I've always been interested in China since I read Pearl Buck's books when I was a child. I spent some time in Hong Kong in 1984 and went in to China just as it was opening to regulated tourism. At that time much of the countryside was just getting electricity, roads were being constructed day and night, and there were very few private cars. The contrast to modern Hong Kong was startling. Factories consisted of workers sitting at low desks using hand tools and carving knives. I saw farm animals on the streets and piles of construction materials balanced on the backs of bikes. One evening we visited a collective farm and danced to a child's record player under a string of bare light bulbs. China Tour Company, a state-owned enterprise, only allowed travel via it's own tours, and we were required to travel in a group of 8 that had been assembled by the Chinese government. Our guide only allowed us to see what she was instructed to show us, and we even had the same meal every night regardless of where we were.
I saw the tourist version of China in 1984. But I knew that a nation with China's centuries-long history of obedience to authority, exploitation of the poor, corruption in governance, and, after 1949, iron-fisted control of every aspect of human life, there was far more to learn.
I think it's very important to take a look at China's strategy and tactics now because I see, here and around the world, tactics being used that were extremely effective in taking total control of one of the most populous countries in the world. When Kay and I were attacked viciously in Santa Rosa, CA from about 2005 to around 2015 when we stopped being as active in town politics, I recognized the tactics used on us as those used by Mao from 1950 onward. What were those tactics?
Struggle meetings: humiliating and attacking a person in a public meeting until they broke down and admitted to whatever it was that was a 'crime' even if it wasn't true. What does this look like today? Schoolchildren demanding that you 'check your privilege,' and 'take a knee.' The press smearing anyone who suggests that America is a country that can be unified in correcting past errors while remembering that past. University administrators bowing to demands that professors be fired for teaching that slaves were sold by other Africans and that black slavery was not the foundation for the colonies. A Supreme Court nominee subjected to accusations based on what he may have done in high school.
Denouncing others: Teachers training children to be snitches and to report on each other and their parents. Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti suggesting that rewards for snitches be offered. #MeToo trolling for offenses years after a defense can be assembled. Senator Al Franken was a victim of this tactic. Mao utilized this tactic by actually setting minimum numbers of denunciations that each cadre was responsible for making. If by chance there were no 'rightists' to be denounced then the accusations had to be fabricated so that the quota could be met. Innocent people died.
Collectivization: Designed to eliminate the small farm or business and to consolidate it into a large conglomerate that could then be controlled centrally. We see this today with Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midlands etc.
Infiltration of the opposition and using officials to control:
Mao used everyone and used tactics to blackmail or bribe Koumintang officials in 1940-1949 civil war. Now we have politicians like Senator Diane Feinstein praising China even though she had a Chinese spy in her office for years, and in spite of China's human rights offenses. Vice President Joe Biden's son benefited from a business relationship with China and is still making money. Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry, the Bush family, and others have family members working with the Chinese government.
Surveillance of the domestic populace: All totalitarian states use this tactic in order to identify enemies and to stifle dissent immediately. Google, Facebook, ESRI, and multitudes of current surveillance networks use your cell phone to track and monitor your every move and comment. Mao, of course, used this tactic with the system of cells in which every member of the Party was continually watched and criticized for what they said, did, and even thought. Beatings, imprisonment, torture, and murder even extended to family members and associates of anyone who was accused.
Willingness to sacrifice national well-being for an ideology: During the Great Leap Forward 1958-1962, millions of people starved to death in famines because Mao demanded that farms be collectivized and turned into huge communal farms. Farmers had to leave the land and produce steel for infrastructure (later this household metal smelting was found to be completely inadequate for construction purposes--people had been ordered to turn in their woks and bedsprings for the common good). Today you see our industrial production outsourced (often to China) and our imports (often from China) greatly increased. Our ability to be self-reliant and independent leaves us completely vulnerable even when it comes to food and medicine.
Destruction of cultural values: Beginning in 1966 with the Great Cultural Revolution, Mao used youth unrest to destroy the vestiges of the old system of pride in Chinese culture and beauty. The Red Guards were teenagers who were encouraged to rampage through China beating and killing old people, people who had associated with the West, and intellectuals. They destroyed priceless art, and invoked chaos as they competed to show their devotion to Chairman Mao. Today young people in colleges and high schools show their value as social justice warriors by graffitiing buildings, looting shops, demanding that teachers be fired for not referring to their 'correct gender', removing statues, calling for books to be removed from libraries, and the renaming of buildings, teams, schools, and towns. Destroying cultural values is a big piece of destroying national pride and a sense of cohesiveness. This is also a technique that can be used to breakdown the individual personally and remake them into a Global Citizen.
So, I've only gotten to 1966. Do you see that the techniques, the tactics used to break down and control one of the most restrictive countries on earth are being used on you now? Why? BECAUSE IT WORKS.
THIS IS #UNAGENDA21.
Don't participate in this overthrow. Speak out against it. Share information. Refuse to comply. Refuse to collaborate. Refuse to cooperate. At a time in the near future you may have to put yourself, your reputation on the line. Be ready.
YOU ARE THE RESISTANCE.
I saw the tourist version of China in 1984. But I knew that a nation with China's centuries-long history of obedience to authority, exploitation of the poor, corruption in governance, and, after 1949, iron-fisted control of every aspect of human life, there was far more to learn.
I think it's very important to take a look at China's strategy and tactics now because I see, here and around the world, tactics being used that were extremely effective in taking total control of one of the most populous countries in the world. When Kay and I were attacked viciously in Santa Rosa, CA from about 2005 to around 2015 when we stopped being as active in town politics, I recognized the tactics used on us as those used by Mao from 1950 onward. What were those tactics?
Struggle meetings: humiliating and attacking a person in a public meeting until they broke down and admitted to whatever it was that was a 'crime' even if it wasn't true. What does this look like today? Schoolchildren demanding that you 'check your privilege,' and 'take a knee.' The press smearing anyone who suggests that America is a country that can be unified in correcting past errors while remembering that past. University administrators bowing to demands that professors be fired for teaching that slaves were sold by other Africans and that black slavery was not the foundation for the colonies. A Supreme Court nominee subjected to accusations based on what he may have done in high school.
Denouncing others: Teachers training children to be snitches and to report on each other and their parents. Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti suggesting that rewards for snitches be offered. #MeToo trolling for offenses years after a defense can be assembled. Senator Al Franken was a victim of this tactic. Mao utilized this tactic by actually setting minimum numbers of denunciations that each cadre was responsible for making. If by chance there were no 'rightists' to be denounced then the accusations had to be fabricated so that the quota could be met. Innocent people died.
Collectivization: Designed to eliminate the small farm or business and to consolidate it into a large conglomerate that could then be controlled centrally. We see this today with Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midlands etc.
Infiltration of the opposition and using officials to control:
Mao used everyone and used tactics to blackmail or bribe Koumintang officials in 1940-1949 civil war. Now we have politicians like Senator Diane Feinstein praising China even though she had a Chinese spy in her office for years, and in spite of China's human rights offenses. Vice President Joe Biden's son benefited from a business relationship with China and is still making money. Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry, the Bush family, and others have family members working with the Chinese government.
Surveillance of the domestic populace: All totalitarian states use this tactic in order to identify enemies and to stifle dissent immediately. Google, Facebook, ESRI, and multitudes of current surveillance networks use your cell phone to track and monitor your every move and comment. Mao, of course, used this tactic with the system of cells in which every member of the Party was continually watched and criticized for what they said, did, and even thought. Beatings, imprisonment, torture, and murder even extended to family members and associates of anyone who was accused.
Willingness to sacrifice national well-being for an ideology: During the Great Leap Forward 1958-1962, millions of people starved to death in famines because Mao demanded that farms be collectivized and turned into huge communal farms. Farmers had to leave the land and produce steel for infrastructure (later this household metal smelting was found to be completely inadequate for construction purposes--people had been ordered to turn in their woks and bedsprings for the common good). Today you see our industrial production outsourced (often to China) and our imports (often from China) greatly increased. Our ability to be self-reliant and independent leaves us completely vulnerable even when it comes to food and medicine.
Destruction of cultural values: Beginning in 1966 with the Great Cultural Revolution, Mao used youth unrest to destroy the vestiges of the old system of pride in Chinese culture and beauty. The Red Guards were teenagers who were encouraged to rampage through China beating and killing old people, people who had associated with the West, and intellectuals. They destroyed priceless art, and invoked chaos as they competed to show their devotion to Chairman Mao. Today young people in colleges and high schools show their value as social justice warriors by graffitiing buildings, looting shops, demanding that teachers be fired for not referring to their 'correct gender', removing statues, calling for books to be removed from libraries, and the renaming of buildings, teams, schools, and towns. Destroying cultural values is a big piece of destroying national pride and a sense of cohesiveness. This is also a technique that can be used to breakdown the individual personally and remake them into a Global Citizen.
So, I've only gotten to 1966. Do you see that the techniques, the tactics used to break down and control one of the most restrictive countries on earth are being used on you now? Why? BECAUSE IT WORKS.
THIS IS #UNAGENDA21.
Don't participate in this overthrow. Speak out against it. Share information. Refuse to comply. Refuse to collaborate. Refuse to cooperate. At a time in the near future you may have to put yourself, your reputation on the line. Be ready.
YOU ARE THE RESISTANCE.
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