We live in interesting times.
from csmonitor.com ......
[quote http://tinyurl.com/5c8mmb
]
China's 'rational' nationalism
Beijing lights a dangerous patriotic torch as the Olympic torch heads its
way.
from the May 2, 2008 edition
E-mail Print Letter to the Editor Republish del.icio.us
digg
Next week, China's majority ethnic group, the Han, will celebrate the
Olympic torch's arrival on Mt. Everest. It will be a pinnacle experience,
literally, for a people who see the Beijing Games as their ascendency to
restored world glory. One problem, though: Everest's peak is in Tibet.
China's bursts of Han nationalism – often resulting in violent
indignation – have been marked by such contradictions. Popular calls to
boycott Western im****ts over the recent pro-Tibet actions against the
torch, for instance, have been squashed by officials – to prevent
boycotts of Chinese ex****ts.
A more worrisome conundrum for China's leaders is that their own past
attempts to incite domestic anger at other countries – mainly Japan and
the US – have now opened the door to grass-roots protests that can
quickly escalate with private mobilization over the Internet. The
Communist Party, which has intensified "patriotic" indoctrination since
1994, has lately insisted on what they term "rational" nationalism.
Two weeks ago, for instance, Internet-driven protests almost got out of
hand in several Chinese cities against French-owned Carrefour
supermarkets. People were upset at actions in Paris against the torch
relay and a famous Chinese athlete. A follow-up protest against Carrefour
May 1 was contained by officials who banned online searches for the word
Carrefour.
The real rub for the party: Unfettered nationalism might cause people to
turn against it. Officials are busy enough suppressing hundreds of local
protests a year by farmers and workers increasingly venting anger at
misrule, inflation, land grabs, or graft. And during the Tibet crisis of
the past few weeks, China has seen zealous protesters turn on fellow
Chinese who don't take a hard line. One Chinese student at Duke
University who tried to mediate between pro-Tibet and pro-China activists
on campus was called a traitor back home, and her family there was
threatened.
The party's difficulty lies in defining a "rational" identity for a
country that suppresses non-Han minorities (about 8 percent of the
population) and floods the Muslim west and Tibet with Han Chinese (thus
the anti-Han riots in March).
Near-xenophobic nationalism is a useful tool to unify a land of 1.3
billion people. It provides cover for official mistakes and jailing of
dissidents. But aggressive action against foreigners only ****trays China
as a bully, hurting its "peaceful rise" to power – especially just
before
the Olympics. A recent poll showed that Europeans now see China as the
world's biggest threat to world stability.
Foreign talk of boycotting the Olympics, and thus marring China's "coming
out" party as an economic giant, only fuels nationalist anger and revives
memories of past humiliations by foreign powers. Beijing might become
less cooperative on trade, nuclear proliferation, and other issues, and
not be a "stakeholder" in global affairs.
China's potential to implode under its nationalism is, ironically, a
result of the party's insecure grip on power and thus its need to command
authority by lighting a patriotic torch. But love of country should not
mean hatred of others.
When the Olympic torch finally reaches Beijing Aug. 8, will the Chinese
see it as the world's? Or as their own?
[/quote]
--
A: Top posters
Q: What's the most annoying thing on usenet
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are
conservatives."- John Stuart Mill
|
