Original link: https://sehseh.substack.com/p/574
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Text/Sun Xiaojiao
In late November 2022, sparked by a fire in a residential building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, street rallies took place in many provinces and cities in China to protest against the long-term and strict epidemic prevention policy. Although far from large in terms of population ratio, the protests, which ranged from hundreds to thousands of people in some Chinese cities, have attracted worldwide attention.
The outside world began to discuss why the Chinese people, whose faces were increasingly represented by ultra-nationalist youths in the past few years, “suddenly” spoke up; and various political appeal slogans appeared in the protests, and within two or three days of the protests in the country, they were quickly dismissed by the authorities. After the repression, Chinese students and young immigrants in major cities outside the country continued to voice their voices, which also made observers ask where these protests will go, and whether they will become a more continuous wave.
In fact, these waves did not happen suddenly. Of course, most people express dissatisfaction because of the actual hardships of life, but joining us to discuss those few “progressive” demands that attract more attention from the outside world, there is actually a lot to talk about.
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If you have observed overseas Simplified Chinese communities on the Internet, you may have noticed that at least since the first half of 2020, shortly after the outbreak, an overseas “anti-thief” online community with a background of young international students has gradually formed. . Since the birth of this community, there are not many people, but we can see a clear context: with the tragedy of Li Wenliang, the development of “Run School”, the closure of Shanghai and other influential events in China, this community has gradually developed , established a certain influence.
They clearly oppose dictatorship and call for democracy and freedom as their main demands. They are active in Instagram, Reddit, etc. used by young people. They have their own concerns, visual styles, and language temperament, which are obviously different from those who were active in the Simplified Chinese circle of Twitter in the early years. The older generation of Chinese pro-democracy immigrants and exiles.
In the past two years, in the public spaces of major cities in European countries, North America, and Australia, activities on China-related issues organized by young overseas students have also been seen from time to time. Including the commemoration of June 4th overseas, solidarity with the women in iron chains in Feng County , gathering with overseas Hong Kong people, etc., and even echoing the subsequent Beijing Sitong Bridge incident. They also pay attention to overseas issues such as Ukraine and Iran, and there are also simplified Chinese youth democrat groups in the global gay parade in November. It’s just that the volume of these voices has not been loud enough to attract the attention of the outside world.
Therefore, when the white paper protests erupted in response to each other at home and abroad, it is not surprising that more aggressive slogans emerged. This sound has always existed and formed its own distinctive characteristics.
their awakening and action
On November 29, 2022, protesters gathered outside the Chinese Consulate in New York could see many female faces. (AP)
One of the hallmarks of this community is its distinctly feminist undertones. As early as in some overseas rally videos earlier this year, it was clearly seen that female participants were the majority, and the slogans shouted on some occasions were also clearly dominated by female voices. And this group of civil society participants also has some feminist characteristics: in terms of issues of concern, their concerns overlap with those of feminists. Minority rights, etc.; the characteristics of speeches at the rally are mainly appeals, empathy, and sharing, and long-winded preaching is limited.
More representative ones are the recent proposals in the community such as “How to build a public space for women’s rights and non-misogynistic gatherings”, “During the democratic movement and protests, what can men do to support feminism and gender-diverse groups” Discuss and put forward very specific demands: respect the expression of women and gender-diverse groups in the public space, do not acquiesce in being able to represent others, do not use “X your mother” and other expressions that attack women and misogyny, do not slander women Image and femininity (e.g. “no one is a man”, etc.), not using a condescending tone to the above groups, etc.
Before this situation took shape, the context behind it was that many young women in the world of simplified Chinese had experienced the budding of feminist consciousness to the establishment of a more complete and determined political view.
After the “Five Feminist Sisters” incident in 2015 and the arrest and exile of some feminists, feminist thought in China has entered a state of pan-network, popularization and entertainment. On the one hand, the political context has been withdrawn. While anti-patriarchy, the totalitarian government, as the greatest embodiment of patriarchy, is often avoided in the narrative, and later various genres called “extreme” or “pink” or “sinking” feminism appeared; On the other hand, this generalization of the Internet has also allowed various concepts of feminism to spread to all aspects of life and entertainment. As long as a women’s community is formed, discussions on women’s issues will almost certainly be formed.
While feminist thought is trying to depoliticize as much as possible, Chinese officials have also become more aggressive, defining feminism as a “network cancer” and “foreign forces.” In the past few years, there have been many MeToo cases lost again, as well as incidents of Chinese women being violently treated— the Ram case , the dragging of women in the Xi’an subway, the beating of women in Tangshan barbecue restaurants , the incident of the chain girl …every case caused great repercussions in the society.
These women’s issues, or in some people’s eyes, seem to be social discussions of “contradictions between men and women “. important part of the social atmosphere. After the white paper protests, many media interviewed Chinese progressive youths, many of whom mentioned that their political enlightenment came from their contact and understanding of feminism.
In other words, becoming a feminist is the starting point for many people to become “anti-thieves”.
Collision of thoughts in the anti-thief community
Under the double oppression of patriarchy inside and outside the system, women frequently become victims of power oppression in various forms; in such encounters, young women begin to re-examine their situation, and gradually Form an independent political view, and even become an important actor in such a huge movement. There are at least two reasons why feminists are so prominent in this movement. First, they are connected to each other through women’s issues in the movement to express their voices. Second, the tension of gender issues still exists at the rally .
On November 30, 2022, during a rally protesting against China’s zero policy in Seoul, South Korea, the slogan “Save the Chained Women” could be seen. (AP)
The following are all examples of scenes mentioned in some media public records:
Long before the white paper protest broke out, at the end of October, in a British rally protesting against the violent treatment of Hong Kong people at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, in addition to Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong people, there were also a certain number of Mandarin speakers. relatively silent. Later, this group of Simplified Chinese background participants recognized each other through a demonstrator dressed as a woman in chains. They gathered together and shouted slogans in Mandarin.
In early November, during a London protest in solidarity with Four Bridges voices, a group of feminists decided to create spaces where women could behave more comfortably. They took pains to design a second placard from the streets of Hong Kong, “I am very happy to subvert the state power with my sisters”, and stand with women to make each other feel more secure when they speak out. A feminist even said after that event that the issue of women’s oppression in the past is evidence against dictatorship, but it has not been the main line, and women are represented (I think what she means is that women’s rights issues are often used by Chinese men. Liberals use it as evidence of the “evilness of the party” and are not really concerned). In that event, feminists stood up to express themselves, and even became the leader of the event.
In an event in support of the white paper protests in the United States, female participants refused to follow male demonstrators in chanting misogynistic slogans such as “Xi Jinping fuck your mother”, and encouraged more women after some men’s lengthy sermons in the speech session speak.
At Columbia University, a male protester mistook a female demonstrator for another “little pink” woman and rushed onto the stage to beat her up. The problem of violence against women, even in overseas liberal communities, still exists, which makes the question of how to provide women with a safe space for expression to be raised again…
As for what feminism will look like in this movement, or in the future movement of the overseas Simplified Chinese community calling for democracy and freedom, there are more things worth digging, which this article cannot fully describe. For example, even among feminists of different schools, although there are feminists active in the movement mentioned above, there are also “pink feminists” who choose to support nationalism; I agree with the concept of feminism, so women should not be used by male social movements as “thieves who cut seats with rebels”. In the collision of many thoughts, some unknown things are sprouting.
How do we understand the white paper movement?
The last thing I want to talk about is what we can care about in the face of a nascent political phenomenon and an unknown force. Of course, everyone is most concerned about whether this is a flash in the pan, how far the appeal will go, and how long the dissatisfaction will last. But people who are so anxious to jump to a comprehensive conclusion are usually people who don’t know enough about things.
I would rather not have too many predictions, let my curiosity take me first, and find out what to see in it: In addition to the feminist color, this community has many parts to explore, such as the background of young international students, strong color of humanities, What kind of visual design style to use when protesting, and what is the key node that triggered this group of young people to start caring about politics (for example, many people mentioned Li Wenliang).
However, corresponding to so many elements, this incident has caused the biggest discussion in the Taiwan and Hong Kong communities, especially the Hong Kong community, which is how people should treat this movement: Should they be forgiven? Should you care? So much so that the local media needs to make great efforts to respond to such discussions. Therefore, this perspective has become the perspective that Hong Kong and Taiwan attach the most importance to when an international headline attracts the attention of the world. Just like the previous local reports, concerns, and approaches to many international events, it has formed a subtle disconnect with the general trend of the world.
IMHO, none of this matters at all. What emotions and angles to choose, of course, is everyone’s freedom, and everyone also has their own trauma to digest. But I also want to remind that it is indeed important to deal with your own emotions, and it is also important to realize that when you look at events from the perspective of others, your own emotions and opinions are actually insignificant. No matter what the individual’s emotions are, whether they are bullish or supportive, this other perspective has no effect on the event itself, nor does it help the observer’s own vision and knowledge.
If you don’t care and have hatred, it’s a completely understandable emotion to let it pass with a cold slap; It means that you need to sympathize or support the other person, but at least you can broaden your own perspective a little bit. (Finish)
About the author｜ Sun Xiaojiao (senior media person, pop culture observer)
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