>>> nathan at newman.org 06/26/01 12:25PM >>>
In what way was I playing "fast and loose" with the definition,
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CB: By calling, China fascist.
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especially since I was discussing and defining the use I was making of it. The definition of fascism is exactly what is at stake. As Carroll notes, it may be better to retire the word, but then we'd do well to retire words like "imperialism" as well that date from the same period.
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CB: The definition of "fascism" should start by looking at Italian _Fascism_ don't you think ? Then to Nazi Germany. Then to an analysis of the class formation, which was state-monopoly capitalism, imperialism, like the USA today. A key element of fascism was anti-communism and anti-Sovietism.
Then when the fascist powers were defeated, the international law label for it was established in UN conventions against genocide, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. You know, jurisprudence.
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However, China at this point is a country dominated by an authoritarian dictatorship with one of the highest levels of internal inequality in the world, a favored corporate business class dependent on the state, and public policy engaged in eugenics.
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CB: I think you've got the US and China mixed up here. ((((((((
It would be more interesting to hear what characteristics the Chinese state has that people feel distinguish it from what was classically considered fascist states?
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CB: To me it would be more interesting to compare the USA and the classically fascist states. The US has carried out much more genocidal warfare and customs than China. Right from the start America was established based on the genocidal usurpation of North America and the genocidal slave trade. More recently there is Yugoslavia ( the US committed a crime against peace there) , Iraq, Panama, Greneada, Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, Afghanistan ( the Taliban regime is courtesy of the USA) , supporting the Apartheid regime, Viet Nam, Korea, Phillipines, Jim Crow ( you might want to take a look at attorneys Wm. Patterson's and Paul Robeson's _We Charge Genocide_) , war on Mexico, and a number of other fascistic episodes that I can't recall right now.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, check out the mote in your own eye first , etc.
Technically, actually, I consider fascism the open terrorist rule of the most reactionary, chauvinist sector of finance capital, but since we are stretching the defintion a little...
Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org http://www.nathannewman.org
----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Brown" <CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 11:09 AM Subject: Re: China Fascism weeds out the "unfit" from higher education
CB: Since we are playing fast and loose with the definition of "fascism" , I denounce the U.S. as fascist for the bombings of Yugoslavia and Iraq, and also the supporters of these fascist actions.
>>> nathan at newman.org 06/24/01 08:38AM >>>
If this article's info on China's eugenics is accurate, China is moving from
merely authoritarian capitalistism towards full-out fascism. Folks can
dismiss this as enemy propaganda - which it may be - but given well
documented reports of union leaders being sent to mental hospitals, the
crushing of heterodox religionists, and the authoritian promotion of
capitalists allied to the party hierarchy, it starts to look like any word
other than "fascism" would be hard to apply to China
-- Nathan Newman
Only the 'medically fit' can go to college, China decrees Source: The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) Published: 06/24/2001 Author: Damien McElroy
STUDENTS wanting to attend university in China next term will have to pass stringent new examinations first: not to test their ability for the courses that they want to sit but to judge their medical suitability and physical fitness.
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