1 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: We live in an age of uprising. From Haiti to 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: Hong Kong, from Ecuador de Sudan, from Chile to Myanmar, 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: from the US to Iran, an entire generation has been 4 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: confronted with the horror of our world and took the 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: simple expedient of picking up a brick and throwing it 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: at a cop. Yet as the uprising swept the globe, 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: there was one country where it was considered impossible. Every expert, 8 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: every policymaker, every kid on a street corner new there 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: was simply no chance of a mass treet movement in China. 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: On Monday, it was unimaginable. On Friday, it was everywhere 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: welcome to it could happen here. What we've been watching 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: for the past three weeks now is the failure of 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: one of the most sophisticated political regimes in human history, 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: a political, social, and economic regime designed specifically to stop 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: this one moment. After thirty years of repression, the national 16 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: mass street movement has returned to China. This is what 17 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: it was all about. Everything from the censorship policies to 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: union busting to subsidize mortgages from a rising Chinese middle class. 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: It was about keeping people from going back to the 20 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: streets to make even the idea of it impossible. And 21 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: yet here we are. In one sense, the party is 22 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: little to fear from the round of protests, barring an 23 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: immense intensification of violence, which at the moment seems extremely unlikely. 24 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: But in another sense, the CCP is perhaps the last 25 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: regime on earth that truly remembers the previous age of revolution, 26 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: that remembers when the workers took Shanghai in sixty seven, 27 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: very nearly took Beijing and eighty nine. These are people 28 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: who understand that China's political system is built on shaving 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: a sleeping bear, and no matter how profitable that system is, 30 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: there's always a chance that one day that bear is 31 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: going to wake up. Now the bear isn't fully awake yet. 32 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: We are not shing in China full scale uprising a 33 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: la Sudan or Myanmar, But that bear, the air to 34 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: maybe the most militant working class and modern world has 35 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: ever seen, is starting to open its eyes. So what 36 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,679 Speaker 1: is the CCP currently facing. Since about November, there have 37 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: been widespread anti government protests in China, Unlike anything we've 38 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: seen in the last thirty years. These protests are everywhere. 39 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: They're in Beijing, They're in Nanjing, They're in Shanghai. There 40 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: in guang Show, there in shing John, We'll get back 41 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: to that one in a second. There in Wuhan, reports 42 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: I saw said that there were protests at seventy seven universities. 43 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: That number is almost certainly an under account now, and 44 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: these student protests are not just taking place at small 45 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: colleges in the middle of nowhere. There were protests at 46 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: singh Qua University, which for an American audience, I would 47 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: compare to China's version of Harvard. It's the college that 48 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: produces the upper echelon. If the Chinese ruling class, Hi 49 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: Jimping graduated from there, so did his predecessor, Hu Jintao. 50 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: And the only reason that jujuin how his predecessor did 51 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: not graduate from there, is that that guy was so 52 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: old that he went to college under the Japanese occupation. 53 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: When I was originally writing this, I had a joke 54 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: here about how the only city where there haven't been 55 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: protest is Harbin, which is the city in the absolute 56 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: middle of nowhere in northn China. But no, I googled it, 57 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: and it turns out there have been protests in bloody Harbon. 58 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: For people who aren't very good at Chinese geography, which 59 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: is probably most people, this means these protests are everywhere. 60 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: There in the north, there in the south, there in 61 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: the east, there in the west, there in the far West. 62 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: And it's true that a lot of these protests are 63 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: not that big, although some of them are absolutely massive. 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: But the importance here is that this is the first 65 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: time in thirty years that we've seen widespread national protests 66 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: over a single issue in China, the anormity of which 67 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: is compounded by the fact that people in the streets 68 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: of cities like Shanghai are openly calling for the fall 69 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: of the CCP and si Jianping, something that by itself 70 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: can get you a decade in prison just for saying. 71 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: We can ask what these protests are acts Lee about. 72 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: The version you see in the American press is that 73 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: these are anti lockdown protests, are protests against China's COVID 74 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: zero policy, or that there's also pro democracy protests against 75 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: the entire regime. And this is sort of true as 76 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: far as it goes, but it doesn't capture the core 77 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: of what's going on, which is that what we're seeing 78 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: is a widespread fusion of labor rebellion, anti police brutality, protests, 79 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: and a revolt against the authoritarian state. The thing that's 80 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: brought all of this together is the CCPs COVID policy. 81 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: But that's because that policy is the most visible and 82 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: most concentrated expression of the state's general authoritarian is a 83 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: bit brutal war against the working class. We can learn 84 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: a lot about what's actually been happening by going back 85 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: a little bit to the very start of the protests. 86 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: There are three specific events that sparked the protests, two 87 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: of which are pretty well covered, and one of which 88 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: has been basically ignored because of how long ago it happened. 89 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: The first arc is essentially an event in its own right. 90 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: This is what I would call the fox Con revolts, 91 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: a series of worker uprisings against the manufacturer of the iPhone, 92 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 1: which with a single factory, controls vast portions of the 93 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: regional economy of Hainan Province. Whereas large as factory is based. 94 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: The fox Con revolt is I'm brewing for a long time. 95 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: It begun essentially when fox Con began to impose what's 96 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 1: called the closed loop system. The closed loop system was 97 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: originally developed by the NBA to run an NBA season 98 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: during the beginning of the pandemic. The idea is that 99 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: you keep everyone inside a closed loop. This means that 100 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: everyone in the production process has no contact with the 101 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: outside world at all for as long as the manufacturing 102 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: cycle goes. The CCP started adopting the closed loop as 103 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: they hit problems with their twin imperatives to both stop 104 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: COVID and also to make sure that fox Con hit 105 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: its production targets so Apple could have enough iPhones for 106 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: the Christmas rush. The result was that as an October 107 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: wave of infections hit Hangan province, where fox CON's largest 108 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: factory was located, two hundred thousand workers were put into 109 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,479 Speaker 1: a closed loop system, which meant they were trapped in 110 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: the factory in their dormitories. In order to keep this 111 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: factory running, fox Con needs about a hundred thousand migrant workers. 112 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,160 Speaker 1: The problem, from Capital's perspective with microt workers is that 113 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: they can, if things get bad enough, just go home, 114 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: and that's exactly what happens. Workers inside the fox Con 115 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: plants started to be quarantined with people who were sick 116 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: in the same dormitory and It's worth noting here that 117 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: these dormitories are tiny. The conditions even outside of lockdown 118 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: are atrocious, and when people were suddenly getting quarantined with 119 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: people who were sick, workers essentially just said no and 120 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: started to stage massive breakouts. There are incredible videos of 121 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: these trains of people like along the road walking home 122 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: as sort of hitching rides on people's trucks fleeing if factory. 123 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: We don't actually know how many workers escaped, but it 124 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: was enough to be a massive problem for Capital. Again, 125 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: they need these workers in order to make enough iPhones 126 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: to sell for Christmas. Current estimates suggest that Apple is 127 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: somewhere between eleven and fifteen million units behind what it 128 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: needs to make the Christmas rush. So Fox Con had 129 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: the local government recruiting people to go work in the factory. 130 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: What they told these workers was that if they entered 131 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: the closed loop for thirty days, they'd be given three 132 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: thousand yawn, which is about four hundred and fifteen dollars 133 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: to live on for the next month, and then get 134 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: paid thirty on or about four dollars an hour, and 135 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: then after the end of the next dirty days they'd 136 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: get another three thousand john in the US, this would 137 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: be a subminimum wage poverty job for a Chinese worker. 138 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: This is a lot of money, or it would have 139 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: been had it not been for one minor problem. All 140 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: of it was bullshit. Fox Con and the CCP were 141 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: lying out of their asses after workers who are already 142 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: in the closed loop. They learned that the two three 143 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: thousand yuan bonuses weren't going to be paid until March 144 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: and May of next year, meaning that in order to 145 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: get what they were promised for two months of work, 146 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: they were going to have to work for seven months. Also, 147 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: the thirty you on an hour wage that they were 148 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: promised was a lie. They were getting paid substantially less 149 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: than that. So on Tuesday the November, workers who had 150 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: emerged from quarantine to start work only to learn that 151 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: they had been systematically lied to by both the governments 152 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: and Chinese and Taiwanese capitalists, came out of their dormitories 153 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: and demanded that they either get their money or be 154 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 1: allowed to leave. There's another part of this account that 155 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: I think complicates a lot of the sort of narratives 156 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: that we've heard about what the Chinese prostor about that 157 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: did not make the Western press at all, which is 158 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: that these workers were also demanding that their bosses, quote, 159 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,559 Speaker 1: implement pandemic prevention and control measures. Um, it's not entirely 160 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: clue what the specific demands refers to. It seems to 161 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: be about not quarantining sick people in the same dorms 162 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: as healthy people, a thing that seems relatively obvious, but 163 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: capitalism regardless. The product of bosses ignoring these demands was 164 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: several days of full scale fighting with the police. On 165 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: November twenty three, a bunch of videos began to spread 166 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: of workers taking those metal police barricades that you see 167 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:25,719 Speaker 1: all the time in the US that are essentially an 168 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: arch with a bunch of bars and not get into 169 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 1: a flat base. You've you've probably seen these picking them 170 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: up and straight up throwing them at cops or grabbing 171 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 1: them and beating police riot shields with them. I have 172 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: I have never seen anything like it. It was absolutely wild. 173 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: At this point, after several days of fighting, after their 174 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: own regular security people literally refused to show up to 175 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: go fight these workers, and police from outside had to 176 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 1: be called in. Fox Con gave up said okay, we 177 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: will give you ten thousand yond to literally leave right now. 178 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: Please just stop, and a lot of people took the 179 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: money and left, And in any other year, in any 180 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: other moment, that would have been the end of it. 181 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: The Fox Con riots would be another episode in the 182 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: never ending series of they tried not to pay us 183 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: riots that are the most common one of the most 184 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,479 Speaker 1: common forms of workers protests in China. Instead, on Thanksgiving 185 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: Day in the United States, videos started to circulate of 186 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: a fire in a residential block in a room Cheet, 187 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: the capital of shing Jong. There are several videos of 188 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,199 Speaker 1: the fire. In one that journalists were able to verify, 189 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: you can hear people screaming from inside the building as 190 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: they tried and failed to escape the flames. Further videos 191 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: showed that cops had barricaded off the streets with metal 192 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: wires as a way to enforcing John's one hundred day 193 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: long lockdown, which prevented firefighters from getting to the scene. 194 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: Firefighters can be seen firing water hoses at the building, 195 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,319 Speaker 1: only for the hoses arc to fall shorts trapped behind 196 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: barricades that prevented them from any closer. Speculation about whether 197 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: the doors of the apartment building themselves have been sealed 198 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: shut with locks or barricaded from the outside, as had 199 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: happened to so many other people's homes during the lockdown 200 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: ran rampant. One video I saw from another city appeared 201 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: to show workers and has met suits who become known 202 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: as the Big Whites, literally welding someone's door shut to 203 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: keep them in. To make matters worse, the head of 204 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,199 Speaker 1: the rooms she city Fire rescue department blamed the families 205 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 1: for their own deaths, saying quote some residents abilities to 206 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: rescue themselves were too weak. These are the videos the 207 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: fragments of nightmares brought to life that started the mass protests. 208 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: This is a revolution scene. At thirty second intervals, everyone 209 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: is trying to beat the sensors. Clips float back and 210 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: forth between weach at, Twitter, Telegram back to Weachat again. Ironically, 211 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: many sensors were already home for the weekend, allowing clips 212 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: and posts that otherwise would have been removed immediately to 213 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: circulate for hours, sometimes even days. These brought back the 214 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: memory of the Third Spark, the one that's basically been 215 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: forgotten about in the West, if anyone even cared to 216 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: know about it in the first place. In September, a 217 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: bus full of people with COVID and Guangzho that the 218 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: government was shipping to a quarantine center, crashed and killed 219 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,960 Speaker 1: twenty seven people, wounding twenty others. Conditions in these centers, 220 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,719 Speaker 1: which COVID patients are often forced to go to rather 221 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: than quarantining in their homes, are atrocious. Pictures and videos 222 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 1: circulate constantly of bathrooms covered in human ship from failing 223 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: drainage systems. As China has already over tax medical systems 224 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: simply failed to keep up with the demands on a 225 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,079 Speaker 1: place by the government, which, like the American government has 226 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: and continues to systematically refuse to invest in medical infrastructure. 227 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: Intimate familiarity with these wretched conditions and the raw horror 228 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,559 Speaker 1: at the s and Xing John and Guangzho sparked protests 229 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: across the country. In a room sheet and now seventy 230 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: Han City under constant police occupation, Han protesters appeared to 231 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: be moved in solidarity with the weaker families killed in 232 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,839 Speaker 1: the fire and fought the police with a ferocity unmatched 233 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: anywhere but the migrant worker villages of Guangzho along the 234 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: Parer River Delta, one of China's great manufacturing hubs. These 235 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: desperate struggles were given relatively little attention by a Western 236 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: media class enamored with the image of students carrying blank, 237 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: white pieces of paper to protest the censorship, a common 238 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: form of protests in places like Hong Kong. This time, 239 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: at least, they were tied to a particularly funny piece 240 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: of media censorship. As protests mounted, people started posting an 241 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: article version of a speech by Mao called let the 242 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: People Speak, The Sky will Not Fall. Chinese censors quickly 243 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: ran into a classic CCP problem, which is that in 244 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: a state whose heroes are communist revolutionaries, celebrated historical figures 245 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: produce an immense repertoire of slogans and quotes for subsequent 246 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: generations and revolutionaries to draw from, which has caused the CCP, 247 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: at various points in time to ban the opening of 248 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: its own national anthem arise Ye who refused to be slaves. 249 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: As sensors banned Let the People speak, the Guy will 250 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: not Fall. People began posting the article, but with the 251 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: words replaced by squares. This too was also deleted, and 252 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: then posting simply blanks white squares themselves, which saw their 253 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: reflection in the students in the streets. The CCP, in 254 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: turn retreated to its traditional tactic of blaming the protests 255 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: on foreign forces interfering in China, a claim which is 256 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: less than credible on a country that has rolled up 257 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: the CIA's entire in country intelligence network at least once 258 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: in the last decade. There's an incredible exchange that has 259 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: made the rounds between a cop who is telling a 260 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: group of protesters that there are quote foreign forces around 261 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: manipulating the protests, who is immediately yelled at by a 262 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: guy screaming, who are the born forces? Marks and angles 263 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: Stalin and Lenin. Another man appears and asks, Hi, can 264 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: I ask if it was foreign forces who started the 265 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: fire in Shing John? Was the guigo bus overturned by 266 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: foreign forces? Another man grabs the mic and says, was 267 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: everyone told to come here by foreign forces? The crowd 268 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: shouts no. He then makes an incredibly obvious point, we 269 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: can't even access to foreign internet. How are foreign forces 270 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: meant to be communicating with us? Another man says, we 271 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: only have domestic forces, not allowing us to govern themselves. 272 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: Where are these foreign forces from the moon? Still managing 273 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: these accusations to become a constant part of the protests, 274 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: with calls from protesters to stop chanting things like down 275 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: with the CCP, and attempts to keep the demands focused 276 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: on COVID policy like ending COVID zero. And this is 277 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: where things get incredibly muddled by a Western press that 278 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: decided to stop giving a shit about COVID deaths a 279 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: year ago, and a set of contrarians are ring that no, actually, 280 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: China's COVID policy is actually good. This entire debate hinges 281 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: on the conflation of the state of government policy of 282 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: zero COVID, which is an attempt to stop all cases 283 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: of COVID, and the actual execution of the policy, which 284 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: has taken the form of a war against China's working 285 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: class and a set of draconian police state abuses. One 286 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: thing that Western quote unquote experts have been quick to 287 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: point out is that will the CCP has to keep 288 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: doing COVID zero or one point five million people will die. 289 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: There was a tiny bit of truth to this in 290 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: that one reason Chinese COVID restriction so so harsh is 291 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: that if COVID was simply let rip like it has 292 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: been in the US, it would go through China's largely 293 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: unvaccinated rural elderly population like a chainsaw, and unlike in 294 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: the US, if a million people died in China because 295 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: the government fucked up a pandemic response, party officials will 296 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: be getting beaten to death in the streets. And part 297 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: of the reason for the crisis in China in the 298 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:00,040 Speaker 1: first place is that the rest of the world a 299 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: up on trying to contain COVID entirely. If the rest 300 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: of the world had, you know, done their jobs and 301 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,719 Speaker 1: stamped out the virus, none of us would be here 302 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:13,359 Speaker 1: right now. On the other hand, no, absolutely not. You 303 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: do not actually need to wild people into their houses 304 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: or drag them by force out of their home so 305 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: they can die and bus crashes on their way to 306 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: unsafe and unsanitary pseudo hospitals with bathroom floors literally covered 307 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: ship in order to contain the pandemic. Lots of pandemics 308 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: across human history have been contained without doing this ship 309 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: just because the two great world powers have decided that 310 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,960 Speaker 1: the COVID responses are kill a million people by forcing 311 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: everyone back to work so that no one has to 312 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 1: actually deal with the political consequences of telling a bunch 313 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: of unbelievably deranged and heavily armed fascist no and lock 314 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,400 Speaker 1: two people in a factory and force them to make 315 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 1: iPhones and then beat the absolute shit out of them 316 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: when it turns out you lied to them about their pay. 317 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that there aren't other options that we could 318 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: take for pandemic responses if we decided to stop letting 319 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: a bunch of venal and corrupt assholes rule us all. 320 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: And this is something that people in China also understand. 321 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: Even if the Western press corps dead set on presenting 322 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: their demands as if they're American anti maskers, you can 323 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: tell obviously the Chinese protesters are not simply a copy 324 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: of right wing American fascists. By simply looking at a 325 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: picture of a protest and seeing how many people are 326 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: wearing masks. China is not the US. Regular people actually 327 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: do care about containing the pandemic. This is why there 328 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: is a real pandemic response in the first place, after 329 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: the government utterly boshed it. If you look at the 330 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: actual demands of the protesters, you will see things that 331 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: normally would seem more at home with liberal American protesters 332 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: attempting to see pandemic restrictions enforced properly, Things like our 333 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: pandemic response must be based on science. But people, even 334 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: people who don't want to die of a plague, do 335 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: not want to be horribly abused by cops or horrifically 336 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: exploited by the state and capitalists. And that, I think 337 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: is something we do all understand. Only time can tell 338 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: what will happen to these protests. The government is quietly 339 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,920 Speaker 1: making concessions and not so quietly hunting down people who 340 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,159 Speaker 1: took to the streets. It is entirely possible that the 341 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: protest will simply die, and that in two or three 342 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: years most people will have forgot they ever happened. From 343 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: a sort of brutal materialist perspective, however, it seems unlikely 344 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: China's social system could function fine as long as growth 345 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: was at fifteen percent or ten percent, or even eight percent. 346 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: But when growth inevitably comes down to two percent, but 347 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: the deal of keep your head down and everyone will 348 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: get rich starts to look a lot less attractive. COVID 349 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: is simply intensified all of the traditional contradictions inside Chinese 350 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,440 Speaker 1: society and made visible the horrors that previously had been obscured, 351 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,679 Speaker 1: and it seems unlikely that those contradictions will someday vanish. 352 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: But here in the presence, the impossible continues, and every 353 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: day it does is another day that the gates of 354 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: possibility and sh a bit further open. This espina could 355 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: Happen here. You can find us that Happened Here pot 356 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter or Instagram. We have a website, cool zone 357 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,199 Speaker 1: media dot com where you can see the sources for 358 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: this and other episodes. Enjoy your week, and remember that 359 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: you too can defeat your own ruling class. It could 360 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. For 361 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool 362 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 1: zone media dot com or check us out on the 363 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 364 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: to podcasts. You can find sources for it could Happen Here, 365 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: updated monthly at cool zone media dot com slash sources. 366 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:38,920 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.