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9th August 2013, 10:57
http://www.systemiccapital.com/chinese-university-students-embracing-maoism-in-backlash-against-social-inequality/
Chinese university students embracing Maoism in backlash against social inequality
August 7, 2013
By admin (http://www.systemiccapital.com/author/admin/)
http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2013/08/06/16/48/431-GPNlN.Em.91.jpeg
SHANGHAI On the campus of Beijing Normal University, professors say theyve noticed a trend that worries them: students embracing radical leftism. They advocate a return to the socialist state that Communist Party founder Mao Zedong favored and that Chinese leaders for the last generation have tried to put behind them.
The students wear pins with pictures of Mao and carry bags with the former Communist leaders famous quotations, such as serve the people.
[...]
How big a movement the new left represents is unknown, but in a country where political thought is strictly controlled, social inequality and government corruption are epidemic and the job market for recent college graduates is considered poor, academics who are closest to the phenomenon admit to fears that it represents a dangerous split in society.
They are either extreme leftists or extreme rightists, one professor at the university said of her students, requesting anonymity out of concern that speaking about politics might result in retribution from the government. When they have differences, there is no dialogue between them. This is a worrisome phenomenon and also some reflection of the split in society.
In general, there are more rightists than leftists, she said, but the leftists are very left.
There is widespread discontent among students with inequality and corruption, plus frustrations in their own lives, said Yang Dali, the faculty director at the University of Chicagos Beijing center. It is highly understandable that there would be a leftist sentiment.
The rise of a new left comes against a backdrop of decades of Chinas ruling class allowing more economic freedom. But advocates of the new left say that 30 years of an export-oriented economy thats brought hundreds of millions of people from rural areas to cities to fill low-wage jobs in assembly plants has led to extreme inequality and corruption.
We emphasize that reform and opening to the outside world does not benefit the common people, said Cui Zhiyuan, a professor at Tsinghua Universitys school of public policy and management whos known as one of the founders of Chinas new left movement.
The movement has had a tenuous relationship with the government. The ouster last year of Bo Xilai, the party boss in Chongqing, whose government had instituted policies to support the citys poor, an audacious anti-corruption campaign and the resurrection of the singing of Mao-era red songs in public squares, was seen as a blow to leftists, who considered Bo a champion for their cause. Today, leftist websites such as Utopia, which strongly supports Bo remain shuttered.
[...]
On social media, theres an increase of pro-Maoist commentary as well as vitriolic criticism of liberal scholars who advocate further market-oriented reforms, democracy, free speech and human rights. Last autumn, during anti-Japanese protests that erupted over a territorial dispute between the countries, many young people carried portraits of Mao. The new leftists and the neo-liberals, they hate each other, said Lu Xinyu, a left-leaning professor in Fudan Universitys journalism school. There are a lot of lies told by neo-liberals. A very significant characteristic of them is to always see America as a kind of utopia and that China should meet that standard, but America is facing a serious crisis.
[...]
But many are unwilling to have their identities known. A member of a Maoist student group called Centimeter Sunshine, at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northern China, recalls that the group had only about a dozen members when it was established in 2009. Now there are hundreds, he said, asking, however, that he not be identified because he feared retribution.The group reads books on Marxism and travels to rural areas to study social injustice. Sometimes they sing red songs. Many support Bos Chongqing model. We get together and discuss issues in China, like government ethics, and lack of fairness and justice, the student said. I dont think Americas culture or thoughts have any advanced parts. We still need to rely on the Communist Party of China and the system to come back to the core of serving the people.
The group has faced opposition. In June, other students drafted a petition asking the university to ban the group. Centimeter Sunshine tells members that China has been hijacked by pro-capitalist rightists, the letter said. They have openly showed support for Bo Xilai, and they hugely poison the minds of modern college students.
[...]
What worries me, he added, is that I have heard many similar groups are at other universities.
MORE
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/06/3546268/among-chinas-students-some-hope.html
Chinese university students embracing Maoism in backlash against social inequality
August 7, 2013
By admin (http://www.systemiccapital.com/author/admin/)
http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2013/08/06/16/48/431-GPNlN.Em.91.jpeg
SHANGHAI On the campus of Beijing Normal University, professors say theyve noticed a trend that worries them: students embracing radical leftism. They advocate a return to the socialist state that Communist Party founder Mao Zedong favored and that Chinese leaders for the last generation have tried to put behind them.
The students wear pins with pictures of Mao and carry bags with the former Communist leaders famous quotations, such as serve the people.
[...]
How big a movement the new left represents is unknown, but in a country where political thought is strictly controlled, social inequality and government corruption are epidemic and the job market for recent college graduates is considered poor, academics who are closest to the phenomenon admit to fears that it represents a dangerous split in society.
They are either extreme leftists or extreme rightists, one professor at the university said of her students, requesting anonymity out of concern that speaking about politics might result in retribution from the government. When they have differences, there is no dialogue between them. This is a worrisome phenomenon and also some reflection of the split in society.
In general, there are more rightists than leftists, she said, but the leftists are very left.
There is widespread discontent among students with inequality and corruption, plus frustrations in their own lives, said Yang Dali, the faculty director at the University of Chicagos Beijing center. It is highly understandable that there would be a leftist sentiment.
The rise of a new left comes against a backdrop of decades of Chinas ruling class allowing more economic freedom. But advocates of the new left say that 30 years of an export-oriented economy thats brought hundreds of millions of people from rural areas to cities to fill low-wage jobs in assembly plants has led to extreme inequality and corruption.
We emphasize that reform and opening to the outside world does not benefit the common people, said Cui Zhiyuan, a professor at Tsinghua Universitys school of public policy and management whos known as one of the founders of Chinas new left movement.
The movement has had a tenuous relationship with the government. The ouster last year of Bo Xilai, the party boss in Chongqing, whose government had instituted policies to support the citys poor, an audacious anti-corruption campaign and the resurrection of the singing of Mao-era red songs in public squares, was seen as a blow to leftists, who considered Bo a champion for their cause. Today, leftist websites such as Utopia, which strongly supports Bo remain shuttered.
[...]
On social media, theres an increase of pro-Maoist commentary as well as vitriolic criticism of liberal scholars who advocate further market-oriented reforms, democracy, free speech and human rights. Last autumn, during anti-Japanese protests that erupted over a territorial dispute between the countries, many young people carried portraits of Mao. The new leftists and the neo-liberals, they hate each other, said Lu Xinyu, a left-leaning professor in Fudan Universitys journalism school. There are a lot of lies told by neo-liberals. A very significant characteristic of them is to always see America as a kind of utopia and that China should meet that standard, but America is facing a serious crisis.
[...]
But many are unwilling to have their identities known. A member of a Maoist student group called Centimeter Sunshine, at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northern China, recalls that the group had only about a dozen members when it was established in 2009. Now there are hundreds, he said, asking, however, that he not be identified because he feared retribution.The group reads books on Marxism and travels to rural areas to study social injustice. Sometimes they sing red songs. Many support Bos Chongqing model. We get together and discuss issues in China, like government ethics, and lack of fairness and justice, the student said. I dont think Americas culture or thoughts have any advanced parts. We still need to rely on the Communist Party of China and the system to come back to the core of serving the people.
The group has faced opposition. In June, other students drafted a petition asking the university to ban the group. Centimeter Sunshine tells members that China has been hijacked by pro-capitalist rightists, the letter said. They have openly showed support for Bo Xilai, and they hugely poison the minds of modern college students.
[...]
What worries me, he added, is that I have heard many similar groups are at other universities.
MORE
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/06/3546268/among-chinas-students-some-hope.html