can't negotiate as free people with banks or corporations. Corporations routinely deprive us of vital information when we enter into a business relationship with them, aided by weak regulations and lax enforcement. Many types of corporations are allowed to operate in as monopolies or near-monopolies, including cable operators and health insurers. (Blue Cross of Alabama, for example, provides 90 percent of the health insurance coverage in the city of Birmingham.) Americans have been forced to accept “arbitration clauses” and reject class action law suits from monopolistic forces that are heavily weighted in favor of the corporation. If they don't they're likely to be deprived of critical services like banking, power, and communications.
-We're losing the ability to rise up from poverty, earn a decent living, or work in the career of our choice. Median family income rose by 147%, college tuition and fees rose 439%.
- We've lost autonomy over our own bodies: Millions of Americans have to plead for needed treatment, then argue over a complex and error-prone system of copayments, deductibles, and medical bills denied for payment with incomprehensible explanations.
- Our American liberties end at the workplace door.
More employees are hired on a part-time or temporary basis to deny them rights and benefits.
3
NYT - please post the Chinese language original of this piece.
103
no matter what the citizens of hong kong do their days are numbered. in 2047 the chinese will take full control of hong kong, and then the party will be over. successful protest movements depend as much on the restraint of those in authority as they do on the bravery of the protesters. there are plenty of examples of both successful and unsuccessful protest movements. the difference between failure and success is the willingness of those in power to use force to massacre the protesters. in the case of India the british chose restraint in the end, and so India became a free country. in the case of the soviet union, restraint was also the order of the day, and so the soviet union once again became Russian and most of its vassal states became independent. now look at the examples of modern Russia, Syria and China. in each case those in power have shown no hesitation in murdering and massacring their citizens in order to retain power. so it will be in the case of hong kong. once the chinese are able to move troops into hong kong any protests will be met with unrelenting force. enabling the chinese to do this will be the abdication of the liberal west of its former commitment to human rights, and also its ability to employ military and economic power to deter authoritarian states from massacring their populations to stay in power.
41
Yes, all countries, including the United States, must recognize its limitations.
We should stand with the brave protestors of Hong Kong. As an American I would love to see some of our presidential candidates talk about this issue. Human Rights are fundamental and every other right depends on this. Not sure why it doesn't come up. We can tell a great deal about our politicians by gauging their commitment to human rights everywhere with no excuses and no exceptions. It would get my attention for sure.
118
@timesguy: We have no say about what happens in China. Any attempt to interfere will have the same effect that it has elsewhere -- to bring the locals together, despite their differences, to fight what they see as US imperialism.
3
“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.” Gandhi
132
@David "Power grows from the barrel of a gun". Mao
11
@George Nope, guns grow from power. If you don't have the power to keep together the organization that applies violence, all the guns in the world will be useless, or rather used against you.
"An army, you will say. But what shall force the army?"
Thomas Hobbes
4
And Mr. Weiwei resides in Beijing? This is certainly a very brave and honest man. I wish him well and hope he is not harmed.
51
A powerful statement. I hope it is widely circulated. Messages can tip the balances.
21
Can Hong Kong's resistance (2019) to China win?
No. Nor can any advanced freedom, liberty, and democracy movement whether by approach from left or right politics win today against any mass left (socialist/communist) or right wing (populist/nationalist) entity for the simple reason that in no society today is there an honest and clear articulation of what it means to have an advanced, sophisticated, freethinking, democratic society.
The forces of totalitarianism, conformism, are upon us and emanating from both the left and right in its mass and popular movements. The public and vocal left and right wing movements of today do not have enough honesty and integrity to understand that advanced, democratic society depends on acute insight into differences in capability between people, acute grasp of how to develop division of labor, that every advanced organization in a democratic society is a movement of various and complex parts, and that envy, jealousy, conformism, groupthink, mass, crowd, mob thinking must be kept to a minimum.
If a group of people have no honest understanding of what it means to keep a democratic society aloft then it's impossible to resist the forces of tyranny, totalitarianism, the populisms of left and right, whether socialistic society or nationalism. Hong Kong with respect to China, for all liberty and individuality of its people, simply has not demonstrated enough deep democracy, non-conformism, to resist China. Can any people today resist conformism?
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Taiwan has all the attributes of a free and robust democratic society. It’s economy is vibrant. It is a beacon of hope throughout Asia and perhaps the world. It’s people are highly educated, enlightened and civic minded. In my view, it is a laudable world-class culture and its governance, while imperfect is progressive and liberal. It’s President is visiting the United States and I wish her a warm welcome.
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@Jake. And she’s here to buy military jets.
@Jackson
Taiwan has close relationships with many countries and millions of tourists from them visit Taiwan every year. It is my hope that many more Americans choose to visit Taiwan and experience its culture without the ubiquitous security forces, cameras and fear one finds on the mainland. The people of Taiwan are fiercely democratic and consider themselves Taiwanese NOT Chinese. Over 85% reject unification with the mainland and the ploy of “one country two systems”. Taiwan is a precious jewel that must be protected by any means necessary - missiles, tanks, submarines, unmanned underwater ASW vehicles, and our navy and armies. The Chinese Communist Party and the PLA must be prevented from imprisoning 24 million wonderful people. They have never governed Taiwan and never will. They do not understand the Taiwanese love of freedom and democracy. Welcome President Tsai, come often, stay longer.
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Those persecuted by the Chinese police for their religion, political ideas, ethnic status, or forced to have abortions or sterilization under the One-child policy can seek asylum in the U.S. Some of China's bright and harassed people have found sanctuary in the U.S. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are islands with some freedom from the authority of China's communist party.
The democratic desires of the people continue despite the repression and denial of human rights by China. Chinese visitors see the freedoms of the West and long for these human rights in their own land.
How long can China continue to repress its own people? The contradictions of China may someday force a choice for its long suffering people. Dictatorship or freedom?
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“Western governments and businesses that piggyback on China’s system in search of their own profit should remind themselves: To know that your actions harm human dignity and to go ahead and continue them anyway is the essence of iniquity.” Amen.
Indeed, the CCP and its vast state security has monetized the practice of forcibly taking organs from prisoners jailed because of their religious or political beliefs. The total number of victims since the practice became a vast underground business might be just under 100,000. (Xi once said Chinese do not kill Chinese).
“A leading human rights organization is calling on Congress to investigate whether the forced organ harvesting practiced in China constitutes genocide.”
“The systematic, large-scale forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience in China has to be addressed. A genocide is not an internal affair of a single country, but a global affair of humankind,” Dr. Torsten Trey, executive director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), said in explaining the group’s call for a congressional investigation.
The issue of organ harvesting in China has gained prominence following the final judgment issued on June 17 by the China Tribunal, an independent people’s tribunal to inquire about forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. The tribunal was formed in London to address a gap in the ongoing investigations into organ harvesting in China.”
We must stop buying anything made in China.
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What a sober declaration of what a paper tiger China is, a corrupt state dictatorship; a Communist system that, under the pretext of serving society at large, is more than willing to sacrifice the individual. China, without human rights, is a weak sore loser, by choking off the creativity of it's own people, in not allowing them to think and do as their conscience dictates, and justice demands. Things being what they are, could peace ever be present, however desirable? Hong Kong has an advantage that mainland Chinese folks may not know, the freedom to make uo their own mind...and proceed accordingly. Now, Mr. Xi is a smart man, and surely knows the awful predicament he is in...by subjecting his people to a police state, for fear of exposing the truth of it's privileged, and corrupt, elites...at everybody else's expense. Ai Weiwei is a true patriot, his example a worthwhile endeavor to follow. He knows, more than anybody, that human arrogance in thinking a given fellow is indispensable and the only one able to resolve our problems, is hogwash. Some humility, for the little we know, may yet give rise to enlightened individuals alternating the seat of power and 'feel' for each other, and that no chain can be stronger than it's weakest link (the 'golden rule').
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I wish they could win, but China is an immovable force, that preys upon its own people. Our country is moving in that direction, as well. Another cult of personality.
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The people of Hong Kong should arm themselves to repel PLA tanks and troops. An armed populace gives every invader pause. Taiwan stands as a shining example.
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How wonderful to hear a clear articulation of the values my Western society has to offer and is slowly frittering away. Many years ago I was traveling on a train from Canton to Hong Kong. It was not dangerous for a Westerner in those days. I stood up and said it was wrong what was happening, I shouted: "why don't you stand up." It was such a cheap thing that I did, safely on my way to Hong Kong. A dignified, beautiful lady quietly said, "You are right." I felt ashamed. She had put her life on the line for these values I was spouting. Mr. Ai is similar to that dignified, beautiful lady. I salute him and those many others who are indeed the real people of China.
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So eloquently written. I fear for their futures when 2047 zooms in and how China will brainwash the next generation born, through the State primary and secondary school education system in Hong Kong, so they conform to Chinas thinking in 2047 and become fully compliant to their Chinese puppet masters.
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Mr. Ai is argulably an artistic genius, but he badly misreads history. The Hong Kong protesters' "human dignity" victory in the face of Beijing is temporary, which is to say they have won nothing at all. We are days or weeks from PLA tanks rolling across the freshly-opened HZMB and death on an inhuman scale raining down on Hong Kong. The people have openly rebelled against a world power with no constraints, legally or philisophically, and only knows threat and response. Comparisons to Gandhi and MLK are worst than absurd, there is no populous self-constrained by Western humanist value to appeal to for support. Beijing has been threatened and humiliiated, and it is a lizard with modern weapons. Hong Kongers will die in massive numbers, the glorious Mao-era reeducation camps will be re-opened, and the city will be emptied. Someone recently pointed out that China no longer needs Hong Kong economically, and it doesn't . So it is much more valuable to them as an object lesson to other would-be rebels and an open threat to Taiwan to ensure its obsequious silence, if not forced reunification. The US and the West (including the 'Western' powers of the Far East, Australia and Japan) will wring hands and whine through the UN, but do nothing. All foreigners and whatever Hong Kongers who can, should leave. Now.
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Mr. Weiwei is a man of great courage and eloquence, but I don't share his optimism about the possibility of "winning."
Hong Kong is on a steady march towards authoritarian rule and there is little anyone can do to stop it. The U.S. and Europe are having our own struggles with democracy lately, and short of threatening war, how could we get China to back down?
Hong Kong is a prize possession and if I had a friend who lived there, I would urge them to do whatever they could to get out. Not an uplifting comment, I know, but I don't think I'm wrong.
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I admire the bravery of the protesters. And they are 100% correct to fear the gradual stripping away of their human rights. But I have seen this play out before. Remember the surge of protests on Tibet. Press coverage and protest were all the rage in the West. Until the west got bored and moved on. And the Chinese government knows this. They will back down for a bit, Maybe even a decade. But they are not giving up on their plans. They play the long game and they play it well. They will slowly grind down the protesters, they will never give up. Hong Kong and Taiwan will eventually become part of the Chinese mainland as far as government is concerned. Eventually any concessions the Chinese government allows them to have at this current time will be removed. The west will grumble and complain but it will happen.
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There was an error in translation here. The plainclothes police did not “act outside the law”. Plainclothes police in China are always protected by the law of China. The law of China is still whatever is convenient for the communist party in order for the party to keep its dynasty strong.
Remember China is in a dynastaic model of civilization. There have been over 30 dynasties and non of them have lasted forever. The communist dynasty will fall eventually. Unfortunately, when it does, there will be a period of intense suffering and civil war while the next dynasty arises. This is one reason why the leaders of China are so intent on keeping an iron grip. The other of course is corruption and the disproportionate accumulation of wealth among the ruling class.
The epic poem, romance of the three kingdoms, starts with: the empire long divided, must unite, long united must divide. Thus it has always been. This was written over 500 years ago and it is an appropriate reminder that every dynasty in China will fall. Then once again the economy will collapse, then when it recovers will occur at a breakneck pace that shocks the world. As it always has.
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"The Chinese government’s model of human sacrifice in service of the wealth and power of the state (and of the super-elite) inevitably conflicts with democratic ideals."
One could say just as accurately that "the American capitalist model of human sacrifice in service of the wealth and power of the investor class (and the super-elite) inevitably conflicts with democratic ideals."
The Chinese and the American elites have more in common than they would like us to understand. The ruling elite in neither country care one wit about the common good.
Let me express appreciation to Ai Weiwei for the personal sacrifices he has made to move Chinese society towards more human rights. He has shown himself to be a man of much courage and has made great personal sacrifices and that is to be admired. But let's not miss the similarities between the drive of the elites in both societies to protect and expand their power and wealth at the expense of most people in their respective societies.
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@Che Beauchard. Yes, we have our own super-elite and they are corrupt, hypocritical and completely uninterested in the Common Good.
But the U.S. is also a democracy (at least for now) and has elections and a tradition of the rule of law.
This is an ugly time in our country, but it is disingenuous to compare the U.S. and China with regards to democracy and human rights.
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@Sparky
I stand by what I wrote: "The Chinese and the American elites have more in common than they would like us to understand. The ruling elite in neither country care one wit about the common good."
I did not claim the two systems are interchangeable, but that they have more in common that they would like us to understand.
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Can Hong Kong's Resistance Win?
The depends on the definition of "win". In the short run they can kill the extradition legislation, but I don't think there is any hope that Carrie Lam will step down, nor will the police be disciplined, nor those arrested will be set totally free, nor calling them rioters will be reversed. After all Carrie is but a tool of the central government. Remember June 4 massacre 30 years ago and the promise of no accounting after the autumn (秋後算帳)?
In the long run, say 28 years later, the guarantee of "one country, two system" and the "high degree of autonomy" ends and the central government can - and probably will - do whatever they want with Hong Kong. Don't forget that guarantee was not for the freedom of the people in Hong Kong but for the financial usefulness of Hong Kong to the then central government of China. As that usefulness diminishes the less they will need Hong Kong.
Even then for the West and the human right activists to think that Hong Kong would become a beacon of hope for the people of China for freedom and real reform is always unrealistic. The creeping integration of Hong Kong with the mainland during the past 22 years has proved that beyond any doubt.
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Remember Xinjiang. The feelings and wishes of the protesters in Hong Kong are natural, but they need to be clever. If they let their justified frustration get the better of them, the mainland government will feel obligated to send in troops, knowing that the rest of the world will complain, but won't stop doing business with China. And probably many governments will feel too intimidated even to complain.
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@Stephen Merritt Xinjiang is a little long in the tooth, China has moved on to operate more effectively consistent with Western values of human rights and free markets and blah blah blah. Tiananmen Square: anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 people were slaughtered like animals by the PLA and the "police" (with tanks and automatic weapons). Wait for it.
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Mr. Ai Weiwei is a fortunate person with talent. Due to his artistic accomplishment, he can enjoy his above and beyond-normal-people status in China. But Mr. Ai seems to forget about his other 1.4 billion Chinese fellow that very few of them can be like him to enjoy the life style or good living.
China's priority can be seen in social harmony and middle class living standard for every citizen. China spends a great deal of time and effort to improve environment, education, infrastructure, economy, and income inequality.
HK is important for China but with less urgency for the attention of central government. Mrs. Carrie Lam, the chief executive of HK, is capable enough to handle current protest and youth unrest. While there was 1/7 of HK population in protest, but 6/7 of population stayed at home in silence with occasional burst out to support the government if the youth movement turned to riot.
I am glad that Mr. Ai Weiwei spoke out. He is a smart guy who should have his own opinion on many things and his own voice to be heard by many.
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@Usok
I think you miss Ai Weiwei's point. He's precisely saying that it's not about life style or good living.
His point is that human values (freedom, justice and dignity) are for everyone. Those values are consistent with economic well-being and it is a myth pushed by the Chinese government to suggest that you must give up personal freedoms to have economic security (i.e., the party is the only path to prosperity).
It's also disingenous to suggest that the folks staying at home were against the protests. Given the minuscule size of the counterprotests, it's likely the opposite.
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Mr. Ai Weiwei is a man of great courage. Having already been "disappeared" by the security state and beaten within an inch of his life, he still speaks out against the horrors of authoritarian rule. And he knows there is nothing, not even a paper-thin barrier to that horror being revisited upon him in an instant if the word comes down from above to haul him in.
"To know that your actions harm human dignity and to go ahead and continue them anyway is the essence of iniquity." This is the sentence directed at Americans and others in the West. Gradually, our commitment to the protection of human rights, the freedom to express ideals and ideas, the freedom of the press, the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness is being eroded. Business and commercial elites who have used their power to "educate" us all in the ways of greed and ill-will now protect themselves with legislation and "free trade agreements" which allow them to take more and more from the economy and give back less and less. How can this end well?
While we love to lecture China on the rule of law -- and there's much to merit such upbraiding -- we are now faced with Trump, Epstein, et al. Anyone who thinks there's equal justice under our laws is willfully naive.
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@Lennerd The primary enemies of freedom and personal dignity are not business or commercial enterprises, which are significantly controlled by market forces. The Chinese government's iniquity is not in selling cheap goods priced too high or too low or not paying fair wages. Like all authoritarian states, the Chinese government is comprised of thugs who use the police powers of the state to enhance their own interests. We may moralistically rail against "greed", but Weiwei is facing physical assaults from agents of his government. We should not forget that the machinery of state power is always the greatest threat to humanity.
There 's socialism with democracy and socialism without democracy; but I think that the future curves toward some form of wealth sharing with the common people. Then comes self-respect and human dignity, whether within an autocratic system or an open society. It all comes down to the wealth sharing.
Just as I think, to the amusement of my family and friends, that war as a tactic of governments will eventually die out. When people are fed and housed and can afford healthcare and education, they will demand the same for all their brothers and sisters around the world. The reasons for war diminish as the world's wealth is shared.
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@betty durso sure, but socialism has little to do with the ultra-capitalist China we see today... the CCP is 'communist' in name only, and certainly not benign agents in favour of slightly more wealth redistribution as any proper 'socialist' party is... there's really no point in comparing.
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The Chinese's love for the nation is not without merit. Time and time again, the UN has written about China's great economic "miracle". China, in a few decades, lifted more people out of poverty than the world has EVER seen, by ANY civilizations. Folks went from living without a fridge, without shoes, clothes, etc, to being able to work in a factory and being able to afford all of the above. Folks went from without getting healthcare, to having healthcare brought to them by the "evil" communist government. Folks went from without owning a modern apartment, to buying ones built by the planned economy.
This line by the author, "The Chinese government’s model of human sacrifice in service of the wealth and power of the state (and of the super-elite)", so misleading and does not convey the full picture of China. Not that I expected much from an Opinion piece by a political dissident with his own agenda to paint China as bad as possible, but folks should at least be aware of the other side of the coin.
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@Camilla Yes, yes, the CCP improved the lives of many Chinese people through the quasi-capitalist innovations of the reform era (although China now has one of the worst cases of income inequality in the world, though admittedly not as bad as Hong Kong's). The commenter is voicing the official refrain of modern Chinese triumphalism, and note that this is expressed in purely economic terms. The Party has long abandoned doctrinaire communism in favor of a self-preserving formula of consumerism + nationalism.
Hongkongers, though, know that a good life is not measured purely in cold, fiscal metrics. In part because they already have seen it partially enacted, they demand a civil society that includes genuinely democratic representation, freedom of speech, a free press, an independent judiciary, and a wide open space for all kinds of cultural expression, and that excludes arbitrary arrest, censored access to information, kangaroo courts, and an authoritarian rule by law.
In fact, many, many mainland Chinese citizens also desire these things. They just aren't permitted to say so.
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@Camilla maybe some of these points are valid if you take the growth-at-all costs view (and assume that there was no other way to generate this level of development)... But focusing purely on the economic side ignores the unpleasant history and gives it a free pass - the purges of the 'cultural revolution', the present environmental degradation caused by a huge and unsustainable population, and pushing to become the world's factory, and the consistent human rights abuses, and developent of a quite frightening authoritarian surveillance state. It takes a rather spuriously-premised outcome-utilitarian argument to even try to justify these means...
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@Camilla--That economic miracle was paid for by millions of lives cut short. Everybody knows that. I would not define it as a "miracle."
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I think that if China still wants to be considered as the new rising superpower, or the best alternative to the US, it has to give Hong Kong the freedom it deserves until 2047, because it’s the only way for Xi Jinping to be seen as a country which can be trust. Instead, if he wants to be isolated from the rest of the world he can go on beating citizens and throwing tear gas over protesters.
The BRI can’t work if you’re excluded from the civilized society. China is already a unique country, where globalization hunger and authoritarianism meet, but Hong Kong is showing the real strength of freedom and democracy, thanks to the power and the energy of young people like Joshua Wong, who have understood that kneeling in front of autocrats is not the right solution. If you keep fighting peacefully, or if you try to avoid using violence, you will surely gain a moral advantage. The political and social ones will come on the way.
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Can a society be considered oppressive if its citizens do not chafe at all at their treatment, and in fact invite it? Xi has been able to institute his total surveillance society with nary a peep of protest from China's 1.4 billion people. For every dissident, there are probably a million who are happy to submit to the yoke if the are guaranteed the trappings of prosperity. Being assigned a "social credit score" by faceless algorithms that will haunt you your entire life is evidently a small price to pay for the right to be a giddy consumer of stuff and more stuff. How long will Chinese citizens be willing to internalize the Party's behavioral constraints? At least, until there's no more stuff.
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@stan continople
Like all traditional societies, including those of the pre-modern west, China has always valued stability (now restyled "the [st]ability to consume, to get ahead") over what European philosophers have deemed more
"enlightened" values, always subject to robust, open contest.
Two points:
1. The assessment of stability is made by the vast majority of ethnic Han. Hence, minorities are expected simply to tow the line, 'integrate' (witness the gross, ham-fisted "re-education" of Muslim citizens in Xinjiang).
2. China has no intention to educate its youth to think; what matters is belief in the promise of permanent stability. No public examination of the assumptions of the CCP is possible. While a sort of stasis might hold for a time (as long as many citizens perceive their prospects are improving), eventually, it may well disintegrate. Since the Party presents itself as wholly responsible for the state of the nation, when that state founders, who but the Party will be deemed at fault?
Many Chinese may regard the American election cycle as a circus, while, from a western perspective, China is in need of guarding against severe arterial sclerosis.
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@stan continople
Here in the US, we still have some freedom, but the equivalents of social credit scores are rapidly progressing. Credit ratings, delving in to your old Facebook entries, NSA phone records, internet surveillance, cameras, facial ID, drivers license databases, DNA databases. Did you know, your e-book tracks precisely what pages you read, and when. Your phone apps know what aisle you're in in the store, and they report it to eager brokers who sell you to anyone. Your new car tracks everything you can imagine and reports it. Curiously, it's the government that does the least surveillance! But it can buy all that info if it chooses to.
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@An American in Sydney
To quote Calvera, the bandit leader: “If God did not want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.” That could have been a quote from Chairman Xi regarding the mainland Chinese.
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