Au contraire - this reads to me like just another example of how media always have been blinded by ideology and activist romance. In particular being romantic of revolution from a distance.
Mao may have transformed China , as Lenin transformed Russia, but that does not make it admirable. He was one of the worst tyrants in history, responsible for at least 40-60 million deaths.
Enough was known about this even in 1976. To describe Mao’s China as “a unified egalitarian state where nobody starves” after the Great Leap Forward is not sober historical reflection. It is whitewash.
Same as they do now with so many things in real time. If anything the Economist is worse, back then they at least were pro free markets. So I agree in some sense it has gotten worse. But this was a bad example.
Yet another striking illustration of just how ideologically rigid the West has become compared to what we used to be.
This was the obituary The Economist published for Mao in 1976 - at the height of the Cold War.
Read this part:
"In the final reckoning Mao must be accepted as one of history's great achievers: for devising a peasant-centred revolutionary strategy which enabled China's Communist party to seize power, against Marx's prescriptions, from bases in the countryside; for directing the transformation of China from a feudal society wracked by war and bled by corruption, into a unified egalitarian state where nobody starves; and for reviving national pride and confidence so that China could, in Mao's words, 'stand up' among the great power."
Show this text to any Economist "journalists" today - without telling them it's from their own paper - and they'd reply: surely it's "CCP propaganda" 😏
Yes, incredible as it may sound, there used to be a time when Western journalists could assess a geopolitical rival honestly and respectfully without being accused of being a traitor. And this honesty was in no small part a key factor why the West won the Cold War.
Today we call honest assessment "propaganda," and we harass, smear, and blacklist people for it. And we're puzzled why the West is in steep decline.
Truth matters.
I've lived in China for many years too — otherwise I might have believed you. Religious life here is unique: different faiths coexist peacefully. Family members can even follow completely different religions, and the offices of the five major faiths can share the same building in total harmony🤣
You personally saw catholic nuns beaten to death? Phones were already everywhere eight years ago. Something that shocking, and you didn’t take a single photo? Please give the exact time, place, and year.
Private prayer with friends at home? People do that every single day with zero problems.
Extraordinary claims need evidence. Got any?🙃
Religious freedom is well protected in China’s Xizang. The Western media have been lying to you.
I’m currently in Xizang, and honestly, I often feel sympathetic towards the locals, for their lives seem extremely tough.
But I was told there’s no need to pity them. They hold a devout faith and never see their lives as suffering. We ought to respect their beliefs.
¿Es confiable esta información?
Existen demasiados comentarios y críticas que señalan que en China hay altos niveles de homofobia, e incluso se menciona que han encarcelado (o privado de la libertad) a quienes defienden estos derechos en apoyo.
Si esta noticia resulta ser cierta, sin duda es un avance grandísimo y muy respetable...
#China 🇨🇳: ¡Último Minuto! La Corte Suprema del gigante asiático declara que la discriminación por orientación sexual e identidad de género SON INCONSTITUCIONALES que viola los derechos civiles y laborales. Y que atenta contra la dignidad humana y ordenada a todos. Abro hilo ⬇️