Do you support Spielberg's protest?

[RSS News]

Steven Spielberg withdraws as an artistic adviser to the Olympics over China's role in Darfur. Is he right to do so?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say)

[Cold]

I do not know the details of he's reasoning behind this decision, but there are many human rights issues that need to be addressed in China. If he has done so for these reasons in regards to human rights, then yes I would support that protest.

[Edelweiss]

Spielberg rightfully is criticising China's imperialist ambitions in Dafur, although he certainly wouldn't use the term "imperialism".

See http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5584

[Wanted Man]

Spielberg filmed the Indy movies in Egypt and Sri Lanka, neither of which are regimes that care much about human rights. But I guess he's just being a good American. Or a fighter against Chinese imperialism, if you will!

[Comrade_Scott]

sure... just so long as he also denounces the US for its many crimes and sponsored coups, the IMF which puts in place immposible regulations (again US backed) Australia, Japan etc, if he denounces these people as well then hell yea ill support him

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Or a fighter against Chinese imperialism, if you will!

I know, right?

What a sad joke.

Leave it to liberals to line up alongside their imperialists in the name of "human rights."

The U.S. has caused untold deaths around the world. It's currently carrying out all sorts of atrocities. Maybe he'll decide not to film in the U.S. any more?

[Edelweiss]

I never said Spielberg is not a total hypocrite. Nevertheless I think he is totally right pointing out and criticising China's involvement in the Dafur civil war. It's quiet sad that a bourgeois liberal is doing this before some self-proclaimed "anti-imperialists".

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

What about the role of the U.S. in the situation in Darfur? Why are liberals so willing to condemn China, while the reality of U.S. involvement in the area goes unspoken.

China is not imperialist. Even if it were, Spielberg should criticize "his own" imperialists first. Of course, liberals don't do that sort of thing..

[jake williams]

Darfur is a horrible place right now and China's got a lot of guilt. It's extremely important to carefully and consciously bring attention to it and possible solutions, it's an emergency, though sending in the Marines, of course, ain't exactly going to save the day.

If he has personal moral conviction he can't really get over, then I can hardly criticize him for it, you know? If he's not okay with working with China because of this, that's his own thing. And it's not like he's going all "Darfur!" for money at this point - though it's certainly the Issue of the Day, which is extremely disturbing, because the whole American Liberal deal is that you pick something every couple years and that's the Important Issue that you get all excited about and every so often one of 'em'll cheer "We should save them because we're really good!" and their buddies'll be all "Yeah!".

I hate everyone.

[Geronimo Pratt]

The U.S. has a role in funding the Sudan People's Liberation Army (the SPLA) through Uganda and other African proxies. Basically to destabilize an Islamic government in the region and install a U.S. protectorate.

U.S. Terrorism in the Sudan

[SouthernBelle82]

I agree. I would probably do the same thing if I was in his situation.

I do not know the details of he's reasoning behind this decision, but there are many human rights issues that need to be addressed in China. If he has done so for these reasons in regards to human rights, then yes I would support that protest.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

The truth is this: if you're in the U.S. and you're out there criticizing China for "human rights" violations, you're lining up with your own imperialists, who would love to see nothing short of the destruction of a growing-China.

If you consider yourself any sort of working class partisan, you're responsibility lies in opposing your "own" imperialists with all of your might. Regime change begins at home.

[Bilan]

The truth is this: if you're in the U.S. and you're out there criticizing China for "human rights" violations, you're lining up with your own imperialists, who would love to see nothing short of the destruction of a growing-China.

If you consider yourself any sort of working class partisan, you're responsibility lies in opposing your "own" imperialists with all of your might. Regime change begins at home.

...?
That seems more like making excuses to not criticize Chinas human rights violations.
We should stand with neither the US imperialists, or the Chinese government, both of which are oppressive regimes.

[Hiero]

I don't support Spielberg, it is a moronic move. Really rich movie famous people shouldn't get into politics unless they bave a firm grasp of what they are doing. All this is done is draw attention away from US imperialism, people will actually think they are doing something by opposing China.

[Vanguard1917]

The truth is this: if you're in the U.S. and you're out there criticizing China for "human rights" violations, you're lining up with your own imperialists, who would love to see nothing short of the destruction of a growing-China.

Well pointed out.

A key responsibilty of progressives in the West should be to oppose their governments' attempts to intervene in the affairs of non-Western countries. The bulk of today's "progressives" and "radicals" are doing the direct opposite of this, calling on the West (and China!) to "do more" abroad. Western liberals are among the most enthsiastic supporters of imperialism today.

We should stand with neither the US imperialists, or the Chinese government, both of which are oppressive regimes.

I'm no friend of the Chinese government, but i stand 100% with China's right to self-determination. The same goes for Sudan and any other non-Western state. I consider this to be the most basic principle of a genuine anti-imperialist stance.

Westerners going on about China's human rights violations might seem "radical" to the politically naive. In reality, though, as CdL pointed out, they merely provide Western states with greater encouragement to flex their muscles abroad.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Besides, opposing your own imperialists (who would love to destroy a growing China, as I said) is not the same thing as supporting the Chinese government.

Of course this isn't only dangerous for people in the U.S... a key part of Australia's imperialist drive has been drumming up anti-Chinese feelings among Australians.

[jake williams]

We do need to be extremely conscious and concerned about the growing propaganda offensive against China, it's really almost verging on racism. This whole scam about "They're trying to poison our kids with lead!" is utter nonsense, and I think this is something we can't just ignore.

The reason that nothing's been done isn't a lack of attention, it's a lack of interest. Idealists love to imagine that if "only people knew", the genocides and atrocities would be stopped. The reality, however, is much uglier. We know what's going on, we just can't be bothered to do anything about it. And so it will remain as long as our society is predicated on the ideal of "benevolent" self-interest.

This is partly true. But partly Darfur is just hella complex, and like most, maybe every bad situation in the world, the old fallback "Throw some Marines at it!" obviously doesn't work. Part of the problem with Darfur is that no one's sure exactly what to do (there are some possible ideas and I'd like to hear if you've got any), but even were there will, which there isn't enough of, it's hard to know what to do with it.

[SouthernBelle82]

The fact still remains however that there is poisoned goods (not just toys!) coming from China. It has nothing to do with racism. It's about competence and responsibility. And they do have a bad human rights record. You can't just blindly ignore things.

We do need to be extremely conscious and concerned about the growing propaganda offensive against China, it's really almost verging on racism. This whole scam about "They're trying to poison our kids with lead!" is utter nonsense, and I think this is something we can't just ignore.

[SouthernBelle82]

Oh and all of y'all saying crap about Spielberg and China and imperialism need to look at the original post again. Spielberg is boycotting because of their ties to Darfur and what's going on there. So before you start talking about Spielberg being ignorant look at yourself first. Doy. This is about putting pressure on China to help stop the genocide in Darfur which IS STILL GOING ON! This is about people dying. Not about poisoned goods or imperialism.

[PRC-UTE]

The truth is this: if you're in the U.S. and you're out there criticizing China for "human rights" violations, you're lining up with your own imperialists, who would love to see nothing short of the destruction of a growing-China.

If you consider yourself any sort of working class partisan, you're responsibility lies in opposing your "own" imperialists with all of your might. Regime change begins at home.

Right- if not based in China but an imperialist country, and you try to put pressure against China, that objectively results in strengthening your own ruling class. That's a fact, no matter what your subjective intentions are.