Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘China’ Category

Multiple Bullies At Work, Out to Create a “Multipolar World” – Kavita Krishnan

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Two interesting articles by Kavita Krishnan are below.

The author explains :

My article in The Hindu on what’s at stake for Ukraine and the world.
I try to get all my material on Ukraine from the horse’s mouth: I just read Putin, Dugin, Vance, Mearsheimer really thoroughly – and they confirm all that I’m saying, without even bothering to disguise their intent. There can’t be more reliable and irrefutable sources.
The article attached is based on reading Mearsheimer himself saying Putin’s top peace condition is a puppet regime in Kyiv, since liberal democracy in Ukraine is an “existential threat to Russia”.

Kavita Krishnan

The second article examines the recent electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary

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Western left campist fantasy of egalitarian China Jacobin Glorifies Leftist Yellowface, Ignores Chinese Perspectives in Article on “Chinamaxxing”

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Western left campist fantasy of egalitarian China Jacobin Glorifies Leftist Yellowface, Ignores Chinese Perspectives in Article on “Chinamaxxing”

Jacobin Glorifies Leftist Yellowface, Ignores Chinese Perspectives in Article on “Chinamaxxing”

Source :
Western Left Campist Fantasy of egalitarian China

Brian Hioe reports :


A RECENT ARTICLE in Jacobin by Seth Ackerman on “Chinamaxxing” again reveals the usual blind spots of Western leftists. Ackerman discusses the online phenomenon of “Chinamaxxing”–the recent turn of Gen Z teens on social media claiming that they are in a “very Chinese period of their life.” Gen Z teens have taken to mimicking Chinese cultural habits, such as taking off shoes indoors or drinking hot water. For Ackerman, this highlights the “kill line” in the US–that living conditions are desperate and marked by scarcity–that Gen Z Americans have turned toward imitating such cultural habits.

Brian Hioe

For one, Ackerman conveniently never discusses the racial projection at work, nor does it ever seem to occur to him that this is a form of culturalist Orientalism. It is, after all, hardly just a Chinese habit to take off shoes indoors. And one is hard pressed to find the connection between drinking hot water and remedies to stark socioeconomic inequality.

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Dishonesty of Many Campists About China – “Progressive International’s Adulation of “Whole-Process Democracy” Celebrates Capitalist Party-States”

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Dishonesty of Many Campists About China – Progressive International’s Adulation of “Whole-Process Democracy” Celebrates Capitalist Party-States

Ashley Smith Comments :

The dishonesty and delusion of today’s campists about China is truly astonishing. In one publication, a couple of authors deny the mass repression and internment of Uyghurs. In another, two more embarrass themselves by celebrating the capitalist police state as a socialist democracy. How can this pass as Marxist analysis? How can anyone on the left take this seriously?

Ashley Smith facebook page

Brian Hioe writes :

Progressive International’s Adulation of “Whole-Process Democracy” Celebrates Capitalist Party-States

Link :
Progressive International’s Adulation of “Whole-Process Democracy” Celebrates Capitalist Party-States

Chinese Autocrat Xi Jinping With British Forelock-Tuggers, David Cameron (ex Prime Minister) and his Queen –
Say Nothing About Human Rights

A RECENT ARTICLE by Paweł Wargan and Jason Hickel, published by the Progressive International, is adulatory about what it claims to be “whole-process democracy” in China. Nevertheless, interrogating the claims of the article finds that these claims to be in themselves contradictory.

“Whole-process democracy” is a term that apologists of the Chinese Communist Party have increasingly embraced in past years, as a term to describe what they claim to be the superiority of the Chinese party-state. Supposedly, rather than serving as a means of social control, the party-state serves to concentrate the democratic will as part of what is termed “whole-process democracy” or the “mass line.”

Of course, this claim is fanciful. Almost every single state under the sun claims that its political system is one that most perfectly embodies the democratic will of the people–and yet many of these states are, of course, authoritarian.

Wargan and Hickel gesture in grandiose fashion toward the usual claims about the wonders of Chinese modernization, while suggesting that it is because of the people’s participation in “whole-process democracy” that this resulted in a development process in which the people’s will was respected. But there is little, if anything, to suggest that this is true in China.

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The U.S. & Israeli War with Iran: What Should Be the Approach of a Principled Socialist Left? – Frieda Afary

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Below is the revised text of a presentation by Frieda Afary to the South African organization, Zabalaza for Socialism on March 15, 2026.

Link :


The U.S. & Israeli War with Iran: What Is a Needed Approach for a Principled Socialist Left? Frieda Afary, ESSF

These are key passages :

Globally, the Russian government has gained from this war because the price of oil has increased, and the Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Russia’s sale of oil. Russia has also gained because the anti-missile systems that Ukraine and Europe were buying from the U.S. to help defend Ukraine against Russia’s brutal imperialist invasion of that country are now going to the Middle East. Russia is also helping the Iranian government by sharing secret information about U.S. targets.
The Chinese government has also gained from this war, because the U.S. government will pay less attention to the Pacific Region and might even allow China to proceed with its plans to take over Taiwan.

Frieda Afary, ESSF, March 15 2026

IV. What Can International Progressives Do Now?
First: Do anything you can to stop this war. Educate, speak out, protest, put pressure on your government representatives and independent intellectuals. In the case of the United States, public opinion is currently 60% against this war. Most people don’t want to send their children to fight in the Middle East. Half the adult population is opposed to the Trump administration’s attacks on and detention/deportation of innocent immigrants. There is also a great deal of anger about the ways in which mostly wealthy men including Trump, other politicians and even academics have collaborated with and benefited from the late Jeffrey Epstein’s network for trafficking of women and girls for rape and sexual abuse. All of these questions need to be addressed in articulating an anti-war message.
Second: Reach out to progressives in the Middle East or Middle Eastern progressives abroad. Do not limit yourself to talking only about one struggle or one country in the Middle East.
Third: Oppose campism, take a clear stand against all global and regional capitalist-imperialist powers and defend the rights and humanity of the peoples that these powers are oppressing.
Fourth: Address key issues that are holding back our struggles: racial and ethnic discrimination, patriarchy, capitalist exploitation, and capitalist alienation.

Frieda Afary, ESSF, March 15 2026
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“Venezuela – Ordinary Imperialism” – A Ukrainian Comrade Denys Pilash warns : “Fears about a global deal between two imperialisms: “you leave us the Western Hemisphere, we leave you Ukraine.” And China gets in on the act

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The Dublin government is doing normal campist hypocrisy : Currently the Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin is visiting China. Expect no mention of the Beijing régime’s well-documented human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province and persecution of the Uyghur minority – China’s boss Xi Jinping will not tolerate that kind of talk :

Link :
China Syria and the Uyghurs

“Another piece of information related to the Xinjiang issue concerns the dissemination of confidential documents that would prove Xi Jinping’s direct involvement in the repression of the Uyghurs. These are three internal speeches given in 2014 during a visit to the region immediately after the attack on Kunming railway station in which Xi called for a campaign of “heavy and rapid strikes” and demanded the creation of a climate of constant pressure. These instructions already hinted at the elements that would subsequently shape the system of internment camps, forced labour and linguistic assimilation programmes, with the aim of eliminating religious practices and cultural identities considered threats to national security.”

The head of the Dublin government is saying nothing about ongoing repression of trade union activists in Hong Kong. Not a dicky-bird from Micheál about the Chinese régimes’s threatening build-up of its military forces in the South China Sea.

Here is a flavour of the Leinster House “Official Version” : Business Before Principles :

“In Shanghai, the Taoiseach will meet the city’s mayor Gong Zheng and visit Irish and Chinese companies in the country’s commercial capital. He has planned meetings with representatives from the financial services, tourism and food and beverage sectors, among others.

“In Beijing, there will be a particular focus on further and higher education – an important area with a lot of potential for both partners, and where co-operation will yield longer-term dividends in terms of research and innovation, and people-to-people links,” he said.

The Taoiseach will meet representatives from 12 Irish third-level colleges that offer full-time degree and diploma courses with Chinese higher education partners. Typically, these offer qualifications that are recognised in both Ireland and China, with courses based on those in Irish colleges.

Last month, the Sunday Times Ireland edition reported that the Irish Military Intelligence Service was concerned about security risks associated with academic links to China. But the Taoiseach later suggested that a more sophisticated approach to China’s strategic ambitions was required.

“I do accept the intelligence that’s across Europe and UK recently but on the other hand, China has never initiated, in modern times, a war. I had a very interesting, pretty careful discussion with the Singaporean Prime Minister on that. We should do more to understand the Chinese psyche and approach, and the more longer term sort of scenario, strategic thinking,” he told The Journal.” – Irish Times January 5 2026.



Venezuela – Ordinary Imperialism

Denys Pilash, from Ukraine, offers us a very useful article based on principles which need to be universal across the left :
Ukraine – Venezuela – Palestine – Occupation Is A Crime.


Washington’s scarecrow, catching up with its Kremlin counterpart, has conducted its own special military aberration [1]. Moreover, whilst boasting about this latest step towards what it calls the “noble peace prize” [2] and asserting its “Donroe Doctrine” [3], it makes no attempt to conceal that this is all for the sake of tasty oil and that it could not care less about the consequences of regional destabilisation. [4]

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‘Do you like being shackled?’ Data shows ‘Trump slump’ of foreign tourists avoiding the US – Alternet.org

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P:olitical Poison is spreading – across the globe police state practices are mushrooming. The articles below paint a frightening picture of Donald Trump’s USA.

‘Do you like being shackled?’ Data shows ‘Trump slump’ of foreign tourists avoiding the US

Link :


Do You Like Being Shackled? Data shows ‘Trump slump’ of foreign tourists avoiding the US

A tourist takes a group selfie on the ?Big Bus? at Times Square in New York City, U.S., August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kent J Edwards

According to preliminary government data released on Tuesday, visits to the United States from abroad declined by 11.6 percent in March compared to the same month last year, with international arrivals from China seeing a decrease of nearly 1 percent.

Wolfgang Georg Arlt, the CEO of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, told ABC that the number of leisure trips taken by Chinese citizens to destinations such as Disneyland, Hawaii and New York is significantly declining and is unlikely to rebound until after President Donald Trump has left office. He referred to this trend as the “Trump Slump.”

The U.S. tourism sector anticipated a strong year in 2025 for foreign visitors. After a significant increase in international arrivals in 2024, some predictions suggested that this year’s numbers could match those seen before the COVID pandemic.

However, just three months into the year, there has been a sharp decline in international arrivals. Amid reports of tourists being detained at the border, many travelers from other countries are opting to avoid the U.S. in favor of other destinations. Reacting to the administration’s harsh immigration policies, several nations have updated their travel recommendations regarding the U.S. Recently, Germany amended its advisory to stress that having a visa or entry waiver does not ensure admission into the country. The UK Foreign Office also updated its guidance to highlight the importance of adhering to all regulations, noting that U.S. authorities strictly enforce entry rules and violations may lead to arrest or detention.

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Trump backs Putin against Ukraine. History turns darker – Simon Pirani

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The Trump-Putin anti-Ukraine alliance is a signal to the left everywhere – we are at a fork in the road :

The good road : The Pro-Ukraine Left

The bad road : The anti-Ukraine Left

What does the pro-Ukraine Left look like? What do we do? – Read on.

Link :
Trump Backs Putin Against Ukraine – History Turns Darker

Trump backs Putin against Ukraine. History turns darker

How bad can it get? When we strip away US president Donald Trump’s insults and temper fits, what can he actually do?

First, he can withdraw US military aid to Ukraine – which he has been talking about doing since long before the US presidential election. If the European states got their act together, which is possible, the effects of this would be constrained.

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South Africa trades profitably in weapons with two major capitalist powers, Russia and Germany – “Our identity since Nelson Mandela has been as a moral power – that’s gone now”

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Bob Myers examines the decision of South Africa’s African National Congress Congress (ANC) government to conduct joint naval exercises with Russia and China.

Article Source : https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article65451

An extract from a Financial Times report (January 28) shows that Pretoria is using Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine to trade profitably with both Moscow and European Union powerhouse Germany.

South African Capitalists play the game of “splendid isolation” – imitating the British imperialist 19th Century policy of playing one European power against the other – London had no permanent friends, only permanent interests.

The full Financial Times report is below, complete with a picture of smiling politicians, the Foreign Ministers of Russia and South Africa, Sergei Lavrov and Naledi Pandor.

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Aggressive suppression and zero tolerance of Covid are crucial – Damning Attack on Irish Government CoVid-19 Pandemic Policy

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A number of medical experts and Zero-CoVid campaigners – notably Tomás Ryan – have published an Irish Times letter ((Monday January 17 2022) criticizing the “let it rip” pandemic policy of the Dublin government. The letter directly responds to an Irish Times columnist – Senator Michael McDowell, a former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice – who says the Leinster House administration “should err on the side of keeping society open”

We held up New Zealand and other countries as leaders. They were, and still are, better off than we are in the choices they made across every possible metric of success. The deaths per million in each country is evidence of this: China, four; New Zealand, 11; Taiwan, 36; Australia, 97; Iceland, 106; South Korea, 120; Norway, 251; Finland, 301; and Ireland, 1,205.

Paul Murphy TD warms :

The government seem to have adopted the Boris Johnson ‘let it rip’ strategy. With half a million cases a week, they should at least be providing FFP2 masks free in schools, public transport and other high-density settings, as well as proper HEPA filters and ventilation measures to bring this under control. Instead, they are gambling with peoples health by changing the close contact rules. Let’s not forget up to 1 in 10 people get long Covid according to some studies. The more cases we let spread, the more people could be permanently affected.

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Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan

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Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan

This is an excellent initiative. Organizations and individuals from many parts of the globe – including five members of the Dáil in Dublin and elected representatives from Belfast and Derry, along with trade unionists, socialists, feminists and left public representatives” in other countries. Hopefully more people and organizations will endorse this statement, and stimulate the building of a mass movement in solidarity with the people of Kazakhstan.

There has been a rapid and strong response to the circulation of this Kazakhstan solidarity statement. Very close to 200 signatures in almost 40 countries were collected in the space of just two days, with many prominent individuals and organisations.

For more information read this blog https://kazakhsolidarity.wordpress.com/

Statement issued 12 January 2022.

Sources :

https://www.letusrise.ie/featured-articles/solidarity-with-the-uprising-in-kazakhstan?fbclid=IwAR0k46VWYR__tRoWW0wPUYbW29WSMJFe7h08ya3UrA8Bz44k_FEccsFboro

Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan

http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article60687

We, socialists, trade unionists, human rights activists, anti-war activists and organisations have watched the uprising in Kazakhstan since 2 January with a sense of deep solidarity for the working people. The striking oil workers, miners and protesters have faced incredible repression. The full force of the police and army have been unleashed against them, instructed to ‘shoot to kill without warning’. Over 160 protesters have been killed so far and more than 8,000 have been arrested.

We reject the propaganda of the dictatorship that this uprising is a product of “Islamic radicals” or the intervention of US imperialism. There is no evidence of that whatsoever. It is the usual resort of an unpopular regime – to blame ‘outside’ agitators.

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