Are Chinese protesters demanding freedom, or just a little less tyranny?
The Chinese social contract is far separate from the classical Western social contract.
Will the Covid Zero protests in China bring significant change to Beijing? I’m not so sure.
Millions of brave Chinese nationals have taken to the streets this month in opposition to the maniacal, years-long Covid Zero policies implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Covid Zero, the pseudoscientific attempt to eliminate a submicroscopic infectious particle from within the boundaries of a nation, has resulted in devastation and ruin to the citizens of China. Much of China’s 1.4 billion strong population has spent a significant amount of time since 2020 stuck in rolling lockdowns. Sadly, the lockdowns have become a point of national pride for the CCP, showcasing Chinese compliance with tyranny as evidence of cultural superiority and ethnic supremacy.
But finally, after years of horrendous abuses, some have understandably had enough.
One thing you can’t help but notice is that virtually all of these protesters are donning masks.
Yes, there’s the initial possibility that they are doing so to avoid surveillance measures, similar to the protest movements in other nations.
You’re challenging the traditional status quo, then why are you still paying expensive insurance premiums?
Experience the freedom and affordability of cash payments and community-funded healthcare with CrowdHealth. Use promo code “DOSSIER” during sign-up for a special discounted subscription offer.
However, China has the most sophisticated and robust security state in the world. If CCP security officials want to find someone, the mask won’t do citizens much good. It may take a little more effort for the police to identify protesters, but in the end, they will certainly be unmasked by authorities.
The widespread mask usage is more so indicative of a people who have bought into the deadly virus narrative. It showcases subservience to both collectivism and statism. Already a pre-Covid staple of Chinese culture, the mask now represents obedience and compliance towards the “greater good.”
The Chinese protesters, by and large, don’t seem to want what they interpret as a radical idea of freedom, but a more functional tyranny.
China’s protest movement is far different from the situation occurring in Iran, where protesters despise the regime, reject its values, and view the governing authorities as illegitimate. In China, protesters are opposing the Covid Zero fanaticism because they've taken the tyranny a little too far.
The Chinese social contract is uniquely separate from the classical Western social contract. In China, there is a widespread understanding that authoritarianism is a very necessary structure for a functioning and powerful Middle Kingdom. From an early age, Chinese nationals are propagandized to accept and embrace statism as a good thing because it protects order. To the modern Chinese man, Beijing’s evolution from a third world country to a global superpower is understood as evidence of a successful authoritarian structure.
It seems that Chinese citizens aren’t demanding freedom, but just a little less tyranny.
After 100 years of tyranny, this is a step in the right direction. Biggest protests since Tiananmen 1989. You cannot comply your way out of tyranny. The silence of "free world" governments and human rights NGOs is deafening: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-control-your-souls-desire
Here in Insane Francisco, I'd say that 90% of the people still masking are Asian, with the high rates in the predominantly recent immigrant Chinese neighborhoods (the 2nd & 3rd generation areas not so bad). China has exported their compliance model, and it allows the Covid fear to simmer, even in the U.S.