[D66] Chinese worker writes on the coronavirus pandemic: “Disaffection is growing among the masses”

[Antid Oto]

    wsws.org:


    Chinese worker writes on the coronavirus pandemic: “Disaffection is
    growing among the masses”


          By a correspondent
          23 March 2020

/A correspondent in China sent the following notes on the rising 
political and class tensions in that country produced by the worsening 
global COVID-19 pandemic and the repressive response of the Beijing regime./

1. China’s authoritarian government has blocked every city and even 
every street by brutal means. Every aspect of people’s lives has been 
affected. Not only are there travel restrictions. Daily supplies have 
suffered shortages, and the economy has been greatly affected. While 
emergency measures were needed to combat the pandemic, they were applied 
repressively, to defend the interests of the capitalists. 
Dissatisfaction is growing among the masses.

To curb this dissatisfaction, the Chinese bureaucrats strengthened 
social controls and waged war on public opinion. The newly-issued 
“Internet Information Governance Regulations” came into effect in March. 
They strengthened the government’s control over the media and the 
internet, and further suppressed the “revolution” of public opinion. 
They clearly stipulate that network information content producers must 
not produce, copy or publish content containing “illegal information,” 
including opposing basic principles of the Constitution, endangering 
national security, leaking state secrets, subverting state power and 
harming “national interests.”

2. At the same time, Wuhan bureaucrats demanded that people express 
their gratitude for the government’s response to the epidemic and even 
forced various institutions and schools to implement “grateful 
education.” This was met with popular opposition and dissatisfaction. An 
article circulated on the internet: “If you have a conscience, you will 
not ask the frightened Wuhan people to be grateful at this 
time.”(稍有良心，此时都不会要求惊魂未定的武汉人感恩). In this article, the 
author wrote: “You are the public servant of the people, and your job is 
to serve the people. Now the people’s family you serve is ruined, the 
dead have just passed away and the tears of the living have not been 
wiped out. Sick people are unhealed and some of their dissatisfaction is 
completely reasonable. You should reflect and be ashamed because you and 
your team are not working properly, rather than accuse the people you 
serve in Wuhan of not being grateful.” This article has now been 
restricted from spreading on the internet.

3. A nursery rhyme has been criticized and resisted by people. The song, 
“Mobile cabin hospitals are so amazing”(方舱医院真神奇), is considered a 
tribute to the government, ignoring the suffering caused by the plague 
and government failure. Some people described this as “dancing at a 
funeral” and some netizens commented: “I can’t agree with such 
publicity, the epidemic is not over, the responsibility has not been 
identified and there is nothing to praise.” Mobile cabin hospitals are 
medical isolation units set up by requisitioning existing facilities due 
to the coronavirus outbreaks and insufficient medical resources.

4. During the closure of the cities the government arrested those with 
different opinions. Three citizen journalists lost contact. The Chinese 
government did not announce their whereabouts, but a video uploaded by 
one of the citizen journalists showed him being arrested by police. 
These bloggers expose the real situation of the epidemic and the real 
living conditions of the people by uploading videos they have taken. 
This is not the first time they have said they have been threatened by 
the government and police:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np8ZOQATLGY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWrMZH9Xu6k

5. Due to the impact of the epidemic and the government’s city closure 
policy, economic activities have been greatly impacted and small 
businesses and shops are under great pressure. Because of China’s 
economic failure in recent years and the sudden outbreak of the 
epidemic, protests by shop owners asking for rent reductions have been 
held in many cities:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1240918014234513408

https://twitter.com/i/status/1240427844955668481

https://twitter.com/i/status/1236852059397210112

6. The Chinese government regarded the two hospitals built in the short 
term during the outbreak as government achievements, but the workers who 
built the two hospitals encountered difficulties. There are news reports 
that during the outbreak, workers were overloaded, but wage arrears and 
wage deductions often occurred. At the same time, after the completion 
of the construction, due to the closure of the city, the workers were 
not allowed to return home. The high cost of living and lost source of 
income put the workers in trouble, but companies and the Wuhan 
government were unwilling to assist with the workers’ living problems.

7. Residents have protested across Hubei province that the cost of 
living and food prices have become unacceptable. A reporter exposed that 
the food donated to Hubei from various places was put in a warehouse and 
rotted and was not sent to the residents’ homes. There are also news 
reports that the local government uses garbage trucks to deliver food to 
residents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S1ZS-Dpnns

8. On March 17, about a thousand Foxconn workers who had returned to 
work started protesting and striking because they could not get the 
promised subsidy. These workers are reportedly dispatch workers at 
Foxconn. The labour dispatching system is a common method of undermining 
labour rights in Chinese companies. Many workers dub it the “slavery 
dispatch system”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqhUrWlk3Q

This is just a typical example of recent strikes by Chinese workers to 
defend their rights. Similar incidents have occurred in many cities. 
Although the Chinese government claims that they have basically 
controlled the corona virus outbreak, conflicts have gradually erupted 
as workers return to work.

The economic failure caused during the epidemic will prompt the 
bourgeoisie to intensify its exploitation of the working class. The 
working class has made huge sacrifices in the fight against the 
epidemic. The epidemic has increased the pressure on their lives, and 
made workers want a more resolute voice for labour rights. Therefore, 
when workers return to work, the backlog of dissatisfaction will push 
workers to fight the bourgeoisie and inequality. Already we can see that 
when the city lockdown policy was gradually cancelled, the workers’ 
movement began to reappear in various cities.

https://maps.clb.org.hk/?i18n_language=en_US&map=1&startDate=2020-03&endDate=2020-03&eventId=2020032016151780093

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