Monday, October 6, 2014

Chan Akya — Gini and Maslow clash with Mao

What is driving the stunning eruption of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong? Normally it is described as a peaceful city where the locals focus on two major pastimes, namely horse-racing and property speculation; the eruption of pro-democracy protests that have encircled key government offices in the main business district came as a shock even to long-term residents.

Numerous articles have been written on whether China committed any "violation" of its obligations to effect universal suffrage in the city by 2017. As someone who focuses on the economic aspects of politics though, my take on the situation is different.

From my vantage point, it does appear that rising income inequality and a general improvement in quality of living have both contributed to a social impetus towards greater articulation of aspirational needs.

From my vantage point, it does appear that rising income inequality and a general improvement in quality of living have both contributed to a social impetus towards greater articulation of aspirational needs.…
Lots of data.

Asia Times Online
Gini and Maslow clash with Mao
Chan Akya

2 comments:

Dan Lynch said...

Yet the protesters have not made any economic demands. Instead, the demands are word-for-word the same as the NED mission statements.

Tom Hickey said...

I suggest that what happens is that there are some people that are either plants or sympathizers funded by the US government either through the intelligence service directly or indirectly through NGO's, and others that are being used in ways they don't realize.

This is SOP in covert ops run by the intelligence services like the CIA and foreign services like the State Dept. And, of course, it's not just the US that does it. But now that there is no global organized opposition to the US as there was in the Cold War era, it's now pretty much US imperialism that's doing it now on a large scale to promote US policy.

This doesn't mean that entire protest movements are either cohorts of the US or even directed and funded by US. The purpose of the covert operation is to influence movements that have independent local support owing to local conditions. So it is more a question of seizing opportunity that creating it, at least in many cases. So it is no accident that the protest movement reflects this in its literature and demands. It just shows that covert ops are working as they are supposed to.

But there is also no doubt that the US also works to create situations that it can take advantage of through covert influence. Other countries are aware of this, of course, and take steps to counter it.

Interestingly, the Chinese government is taking similar action in the US through its funding of branches of the Confucius Institute at American University that teach the Chinese language and culture, in order to give Americans a favorable impression of China. They are now under attack in the US as essentially propaganda moles and some US universities have banned them.

In addition to this there is covert propaganda, such as buying foreign journalists and sewing propaganda through sympathetic news outlets and journalists, not to mention direct government-sponsored propaganda outlets like Voice of America. Etc. It's a huge operation and billions of dollars a year fund it, most of which is sub rosa in secret ops.