Thanx for sharing Karim. Like Lindsey, I actually brought myself to
listening to Who's in Town's speech. It was short on specifics and long on reminders
as if a more specific speech to the faithful preceded the televised speech by
CHina TV. I was a bit disappointed so I could not see the whole episode. I
might have gone to sleep at the marina where I was watching it. I was so
looking forward to it that I accepted the invite from my Chinese friend at his
houseboat to watch it. What a dichotomy. My friend is the quintessential
capitalist but he shares that Chinese cannot show appreciation outwardly for any
value in capitalism. SO I kinda understood Who's in Town's reluctance to give
credit even as China's balance of trade is testimony to capitalist yield. The
speech just did not have any substance in it. The crowd was impressive however
and the hall well-appointed and stately.
Haroun Al Khairawan. MQDT. Darbo. The title could have given ample clue were
I not to have been so excited. My friend agrees too. When you have time,
take a look at the sand mining operation Carnegie of UK is engaged in in Gambia.
They had conducted similar operations in Senegal. Easy.
In a message dated 10/22/2007 5:20:52 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
World Affairs
The great bore of the people Lindsey Hilsum
Published 18 October 2007
Print version
Listen
RSS
The Chinese economy is like a runaway horse - the government is torn between
trying to rein it back, or just clinging on. The leaders' main fear is of
falling off
Never before have I felt at one with the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.
But halfway through President Hu Jintao's two-and-a-half-hour speech at the
17th Congress of the Communist Party of China, as the 81-year-old's eyelids
drooped and his head flopped on to his chest, I experienced a certain fellow
feeling.
The speech had the pithy title "Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with
Chinese Characteristics and Strive for New Victories in Building a
Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects". It was delivered in a monotone.
President Hu clapped himself at the best bits, as a cue for his audience of
apparatchiks. Two frail and elderly delegates had to be ushered off the stage,
presumably for resuscitation.
The speech contained not a single new thought, but rehashed a dozen tired
slogans: "Harmonious Society", "Scientific Outlook on Development", "Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics". China-watchers - an even more specialised and
possibly eccentric bunch than birdwatchers - will now be analysing all 64
pages for clues to what it all means for China's future.
The party congress occurs only once every five years, so is billed as an
important event. For months now, everything that happens has been attributed to
its imminence. Petitioners have been driven out of Beijing, human rights
lawyers beaten up, and - according to Reporters sans Fronti鋨es - thousands of
websites closed down (the Shanghai Daily reported 18,401), all apparently to
create the right environment for the more than 2,200 party delegates. So
nervous were the authorities about Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan - a young dissident
couple I have written about before - that a dozen policemen accompanied them to
hospital for Jinyan's recent pregnancy scan. Yet I was hard-pressed to find a
Chinese person, other than journalists, who was taking the slightest interest.
"It will be annoying if it disrupts the traffic," said an elegant woman in
her mid-forties whom I met at a party.
"It will be important only if it makes economic policy," said a friend who
works in the private sector. But China's economic course is set. President Hu
was clear that "reform and opening up" - the economic policy started by Deng
Xiaoping 30 years ago - will continue. He has said many times that he worries
about the growing gap between rich and poor, urban and rural, but at this
forum he had no new policies to offer.
All policy debate is secret; no initiative is announced until it has been
agreed by the inner circle. On the outside, all is unity and harmony, but the
Chinese Communist Party is like any other political party anywhere in the
world - riven by factionalism and intrigue. The China-watchers have been
speculating for weeks about who's in and who's out of the Politburo Standing
Committee, whether the appointment of X is a boost for Jiang's faction, and whether
Hu has enough authority to push for Y to be replaced by Z.
I'm trying to resist getting sucked into all this, because I'm not convinced
that it matters. The Chinese economy is like a runaway horse - the
government is torn between trying to rein it back, or just clinging on and hoping that
it slows down of its own accord. The leaders' main fear is of falling off.
People say Jiang's faction favoured no-holds-barred growth, while Hu is more
left-wing because he wants to rebalance society, but maybe that's just because
Jiang came first. None of these leaders has the vision - for good or ill -
of Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping. President Hu is like the CEO of a successful
multinational - the shareholders know he's boring, but at least he does a
competent job. Chinese leaders don't have to spark excitement among the public,
because they are not courting anyone's vote.
As I sat in the Great Hall, trying not to nod off like Jiang, I thought of
how China's leaders have brought prosperity to hundreds of millions.
Universities are graduating well-qualified students; the stock market is soaring; the
trade surplus has reached $1.4trn. Yet the party still claims to be following
Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Real ach iev e ments are submerged
in mind-deadening verbiage. No wonder the Chinese people aren't listening.
Lindsey Hilsum is China correspondent for Channel 4 News
Post this article to
Digg
del.icio.us
newsvine
NowPublic
Shoutwire
Reddit
************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中
|