Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Internet discussion in China on the exploitation of workers

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Internet discussion in China on the exploitation of workers

by John Chan from World Socialist Web Site. The author has been monitoring Chinese web sites and finds that working people are starting to become conscious of what kind of "workers paradise" they are living in.

Chinese people had been constantly told that in China the “working class controls the state power” but nevertheless learned about the reality of capitalist exploitation. The fact that workers committed suicide and take other forms of desperate action demonstrated that for working people, becoming the masters of their own lives was only a “remote dream”.

Even the leading capitalist publication, Financial Times, is getting worried. Read this.