Recent events in China represent a prime example of what happens when a large group of people is oppressed for a significant period of time.
Maybe you haven’t seen a great deal of coverage about it, because the U.S. mainstream media tends not to dwell much on things that don’t shed negative light on this country. But the fact is, a gigantic number of people are taking to the streets to protest the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its “zero COVID” policy, and bring to light the societal and personal hammering they’ve been receiving from their government for about three years now.
Just a quick reset: COVID-19 became an issue in China in 2019. Here we are in December 2022, and China is still in full mask-wearing, lockdown mode, and its President Xi Jinping is facing widespread pressure from citizens who had enough of that stuff a long, long time ago. Thanks to the situation, Xi’s status as head of the CCP is in question barely a month after he gave himself new powers that hinted at a potential ploy to become the country’s “ruler for life.”
Now, I’m not about to start a debate on how legitimate all the claims are about the danger posed by COVID-19. But I will say that it’s pretty obvious that something less than legitimate is taking place in China, and that particular subject is the driving force.
And I’m also not going to speculate on why the CCP is so hell-bent on oppression and suppression of more than a billion people who are unlucky enough to live within Chinese boundaries. But I will say that it’s pretty obvious that it’s happening, and it’s not just “business as usual,” but rather the playing out of some sort of plan that surely has a specific goal.
As protests raged in big cities all over China, a social media post garnered lots of attention. It quoted a former Chinese leader who said, “the people should be allowed to speak and encouraged to care about state affairs.”
That leader was Xi Jinping’s late father Xi Zhongxun. I’m going to say that the apple fell pretty far from the tree in this instance.
And it’s certainly worth noting that the protesting has blossomed into much more than simply the manifestation of anger over COVID-19 policies, and the people have turned it into a far broader movement calling for greater freedom and increased individualism.
How about that. You oppress people and they demand more freedom.
Of course, the CCP has no history of lenience and the possibility exists that the oppression will be ratcheted up several notches. But of course, that could lead to an all-out revolution, and I’m pretty sure the outcome would be clearly in favor of the billion-plus people doing the revolting.
Think about it: No amount of troops, tanks, aircraft or other conventional warfare equipment would stand a chance against a group of people that huge who have banded together for a collective cause. Seems to me that unless the CCP decided to nuke its own people (and itself), the odds wouldn’t be good for it to overcome such an uprising.
Anyway, we’ll see where it all this goes, but one thing’s for sure: China has many more things to be concerned about right now than Taiwan, the South China Sea and a “space race” with the U.S.
About a billion more things, to be accurate.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.