TRUMP II: Trade War Gone Global
As in any sequel, the flashy advertising campaign showing a blitz of action is usually a sure sign that the end product will overpromise and underdeliver. Our work is elsewhere—on the ground, building networks of friends and comrades across borders, and building a collective brain bent on the creation of another world.
“We are the Palestinians of Burma”: Interview with the Progressive Muslim Youth Association
We don’t have our own territory, so federalism has never been our solution — it could actually give rise to stronger forms of ethno-nationalism than we have today.
Neither Prophets nor Orphans: An Interview with Endnotes
In the meantime, neither orphans of the labour movement, nor prophets of the communism to come, we participate in the class struggle as it is on a daily basis and as it produces theory.
Unhappy is the land that needs heroes
Myanmar’s insurrection condenses the sequence of revolts elsewhere in this century. […] As Myanmar’s insurrectionary rupture climbed hills to ignite a rural armed struggle, however, a new set of contradictions emerged. This is where the principle contradiction between insurgency and autonomy enters.
Palestine and “Xinjiang” under Capitalist Rule: An Analysis from the Chinese Left
Liberals call for Uyghur rights but support Israel’s genocide, while tankies clamor for the liberation of Palestine but dismiss the labor camps in Xinjiang as a hoax by US imperialism. Both have fallen into the new Cold War narrative created together by the two capitalist blocs.
Against Pinkwashing 反对粉红清洗: Sinophone Queers and Feminists for Palestine 华人酷儿女权撑巴勒斯坦声明
When we are outraged by the plight of the Chained Woman of Feng County, how can we separate ourselves from our Uyghur sisters? At the same time, while the Chinese authorities appear to stand with Palestine geopolitically, we must also see that Israel and China are using the same rhetoric and methods for genocide. Therefore, we also implore Palestinians and their supporters to stand with the Uyghurs rather than being divided by campism.
Preface to Chinese Edition of “In the Camps” (now online) + archive of Chuang translations 《营中纪事》简体中文版上线
Racialization… is a historical feature of global capitalism and the imperial economic expropriation on which it depends…. In a world where the power of Chinese corporations and autocrats is unchecked they operate in much the same way as other colonial powers.
An Embassy’s Blood, a March in Beijing, and Chinese Intellectuals in 1999: The Birth of a New Nationalism
The theme of “enlightenment” had been frequently revisited since the socialist era, but “national salvation” was not reactivated until this moment in 1999.
一个时代的结束： 21世纪初中国的劳工圈
由于这种类型的劳工圈活动是在沿海出口加工区的农民工斗争之后出现的，我们不应该惊讶国家镇压会如此轻易地摧毁这些网络，就在他们也在失去自己的物质基础时。
China FAQ 常见中国问题解答系列 – Isn’t China the world’s sweatshop? 难道中国不是世界血汗工厂吗？
China’s job structure is becoming more dependent on the service sector and moving away from agriculture, mining, manufacturing and construction. As in wealthier countries, the labor market in major Chinese cities is also bifurcating, with a majority of residents employed in lower-paying, lower-skill services and logistics work, and a minority employed in higher-paying, higher-skill jobs.
The End of an Era: Labor Activism in Early 21st Century China
Since this type of activism emerged in the wake of migrant struggles in the coastal export-processing zones, we should not be surprised that state repression could so easily destroy these networks just as they were also losing their own material foundation.
Beyond the White Paper: An Interview on the Social Elite in Shanghai’s Protests of November 2022
It was unclear whether what was happening was a protest, a memorial, or a large group of shoppers and commuters gawking at the police. So somebody tests the waters and sings the national anthem.
被杀的乌龟、被砍的森林、该死的猪
“除非每个监狱都被清空，废警主义的任务就没有完成，”特兰告诉我。“当不再有警察，当土地被归还，这就是结束的时候。” 我当时肯定对这句话的宏大意义摇了摇头，因为特兰立即露出了羞涩的笑容。“我不是指望能活到那一天。”
Three Autumn Revolts: Breaking the Ice on China’s “Anti-Lockdown Movement”
Examining tensions between different currents of the November unrest sheds lights on its limits and potential. Translation of mainland left reflections on the events, with our commentary.
《营中记事》节选：《序言》+《两面派》
她说完这句话，学生们都愣住了。“他们看起来很害怕，我意识到自己说错了话，于是做了自我介绍，开始上课。我紧盯着黑板，没有回头去看他们的脸。我不敢转身，因为一些学生在抽泣，几个老人的胡须都被泪水打湿了。我努力让自己平静下来，整堂课都没有回头，只是不停地在黑板上写字和擦字。我讲了四堂课，但感觉好像花了四年时间。”
East Lake for Everyone: Records of a Protest Movement in Wuhan, 2010-2014
At a time when dissident art has become the vanguard of gentrification, this project’s oppositional stance has been its refusal to enter the system of circulation. This is evident In the tension between the confiscation of land and the eviction of its inhabitants, on the one hand, and the project participants’ active withdrawal in order to intervene in that eviction and to maintain that intervention.
Towards Glorious Development: China’s TV Drama Regulations & the Capitalist Transition, 1986-2015
The state is not an external force intervening within the private media sector but is instead the means by which capitalist society reproduces itself, in this case through the sculpting of popular ideology.
Heat, Food & Power: News Highlights, July-August 2022
Seventh in a series of monthly summaries and analysis of mainland Chinese news and social media discussions, with new section on left platforms.
Book Online + Transcript of Interview, “Dirty Work: China, Communism and Social Contagion”
The Social Contagion book is now available to read online, along with our interview with the Antifada, Cinder Bloc and History against Misery.
China FAQ 常见中国问题解答系列 – Wasn’t China a communist country under Mao? 毛的中国不是共产主义国家吗？
Throughout the 1950s–1960s, what we call China’s “socialist developmental regime” supplanted the communist project as more and more was sacrificed to the bottom line of building a national economy.