Just to Tick off "That one Nation"- and to Prove a Point
By Rimskaya State Publication Committee (R.S.P.C.)
11/27/2022 12:06 pm
Updated: 11/27/2022 12:11 pm
Hope you like reading. Get that literacy rate up ;)
Starting around mid-November, the Chinese Communist Party has begun a gradual draw away from their Zero-Covid policy, which they have maintained since the start of the Pandemic and has kept their case and death numbers to staunch lows for such a large and densly-populated country.
Although there are still measures in place to keep the virus in check, the harshest methods, such as lockdowns, are slowly being relaxed, in the name of the Chinese Economy, which has taken a beating during the past couple of years, and other than that have zero base in science, and are a pure political move on the heels of Xi Jinping's third reelection as the General Secretary of the CCP. His idea of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" is a play on "Socialism in One Country", imposed by Joseph Stalin in the USSR as blatant treason of the Bolshevik and Marxist ideals, and is a direct result of Chinese Capitalism, and the simple fact that China cannot separate itself from the global market entirely, and is now having to slowly bow to it.
The replacement policy is a sort of "20-Measures" policy, a bankrupt system of lifting Zero-Covid, while only partially preparing for a potential surge. These include shorter quarantines and travel restrictions, as well as the end of secondary-contact tracing, while having hospitals and stockpiled medicine on standby should things take a turn for the worst. The major news source Reuters has reported multiple Chinese cities having ended regular testing.
Coincidently, these measures were put in place just days before the G20 summit between Xi Jinping and President Biden of the United States. America, along with the rest of the Western World, has been repeatedly pressing for China to tear down Zero-Covid in one fell swoop, a move that would mean disaster for the country, especially in places where there are still low rates of vaccination. For example, in Shanghai, China's most populated city, only 71 percent of elderly people above 60 years old have been vaccinated, so removing Zero-Covid suddenly would put all of these people at risk (And don't use "natural immunity" as a rebuttal; it's created as a scapegoat excuse to cover up mass infection and reinfection to justify letting Covid go crazy).
The Free World's method of letting the virus run wild has led to, let's see...
I could go on for ages, but enough wasting your time, considering you took the time to get here. The fact is, Zero-Covid CAN WORK, but only when implemented on an international scale. China's attempts at keeping it in their one country worked for a bit, but the innate nature of global Capitalism means they cannot keep it forever, or their economy will founder.
You may have heard of the mass protests breaking out across China. Naturally, Western media, including the BBC, the Guardian and Reuters, jumped at the opportunity of demonizing one of the West's major rivals by deliberately muddy the waters by falsely implying that workers were protesting measures to suppress COVID-19 infections. Asking the workers themselves at Chinese factories, however, reveals that the unrest is over the EXACT OPPOSITE, and that rather they are concerned the new policies make them more exposed to the virus. The workers clashed with large contingents of police as they protested over unpaid bonuses and poor working and living conditions. Workers also expressed concerns that they were being forced to work alongside and live in dormitories with others who were potentially infected with COVID-19.
In response to a COVID-19 outbreak in October, Foxconn, the company that produces the Apple iPhone that we in the West take as a common possession, initially sought to ignore the infections then imposed a so-called closed-loop system aimed at keeping production going. The entire workforce was confined to the massive plant owned by the company that produces around half of all iPhones for the world, and infected workers forced to remain in their dormitories. Under pressure from Apple to boost production of the new iPhone 14 model in time for the Christmas shopping season in the US and internationally, Foxconn, in league with local government, launched a mass recruitment campaign with promises of pay and bonuses to hire 100,000 new workers. The protests apparently centered among these new recruits, angry that the promised pay and bonuses had not been received.
Of course, censorship by the CCP has left exact details of the events and opinions rather rare and malleable, but the nature of the protests is clear if one looks deep enough. The What’s on Weibo website that monitors Chinese language social media reported that a clear majority of the people speaking out on social media support the Foxconn workers. It explained: “They post old propaganda posters that emphasize how the Chinese working class will lead the revolution, and recommend other Weibo users to read Karl Marx”.
It seems that if anything, the repression by the CCP is only leading the Chinese workers back to their roots in the Chinese Civil War, that saw the rise of Mao Zedong, admittedly a Stalinist dictator himself. The good point here is that the workers aren't turning to Western "democracy" for answers, but rather to the forgotten history of the ideology their state falsely portrays itself as being of. The Chinese are in favor of Zero-Covid because they have seen that it is effective, but they are aware of the problems such as the lack of food and provisions. Workers in Western society are also aware that Zero-Covid is effective, and a growing conscience is forming that it can only be achieved on a global scale.
In summary, hoping you took the time to read this all, Zero-Covid is not fun, never was, and never will be. That doesn't mean that it is bad. In fact, it stands to be the best method for combatting the virus, and putting a final and true stop to its rampage, a step towards actually getting back our normality, rather than living in a new normal constantly plagued by the presence of the virus.
Replies
Will agree with you that democratic nations have been absolute shit at containing the virus, but if they started borderline martial law in their country aswell as severe lockdowns that would lead to mass protests and demonstrations. China, however, being authoritarian already could easily do this beacuse for the chinese people it wouldnt be an infringement of their rights, its what they think is normal.
So are we also gonna talk about the massive amounts of deaths, suffering, people starving, people being locked in their homes, being quarantined in the thousands even when not positive, the large protests against it, the general disregard for the people and so much more under zero covid in china?
Or does that make china look bad?
It is very clear
While the rest of the world has basicly forgotten about covid by now china still is struggeling with it
Also it is to be noted that the “official” numbers from china are most likely fake. The story inside china paints a whole different picture then what media (propaganda) tells you
Xi relaxing the rules is just to make himself look better during the G20 Summit
Zero covid will remain and so will china in its current state
Ccp is a big L
Zero covid is a big L
#Freedomforchina
#TaiwanIsARealCountry
Why are people still talking about this
@Corsican Nation: It doesn't have to mean authoritarianism, that's not the key to Zero-Covid. The key is the people's understanding, awareness, and cooperation. They're responsible for Zero-Covid in the end. That's why China is in upheaval.
@Nukeya:
You were saying? I'm not trying to glorify China. I'm trying to vindicate one of their policies that actually was rooted in reason.
The key IS the people's understanding and cooperation, but the people's understanding and cooperation comes from living in authoritarianism.
I have a pretty similar opinion to you. In general, China's zero covid policy is a reaction to the natural high expectations of the CCP, but also because of it being a pretty effective way to control Covid. I don't support the CCP, but what they are doing is not completely bad, it's just a harsh method that might not be too good, but necessary.
And Nukeya, how tf does #TaiwanIsARealCountry come to this topic?
Zero-Covid doesn't need Dictatorship. Democracy could work it too. Maybe not in the same way, but it's not to denote as impossible. And yeah, Taiwan has no place in this discussion. That's a whole other topic I could rant on about.
The West absolutely failed to stop covid and the massive amount of deaths as a result is horrible, but Zero Covid is absolutely not the best path to avoid that.
China literally lied to and corrupted the World Health Organization (AND THE WORLD) about Covid, preventing investigations and keeping the virus a secret before it was too late. Also, the number of cases and deaths coming out of China are (MOST LIKELY 99.9%) FAKE
Even if its less than the rest of the world or the U.S, which would be remarkable and proves the policy's (Zero Covid) effectiveness; Its to costly for societies which value freedom and for overall health.
Locking people inside their homes, preventing them from going anywhere; its extremely harmful to be left in conditions like that, China was literally locking millions of people in their houses.
That can't be good for mental health, the economy, and everything overall.
You can argue capitalism bad but its the CCP's fault that Foxconn was allowed to do (and presumably other businesses in China) what they did involving workers and the whole shebang.
Better alternatives to Zero Covid are (if not mind controlling anyone and implanting poison in your bloodstream) vaccination (which wasn't available at the start of the pandemic but whatever)
Keeping vulnerable people locked up. The majority of people who protest covid restrictions are young and not as vulnerable to the virus, they know they are less vulnerable.
Im not saying that this group still didn't have a lot of fatalities, it did, but let people have freedom if they think they are not as vulnerable, and as long as they are not infecting others who don't also believe this.
Shutting down schools and everything is not the way to go, especially for lower risk people.
Also, ALL Covid restrictions are anti-freedom, in a more literal sense, this doesn't mean I'm not for some of them, but policies like Zero Covid are designed to limit freedom to maximize protection, preventing people from doing things, going to places, blah blah blah.
Now this is a actually good and well-researched bulletin.
Meanwhile me in lockdown in China 😅