cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/57036724
[…]
The law was designed to create a “shared” national identity among China’s 56 ethnic groups.
“A law that brazenly pushes non-Han ethnic groups including Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians toward a single, state-defined national identity rather than protecting their distinct cultures and languages,” [Amnesty International’s deputy regional director Sarah] Brooks said.
[…]
The Han Chinese are China’s largest and most dominant ethnic group, accounting for 17 per cent of the world’s population.
But 125 million Chinese citizens belong to 55 non-Han ethnic groups, including the Zhuang, Uyghur, Hui, Manchu, Yi, Tibetans and Mongolians.
Parts of China’s history were dominated by non-Han Dynasties: the Manchu Qing (1644–1912) and the Mongol Yuan (1271–1368).
[…]
The Chinese government insists the new laws are not being implemented to suppress ethnic groups or languages, but to prevent separatism.
Following the 1911 revolution in which the Manchu Qing dynasty was overthrown, Mongolia, followed shortly afterwards by Tibet, declared independence from China.
Outer Mongolia became a communist nation in the 1920s, remaining so until the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
Inner Mongolia has remained a part of China, while the independent state of Tibet was annexed by the Chinese in 1951.
[…]
Life under Communist China
Initially, Inner Mongolia was organised into an autonomous region with greater political rights.
What followed was decades of persecution.
Mr Togochog said government crackdowns started in the 1950s, when tens of thousands of Mongolian elites were accused of being national separatists, suffering politic persecution and imprisonment.
This was just a taste of what came when Chairman Mao declared his decade-long “Cultural Revolution”, which saw the destruction of cultural artefacts, societal upheaval and the persecution, imprisonment or death of millions.
[…]
According to a study published by the University of Cambridge, more than 16,000 Mongols were killed and five times that many were maimed.
Mr Togochog said the Mongolian population was “completely devastated by this large-scale genocide campaign”.
According to a 2020 census, Mongols have now become a minority within Inner Mongolia, representing just 18 per cent of the total population.
[…]
Amnesty international’s Tibetan advocate, Kyinzom Dhongdue, said the new ethnic unity law “unambiguously promotes and reinforces China’s long-running policies that have already devastated the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans and other non-Han ethnic groups”.
"The Chinese government is pursuing a long-term project of forced assimilation. Or, as described by Tibetans, a cultural genocide.
“It seeks to fundamentally reshape how Tibetans, Uyghurs and other peoples, including Southern Mongolians speak, learn, worship and, ultimately, understand who they are.”
Ms Allen said Chinese President Xi Jinping was pushing China towards a sort of monoculture.
“The very heavy-handed push towards assimilation should be seen through the lens of control and Xi Jinping’s paranoia.”
[…]
In 2020, protests rocked the region of Inner Mongolia after the Chinese government ordered an end to Mongolian-language classes for first-year primary students, in favour of Mandarin.
[…]
Authorities also began a region-wide censorship campaign, shutting down Mongolian WeChat groups and removing Mongolian-language books from the shelves of retail outlets.
“Southern Mongolians know that this is the last chance to stand as Mongolian People … if you lose your language, you lose everything,” Mr Togochog said.
“What is remaining is the language, that’s the last defence of the Mongolian national identity … what we call the ‘final solution’ to the Mongolia question.”
[…]
“This is nothing but cultural genocide … they want to make you directly Chinese,” Mr Togochog said.
[…]
Ms Allen said the new laws made her “really sad” and she said for many of the ethnic groups inside China, there was no diaspora for them to look to for cultural and linguistic preservation.
“I think it’s such a shame for China to be heading in this direction when many other similarly situated countries are working very, very hard to preserve and revive their minority languages.”
That is good actually, unless of course you want to balkanize China into a bunch of small nations that want ro kill each other like post-Yugoslavia.
I don’t know about everyone else but I think the OP doesn’t like China.
It’s all he posts about…may be some bias there…
Food for thought
Can we see the laws that protect the ethnic identities of the minorities of the USA and the EU?
If you cared about that also-important issue you’d just make a post discussing it.
Uh-huh, and would you partake in that discussion without a single whataboutism? Even this answer proves you’re arguing in bad faith.
and would you partake in that discussion without a single whataboutism
Holy lack of self-awareness, Batman!
I remember long ago learning through Chinese movies of the lofty goal “If we conquer the region and put everyone under one flag, there will be no more war or hate.” You can look at places like the US to see how that turns out. People fracture. Trying to erase cultural identity doesn’t work.
These guys will try anything to slander china
This article is nothing but anti-communist propaganda. These unity laws do nothing but but ensure minorities are able to interact with the larger culture and society, while allowing for the continued existence and teaching of minority languages and cultures.
If these laws are cultural genocide, then English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in the United States are also cultural genocide.
Yeah, the western media don’t understand (or don’t want to understand) the Chinese approach to nationalities, which is promoting all nationalities while also promoting what they have in common, as to create unity through the hamony of differences. The law basically talks about how China should continue to share all it’s unique cultural heritages across nationality lines, promote socialist principles, and ensure that everyone knows a common language for efficient communication. For example it doesn’t ban teaching national languages in schools, it just says to use mandarin for other classes to ensure everyone learns it. The local party branch can still ensure that the national minority language is taught in school. This is much more than most western countries do for their minority groups. Imagine if a school in the west with many pupils from arabic background ensured that they got arabic classes, the national media would be ringing the alarm bells about “islamization”.
For example it doesn’t ban teaching national languages in schools, it just says to use mandarin for other classes to ensure everyone learns it.
If this is true, it will surely erode ethnic identity of the minorities. With such policy pupils will not have good working knowledge of their own language. Look at examples like Gaelic, Welsh, languages in France etc. Its ok to have sufficient classes of mandarin so everyone knows it, but its not ok to relegate mother tongue to just a few classes.
Sure, it is a question how to best safeguard the national languages as well, and it is possible they may make mistakes here. Often policy details are left to the regional governments, so hopefully they can find good solutions. My point is just that it is a policy question, and not a “they are commiting cultural genocide”. This is a continuation of the marxist approach to the national question, which often helped build up the national cultures and languages and writing systems in the first place in the time after the revolution.
Do you know what the word “Second” means? It means they don’t fucking ban people from learning or using their original family language, eg Spanish, in the United States. Trump has tried to change that and he’s an evil fascist.
Are you an evil fascist?
These Chinese Unity laws also don’t ban people from learning or using their original family language, and in fact enshrine protections so that people can continue to learn and pass on these languages.
It means they don’t fucking ban people from learning or using their original family language, eg Spanish, in the United States.
Nor does China. China is mandating a primary language of instruction, and that’s slightly concerning, but that’s not the same as banning people from using their original family language, and to call it genocide would obviously be laughably absurd.
Right from the article, can’t quite see how this is being misconstrued:
In 2020, protests rocked the region of Inner Mongolia after the Chinese government ordered an end to Mongolian-language classes for first-year primary students, in favour of Mandarin.
Authorities also began a region-wide censorship campaign, shutting down Mongolian WeChat groups and removing Mongolian-language books from the shelves of retail outlets.
Unless this is a general “all Journalists western think tank lies blah blah”. Even Fox News tries to avoid direct lies and misleads by selective opinionated examples, so I doubt any of that can be painted in any better light.
It is true that previously young students in some regions have received instruction in their national language in the first grades of school, and then in Mandarin when they have learned it well enoguh to receive instruction in Mandarin. Now, they will get instruction in mandarin from the start. This is probably a reflection of how proficiency in Mandarin is becoming more common, even among the youngest students. They can however still have classes which teach the national language also, which has also been common previously. The law mentions that this right to the national language should be protected, although it is not very specific about how local party branches should do this, essentially leaving it up to local cadre, often from minority nationalities themselves, to work it out with the people they represent.
It is of course possible to critique this, but it is not a case of the party banning anyone from speaking or learning their national language as such.
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In 2020, protests rocked the region of Inner Mongolia after the Chinese government ordered an end to Mongolian-language classes for first-year primary students, in favour of Mandarin.
As I said, they are mandating Mandarin as the language of instruction. It’s not illegal to speak Mongolian like you’re trying to construe this as.
Authorities also began a region-wide censorship campaign, shutting down Mongolian WeChat groups and removing Mongolian-language books from the shelves of retail outlets.
They also shut down Chinese WeChat groups and remove Chinese-language books, depending on the content. Are they being removed because they’re Mongolian-language? That isn’t actually said.
Even Fox News tries to avoid direct lies and misleads by selective opinionated examples, so I doubt any of that can be painted in any better light.
Exactly, only in this case they’re doing it subtly enough that you didn’t catch it.
BULL SHIT ONE HUNDOPERCENTE
Here is a vid on the Ethnic Unity laws that provides more context and information.
Disclaimer (ig): This is an interview with a Chinese propagandist. I believe it is good to obtain information from multiple sources, especially if it is non-western based (preferably from a source that is local to the issue), and form an opinion for yourself using critical thinking and existing evidence.
Too often western media lies to the English understanding person about American foreign adversaries. Look at the reporting around Gaza and Cuba over the last decade if you think there is no bias in western propaganda.
It is insane I need to say this, but I do not endorse the viewpoints of every person in this interview and, as far as I have seen, there is enough evidence to at LEAST investigate China for their Uyghur human rights abuses.
The linked video is apparently an interview with Zoon Ahmed Khan, analyst and fellow at the Center for China and Globalization …
The Center for China and Globalization (CCG), based in Beijing, is a member of an alliance of similar organizations, coordinated by the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
The CCG was jointly founded in Beijing in 2008 by Wang Huiyao, a Chinese State Council advisor who is still the organization’s president, and Mabel Miao, the current vice-president and secretary-general. They are the authors of a book, which deals with the question of “how to create new narrative methods and models” for China.
Wang Huiyao is also associated with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a networks of groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party to advance the interests of the Chinese party-state.
Wang plays multiple policy advisory roles in China in addition to counselor for the State Council (appointed by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015), e.g., as honorable vice chairman of China Association for International Economic Cooperation (CAIEC) under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. He has also served as a director of the China Overseas Friendship Association, an external name for the Ninth Bureau of the UFWD of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Wang is also vice chairman of the Western Returned Scholars Association, which is under the jurisdiction of the United Front Work Department.[
This is a very tiny summary of the Center for China and Globalization and its founder. You’ll easily find multiple sources about this organization and its founders.
As everything else related to the CCG, the linked video is nothing but a propaganda film by the Chinese government.
You’ll easily find multiple sources about this organization and its founders.
You’re doing your argument a major detriment by not sourcing a single claim, in our fascist internet. Take your time to source everything.
I do it every single comment, for I know YaCy isn’t installed everywhere.
You’ll find multiple very reliable sources across the web with simple searches. Regarding the the Center’s ties with the CCP, Wang’s book about Chinese narrative ‘models’ or and this multiple functions in the Chinese party-state’s bureaucracy. The latter is even widely cited in Chinese state media.
with simple searches Very privileged of you sire. Wang’s book about Chinese narrative ‘models properly format this. I know you know how.
I am telling you as a scholar of peerage, you have to properly source claims for illiterates in this network. Otherwise you’re assuming search sites haven’t banned us.
God forbid a government try to communicate the intent of laws they create.
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How do you know these ID verification laws are bad?
Did you, I don’t know, READ THE PROPAGANDA AND USE CRITICAL THINKING? I cannot believe you would read the propaganda from such an evil nation?!?
It is crazy how reactionary people get when it comes to China.
Yes, I am aware they have skeletons in their closet, just like the US. If you want to take all your information from western propagandists, which is a neutral term, be my guest.
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I agree, I am not sure where you got the idea that I was in favor of believing that governments always have your best interests at heart.
My point was that you had to get the information about what, in your case, the US government, was trying to implement. You then took that information and put it alongside what the current Admin is doing to make a decision on where you stood on that legislation.
That means, you listened to the American propaganda and used critical thinking to make a decision.
I am not sure what is triggering people in this comment chain, but can only assume it is because I had a “Chinese propaganda” video in the first comment. I would bet you $20 that only 1 or 2 people who interacted with that comment actually watched the video.
That reactionary bs is frustrating. The same people who call every innovation or societal accomplishment that comes out of China evil or fake.
You would think that, by now, people would be able to look at a society, acknowledge it’s actual successes and learn from them. I am not talking about the Ethnic Unity law, but the leaps in manufacturing, public transportation, green energy technology, pulling a ton of people from extreme poverty.
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Why do governments need to exist?
I couldn’t say if they need to, but this is the reality we currently live in.
Governments throw propaganda and it is up to journalists and people with critical thinking skills to find out what is the truth.
If you look at NYC, you can see what good governance looks like in America. They just got it, so don’t be too harsh.
I am a black anarchist, I am extremely well aware of how authoritarians genocide. This includes NYC, ignoring the people they complied to deathcamps.
I am harsh on genocide. Something demagogues easily ignore.You sidetracked my question once.
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All I have to say is Jack Ma/马云, and law propaganda dissipates.
