- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
- lgbtq_plus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
- cross-posted to:
- world@quokk.au
- lgbtq_plus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/61143788
[…]
Chinese Police had increased pressure on the festival through repeated phone calls in recent weeks, it is understood.
[…]
The Chinese authorities have grown increasingly intolerant of open discussion of feminist or LGBTQ+ issues. Film festivals in particular attract particular scrutiny because they provide an opportunity to platform narratives that sit outside the Communist party’s worldview.
Beijing Independent film festival, China’s most prominent independent film festival, was closed down in 2014 after the authorities detained the founders and shut off the electricity supply to the venue. Last year, an independent Chinese film festival that was due to be held in New York was cancelled after harassment from the Chinese authorities, an incident which raised concern about transnational repression.
[…]
Hongwei Bao, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of St Andrews who focuses on LGBT issues, said that the festival was “a beacon for LGBT resilience” in China.
“The shutdown of the Love Queer Cinema Week has a chilling affect on the Chinese queer community,” Bao said.
In June this year, screenings of films with LGBTQ+ themes that were scheduled to be held in Beijing during Pride month at the Institut Français, a French cultural centre, were cancelled because of police harassment.
[…]
Despite the increased pressure, Beijing Queer film festival remains a popular event. Several international film-makers whose work had been selected for the festival had travelled to China to participate. Last year, the festival received 200 volunteer applications, four times the number received in 2024.
[…]
Insert the “always has been” meme because I have seen this reaction from the chinese government for a very long time.
Eh, there was a bit of a grace period where the government had bigger fish to fry. Any culture that was highly influenced by Confucianism can be more culturally conservative due to the importance of family hierarchy, but the current government seems to be a bit more culturally reactionary in regards to utilizing the state to enforce historic cultural norms.
I think most leftist can and should be critical towards things like the apparent increase in the state directing and enforcing societal norms. Recognizing that the current politburo is lacking more representation than prior governments.
That being said, it does seem that cultural reactionary sentiment appears to be a global trend regardless of ethnicity and culture. Where any state that is actually increasing protections for the LGBTQ community as a whole would seem to be the actual outlier.
Maybe leftists should just consider the possibility that China is actually a fascist capitalist country now. Fascism isn’t exactly an ideology that’s about being honest to everyone about what they call themselves. Fascists will call themselves socialist or communist if it gains them power or helps them maintain power.
But I suppose this is difficult for leftists to accept that because of the political spectrum bullshit. You couldn’t go from being communist (far left) to being fascist (far right) without there being a revolution of some kind! It’s also problematic with the Marxist narratives that say that there’s some kind of inevitable prophecy with steps that have to happen in a specific order. That’s all proven to be bunk if a communist country can just become fascist. Can’t entertain the idea that late stage communism is identical to late stage capitalism, right?
So I suppose leftists have to continue to believe that a country with a ruling party that’s dominated by xenophobic misogynistic billionaires is somehow still communist.
Fascism is not a substitute for authoritarianism, and whether or not China is truly authoritarian is open to debate itself. Fascism holds both a social and economic definition that just does not align with the actions and history of the CCP.
What? We are operating under the commonly agreed upon and well defined terms utilized by those teaching basic political science all over the world.
What?
Lol, late stage communism? When the CCP claim they are communist that’s not saying they have achieved communism, it’s a statement that that’s their goal. Socialism is the system utilized as a transitional phase that helps you reach communism. China having a mixed market means they have obviously not achieved communism, let alone “late stage communism”.
First of all, people in the politburo tend to be career bureaucrats, not businessmen. Secondly, I do agree that the CCP has had a historic issue with han chauvinism that needs to be addressed. It’s something that even mao spoke critically about on several occasions.
That being said, the CCP has taken a country of billions suffering from historical forces of imperial colonization from both the west and the east. A country that was suffering from famine and economic decline on a monumental scale and reversed its course in the span of a single lifetime. In just about every single category you can think of the government has improved the lives of its own citizens, and it continues to make progress.
I’m not talking about historical CCP, I’m talking about the CCP of today. Today it is dominated by xenophobic misogynistic billionaires. Xi is President for life because of the belief that only a strongman can protect China from the evil foreigners and run the economy (which is a capitalist economy). Labour unions are illegal in China, workers are oppressed. No matter the CCP may have been in the past, it is a fascist party today.
I actually have a science degree. Political “science” was not a credit towards my degree, it’s in the humanities category. They call it “science” to try to give it legitimacy, but there really isn’t a whole lot of science going on there. Too many old communist professors that are in denial of a lot of things. They have tenure so continue to have lectures about how “real communism” has never been tried (google the “no true scotsman” fallacy) and a lot of apologism over the atrocities committed by communist regimes. You’re not supposed to take those poli sci classes seriously, it’s just an easy credit if you don’t challenge anything the old commie profs say.
Why not? You have a Pavlovian response to the phrase “late stage capitalism” so I guess late stage communism isn’t something that’s part of your conditioning. Multiple communist regimes have failed, so if we’re actually doing real political science (and not just going along with whatever the commie prof says) it would be something that would be studied and the patterns could be identified. It’s really backwards that a system that’s failed many many times is never studied in terms of having a “late stage”, while the system that hasn’t failed is the one you assume must inevitably fail.
We know that central planning doesn’t work for a developed economy (it’s too complex for a small group of people to manage), communist regimes have to allow some degree of economic freedom so the economy can function. Increased economic freedom results in ideas spreading, which means there’s a greater pressure for political freedom on the ruling regime. Hardliners don’t want this (it’s a threat to their power) coups and crackdowns start occurring. Eventually the people realize the whole system is dishonest and just stop showing up to work, or do the bare minimum. Malaise takes over. The whole thing becomes untenable and we see economic and political collapse. Late stage communism in a nutshell.
But sure, go on pretending that communism is super successful and go along with a religious-like prophecy of “late stage capitalism” that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Like why are we now in “late stage capitalism” now but we weren’t in the 1930s? Why did the policies implemented to get out of the Great Depression work, and why wouldn’t they work now?
John Maynard Keynes > Karl Marx. Marx identified some real problems with capitalism, Keynes found a solution to those problems. The Marxist solution failed, the Keynesian solution succeeded. It’s obvious to anyone that understands anything about economics. Communism is obsolete, it only exists now as a rationalization for authoritarianism.
So the CCP was communist at one point and is now fascist even though Mao also served the same role…?
They have a mixed economy, that’s not really up for debate. It’s not purely capitalistic and it’s not completely centralized and planned. Though a lot of the complaints I see in this sub tend to be about the states undue influence over the economic system, which would indicate that there is a lot of centralized control.
Western styled independent labour unions are, but every worker belongs to a centralized workers union. Much in the same way the USSR operated their labour representation.
Could working conditions improve in modern China…? Yes, absolutely. Have they vastly improved over the last few decades…? Yes, absolutely.
So do I… There’s a difference between soft sciences and hard sciences. The point is to study the topic in a scientific manor. The difference being how quantitative the data you are working with is.
That appears to be a stawman argument, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an actual professor make that claim. Some might claim communism has never been achieved, but I’d doubt they claim it’s never been attempted. And again, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a professor who claimed a communist government never participated with or enacted an atrocity. Those who make that claim are simply wrong and do not represent the entirety of a political ideology.
Lol, how many old commie political science professors do you think there are in the west…? And yes, you should take every class in college seriously. That claim speaks a lot more about you and your education than anything I could say.
Because it doesn’t make any logical sense? We have achieved the goals set forth in capitalist theory, we’ve never seen a socialist government actually achieve there theoretical end goal. You could say faultering communism, or failing communist, but not late stage.
And if you would have said China is failing to achieve communism, it would be open to debate. To say that it’s “late stage” is just nonsensical.
Lol, what exactlyis your criteria for assessing if a capitalistic nation has failed?
It’s almost like political theory eveolves over time… Where exactly does it say that socialist and communist countries have to maintain a strict command economy?
And what about a “free market” inherently makes “ideas” spread?
Late stage capitalism describes a measurable effect created by the need for exponential growth. At a certain point growth is dictated by things like population and market forces. It’s when you hit a point where innovation and resources availability fail to meet growth demand, so the only way to achieve that growth is by monopolization, conglomeration, and reduction of labour.
I would argue that we were experiencing a form of late stage capitalism in the 1930s and the only way we got out of it was by centralizing more power to the government and then implementing socialist policy.
Lol, and that’s why everyone is doing so great now… Tell me, how exactly did keynes find a way to ensure constant growth in a world with limited resources?
If you are claiming that communism failed because one nation dissolved it’s government, then why does that not apply to capitalist governments who have done the same?
The reason a lot of leftist countries are more authoritarian than some liberal ones is because they are aware of how fascism and other reactionary movements work. There is a reason why every actual fascist government has reared itself from a failing liberal government. Fascism was developed to take advantage of schisms within liberal societies to create opportunities for power. You should really read the death of democracy by Benjamin Hett. Don’t worry he is a liberal and advocates for liberalism in the book. But he does have a good grasp on the development of fascism and how it differs from other forms of government.
I guess with your logic we all live in absolute vacuums of sorts but also jumbled words ’ leftist, zenophobic, billionaires, far left, spectum bullshit , difficult to understand , WHAT?!