2/22/10 - Session 9 - Dube - China 1976 to Present and Conclusion

Yes it is so hard to imagine growing up in a country without demorcratic government & elelctions.

I think it was pretty obvious that Mao, or any dictator for that matter, would fear an educated populace. George W. Bush clearly stated more than once that "a dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." Who wants to be questioned when you think/know what you are doing is right. I teach George Orwell's 1984 in my English II class. This is a great real life example of the slogan "Ignorance is Strength". Strength for the leaders and safety for the masses.

China has elections, but the nominees were mostly pre-selected.

"Since 1995, China's industrialization and urbanization have accelerated further, the economic and cultural level in rural areas has increased dramatically, and profound changes have taken place in the social structure. The urban population in China has increased from 29.04% in 1995 to 46.6% in 2009. At the same time, people's congresses at all levels have gone through many terms of elections, accumulated abundant experience, achieved enormous results in developing socialist democratic politics and a socialist legal system, and the class base and mass foundation for the people's democratic dictatorship led by the Party has been consolidated and expanded. The objective conditions are in place for revising the Electoral Law and electing deputies to the people's congresses based on the same population ratio in urban and rural areas."

--Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee Wang Zhaoguo

"[T]he people's democratic dictatorship"...???

The article continues:

"Currently, 960,000 rural residents receive the same representation as 240,000 urban residents, leading to calls for reform."

I would think those calls for reform have been taking place for some time now.

China has always been a powerful country in my mind, perhaps because of the overwhelming media shouting out how it is a communist country. Even the politically unaware citizen, would know what that word means- fear! I find great irony that as Prof. Dube said according to Mao "Chinese people have stood up and we will not be pushed around any more" that is the greatest fear of the American people, foreign influence dictating how to live our lifes and spend our fortunes. Yet if each nation would admit truly their intent: We want to be the best; We want to have the most; We will do what is necessary to secure those 'rights'. Now the differing points come in to effect when you think about the leaders of these great nations.
A critical thinking skill that I integrate in my classroom is to compare and contrast. A way that I could share an awareness of a communist law and a democratic law, would be to look at political freedom of speech. Share a few examples of short ads from each country and have them work in groups to try and figure out which country they would be allowed in. Then discuss what each law would look like in a communist country and in a democratic country. An extension of this lesson could be to have them write or draw an add that would be welcome in each country and explain, why, how, it would work.

"political power comes from the barrel of a gun" is certainly an expression i've heard more than once. I found it in a 1936 war-era publishing from Mao that contained some other fascinating political ideologies.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_12.htm

I think this same sentiment was prevalent in Cambodia, where nearly the entire intelligentsia was butchered by Pol Pot and his regime. I believe the same practice occurred in Vietnam. It seems as if those in power always fear a population that is educated and questions the activities of their government. I think you can compare that to the McCarthy era in the United States where a person could be labeled "communist" if their views veered too far to the left or if that person associated with the Left.

A fellow teacher passed along a recent issue of "The Economist" complete with a cartoon picture of Uncle Sam and Mao together in a bed on the cover, that addresses these complex economic issues. It's all a bit over my head, but made for some interesting reading.