NOTE BY NORSE: Dennis Etler is a local professor and Food Not Bombs activist. He presents an interesting comparison between China’s approach towards the disenfranchised and the dissenters and the standing policies of Santa Cruz–which long predate Take Back Santa Cruz and the Robinson-Comstock City Council.
As freezing temperatures grip the country and may make their way here, city authorities and liberal hopefuls have established nothing specific to avoid hypothermia on the nights ahead. Though–as Becky Johnson put it while still under indictment as a member of the Santa Cruz Eleven–“Empty Buildings are the Crime!” Plenty of those in Santa Cruz. When frost comes to bite, will folks come out to make sure warm public spaces are kept open and accessible? As far as I know, in spite of courteous letters composed and sent over the last month by the recently formed Residents for a Coldest Night’s Warming Center, there are no actual plans afoot to set up tents and heaters, a car cavalcade, or occupy warm vacant public spaces and open them to life-saving protection. There is a meeting slated for 535 Spring Street 7 PM Tuesday 1-7. (See “Community Should Get Behind Creation of Warming Stations” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/12/18747693.php )
Also coming up on the agenda of City Council on 1-14 is more doubletalk around the Bikenapping Blockade initiated by the SCPD over 2 years ago, halting distribution of bikes from the Bike Church to further the right-wing “don’t help the homeless” campaign. (See “A Year Later, Youth Programs Still Waiting on City Bicycles” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/11/18738278.php )Reside
Also coming up on the agenda of City Council on 1-14 is more doubletalk around the Bikenapping Blockade initiated by the SCPD over 2 years ago, halting distribution of bikes from the Bike Church to further the right-wing “don’t help the homeless” campaign. (See “A Year Later, Youth Programs Still Waiting on City Bicycles” at https://www.indybay.org/
| Dennis Etler | 3:53pm Jan 6 |
This is a very long post but I’ve been wanting to say these things for quite a while and thought this is the right time and place to do so. So bear with me and read it if you like.
Some of you may know that I’ve spent my entire career involved with things Chinese. I use FB, HP and other websites to give a “fair and balanced” view of China based on my knowledge of its history, culture and language. I also have deep personal ties and experience living in China in Chinese households and have traveled to many rural, inaccessible regions of China in my capacity as an archaeologist who specializes in the Chinese Paleolithic. I generally post the more positive aspects of what’s happening in China, but well recognize that there are many things that happen in China that are in need of drastic change and are antithetical to our way of doing things. Some of the reasons for that are historical, others cultural and some political.
I bring all this up because I see some interesting contrasts and parallels between China and the US and these are reflected in Santa Cruz. First off I would say that many of our “public safety” advocates would feel right at home in China. I’ll explain.
1) Treatment of transients, the mentally disabled, drug addicts, prostitutes and other undesirables, social outcasts and misfits. There is a profound stigma associated with drug addiction and prostitution in China as they are associated with the Old China which from the 1840s on was dominated by foreign “barbarians” who forced drugs on the Chinese nation through the Opium Wars of the 1840s. The collapse of Chinese society prior to the victory of the Chinese Revolution in 1949 forced many Chinese woman into prostitution. Transients who are often mentally disabled are often seen as ne’er-do-wells who are not making a contribution to society. Until recently many of these “nuisances” were rounded up and put in extra-judicial “Education through Work Camps” for a few months with a maximum stay of 4 years. These “work camps” have recently been abolished and closed down with all their inmates released as part of the reform efforts of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Some say the closures are more cosmetic than real, but the evidence suggests otherwise as investigative reporters, both Chines and foreign, have followed up on the situation and verified the closures. Prostitutes and drug addicts are however still subject to a similar extra-judicial system. But to paraphrase a recent NY Times article, there is “little public support for reducing the penalties for prostitution or drug offenders, and China’s influential domestic security apparatus is unlikely to give up willingly the power and profits of the current system.”
It seems to me that “public safety” advocates in Santa Cruz and throughout the US have a similar attitude, get rid of these degenerates, chase them out of town, or force them into internment camps like they tried to do in Columbia, SC. Enact ordinances that criminalize their behavior and then harass, fine and jail them if need be, but don’t supply adequate services or shelter for them, because all they want to do is leach off of society.
China however is changing. Hopefully they will reform their treatment of prostitutes and drug addicts, as was done aftr the founding of the Peoples Republic of China when “Mao Zedong made the rehabilitation of prostitutes, whom the Communists saw as victims of capitalist exploitation, a priority. During his first years in power, he effectively eradicated the trade. But the introduction of market overhauls in the early 1980s led to a resurgence in prostitution, and up to six million women were estimated to be working in the sex industry in recent years, according to a United Nations report.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/world/asia/for-prostitutes-in-china-jail-with-no-recourse.html )
2) Treatment of dissidents and social activists. The Chinese authorities have an ambivalent attitude towards dissidents and social protest. They tolerate protests if they only seek to redress grievances, so labor strikes, environmental protests and protests against rural land seizures by unscrupulous local governments in cahoots with land developers are common. Most of the time work teams from a higher level of authority are sent in and the disputes bare resolved with some sort of compromise. When dissidents start challenging government authority and question its legitimacy the heavy hand of repression comes down and gadflies are frequently detained or incarcerated for a spell, and then released under surveillance, what we would call probation. When I ask Chinese friends and relatives living in the US about this they generally express little sympathy for dissidents, saying they are troublemakers and asking for whatever they receive. Polls conducted by the Pew International Attitude Survey show overwhelming public support, close to 85%, for the direction China is headed.
The public’s attitude towards dissidents in the US is not much different than in China. We have our Ai Weiweis, who protest against official corruption and abuse. People such as John Cohen and Robert Norse in Santa Cruz who are generally disparaged as troublemakers and publicity seekers. We have our imprisoned dissidents who are jailed like Tim DeChristopher who was given a two year sentence specifically for using his trial to speak out against illegal oil leases. Locally we have the Santa Cruz 11, activists who were singled out for prosecution based on their notoriety rather than their culpability, with most of the charges dropped except for those remaining against four defendants.
I would say that there are many in Santa Cruz who would agree with the way the DA has conducted himself in this regard. If so they would feel right at home in China. Even in this regard China is changing and there is much more latitude for dissident ideas than anytime in recent memory and a much more open attitude towards environmentalism, food safety (including a vigorous anti-GMO movement) and alternative life styles (LGBTS) that is beginning to influence government policy.
3) Domestic surveillance and regulation of the internet. China has long been criticized for its censorship of the internet and ridiculed for its “Great Firewall.” In actual fact the Chinese Firewall is extremely porous and easily circumvented and there is an immense amount of information available for Chinese netizens. Anyway the vast majority of Chinese internet users use Chinese language sites such as Baidu and Weibo for information and networking and the Chinese web is acknowledged to be very vibrant. When I ask my Chinese friends and relatives here in the US about web censorship they tell me that the government needs to regulate and censor the web, otherwise all sorts of rumors and slanders would spread and disrupt legitimate use of the internet. The common attitude seems to be, if I’m not doing anything wrong then what do I have to worry about? Sound familiar? And isn’t it interesting that since the revelations from Manning, Snowden and others have surfaced we no longer hear much about Chinese hacking?
The point I’m trying to make in this long post is that there are many here in the US, Santa Cruz and amongst the TBSC croiwd who would feel very comfortable in China, as their attitudes are quite similar to those maintained by Chinese authorities and much of the Chinese population.
Some of you may know that I’ve spent my entire career involved with things Chinese. I use FB, HP and other websites to give a “fair and balanced” view of China based on my knowledge of its history, culture and language. I also have deep personal ties and experience living in China in Chinese households and have traveled to many rural, inaccessible regions of China in my capacity as an archaeologist who specializes in the Chinese Paleolithic. I generally post the more positive aspects of what’s happening in China, but well recognize that there are many things that happen in China that are in need of drastic change and are antithetical to our way of doing things. Some of the reasons for that are historical, others cultural and some political.
I bring all this up because I see some interesting contrasts and parallels between China and the US and these are reflected in Santa Cruz. First off I would say that many of our “public safety” advocates would feel right at home in China. I’ll explain.
1) Treatment of transients, the mentally disabled, drug addicts, prostitutes and other undesirables, social outcasts and misfits. There is a profound stigma associated with drug addiction and prostitution in China as they are associated with the Old China which from the 1840s on was dominated by foreign “barbarians” who forced drugs on the Chinese nation through the Opium Wars of the 1840s. The collapse of Chinese society prior to the victory of the Chinese Revolution in 1949 forced many Chinese woman into prostitution. Transients who are often mentally disabled are often seen as ne’er-do-wells who are not making a contribution to society. Until recently many of these “nuisances” were rounded up and put in extra-judicial “Education through Work Camps” for a few months with a maximum stay of 4 years. These “work camps” have recently been abolished and closed down with all their inmates released as part of the reform efforts of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Some say the closures are more cosmetic than real, but the evidence suggests otherwise as investigative reporters, both Chines and foreign, have followed up on the situation and verified the closures. Prostitutes and drug addicts are however still subject to a similar extra-judicial system. But to paraphrase a recent NY Times article, there is “little public support for reducing the penalties for prostitution or drug offenders, and China’s influential domestic security apparatus is unlikely to give up willingly the power and profits of the current system.”
It seems to me that “public safety” advocates in Santa Cruz and throughout the US have a similar attitude, get rid of these degenerates, chase them out of town, or force them into internment camps like they tried to do in Columbia, SC. Enact ordinances that criminalize their behavior and then harass, fine and jail them if need be, but don’t supply adequate services or shelter for them, because all they want to do is leach off of society.
China however is changing. Hopefully they will reform their treatment of prostitutes and drug addicts, as was done aftr the founding of the Peoples Republic of China when “Mao Zedong made the rehabilitation of prostitutes, whom the Communists saw as victims of capitalist exploitation, a priority. During his first years in power, he effectively eradicated the trade. But the introduction of market overhauls in the early 1980s led to a resurgence in prostitution, and up to six million women were estimated to be working in the sex industry in recent years, according to a United Nations report.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
2) Treatment of dissidents and social activists. The Chinese authorities have an ambivalent attitude towards dissidents and social protest. They tolerate protests if they only seek to redress grievances, so labor strikes, environmental protests and protests against rural land seizures by unscrupulous local governments in cahoots with land developers are common. Most of the time work teams from a higher level of authority are sent in and the disputes bare resolved with some sort of compromise. When dissidents start challenging government authority and question its legitimacy the heavy hand of repression comes down and gadflies are frequently detained or incarcerated for a spell, and then released under surveillance, what we would call probation. When I ask Chinese friends and relatives living in the US about this they generally express little sympathy for dissidents, saying they are troublemakers and asking for whatever they receive. Polls conducted by the Pew International Attitude Survey show overwhelming public support, close to 85%, for the direction China is headed.
The public’s attitude towards dissidents in the US is not much different than in China. We have our Ai Weiweis, who protest against official corruption and abuse. People such as John Cohen and Robert Norse in Santa Cruz who are generally disparaged as troublemakers and publicity seekers. We have our imprisoned dissidents who are jailed like Tim DeChristopher who was given a two year sentence specifically for using his trial to speak out against illegal oil leases. Locally we have the Santa Cruz 11, activists who were singled out for prosecution based on their notoriety rather than their culpability, with most of the charges dropped except for those remaining against four defendants.
I would say that there are many in Santa Cruz who would agree with the way the DA has conducted himself in this regard. If so they would feel right at home in China. Even in this regard China is changing and there is much more latitude for dissident ideas than anytime in recent memory and a much more open attitude towards environmentalism, food safety (including a vigorous anti-GMO movement) and alternative life styles (LGBTS) that is beginning to influence government policy.
3) Domestic surveillance and regulation of the internet. China has long been criticized for its censorship of the internet and ridiculed for its “Great Firewall.” In actual fact the Chinese Firewall is extremely porous and easily circumvented and there is an immense amount of information available for Chinese netizens. Anyway the vast majority of Chinese internet users use Chinese language sites such as Baidu and Weibo for information and networking and the Chinese web is acknowledged to be very vibrant. When I ask my Chinese friends and relatives here in the US about web censorship they tell me that the government needs to regulate and censor the web, otherwise all sorts of rumors and slanders would spread and disrupt legitimate use of the internet. The common attitude seems to be, if I’m not doing anything wrong then what do I have to worry about? Sound familiar? And isn’t it interesting that since the revelations from Manning, Snowden and others have surfaced we no longer hear much about Chinese hacking?
The point I’m trying to make in this long post is that there are many here in the US, Santa Cruz and amongst the TBSC croiwd who would feel very comfortable in China, as their attitudes are quite similar to those maintained by Chinese authorities and much of the Chinese population.
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For Prostitutes Jailed in China, Forced Labor With No Recourse
China’s murky penal system for prostitutes is similar to re-education through labor, with women bein…
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