> > With the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the Chinese communists’ own > near-death experience in 1989, the party resolved to create a mass > consumer economy and raise incomes in order to focus people’s attention on > consumption and take their minds off politics. That is why successive > Five-Year Plans have promoted one consumer craze after another: cars, > condos, shopping malls, tourism, golf courses, theme parks, cruise boats, > food delivery, online shopping, and more ( > http://en.people.cn/n3/2020/0721/c90000-9712803.html ). No doubt, after > centuries of privation and decades of Maoist austerity, China’s masses > were overdue for some creature comforts. But the promotion of mindless > consumerism for the sake of consumerism on the model of capitalism > contributes mightily to China’s and the world’s waste ( > https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1001003/the-mountains-of-takeout-trash-choking-chinas-cities > ) and pollution ( > https://www.scmp.com/article/1711744/china-produces-about-third-plastic-waste-polluting-worlds-oceans-says-report > ) crises.
Other than Jason Unruhe, who I like a lot, while others here may not, this short paragraph is one of the bettter indictments of China under Dengism I have seen.. Both China's enemies ,and China' defenders on the left fail to admit this. We need a snazzy acronym for those who are communist in name only, something this article hints at. China may at best be a social democracy, and as FDR proved, social democrats can be authoritarian. See Japanese internment camps. As with Syria, more on the left need to see China as it really is. Many may be afraid to speak up, as I am, out of fear of siding with liberals, and others on the reactionary right. Another obvious point not addressed here, is coal used in China for the manufacture of wind turbines and solar cells. Every stage of both the manufacture of these things, and the disposal of turbine blades ,and solar panels after use, makes them as unecological as fossil fuels. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8158): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8158 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82063282/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
