Protesting in China vs. Protesting in the West
A commentary by NS
There are signs all around that the Chinese government got the message about people being unhappy with Zero COVID. One example is this scrolling message on a Guangzhou tower yesterday: "Everyone is primarily responsible for their own health." There are other similar "messages" in various press releases and the like.
We shall see.
But it is not just not unusual for the Chinese government to listen to protests, which happen all the time. It is indeed very common. They will still work to suppress them, censor information about it, and maybe prosecute a few troublemakers, but they will then make a reasonable effort to rectify the problem and/or punish government employees that screwed up.
I have seen this many times over the past 20 years, on issues large and small, local and national. It makes sense to protest in China, assuming your issue has enough support among the people. Of course, you and your 5 friends should not stage a protest demanding to overthrow the government. That would not end well.
You could do that in the West though. But it makes zero sense to protest in Western democracies. You will be told that the government legitimately represents the people because it won elections, and so "you people" are just a minority and don't matter. If you want change, win elections. But, hey, feel free to protest all day long, every day for months on end; we have freedom and democracy. Unlike China where people aren't allowed to protest. So if you live in the West, you can be happy (and unthankful) that you live under such an enlightened system.
Overall I'm in agreement with this position by Austrian China, but we have to look at the dynamics of the Western protests effectiveness' overtime. Protests used to be an effective tool to influence the situation and to change the course taken by the government. They have helped to change many things and to even stop wars throughout 1960s, 70s, and even 80s. But from the 1990s onwards first of all there were fewer protests, as the West reached an economic and geopolitical power apogee with a massive influx of the resources that were previously inside of the Soviet system (USSR and satellites) and the living for the average consumer in the West was never as good until 2008. After 2008 there were some protests but their effectiveness in influencing government was in a gradual decline. As an example, let's remember Yellow Vests protests in France, how persistent and massive they were and how little did they achieve. In 2020 and later we have reached the phase when people's protests were basically squashed or ignored. "Elites" felt confident enough they have all the tools (media and tech giants) to shape a majority public opinion, and they were not hesitant at all to use these tools. Any dissenting voices were (and are) simply ignored or if they become too loud - they are silenced. I wish I could share enthusiasm with Austrian China about the wisdom of Chinese authorities that listen to people's voice, but I can't. Time will tell. Let's continue watching, as it looks like the world has finally woken up to the fact that main problems with human rights in China is not in Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous District and not in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, but all over China mainland.
National activism in the US has worked (civil rights?)