In the West Mao Zedong is treated as a mass
murdering monster, just like Adolf Hitler, by many, if not most, journalists,
scholars and pundits. They constantly amass new statistics that prove that Mao
killed 10s of millions of people. Since he died and especially since the end of
the Cold War, there has been a consistent campaign to discredit Mao. But if
their analysis is right, why are a lot of the Chinese citizens, especially
those who lived under Mao, remembering him fondly?
As an example consider these quotes from The
Telegraph:
"Mao is a god in
the East," said Chen Min, a 23-year-old nurse who works at a hospital in
Changsha, the nearest major city.
"My grandmother
was here in Shaoshan for the 100th anniversary, when they installed the giant
bronze statue in the main square. It was winter, but she said the flowers along
the road bloomed as the statue was driven by."
Even those old enough
to remember the bad old days find it perfectly possible to continue to worship
Mao, whose policies led directly to the death of tens of millions of Chinese.
"Mao liberated
China. You cannot blame him for things like the Cultural Revolution or those
other miserable times. He did not cause them himself," said Yang Biqiu, an
83-year-old visitor.
Indeed the depth of
feeling stirred up by the anniversary is enough to concern the authorities, who
have been monitoring internet chat rooms used by Maoists and tapping their
mobile phones.
"All of our
phones are being monitored," said Tang Jinbo, a 53-year-old former worker
in a pharmaceutical firm who is one of a group of hundreds of Mao supporters
that travelled to Shaoshan.
"In the city of
Xi'an they are not allowed to celebrate the anniversary. Why should we be
controlled? We only used government websites to post comments and meet,"
she complained.…
The article goes on to explain that Mao’s
picture and name is everywhere. People name their kids after him. Restaurants have
his picture on the wall and they often name dishes after him or his deeds, such
as the Longest March. But as with almost all articles written in the West,
there is that constant reminder that Western journalists consider him a mass
murderer:
“Even those old
enough to remember the bad old days find it perfectly possible to continue to
worship Mao, whose policies led directly to the death of tens of millions of
Chinese.”
But Western journalists have had to admit
that Mao still has popularity in China. Another look at Mao is from The New York Times:
Yet 45 years ago, on
May 16, 1966, this same man began the Cultural Revolution, an orgy of political
violence that killed perhaps two million Chinese.
Mao’s preeminence in
China is linked to his role in founding the People’s Republic in 1949. Yet his
controversial political legacy, of which the Cultural Revolution is just one
example, is growing more, not less, disputed, with time.
At stake is nothing
less than long-stalled political reform, say some Chinese analysts and retired
Communist Party officials.
“An honest, earnest,
serious assessment of Mao based on facts” is “necessary,” Yawei Liu, director of
the Carter Center’s China Program in Atlanta, said in an e-mail.
The following is repeated over and over by
Western Journalists and pundits:
Mao’s legacy
overshadows China to this day, so “without such a thorough verdict, it would be
hard for China to launch meaningful political reform,” Mr. Liu said.
What can be noticed in this quote is the
importance of “meaningful political reform.” What Western journalists,
politicians and pundits want to see from China is a capitalist-style-free
market and crass consumerism. Such capitalist values are the most important
thing to Western journalists.
Freedom and democracy are a far secondary
value to the Western journalist and pundits. They wonder how anyone can be
happy without a life full of technological toys, cars, iphones and a deluge of
crass consumerism. The US system only works when commercials are attacking
people through TV, bill boards, computers and just about every type of media.
In the West, a political system needs to be
integrated and controlled by pirates, profiteers and hucksters of all types.
What they can’t tolerate is fairness
between the classes, a society that focuses more on the needs of ALL its
citizens and the basics for all people, such as free medical care and education,
as well as everyone having a house and job. In the capitalist West, nothing is
more important than corporate profits. They can’t tolerate a leader who
believes people are more important than profits. That is why they can’t
tolerate Mao.
The Cultural
Revolution is portrayed by journalists as unpopular. It May have
been such. But the Western press NEVER EVER explains its purpose. It is always
described as some kind of purge by Mao. The goal of advancing communism or
creating culture to honor those classes at the bottom of Chinese society is
never mentioned. There were some political struggles and that could resemble a
purge, but the Cultural Revolution was way more than that.
As for people being killed, consider
Abraham Lincoln. He presided over the bloodiest war in American history. He
violated people’s rights. Yet we don’t go around calling
him a mass murderer. His is considered a hero here in the US.[1]
Mao’s politics,
his writings, his philosophy is never discussed in any of these articles. That
is always left out. There are organizations all over the world that follow Mao’s
ideas and they rarely if ever, get any press.
This site is an example of the politics of
Mao being a used as a major political force. After reading
most of Mao’s works I have to wonder how other people can really
believe they understand political power and its relations to politics. Some of
the most successful guerrilla armies in the world have been influenced by Mao,
especially both in South America and Asia. Some of us believe that Mao’s works
are the most important political writings of the 20th century. And that has
less to do with the simple leadership of the man.
Western journalists and pundits can sit
around and complain all they want, but the Chinese realize the founder of their
society was not a maniacal monster or simple mass murderer. Many people in
other parts of Asia
and elsewhere know it also.
- សតិវអតុ
No comments:
Post a Comment