#China criticises

[traitorsinsalem]

the sheet amount of sinophobia that white gay ppl in the usa/canada + western europe are willing to spout out in response to homophobia and enforced masculinity is insaaaaane. as if the us and germany and shit don't hold similar misogynistic and homophobic values.

boy scouts? roosevelt's practice of muscular christianity? androgynous male pop stars being censored on tv doesn't cancel out the lgbt citizens of china, especially the thriving gay scene in beijing. old rome and old china have just as much history of homosexuality in real life, visual art, and literature.

government-based and internalized homophobia aren't exclusive to china by any means. what could possibly be going on in your heads to think that canada or england is a gay haven? italy just shut down a bill criminalizing homophobic violence a few months ago, while in 2017 a trans man in china won a gender bias lawsuit against his employer and a woman did the same in 2019, with the courts stating their support for the transgender population in china.

NO nation is perfect right now on this! there's an incredibly complicated nuance to any oppressed group's rights that goes back and forth as governments and people shift in laws and legislation, but also in values. and i will say right now that homophobia is not and never has been an "asian value" on its own. zero reason exists for a white westerner to direct anger and disappointment in cutural and government-backed homophobia to china rather than their own country.

#succ speaks #long text #idk this shit makes me so mad. 'OMG CHINA CENSORED A GAY SCENE IN A MOVIE' check what's going on the the disney exec offices in the us 😎 #obviously there's nothing wrong w criticising homophobia anywhere! but when all i hear is CHINACHINACHINACHINACHINA frm young white ppl 🙄 #and with the roe v wade shit my mom is like 200% less likely to come back to the u.s. next summer permanently but still rly wants to visit #i was originally going to whine about how the projected concept of being gnc is super white but then i got more upset abt this again

[ultramanyaoi]

valid criticism or has it crossed the line into sinophobia (all chinese people are racist) territory

#ariel.txt #guys can we please like criticise social situations in china without making generalisations please #can we please acknowledge its a really huge issue without acting like mean girls #please im tired of people trying to ONE UP countries

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

#Also I'm saying this as someone who actually watched quite a few of Somerton's videos #And noticed those patterns and stopped watching bc I recognised them from here #and had already learned to unlearn them after being so exposed to them here #And tbh I think anyone who hasn't had the luck or made the conscious choice to seek out ppl who pushed against those narratives #Would absolutely have fallen for this man's bullshit. Like let's not kid ourselves we see takes like this every day on this hellsite #2014 me would have. For sure. #This is next to the plagiarism issue which as Harris points out is an Internet wide issue and this includes tumblr #James Somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #This brought to you by a conversation with my wife yesterday #So many ppl on here don't deserve to meme or be this self absolvingly critical of this man #The call is coming from inside the house #The man has a tumblr it would legit not surprise me if some of the things he supposedly made up himself he did actually get from somewhere #And that somewhere was a tumblr post

[hrts4hanniehae]

seventeen and how they would react if idol!you were brutally attacked on stage by an antifan

PAIRING. seventeen (ot13) x idol!reader GENRE. angst-fluff, established relationship, scenario imagines WARNINGS. blood, stabbing, violence, crying, nightmares, shock, anger WORD COUNT. 1369 words

my last work for the next 3 weeks because i'm on holiday! may still post if i find time though!!

choi seungcheol

the epitome of pure fury. when he sees the clip, he is just pure mad. 

not only because you got injured, but also because you didn’t tell him and he had to find out through a video that jeonghan sent him

he would watch the video and get the shock of his life when he sees the concealed blade graze the side of your neck as you dodge the lunge.

would not care if he had a full schedule, he would go to find you in the hospital.

when he sees you in the hospital bed with bandages around your neck, he would be too concerned to get mad that you didn’t tell him.

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

“We’re dating, I should be worrying about you. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?”

yoon jeonghan

your manager immediately called him once the concealed blade was pulled out of your leg.

as we’ve seen with his reactions to sasaengs, he would be VERY agitated and constantly (with no filter) criticise anti-fans on lives

he would also show up to the hospital as soon as he could with your favourite snacks, hiding you from view as you eat them despite him not being allowed to bring food in.

would help you walk everywhere and baby you.

joshua hong

he would be silently in distress at the fact that you were bleeding so much.

he was watching the live stream of your performance with the rest of Seventeen when it happened. 

he watched in horror as the blade sliced your shoulder and the security team tackled the assailant. 

the cut was deep and bleeding profusely onto your white outfit, staining it red. (if you want it to seem badass just imagine ur song is something something bleeding hearts idk)

he would drop everything and video call you as soon as you’re out of danger.

he looks so heartbroken when he sees the stitches on your arm 

wen junhui

there is no doubt in me that he wouldn’t immediately be rushing to your side, even if your relationship hadn’t been announced.

he was at your concert that day because he had free time and you wanted him there.

when he saw the anti-fan climbing onto the stage he immediately knew that something was wrong and began making his way towards you

when he saw the blood splatter and you fall onto your knees, his heart dropped.

once they pulled the knife out of your stomach and you got the surgery needed, he fought with your managers to give you a long hiatus with him. 

he wouldn’t let you go out alone after that and he would bring you to meet his parents in China to rest and heal

kwon soonyoung

he would lose it when he sees the clip that Seokmin sends to him. The blood flowing down your head from the rock thrown at you sends him into a panic.

his panic increases when you don’t pick up your phone. 

when you finally call him, he picks up immediately to ask how you are. It doesn’t help that your concert is in a different country.

he would not be his usual lively self for a while (until he knows you’re 100% okay and that the culprit was caught)

jeon wonwoo

he expected some level of anger from fans after you both announced your relationship, but not to this extent.

when your manager calls him to tell him you were in the ER due to a knife attack, he would be in shock. You both had just spoken that morning before your concert, how could you be in the ER less than 3 hours later?

with no regard for anything he had to do that day, he would rush to the hospital to be by your side. 

after you’re out of surgery, he would announce his hiatus and pressure your manager to put you on hiatus too. He would then spend a few months just taking care of you and spending quality time together.

he would also 100% make sure the culprit is punished very severely. 

lee jihoon

this man would quite literally lose it.

he was on Weverse live when he received the call, and his soul left his body. He immediately ended his live before going to the hospital.

he would caress your cheek where the cut was and reassure you that you were still beautiful and hold you in his arms if you cried out of fear.

after that, he would call out every anti-fan and sasaeng in his lives.

“If there’s anything below lowlife, that’s you.”

xu minghao

he would be furious, especially when he hears what the fan said before she scratched you across the arm. “XU MINGHAO IS MINE!”

no more fan service, no more boyfriend-type pictures, no more aegyo. Your safety is 100 times more important to him than anything.

he would also release a statement. 

“Hurting my s/o is like hurting me. If you harbour the same grievances as this assailant, I will tell you this now. I will never harbour any interest in you, or anyone else for that matter. My s/o, y/n, if the only one in my eyes. You have failed as Carats and don’t deserve to be called fans of Seventeen.”

kim mingyu

despite his fear of confronting crazy fans/anti-fans, he would not hesitate to publicly shame your attacker at every chance he gets.

when he first saw all the blood, he was panicked. When he saw that the attacker had punched you in the nose, he became very mad. 

if he finds out it was because of him that the anti-fan attacked you, he would be very apologetic and upset with himself. He would never forgive himself if you got hurt because of him.

you would both go on hiatus for a month. 

lee seokmin

he went to your concert as a surprise for you that he and your manager had planned.

when he saw the fan slash at you, his heart dropped and shattered.

the pure fear in his eyes, when he saw your mangled skin, was something you never wanted to remember.

the whole way to the hospital, he was silently crying, yet seething with anger. His touch was gentle as he stroked your hair, trying to divert your attention away from the pain.

boo seungkwan

he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw you dodge the knife.

the cut on your shoulder was huge and he almost fainted.

he would be there at the hospital, comforting you through the stitches even though he could barely bear it.

he would also go off on the security team to understand how an anti-fan with a knife got past them and onto the stage.

during your month of hiatus, he would be there to comfort you.

vernon chwe

the hurt in his eyes when he saw the article was apparent to the other members of Seventeen, who immediately helped him to get to you. 

when he sees the bandages around your lower torso, his heart breaks.

he knows that the smile you give when you say you’re okay is fake and he just embraces you when you finally break down in sobs.

however long you need to go on hiatus, he’s there as much as he can and he makes sure that you know that you’re loved so very much.

lee chan

he wouldn’t know what to do when he sees you get stabbed on live TV. 

the blood splatters on the camera lens in front of you making him flinch.

after sitting in shock for a while, he gets up in a hurry, getting Mingyu to drive him to you.

he waits (hehe wait. sorry.) outside the A&E for you, fearing the worst. How could he live without you? You were his first love and he wished his last.

when the doctors finally tell him you’re okay, he collapses in relief and with Mingyu’s help, he makes his way to see you. 

he wouldn’t leave your side even if he had a schedule to do, and sometimes he’d have recurring nightmares of you being stabbed

when you go on hiatus, he follows.

#caratsland #seventeen imagines #seventeen headcanons #seventeen reactions #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen fluff #svt fluff #svt x reader #seventeen #svt #scoups x reader #seungcheol x reader #jeonghan x reader #joshua x reader #jun x reader #hoshi x reader #wonwoo x reader #woozi x reader #minghao x reader #the8 x reader #mingyu x reader #dokyeom x reader #dk x reader #seungkwan x reader #vernon x reader #dino x reader #svt idol #idol!svt x idol!yn

[hussyknee]

(alt included in all images)

Another thread by Senator Ben Ray Luján here.

A book on the subject (haven't read it myself):

One of the sources in another one of Alisa's furiously impassioned twitter threads have been debunked, so I didn't include that. But she claims that her own family was caught in the fallout zone when her mother was a baby, which eventually led to her and large numbers of her community developing cancer. It's human for that kind of grief to be caught up in inaccuracies. People are already being ghastly and racist to Hispanos and Indigenous people criticizing the hype for the movie. They're not attacking Oppenheimer for being Jewish, they're criticising the erasure of the human cost of these bombs and the continued valorisation of the U.S military's actions in World War II as some kind of moral saviourism.

While Oppenheimer himself believed that the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were morally justified (they had planned to drop them on Germany except they surrendered before they could), he also felt had blood on his hands and regretted his role as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb". He spent the rest of his career vehemently opposing further development of thermonuclear weapons and the hydrogen bomb accurately predicting the concept of mutually assured destruction. This eventually made him a victim of Senator McCarthy's Red Scare and his clearance was revoked. I haven't seen the movie (Christopher Nolan is the kind of casual white racist I avoid on principle) but people who have seen it say that it doesn't glorify nuclear weapons and depicts the man himself with the complex moral nuance that seems to be accurately reflective of his real life.

The backlash to Indigenous and Hispanos people's criticisms and to people pointing out that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were genocides is also frustrating because...both world wars were a clash of genocidal empires. The reason they were world wars is because the countries colonized by Japan, China, the European powers and the US were all dragged into it, whether they wanted to or not. Jews were one of the many colonized peoples that suffered in that time, who were left to die by everyone until they could be used to frame the Allied powers as moral saviours, establishing a revisionist nostalgia for heroism that powers the US military industrial complex to this day.

As early as May 1942, and again in June, the BBC reported the mass murder of Polish Jews by the Nazis. Although both US President, Franklin Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, warned the Germans that they would be held to account after the war, privately they agreed to prioritise and to turn their attention and efforts to winning the war. Therefore, all pleas to the Allies to destroy the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau were ignored. The Allies argued that not only would such an operation shift the focus away from winning the war, but it could provoke even worse treatment of the Jews. In June 1944 the Americans had aerial photographs of the Auschwitz complex. The Allies bombed a nearby factory in August, but the gas chambers, crematoria and train tracks used to transport Jewish civilians to their deaths were not targeted.

(Source)

Uncritical consumption of World War II media is the reinforcement of imperialist propaganda, more so when one group of colonized people is used to silence other colonized peoples. Pitting white Jewry against BIPOC is to do the work of white supremacy for imperialist colonizers, and victimizes Jews of colour twice over.

Edit: friends, there's been some doubt cast on the veracity of Alisa's claims. The human cost to the Hispanos population caught downwind of the nuclear tests is very real, as was land seizure without adequate compensation. However, there's no record I can yet find about Los Alamos killing livestock and Hispanos being forced to work for Los Alamos without PPE. There is a separate issue about human testing in the development of said PPE that's not covered here. I'm turning off reblogs until I can find out more. Meanwhile, here's another more legitimate article you can boost instead:

#Youtube #colonialism #colonization #genocide #oppenheimer #nuclear war #nuclear testing #indigenous rights #racism #new mexico #american imperialism #world war ii #hispanos #tw: animal cruelty #loyda martinez #white supremacy #military industrial complex #generational trauma #worker exploitation #colonial trauma #hiroshima #nagasaki #war propaganda #knee of huss #twitter

[lamuliz]

I want Palestine to be free as much as the next person, but I feel so hopeless right now. Protests didn't stop the Vietnam war, protests didn't stop the war in Afghanistan, protests didn't stop the Iraq war, protests didn't stop the conflict between Tibet and China, protests didn't stop the war in Ukraine. Why should we think protests are going to help Palestine? I feel like I might as well yell at a brick wall. I really really REALLY want to be wrong, but history are starting to tell me otherwise.

You're thinking that protests will get us a win on the ground, or that they might directly impact the decision makers' positions. They won't. 2 years ago, people would call you anti-semitic for criticising the crimes of Israel. The best thing you could get out of people was "I just don't get why they can't get along" But now, its mainstream to support the Palestinian cause. It's popular, if you will. People understand the humanity behind it, they have educated themselves on an at least surface level. That's a win.

Palestinians don't want us to protest for a ceasefire to happen, we're not strong enough to ensure immediate peace as civilians. What we can do is remember. Nations don't rise or fall overnight, it will take time. What we do is learn about Palestine, teach about Palestine, feel for the Palestinian cause. We don't do this to see the fruits of our efforts in our lifetime, but to make sure we're doing something. We might not live to see a free Palestine, but at least we'll die knowing we did something to make it happen :]

I understand you feeling hopeless, but oppressors don't last. The righteous will always win, sometimes in ways that are subtle. Don't lose your hope because hope is all you've got.

#youve also got me and everyone else technically #youre not alone trust #but also #you should be hopeful in SPITE of the oppressor because thats what they want from us #palestine

[stardyedkatsuki]

when you guys educate yourself about palestine, maybe read something about 2019 hong kong, 2024 hong kong, don’t forget the 1989 chinese tian an men massacre — please don’t let my culture and my home be overlooked again, thousands of university students protesting for democracy on the street were ran over WHILE ALIVE by tanks sent by the government, they wanted freedom, they wanted the right to choose, and they got ran over for it. death tolls, estimated thousands, are covered up in the mainland and it’s removed from chinese history books. twenty year olds, nineteen year olds, seven year olds and seventy year olds, all ran over by military tanks because they were peacefully asking for DEMOCRACY. for HUMAN RIGHTS. people with families and memories and personalities and favourite colours, ran over like a meat grinder to flesh. please, THIS IS ALSO A GENOCIDE.

a new law is being added to the hong kong constitution, you get LIFE IN PRISON if you criticise china, CRITICISE. i write this with a risk. i write this hoping no one from china finds this post on an unknown platform from an significant creator, lest i get my future ripped from my hands and serve my entire lifetime behind bars.

you are watching the rewriting of history, the exact scenes of ‘correcting’ historical events in 1984 by george orwell so please OPEN YOUR EYES, DONT FORGET the monuments that are being removed in attempt to wash away the truth. and don’t let my people get brushed beneath the rug again.

i understand this is older, less relevant, but please, when palestine is freed once again, don’t let the size of another nation deter you from hearing its people again. when my friends were being shot by the police trying to rescue his comrade from being literally suffocated beneath the baton of a cop, injured protestors being tortured by the cops in elevators and raped in alleyways then thrown into a canal, left to rot and to be discovered as a floating cadaver by news outlets a few days later, don’t ignore that either. just as you are keeping your eyes on rafah and gaza, keep looking at us and maybe then i’d get freedom too.

光復香港，時代革命: LIBERATE HONG KONG, REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES

in 2019 when i was on the front lines taking tear smoke bombs one after the other, throwing molotov cocktails made with glass chocolate milk bottles and petrol, when i was running for freedom and away from the unyielding guns of policemen, when my dad was watching his daughter fight for her life on television, where was the media exposure?

in 2020 when the government actually PAID triad members to assault a train of unsuspecting civilians until some were left paralysed FOR LIFE, where was the justice?

violence doesn’t answer to anyone’s call — it is everywhere at all times; in hong kong and in palestine. it is everywhere, PEOPLE IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP. REALISE. REALISE. REALISE.

it’s 2024 and china is about to approve of ‘article 23’ in hong kong and anyone who badmouths china is immediately shipped to jail, A COURT TRIAL ISN’T NEEDED IF OUR ‘PRESIDENT’ SAYS SO, PLEASE. BRING MEDIA EXPOSURE TO THIS TOO.

and remember to make your daily donations to rafah church

#free palestine #free gaza #palestine #israel #gaza #gaza strip #gaza genocide #gazaunderattack #save gaza #news on gaza #war on gaza #sy.bs #stand with gaza #gazaunderfire #save rafah #all eyes on rafah #rafah under attack #free rafah #hands off rafah #rafah #keep eyes on rafah #rafah gaza #but please. look at us too.

[pannaginip]

Located 62km north-east of the capital Manila, Daraitan village in Rizal province is home to about 5,700 residents, a majority of whom are members of the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous people who consider vast hectares of the mountain range as part of their ancestral domain.

But the village may soon disappear under the same waters that give it life, once the Philippine government finishes building the Kaliwa Dam – one of 16 flagship infrastructure projects of former president Rodrigo Duterte that is being funded by China.

The new dam is expected to provide Metro Manila with an additional 600 million litres of water daily once it is finished by end-2026. Officials said building the 60m-high reservoir is even more necessary now that the country is starting to feel the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

But it was only in 2021 under Mr Duterte that construction finally broke ground, three years after Manila and Beijing signed the 12 billion peso (S$288 million) loan agreement.

Of the 119 on the list [of flagship projects of the "Build, Build, Build” infrastructure programme], Mr Duterte turned to China to finance 16 big-ticket projects in a bid to cement his legacy by the time his presidency ended in 2022. He embraced Beijing during his term and even downplayed Manila’s claims in the disputed South China Sea in favour of securing loans and grants from China.

Analysts have criticised Mr Duterte’s infrastructure programme as ambitious. Perennial domestic issues like local politics, right-of-way acquisition problems, lack of technology and red tape in bureaucracy led to severe delays in the projects.

The same issues hound the China-funded projects – which come under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to build infrastructure in developing nations – with the problems made more severe by Beijing’s high interest rates in its loan agreements and local backlash due to displacement of residents or potential environmental damage.

Critics say the BRI has been detrimental in the long run to some recipient countries, especially those that have been unable to repay their loans, like Sri Lanka and Zambia.

The Duterte government’s failure to take advantage of its BRI loans was a “missed opportunity” for the Philippines, said infrastructure governance specialist Jerik Cruz, a graduate research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The four completed China-funded projects under Mr Duterte were controversial too. But they came to fruition because they had the support of local politicians allied with Mr Duterte and therefore increased his political capital, said Dr Camba.

Tribal leaders said they were not properly consulted regarding the project that threatens their traditional way of life. Environmentalists from the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network also say the project would destroy 126 species of flora and fauna in the Sierra Madre.

The Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act states that the government must first secure a tribe’s free, prior and informed consent before building on its ancestral lands.

But Ms Clara Dullas, one of the leaders of the Dumagat-Remontado in Rizal, alleged that the Duterte government had either misinformed or pressured other tribe members into giving their consent.

She could not bear to hold grudges, though, noting that the Dumagat-Remontado organisations that eventually agreed to the Kaliwa Dam were each given 80 million pesos, or $1.9 million, in “disturbance” fees.

“The Kaliwa Dam is the reason why our tribe is divided now. There is a crack in our relationships even if we all come from the same family,” said Ms Dullas. “I can’t blame the others because we lack money. I believe there was bribery involved.”

The government requires them to present identification documents, and only those given passes may enter. Mr Dizon said this is to ensure that no unidentified personnel enter the area [close to the construction zone].

“We feel like we are foreigners in our own home because the Chinese and the people in our own government are now preventing us from entering the lands where we grew up,” said tribe leader Renato Ibanez, 48.

Mr Ibanez also accuses the Philippine authorities of harassing tribe members who are vocal against Kaliwa Dam. Some of them have been accused of working with communist rebels, a charge the tribe vehemently denies.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr Marcos is more aggressive in defending Manila’s overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, but still fosters economic ties with it.

Geopolitical tensions between the two nations and Mr Marcos’ stance towards Beijing are going to dictate the fate of the pending China-funded projects the President inherited from Mr Duterte, said Mr Cruz.

Tribe members said they would be more amenable if Mr Marcos would revisit Japan’s proposed Kaliwa Intake Weir project that Mr Duterte had set aside.

“We like Japan’s proposal. It would not destroy our forests. It would not affect residents here. The Philippines would not be buried in debt,” said Ms Dullas.

This was among the alternatives the Dumagat-Remontados offered during their nine-day march in February 2023, when some 300 members walked 150km from Quezon and Rizal all the way to Manila to protest against the Kaliwa Dam.

But they failed to secure an audience with Mr Marcos. They remain wary of the President’s position on the Kaliwa Dam and other controversial China-funded deals.

“As much as we want to fully pin our hopes on him, we don’t. We’ve learnt from past efforts to trick us, make us believe a project is about to end, only for it to be resurrected again years later,” said Ms Dullas.

2024 Mar. 3

#philippines #indigenous rights #dumagat-remontado #state violence #red tagging #infrastructure #environmental issues #afp-pnp

[rongzhi]

I don't mean this to come off as conceited, I'm genuinely curious. In the case of the most recent 'Tang Dynasty style' video, and the 'Hanfu hair and make-up' one as another example.

I don't mean to ask you to speak for the content creators, or all Chinese, but might the choice to feature not conventionally attractive "model-type" models in those videos have been informed by the kind of body positivity that western culture had become a battleground for? Or would that be projecting a form of identity politics that doesn't translate as simply as that?

Are those kinds of issues/discussions something that chinese society makes time for, or are they not made so much of an issue of as in countries such as the USA for example.

Sorry again if the question is asked clumsily.

Videos referenced: 1, 2

I don't really know that much (deeply) about the body positivity movement in either the U.S or how it may or may not influence any similar movement in China, so I can't opine as to what that has to do with the videos.

I will say that beauty ideals in the Tang dynasty favored fuller faces and bodies, reflecting a sense of richness in health and... well, wealth. You can see this in depictions from art:

From my perspective, this has translated into modern day where people continue to think that fatter girls wearing Tang dynasty styles just looks right/feels right. Though fat girls undoubtedly get criticised unfairly a lot for their size in the regular day (bodyshaming in Asian cultures is pretty rampant and normalised), when they wear Tang dynasty hanfu, typically they get complimented a lot (although yes, that includes backhanded compliments) and compared to art.

So I guess what I'm saying is fat girls may be drawn to wearing Tang dynasty hanfu because it's generally thought that the styles complement their figures, and audiences are more receptive/appreciative to fatness in this niche because it aligns with preconceived understandings/imaginations of Tang dynasty styles.

A second perspective is, hanfu enthusiasts like to say that hanfu/traditional clothing can make any "plain jane" look beautiful. It is a point of pride that everyone looks good in hanfu and a good way to get more people to wear or try hanfu (if that is goal of the hanfu revival movement) is to show that it can look good no matter the starting point.

And I think regarding the idea of the content creators' "choice to feature...", this is more so the reason behind it in most cases. For the hanfu looks video, if the makeup artist/hair stylist can demonstrate the success of their work across a diverse range of skin types, face shapes, etc, they can acquire more business from the average person searching to hire someone's services.

--

TLDR: With regards to Tang dynasty hanfu and plus size models/wearers, I think it has little to do with body positivity and more to do with it fitting a cultural/historical standard.

#text #answered ask #hanfu

[zvaigzdelasas]

In a speech on the Place des Cocotiers in the regional capital, Nouméa, in front of some 10,000 people, the French president said he did not "underestimate the disappointed aspirations of those who defended a completely different project" – in other words, independence.

But he told them that after three "no" votes to independence in the referendums of 2018, 2020 and 2021, it was time to pursue a "new project" of "New Caledonia in the Republic".[...]

"I was personally hurt" by these absences, Macron said. He also warned against the temptation to "take refuge in separatism", which "today or tomorrow" poses the "risk of violence" even though peace is a "treasure" to be preserved.[...]

However, the pro-independence members of the Front de Libération National Kanak Socialiste (FLNKS) are contesting the last ballot, which they boycotted – and negotiations to redefine New Caledonia's constitutional status have stalled.[...]

Above all, he warned bluntly that independence would hand the Pacific archipelago over to China's growing ambitions in the region. "If independence means choosing tomorrow to have a Chinese base here", "good luck, that's not called independence", he scolded, suggesting that we "look at" the countries in the region that "have lost their sovereignty".[...]

This he said after the Union Calédonienne criticised the Head of State for "exploiting" New Caledonia to "serve his strategy" in the Asia-Pacific "to strike a balance between China and the United States".

26 Jul 23

French President Emmanuel Macron warned against "new imperialism" in the Pacific during a landmark visit to the region, denouncing predatory behaviour by big powers in a region where China is extending trade and security ties. France, which has island territories spanning the Indo-Pacific including French Polynesia, has boosted defence ties with India and other countries in the region as part of a move to counter Chinese influence.

27 Jul 23

[loving-n0t-heyting]

Today we ask the question: how much can the Paper Of Record slant this unambiguously positive diplomatic resumption between the two local superpowers in the worlds most wartorn region, while still maintaining a veneer of respectability over their comic book villainy and quasireligious devotion to the washington war crimes establishment?

So to begin with we have this breathtaking attempt to spin this as an instance of China and the US tussling over human rights in the middle east with the US on the side of human rights, a bit of rhetoric that collapses under the strain of about 10s’ scrutiny. It’s true ofc that the prc’s neo-Westphalianism means it is (unfortunately and self-interestedly) less willing to criticise either state for its domestic human rights abuses… but consider the context! The background to these talks (as the article repeatedly acknowledges) is the war in yemen, where everyone knows the US has been extensively and materially complicit in some of the greatest atrocities against human dignity and international law this century, a conflict that China here is taking active steps to overcome. The only way you could coherently think that the prc is the clearcut enemy of human rights in this interaction is if you do not think yemenis are human

Sure you support them, you fucking terrorist

This is how you introduce the Yemen war?Which of these countries is undergoing a bombing-induced famine??

It ofc closes on the question closest to their hearts: the possibility of retaining US military ties to a retrograde theocracy

#the court chaplains of democracy indeed

[susansontag]

I haven't seen many people stressing this point, but it is important to foreground that the ways in which people have conflated jewish people and the israeli government, and in this case I'm talking about pro-israel people, bc it actually is insane if you compare it to the way in which we talk about any other group. if you're a prominent jewish intellectual, celebrity, etc, and you have said something even moderately critical of israel, you can get branded a self-hating jew who doesn't understand your own culture, its significance, how much israel has done for you, etc. it doesn't matter how factual your criticisms are, it doesn't matter how well-regarded you are or how good your grasp is of the history, you will have even non-jewish pro-israel commentators regarding you as though you're a pariah who doesn't understand the stakes.

and this, when compared with any other group and nation, is insane. imagine british citizens commonly being called anti-british for daring to speak out against their government. imagine them being told they just don't have a good enough grasp on their history and culture by even non-british people. imagine it not even mattering one bit the ideology of the party in power — right-wing, nationalist, left-wing, liberal — if you spoke out against the state as such, no matter if your own politics are reflected or not by the party currently passing policy, you are some kind of pariah who has positioned yourself as anti your own people's existence. and now imagine people of british heritage but who have never lived in the place, who owe it little to nothing, also being held to this standard.

this is insanity! it shows how incredibly successful the propaganda campaign has been that a jewish person daring to say something bad about israel would even be deemed slightly suspicious or, more commonly, awkward. you simply would never get this reception from any but the most patriotic nationalists for any other state, or else you'd get it from your government themselves if they criticised you for lack of loyalty, or even branded you a national security threat. and if they did, it would be recognised instantly by the common person as a fundamental violation of a group's human rights, of their ability to safely criticise their government (or a government who claims to speak in their interest), and of their freedom of expression and belief more broadly. if china was branding every dissenter as a traitor and threat we all know damn well europeans would be up in arms, because in that case we've been encouraged to think in an entirely contrasting way.

a nation state tells its citizens stories to justify it behaving the way it is. israel isn't special in this regard, but it's an example of where many people, even those entirely unaffiliated with israel, have fully accepted the relevant mythology — that the longevity of jews (in general) is necessarily tied to the state of israel and therefore justifies anything israel deems necessary for national security, and that anybody, jewish or otherwise, who suggests otherwise has necessarily positioned themselves as against the longevity and continued existence of jewish people and culture. we would never typically accept this kind of faulty yet extreme rhetoric if it were applied to other populations of people and would criticise it for being the controlling, limiting, and censorious ideology that it is. if we agree minority groups are allowed to speak truth to power and not show their undying political loyalty and gratitude to those professing to speak in their place then we agree this is a fundamental right across the board for everyone, no exceptions.

#moth.txt #israel #propaganda

[dostoyevsky-official]

Isabel Crook, anthropologist and chronicler of China’s communist revolution, 1915-2023

Crook, who has died at the age of 107 in Beijing, was born in 1915 in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan. She attended Christian schools in the city, before leaving to study anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Immediately after graduation in 1939, she returned to southwestern China and carried out research in a village near Chongqing, the provisional capital where the Kuomintang government had retreated after the Japanese invasion. There, she studied 1,500 households as part of a rural reconstruction project funded by the National Christian Council of China.

“Banditry was endemic,” she wrote, describing how she and her collaborator Yu Xiji would set off for house visits armed with sticks to beat off guard-dogs. But as young women in their early twenties, they were seen as non-threatening and were eventually welcomed by the villagers.

Crook chronicled intimate moments of village life, from the responses of citizens to the state’s attempts to reform marriage and legalise divorce, to their efforts to avoid conscription. Crook later published their observations as a book: Prosperity’s Predicament: Identity, Reform, and Resistance in Rural Wartime China.

While in Chengdu, Isabel met David Crook, a British communist who had initially arrived in China as a Soviet spy but became disillusioned with Stalinism over the course of his stay. She was inspired by his politics and he by her audaciousness — a mutual male friend described Isabel as “nice, but frankly, so much character scares the hell out of me.” The pair moved to London, where they married in 1942. Soon after, Isabel joined the London School of Economics’ anthropology department.

[...] On October 1 1949, the couple witnessed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. They settled in the capital, and taught English at what became the country’s top languages university, the Beijing Foreign Studies University. She gave birth to her three sons in the city.

Crook stayed at BFSU until her retirement, her tenure only interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, which arrived in 1966. The duo joined a couple of the factions on campus and were, in David’s words, “carried along by the revolutionary storm”.

David was seized and jailed for five years by a group of student Red Guards, some of whom had been his friends at the university; Isabel was detained on the campus for three years. Their interrogators played their testimonies off against each other, trying to prove their dishonesty as traitors to communism. After their release, they were both rehabilitated, and went on to witness the national mourning that followed Mao Zedong’s death in 1976.

The Crooks’ life-long commitment to communism was often tested by the way the party centralised and wielded its authority. Seeing their students mobilise for the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, the Crooks wrote to the state media urging the government not to use force.

At a banquet given by senior officials in 1990, David criticised the bloodshed of the June 4th massacre, but ended his speech pledging their life-long devotion to China — a narrative that, as foreigners, placed the Crooks beyond political reproach.

Despite their criticisms of the state, the Crooks remain highly celebrated by the government. David died in 2000, but in 2019, Isabel became one of 10 people to receive the Friendship Medal, created by President Xi Jinping as China’s highest honour for foreigners.

#isabel crook #china

[psychotrenny]

I've frequently noticed that Leftists living in the Imperial Core will criticise their supposed comrades in the Periphery in very chauvinistic ways. This is most obvious in the way manyof Western Leftists talk about China but you see it in the discourse around a lot of other countries too. And this sort of thing always makes me think of a bit from Amilcar Cabral's 1964 essay "Brief Analysis of the Social Structure in Guinea". It's just as, if not more, true today as it was back then

I mentioned briefly earlier the question of the attitude of the European left towards the underdeveloped countries, in which there is a good deal of criticism and a good deal of optimism. The criticism reminds me of a story about some lions: there is a group of lions who are shown a picture, of a lion lying on the ground and a man holding a gun with his foot on the lion (as everybody knows the lion is proud of being king of the jungle); one of the lions looks at the picture and says, “if only we lions could paint.” If one of the leaders of one of the new African countries could take time off from the terrible problems in his own country and become a critic of the European left and say all he had to say about the retreat of the revolution in Europe, of a certain apathy in some European countries and of the false hopes which we have all had in certain European groups…

#stella speaks