Please don't mince words about freedom in China, a brutally repressive state: It doesn't deserve it.
* You can't leave your village without a pass
* You can't have more than one kid
* No freedom of expression
* Oh, and that ongoing massacre in Tibet
* You can have more than one kid - you have to pay a fine though. Also, the restriction doesn't apply to ethnic minorities or farmers.
* You cannot organize dissenting political views. You can express yourself creatively, artistically, etc all you want. Check out Beijing's 798 district: http://www.798space.com (one of my favorite places).
* It's not an "ongoing massacre". It may be oppression, racism, discrimination, segregation, confining a people to internment or a reservation - but to describe it as an active massacre is inaccurate.
He's probably referring to the hukou system.
There are a lot of injustices in China to be angry about, but I don't think this is one of them.
* Is that any less perverse?
* The right to organize with other dissenters is critical in the fight for freedom.
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
Those are from the past month in the Post alone.
* Do you mean to say that scores of Tibetan protesters were not beaten and/or shot dead in the months leading up to the Olympics? Because that's news to me.
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St. Paul, really, not Minneapolis. I live in the state where both cities are. I see a lot of news video of what the "protesters" were doing, and the police response was appropriate, in my opinion. I am very able in this state to vote out a current administration (not something someone can do in China) and to speak up about my opinion on any issue.
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Off topic, but St. Paul and surrounding suburbs are actually much more conservative than Minneapolis and the suburbs on its side. It's like the difference between Boston and Cambridge.
To understand the complexity of China's problems, and to try to propose a solution, you're going to have to try to understand China at a much deeper level.
And I didn't even bring other important notions, such as the freedom of religion, into the fold:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/16272/religion_in_china.html#...
Americans demand change when they feel something isn't right. They want to see change happen and want it immediately - or, at the least, every four years. It's a young country, barely 250 years old, and has reinvented itself many times over, in short durations, and has grown and evolved so much so quickly. Because Americans can change and remake itself so quickly, they also demand that of others. America is like the hare. China, on the other hand, is like the turtle. It's a 5,000 year old civilization, moving slowly and gradually, at its own pace, regardless of what others are doing. To the Chinese, the last 20 years has been probably the most progressive 20 years in China's history. To China, it is moving at lightening pace. Compared to China 10, 15, 20 years ago, it has come a long long way. And it will continue to progress, but at its own turtle's pace.
Because I totally applied my criticism to a people rather than a national government, right? Maybe you're the old-world type that equates nations with races.
Don't know who's right. Could anyone point out information that China's goal is the elimination of the Tibetan people, instead of rule over them? Seems like they could have finished by now if they just wanted to kill them all.
There are valid practical reasons for this. Infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, schools, etc... can simply not cater for a massive influx of people from rural areas.
The alternative to this is probably giant slum cities that surround every major city (as what happens in other parts of the world).
> * You can't have more than one kid
Although this is horrible - and things such as forced abortions is heretic there are good reasons for this.
There are huge overpopulation problems in China. Culturally many people are also inclined to get more children (since children traditionally cared for parents and were an old fashioned "retirement plan").
I would go further and argue that the rapid increase in population is responsible for much of Africa's non-development.
> * No freedom of expression
Between personal freedom and economic freedom I would prefer economic freedom. Of course China is not a democracy with all the nice associated things (freedom of expression, etc...).
However, if China were a democracy it would probably have succumbed to a kleptocratic leftist rule - as 95% of other 3rd world countries.