Re: <nettime> The Left Needs a New Strategy

[Andreas Broeckmann <ab@mikro.in-berlin.de>]

folks, i know that there are peace negotiations under way among left 
intellectuals and activists on this list; i hope they will be fruitful.

i find it unbearable though to see untenable claims of "mccarthyism" 
made against somebody who just stays in an argument, when anybody in his 
right mind should know that we must reserve the "mccarthy" reference to 
cases where livelihoods are threatened, or destroyed, of people who 
speak their mind. (i think that there is no need for moderation here; it 
is easy to ignore the people whose contributions you're not interested 
in; and it is possible not to respond to provocations.)

i find it equally unbearable that this thread should end without 
reference to the political prisoners that are being made and held and 
convicted in the PRC and the territories it controls. many of them are 
people like us. they require our solidarity.

(as an example of many such documents - why are they necessary? - i send 
a resolution of PEN International from two months ago.)

regards,
-a

https://pen-international.org/who-we-are/annual-congress/2020/pen-resolution-on-china

The Assembly of Delegates of PEN International, on its 86th annual 
Congress online, 2 to 6 November 2020;

PEN International is increasingly concerned over the systematic erosion 
of the right to freedom of expression in the People’s Republic of China 
(PRC), and the ongoing government crackdown against those who engage in 
peaceful expression. These concerns echo those expressed in previous 
years through resolutions adopted at several of its annual Congresses, 
most recently at its 85th World Congress in September 2019. Despite some 
welcome releases since then, including Huang Xiaomin, Xu Lin and Liu 
Xianbin,[1] the public space for free speech has continued to erode 
across the country. At least 12 members of the Independent Chinese PEN 
Centre (ICPC) are still imprisoned or detained, while dozens more have 
suffered various forms of harassment and travel restrictions, reflecting 
the ongoing persecution of the Centre’s membership. In the 2019 Case 
List,[2] PEN International has documented 39 cases of writers in various 
forms of detention in the PRC, the highest of any country featured.

The severity of the crisis in Xinjiang remains of the utmost urgency. 
With reports of as many as 1.8 million Uyghur and other minorities being 
held in extra-judicial re-education camps,[3] the PRC government has 
shown no sign of relenting in the face of mounting international 
condemnation.[4] By design, the intensity of the crackdown has had a 
devastating impact on the Uyghur identity in the region, with detainees 
forced to undergo intensive political indoctrination and coerced to 
renounce their deepest beliefs.[5] Among those held in the camps are 
hundreds of Uyghur writers, poets, scholars, translators, and other 
public figures, many of whom have had no communication with the outside 
world since they were indefinitely detained without trial.[6] Examples 
of those detained include world renowned scholar Rahile Dawut,[7] a 
leading expert on Uyghur folklore at Xinjiang University, who 
disappeared without a trace while travelling from Xinjiang to Beijing in 
December 2017. Perhat Tursun, one of the world’s greatest Uyghur 
writers, was reportedly disappeared by the security services in January 
2018 and has been sentenced to sixteen years’ imprisonment.[8]

Throughout the PRC, the government has continued its crackdown on civil 
society, limiting the space for free expression and controlling access 
to information. Authorities have utilised the latest technological 
advances to create an increasingly panoptic surveillance apparatus,[9] 
providing extensive powers to monitor and shape public discourse through 
censorship and propaganda. The resulting climate of repression impacts 
every strata of Chinese society, and is perhaps most starkly illustrated 
by reports that the PRC government initially sought to silence Dr Li 
Wenliang when he attempted to raise awareness about the dangers of 
COVID-19,[10] resulting in a public backlash against a government that 
has prioritised control over the health of its citizens.

Efforts by the PRC government to impose greater controls on society have 
also accelerated across the country’s outer regions. In Hong Kong, a 
territory which has long acted as a sanctuary for those fleeing 
persecution in the mainland, the promulgation of the national security 
law marks the latest assault on the territory’s unique rights and 
protections.[11] The sweeping language used in the law provides 
government authorities with broad discretion to arbitrarily redefine the 
limits of expression,[12] posing a potential threat to anyone who 
expresses dissenting views of the Hong Kong or PRC governments. PEN 
International continues to call for the release of three Hong Kong-based 
writers and publishers, Gui Minhai, Yao Wentian and Wang Jianmin.[13] 
Gui Minhai, who is a member of ICPC, was last seen on October 2015 in 
Thailand and has since been detained at an unknown location in the PRC 
without legal assistance or consular access.[14] A Swedish citizen, 
Gui’s arrest and reported refoulement from Thailand to the PRC provides 
a stark illustration of the PRC government’s ability and increased 
willingness to aggressively pursue critics beyond its borders.

In Tibet, authorities have actively sought to expand coercive labour 
initiatives throughout the region,[15] while writers, including Kunchok 
Tsephel Gopey Tsang and Jo Lobsang Jamyang, remain in prison on spurious 
security charges.[16] While in Inner Mongolia, recent changes to the 
educational curriculum that place a greater emphasis on instruction 
through Mandarin Chinese at the expense of Mongolian-medium instruction 
has led to mass protests and a subsequent crackdown by the government 
authorities.[17]

Across the world, the PRC government has increasingly sought to utilise 
its economic power to reshape international norms and institutions in an 
effort to project its influence and shield itself from criticism. 
Universities have been at the forefront of these efforts, and PEN 
International is highly concerned over numerous reports of PRC 
government authorities engaging in the censorship, intimidation and 
surveillance of students and scholars in universities around the 
globe,[18] undermining the principle of academic freedom that is so 
vital to the development of critical thinking and the exchange of ideas 
through free expression.
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