this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
134 points (100.0% liked)

news

24380 readers
1012 users here now

Welcome to c/news! Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember... we're all comrades here.

Rules:

-- PLEASE KEEP POST TITLES INFORMATIVE --

-- Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed. --

-- All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. --

-- If you are citing a twitter post as news please include not just the twitter.com in your links but also nitter.net (or another Nitter instance). There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/ or archive them as you would any other reactionary source using e.g. https://archive.today/ . Twitter screenshots still need to be sourced or they will be removed --

-- Mass tagging comm moderators across multiple posts like a broken markov chain bot will result in a comm ban--

-- Repeated consecutive posting of reactionary sources, fake news, misleading / outdated news, false alarms over ghoul deaths, and/or shitposts will result in a comm ban.--

-- Neglecting to use content warnings or NSFW when dealing with disturbing content will be removed until in compliance. Users who are consecutively reported due to failing to use content warnings or NSFW tags when commenting on or posting disturbing content will result in the user being banned. --

-- Using April 1st as an excuse to post fake headlines, like the resurrection of Kissinger while he is still fortunately dead, will result in the poster being thrown in the gamer gulag and be sentenced to play and beat trashy mobile games like 'Raid: Shadow Legends' in order to be rehabilitated back into general society. --

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Image is of the Freedom Band performing at the end of the Second National Congress of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, sourced from this article. The same article contains most of the information used in the preamble below.


A little over a week ago, the Socialist Movement of Ghana concluded its second National Delegates Congress in Aburi, gathering 300 delegates from across the country. There, they deepened their commitment to the working class of Ghana and committed to intensifying political education and organization at the grassroots. The SMG itself decided to not electorally contest the 2024 elections in Ghana, but still presented a manifesto, and nonetheless managed to get two SMG members parliamentary seats in the National Democratic Congress.

Anyway, back to the National Delegates Congress: the delegates agreed that the Western imperialist system is now under a profound crisis, in which the likely future is a heightening of brutality, chaos, and resource plundering - a future which must be resisted and organized against.

To summarize their various statements and condemnations:

  • Inside Ghana: a commitment to women's rights, youth empowerment, and environmental protection.
  • A condemnation of the resource plundering of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by imperialist powers.
  • A salute to the people of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, in their campaign against outside imperial control in the Sahel.
  • A condemnation of Morocco's illegal occupation of the Western Sahara, and a call for the UN to identify the independence of the Sahwari people.
  • A strong condemnation of Israel's genocidal atrocities and massive terrorist operations against nearby countries, and support for Palestinian independence.
  • Support for the people of Haiti against outside imperial domination.
  • A call for the end of the blockade on Cuba and their removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
  • Solidarity with Maduro and the people of Venezuela against the United States.
  • A rejection of all imperialist aggression and sanctions against Iran.
  • A condemnation of NATO's decades-long military expansion eastwards towards Russia, especially as it has now resulted in massive devastation and risks a third world war.
  • And finally, a commitment to Pan Africanism and international solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world.

A platform I think we all can agree to!


Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the RedAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine

If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.


top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 6 points 54 minutes ago

PM [Netanyahu] approved drone attacks last month on Gaza flotilla ships off Tunisian coast — report

spoilerhttps://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/pm-approved-drone-attacks-last-month-on-gaza-flotilla-ships-off-tunisian-coast-report/

[–] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 23 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

The IDF run Israeli Army Radio is reporting that the offensive to take Gaza City has now been halted in light of the recent statements by US President Donald Trump.

Following Trump's announcement, the political echelon instructed the IDF to halt the operation to conquer Gaza

Following nightly assessments of the situation and talks with American officials, the political echelon instructed the IDF to reduce its activities in Gaza to a "minimum" and to carry out only defensive operations in the Strip.

The practical implication: the operation to conquer Gaza City has been halted and is on hold for the time being.

Official GLZ Radio twitter account, retweeted the above statement in Hebrew

[–] sexywheat@hexbear.net 19 points 1 hour ago

Wow so you're telling me that this whole fucking time all it took was for the president to make a single post on social media to stop this? And Biden could have just had some idiot staffer do it for him? THIS WHOLE FUCKING TIME? Wow who could have seen this coming shocked-pikachu

SouthFront posted some more recent Palestinian resistance combat footage from Gaza City, including an IED strike on a Merkava Mk.4M tank: https://southfront.press/hamas-shares-daring-combat-footage-from-gaza-city/

[–] Socialism_Is_The_Alternative@hexbear.net 28 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Sudan recently eliminated a group of Colombian and Ukrainian mercenaries:

Sudanese troops have killed “a large number” of foreign fighters, including Ukrainian mercenaries, backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country’s protracted civil war, according to a statement by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) made on Thursday.

The killings occurred during clashes with the RSF in the besieged city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the army said.

The SAF said mercenaries from Colombia and Ukraine, including some “who were engineers in the field of drones and electronic systems,” had “tried to infiltrate the outskirts of the city’s neighborhoods.”

https://www.rt.com/africa/625861-ukrainian-mercenaries-backing-rebels-in/

[–] WildWeezing420@hexbear.net 11 points 2 hours ago

If Ukrainian mercs can be in Sudan Putin really needs to strengthen his attacks

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 16 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Hopefully they can liberate El Fasher, I've seen some brutal shit coming out of there, specifically this drone strike on a mosque during prayer time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8wzzjze8xo

[–] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 30 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (6 children)

Trump has posted the full Hamas statement on the "Gaza peace plan" without comment on Truth Social.

Source link

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is saying that Trump is recording his response to Hamas' "acceptance" of the plan.

Source

Trump now says that "Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!"

Source

[–] SovietCollie@hexbear.net 23 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

The Israelis aren't too happy about Trump's reponse.

"How desperate is Trump for a Nobel Prize on a scale from one to tweeting this nonsense?" — News of Israel.

“President Trump calls on Israel to stop the attacks in the Gaza Strip, he has fallen into the trap of Hamas statement." — Israeli Channel 14.

"Trump sold Israel for a Nobel candidacy." — Yino News on Channel 14.

"This is completely crazy. Trump states: Israel must stop bombing Gaza immediately. Hamas is ready for peace based on the response they gave us." — Israeli Channel 12.

"For the first time since the start of the war, the US does not accept the principle of negotiating under fire." — Yaron Avraham of Israeli Channel 12.

"We were always alone." — Hillel Biton Rosen of Israeli Channel 14

"The tables have turned on us." — Hadashot.

"The state's leadership remains silent after Trump's response." — Ma'ariv.

"After Netanyahu succeeded in introducing amendments to the Trump plan, the Arab states achieve a new tactical victory, and this plan as a whole is turned into a state of radical change. Trump distorts the reputation of Israel, which cannot currently say that Hamas's response is unacceptable to it." — Israeli Channel 11.

Source

Apparently, even officials close to Netanyahu are saying that he was 'surprised' by Trump's response.

Source

[–] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 8 points 1 hour ago

Trump distorts the reputation of Israel, which cannot currently say that Hamas's response is unacceptable to it.

"we're hard at work looking for a way out of this"

[–] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 22 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I mean they are a bunch of crybabies who what to kill everyone in Gaza so whatever. I care exactly zero for what they think. Hamas has agreed to release all the hostages and transfer governance to the technocratic committee under certain conditions. These are big concessions and the USA obviously thinks that they can work with that given the latest statements.

[–] StalinistApologist@hexbear.net 16 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

He really wants that Nobel Peace Prize

[–] Biddles@hexbear.net 7 points 1 hour ago

Give it to him tbh

[–] TheLastHero@hexbear.net 24 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Trump temporarily disrupting the ongoing Zionist offensive in Gaza City in order to attempt formal negotiations would be positive, but I'm not holding my breath

[–] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 21 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Arab regime buy in to the plan is the big difference compared to before.

[–] Doubledee@hexbear.net 16 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Would this, in theory, actually protect Palestinians? Presumably the risk of killing Egyptian or Saudi etc. personnel might deter the more aggressive acts the entity usually takes?

[–] jack@hexbear.net 4 points 1 hour ago

If the Arabs and Indonesians actually come in, yeah, it would definitely stop the Israeli assaults.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 30 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Last time he got pows released, the bombing commenced the second he was out

[–] MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net 18 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Israel is currently doing their usual move that they do before any "ceasefire" of bombing the hell out everything up until the final minute or past it, so...

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 17 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Yes this wasn't that long ago, could they really fall for the same trick twice ? Giving up the majority of their leverage with no guarantees...

[–] CleverOleg@hexbear.net 15 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I am starting to wonder if ultimately the hostages are a liability at this point. If there are no hostages, then it becomes all about “eliminating Hamas”, which I think may be increasingly untenable of a position to hold to. Everyone (including Israeli military and civilian leadership) knows that is an impossible goal.

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 8 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Yes it's a good point, Israel's only remaining line they keep hammering is "bringing the hostages home" so if that is completed and they keep genocide going it makes them look somehow even more evil. Yet if people aren't there already, is that going to change their minds?

[–] CleverOleg@hexbear.net 7 points 1 hour ago

Yes, my theory is certainly half-baked. It still relies on pressure from a source other than the Resistance (Israeli society, western governments, etc) and so far relying on those elements to be able to have any impact on the genocide has been a losers game.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 21 points 4 hours ago

The annihilation of your entire people can compel tough decisions. All we can do is wait and see

[–] companero@hexbear.net 18 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think Trump is under serious pressure from the Gulf states. The US can't let Zionist ambitions get in the way of their greater goal of continued domination of the Middle East.

The final deal will probably still suck for the resistance, but I think there's a chance it could really happen this time.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 52 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (16 children)

Short rant and some thoughts about the left and immigration:

I commented below in response to the post about Putin’s blaming “mass immigration” for destroying European culture, and thought maybe to expand a bit more from that comment.

It’s been a bit unsettling for me this week because of the overreaction spontaneously erupted on the Chinese internet regarding the K visa. As a country not known for its openness for immigration, for about an 48-hour window, this was perhaps the first time that many - based on an unsubstantiated rumor - have had to grapple with the anxiety of facing “mass immigration”.

Although I’ve seen widespread latent and casual racism and xenophobia over the years, especially against Indians, this is really the first time that such spontaneous eruption of anti-immigration discourse that occurred in a very organic fashion, when the “fear of mass immigration” is suddenly being perceived as real instead of something you’d never thought could happen in your country.

The short version is that China announced a new K visa for foreign STEM talents back in August that would be implemented on October 1st, without much attention paid to it. Then last month, Trump imposed a $100k free on H-1B, and Western media started reporting on how China is going to benefit from it, and pointed to China’s K visa policy.

Somehow, someone put the two together and just 2-3 days before the National Day when the K visa was due to be officially implemented, fearmongering rumors began to spread virally on Chinese social media, insinuating that how it opens up the floodgates for foreigners to enter China.

To be fair, the policy announcement appears half-baked without much detail about how exactly it is going to be implemented, so it leaves people more confused than ever. You can apply for the visa if you are:

  • 18-45 years old
  • Holds a STEM bachelors degree from a “renowned” school or work in a “renowned” institute
  • No language requirement
  • No employment requirement

The biggest problem here lies in what exactly is the purpose of the K visa?

I doubt any foreigner who don’t speak Mandarin Chinese semi-proficiently will ever get hired by Chinese companies because most of them are absolutely not equipped to communicate in another language. So, where are these people going to find work?

If we’re talking about foreign talents working in academia, then there is already an R visa “high-level foreign talents” for top people in the field, yet the simple requirement here is simply holding a bachelors degree.

Finally, if we’re talking about foreign multinational corporations that are indeed equipped to accommodate English speakers, then these companies have their own recruitment process, competitive application process and visa sponsorship, not to mention very limited spots usually only available for the top graduates.

As such, it is easy to see where there is plenty of room for imagination, and fearmongering conspiracies were abound, with plenty of comments like “I can finally understand what MAGA / rednecks (红脖子) are going through in their country”.

In general, the complaints took on a few flavors (cw: racism, obviously):

  1. More competition in the labor market - “we already have plenty of Masters and PhD graduates with couldn’t find jobs, why are we trying to attract more foreigners with only Bachelor’s degree?” - this is the one I consider to be the most valid criticism.
  2. Anxiety about immigrants flooding the country - “We don’t want low-quality (“inferior”, 劣质) foreigners to flood our country! Have you seen how Indians have built an entire industry of “fake qualifications” to game the Western immigration system?” - this obviously refer to Indians and Africans whom many only know of through the most uncharitable stereotypes propagated through online viral content and have never interacted with any of them in real life
  3. Anxiety about “losers back home” Westerners - “Who do you think are the foreigners (洋人) that would want to come here? Obviously those who are losers who could no longer compete in their own countries!”
  4. Latent sexual anxiety about foreigners coming in and marrying the local women - this really just follows an already intensifying gender discourse(TM) taking place since the past year, in a country where there is already gender imbalance, and an ongoing trend where marriage registration has been trending down and divorce rates have been trending up (apparently has a lot to do with economic downturn).
  5. It’s actually a backdoor for rich overseas Chinese who have emigrated to come back - this is, funnily enough, the most likely explanation for the government’s policy that has remained so obscure, but what do we know?

Nonetheless, the actual reasons are not important. What is interesting, and scary, is the overreaction against the perceived “threat” of mass immigration, which was likely a culmination of a combination of factors, including the precariousness of the average people who are anxious about the unstable job market and economic uncertainty, being persistently fed with widespread viral content that propagate the most uncharitable stereotype about other countries, as well as the intensifying antagonism between the sexes as less and less people are interested in settling down to raise a family.

Typically, as leftists, we would associate this kind of anti-immigration anger to be intrinsic to capitalist countries, because the capitalists want the working class to hate each other. But how can you explain the situation in China?

A point to make here is that there is also increasing cognitive dissonance between perceiving one own’s country to have become a great superpower with the many advanced technologies, surpassing even the West, yet at the same time they are working harder and longer hours than ever, no stability in the job market, wages are barely rising, quality of life is not improving, the house prices remain far out of reach, and there is a general pessimistic outlook for future.

To give you an example, imagine you went through your primary school in the 2000s, chances are in a few years, your parents would soon purchase a new house, one that would be a huge upgrade over your childhood home in some provincial town. Things look to be getting better by the day, and you dream about doing the same one day.

Then, you went through middle/high school hoping to score in gaokao to get into university, obtain a degree and get a nice paying job post-college, settle down and raise a family. There was already some alarming trend about the property market, and the house prices are starting to look a bit out of reach, but nothing too much to worry yet.

By the time you are studying in university, the property price would have peaked and plunged. It would have been a good thing if it weren’t such a drag on the entire economy, and you are suddenly facing a worse prospect that you never thought would happen growing up: unemployment, or the poor prospect of getting employed.

This is how fast an economic trend can go in China - what takes several generations of wealth accumulation to happen in Western capitalist countries, it can happen in 10-15 years in China. You are literally experiencing the rise and fall in real time, and there is obviously a lot of cognitive dissonance to take in.

Yes, the country is now a superpower. We have the most advanced 6th gen fighter. We have the best EV industries in the world. The best robotics and automation in industries. But - is that making your life easier? Why are you only getting two off-days per month? Why are you still being asked to work overtime by your boss every damn week? Despite being more productive than ever, why are your wages not rising?

All of this anxiety is being coalesced into a latent rage. It is perhaps not surprising that people would lash out when they hear some fearmongering rumor about mass immigration.

And I think there’s some lesson for the left here when it comes to immigration:

  1. You better make sure you can create a system with a robust social safety net, minimum wage, job guarantee, free housing and healthcare that are all sacred rights to the workers.
  2. You must be able to convince the people that they are getting the fair distribution of wealth in the economy that are in proportion with their labor.
  3. You must be able to convincingly demonstrate that you have the economic means to implement all these policies in a fair manner, and that foreigners seeking employment in your country is not here to take away the wealth and the fruits of their labor, nor are they here to drive down wages and cause competition in the labor market.
[–] tamagotchicowboy@hexbear.net 2 points 49 minutes ago

Tbh not so sure about that mass immigration even on paper, In the US the possible BS-PhDs that could go for it, but they're not likely to immigrate out since 1. lack money and 2. language and 3. for a good deal of them despite being personally beaten senseless by the invisible cudgel of the market still fall for typical F tier agency propaganda. Now, I think this applies a lot to the west at large, global south 0 clue so, but I still get the sense a lot of the whole concept of this opening the floodgates is overstated though the econ anxiety will be there until the economy evolves properly.

There's probably going to be a huge steam investment and push sometime in the future I figure, must be getting all the workers to power it in place and local talent isn't enough and maybe there's a plan for a more international expansion in the future, ex more fine semiconductor factories to think of an obvious one.

[–] redchert@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 4 hours ago

To survive China ended its more „disruptive“ revolutionary characteristics such as internationalism, especially post gang of four, then the long years of the socialist nadir sanded off those revolutionary characteristics in its populace. Its not an enviable position to be in for the Chinese vanguard.

A wish for economic sovereignty is required for global south nations, but the very same ideology does provide groundcover for less than ideal attitudes about other nations. The conservatism with socialist aesthetics, which is ideology the revisionist forces like russia promote doesn’t seem to help that situation.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 25 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Have you seen how Indians have built an entire industry of “fake qualifications” to game the Western immigration system?” -

Ironically this is exactly the same propaganda levelled at the sneaky chinese who are ontologically predisposed towards cheating, "cheating is chinese culture, they cheat at everything!"

Nonetheless, the actual reasons are not important. What is interesting, and scary, is the overreaction against the perceived “threat” of mass immigration, which was likely a culmination of a combination of factors, including the precariousness of the average people who are anxious about the unstable job market and economic uncertainty, being persistently fed with widespread viral content that propagate the most uncharitable stereotype about other countries, as well as the intensifying antagonism between the sexes as less and less people are interested in settling down to raise a family.

The country has been isolationist forever and has made almost no effort to spread internationalism. This attitude is not actually that surprising amongst its population when its leadership have an international attitude of keeping to themselves. The population are only mirroring what the official chinese policy on international engagement is.

If the state's official line is zero solidarity with the international working class then the population holding zero solidarity with the international working class is to be expected.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

The country has been isolationist forever and has made almost no effort to spread internationalism.

Not true though. China aided Korea and Vietnam and sacrificed heavily for that. Although you can claim it’s mostly self-preservation because of the proxy wars by the US, at least half a million of the People’s Volunteer Army died fighting against the Americans.

Ironically, it was after opening up under Deng that China had changed its internationalist position. China did invade Vietnam to appease the Americans though, but this is part of the process of being “integrated” into the global market and the neoliberal framework.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

These are neighbours and also asian. I would think the reaction is probably not that different to a German and another european, which is mostly fine... Things get totally different when it's neither of those things though.

[–] Boise_Idaho@hexbear.net 2 points 40 minutes ago

I feel like people need to study China-Pakistan relations more. China-US, China-Russia/SU, China-Vietnam, China-Korea, and China-India get all the attention while China-Pakistan is an underexplored topic among the left even though the two countries border each other, have a common enemy that also borders them, and have border disputes with each other (and the common enemy).

I don't have a good read of this relationship. My understanding is that China mostly left Pakistan to fend for itself in its various wars with India, but China is apparently the main reason how Pakistan even got nukes in the first place? Pakistan's political class is apparently pro-US, but the vast majority of their weapons are Chinese?

If China didn't help Pakistan jumpstart its nuclear program, which is the official line of China and Pakistan, then the case for Chinese isolationism is clear: China largely kept to itself while Pakistan and India were at war because its default foreign policy is isolationism. China did not intervene because the CPC felt that Pakistan could put up a fight (although they lost East Pakistan/Bangladesh in one of the wars) while China intervened in Korea because Korea was about to be completely overrun by the US. China not militarily helping Pakistan would then lead to Pakistan nuking up because Pakistan needed a trump card against India and could not militarily rely on China.

This is, of course, assuming that China didn't help Pakistan with its nuclear program. If China actually did, which is the official line of the West and India, then China simultaneously not militarily helping Pakistan in its wars but helping Pakistan nuke up is far more perplexing.

[–] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 21 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

If the state's official line is zero solidarity with the international working class then the population holding zero solidarity with the international working class is to be expected.

Agree but I think it's the other way around, if the civil society don't care for proletarian internationalism, the state will reflect that, especially in China.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 19 points 5 hours ago

I agree. And think it's a very dangerous position to be in. What happens if this background national chauvinism evolves into supremacism?

[–] MelianPretext@lemmygrad.ml 12 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

But - is that making your life easier?

Lmao. The Maoist argumentation is wrong because it deliberately misses the forest for the trees in a facile "but what have the Romans done for me?" style of argumentation that Chinese online rhetoric often have this rather peculiarly unique characteristic of framing as if they're the first people in history to try such a sophistic stunt. China has objectively in all parameters gone through the greatest collective mass poverty alleviation campaign in human history. The Economist, RAND, The Atlantic all have articles where they admit this with gritted teeth yet you can't even say the same about Chinese Maoist/Ultra/Libs, which is interesting. I've lately come to understand this style of Socratic-aping Chinese rhetorical style much better after discovering Chinese Maoist forums like v2.redchinacn.org, which has incidentally gone off the deep end with Kirk apologia recently.

In any case, the anti-immigration sentiment is simply a continuation of the same movement from 2020, where online backlash quashed the Chinese permanent residency reform project. Similarly, this K visa initiative is essentially a second attempt that follows in the footsteps of that 2020 draft proposal which aimed at: "China would formally expand the pool of immigrants that could qualify for P.R. to a still select but larger group of high-income or highly educated long-term migrants." K visa would be the 0.5 version, where the goal is merely to get visa holders rather than broach the subject of permanent residency.

There's a decent article in Routledge's Journal of Contemporary China analyzing that episode though it has the typical "they have nationalists, we have patriots" sort of academic orientalism. The author notes the typical emotionally-overwrought sort of nakedly manipulative discourse that is profuse on the Chinese internet being used: "As a Han Chinese, I am crying softly,"; "I am here! 1.4 billion compatriots are here! As a Chinese, if it is necessary, there will be action on May 4!"

Beyond that kind of nonsense, the actual substantive objections that the author summarizes are the same ones being reused five years later against this K visa initiative.

The draft regulations to many seemed to fit in a tradition of the state privileging foreign nationals, at a time when domestic employment and residential conditions for many Chinese citizens are considered far from adequate. Attracting larger numbers of immigrants to aid China’s development, also sounds inappropriate to some, given China’s recent history of government-enforced family planning. Some suggest revising the regulations to eliminate any loopholes for so-called ‘low-quality’ migrants and to include guarantees that P.R. holders would not be privileged over local Chinese.

Part of the contradiction is that these foreign workers are predominantly drawn to major urban locations like Shanghai known both for their Chinese liberal population and their deluded "I am a global citizen" type of multinational suit wearing capitalists. Both groups ideologically would favor foreign workers of select demographics and this creates the sort of imagery of privilege that provokes this sort of backlash, though it should be said that the Chinese online vocal minority commentariat often has this sort of self-orientalizing narcissism that assumes all other 1.4 billion people in their country are a hive mind that secretly share their personal political opinion, if only but for the dastardly Weibo censors preventing their posts' true updoot numbers from coming to light, as seen by the cited "I am here! 1.4 billion compatriots are here!" style of comments.

Another one of the issues is the typical catch-22 associated with most socialist governments, which is that they are overly sensitive of their Western-propaganda maligned depiction as "repressive authoritarian regimes" which makes them excessively petrified by accusations of "authoritarianism" through alleged governmental overreach, rendering them particularly indecisive and obsequious in instances when they ought to be standing their ground and demonstrating some faith in their governing mandate and legitimacy. This makes socialist governments exceptionally vulnerable to groups that are aware of this contradiction and then deliberately take advantage of it. This is how the 2020 PR draft was shut down. This is how the "white paper" Shanghai lib protesters are credited with "ending" Zero Covid, as if they weren't always a minority and the vast majority of people by all accounts silently still tolerated the policy.

In 20th century socialist states, this was how the DDR failed to react to the Berlin Wall breach debacle, totally capitulating to the BRD in spite of most East German citizens preferring a negotiated union rather than the total annexation by the West as it happened in reality. It was also how the CPSU (or what was left of it) tolerated the illegal secession of the Baltics and why the August putschists spinelessly dithered in 1991. Incidentally, the 1989 Tiananmen failed counter-revolution was the only major time a socialist government stood their ground against this sort of issue and that decision is why the People's Republic still exists today.

Overall, it’s actually good for the xenophobia to make itself plain, because that’s the only way it can be ever addressed in the first place. While socialist states have promoted societal internationalist values of tolerance, we saw how easily they were subverted following the fall of those states. Superficial tolerance led to Khrushchev blathering about how the USSR "solved the nationality issue." In the DDR, this gave way to Neo-Nazis and the AfD; in the USSR, this gave way to ethnic pogroms in the 90s and the current disastrous state of the former Soviet world. China has the privilege of those types outing themselves while the socialist state still holds power so it will be interesting to see if they concede once again to the vocal minority on this matter or push ahead forward.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

As I mentioned in the post, I think it has more to do with a lack of social welfare, jobs guarantee, free healthcare and housing that exacerbate the precariousness of the working class people. These are all basic guarantees that should exist in a socialist country, but the problem was not as palpable after the opening up because the country was experiencing rapid growth for decades.

Now that the growth has slowed down, the lack of such social safety nets is compounding the precariousness for your average worker.

Whether it’s the post-USSR, DDR as you mentioned, or “social democratic” Europe, it all coincides with the erosion of social welfare and workers rights being abandoned as even the left-wing parties in these countries adopted neoliberal policies since the 1990s (for some, it’s even earlier).

[–] Boise_Idaho@hexbear.net 8 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Lmao. The Maoist argumentation is wrong because it deliberately misses the forest for the trees in a facile "but what have the Romans done for me?" style of argumentation that Chinese online rhetoric often have this rather peculiarly unique characteristic of framing as if they're the first people in history to try such a sophistic stunt. China has objectively in all parameters gone through the greatest collective mass poverty alleviation campaign in human history. The Economist, RAND, The Atlantic all have articles where they admit this with gritted teeth yet you can't even say the same about Chinese Maoist/Ultra/Libs, which is interesting. I've lately come to understand this style of Socratic-aping Chinese rhetorical style much better after discovering Chinese Maoist forums like v2.redchinacn.org, which has incidentally gone off the deep end with Kirk apologia recently.

There's a decent article in Routledge's Journal of Contemporary China analyzing that episode though it has the typical "they have nationalists, we have patriots" sort of academic orientalism. The author notes the typical emotionally-overwrought sort of nakedly manipulative discourse that is profuse on the Chinese internet being used: "As a Han Chinese, I am crying softly,"; "I am here! 1.4 billion compatriots are here! As a Chinese, if it is necessary, there will be action on May 4!"

though it should be said that the Chinese online vocal minority commentariat often has this sort of self-orientalizing narcissism that assumes all other 1.4 billion people in their country are a hive mind that secretly share their personal political opinion, if only but for the dastardly Weibo censors preventing their posts' true updoot numbers from coming to light, as seen by the cited "I am here! 1.4 billion compatriots are here!" style of comments.

So basically "netizens gonna netizen?"

[–] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 27 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

What's mostly disappointing from reading all this is the clear failure of Chinese socialist ideology in translating into proletarian internationalism. When you have a supposedly socialist society bitching about muh immigrants you have failed in trying to create solidarity between working class peoples.

This likely explains why the Chinese government has no intention of helping liberation or socialist struggles around the world (ie Gaza). The civil society in China don't really care that much any more than what the rest of the people in the world already do.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 3 points 1 hour ago

As I mentioned, I think the perceived threat of immigration is a culmination of many factors, but the most important I believe is just how precarious the employment for an average person is right now.

These weren’t problems when China was enjoying double digit growth from a rising export industries 10-15 years ago, or when the property market was booming before Covid. Back then, jobs were easy to find, and money could be easily earned as long as you are willing to work hard. But it is a problem now.

It is no coincidence that China has been experiencing deflation and poor domestic consumption, despite efforts to raise it.

Instead of giving more subsidies to encourage consumer spending, the government should focus on establishing social welfare, jobs guarantee, free healthcare and free housing (ironically, ended in 1998) so people have a safety net. These should all be basic guarantees for a socialist country and you cannot solve the fundamental economic issue without that.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 38 points 7 hours ago (10 children)

Hamas responded to the "peace plan", accepting to enter negotiations. I'm almost certain these will be rejected or destroyed by America and "Israel". The Hamas response states the need for Palestinian consensus for the interim governing authority, which the empire will never accept.

[–] CleverOleg@hexbear.net 8 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I assume this is a maneuver to make a visible show of peace, and letting Trump feel he is in within reach of that Nobel, so that Israel will have to cross Trump in order to resume violence. Maybe the plan is to go ahead and release the hostages on the assumption that without that casus belli, Israel will have less room to resume violence between Trump and the other Western leaders.

Not a bad gambit I suppose, and I largely trust Hamas’ judgement as they have shown good judgement so far… but I think that while Israel does not dictate policy to the US, it does seem that Netanyahu ultimately gets his way with Trump after they talk in person.

But I do feel strongly that accepting the 20 point plan would have been the beginning of the end of the resistance is Gaza.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›