To the people saying this is CIA prop: Yeah it's probably weaponized to some extent but the essence of the story is rational.
The delivery worker has in the past rallied workers and organized strikes in relation to other labor disputes, and is an important (founding?) member of an unsanctioned union-like-institution outside of the power structure of the party.
If I was a state actor, I think it'd be entirely rational to react to the delivery rider's agit-prop video by picking up the dissident, if for nothing else than to prevent an immediate followup of organizing/direct action and for questioning.
Also this appears to not be the first time this individual has faced repercussions for non-party-affiliated labor organizing.
Support to Xiong Yan, and to the other gig employees elsewhere. I hope the CPC is trying to resolve this contention properly and are addressing the circumstances that led them to this point.
Umm ackshually... China Digital Times gets money from the National Endowment for Democracy.
https://www.ned.org/china-digital-times-provides-crucial-insight-and-information-about-china-and-the-covid-19/ https://www.ned.org/region/asia/mainland-china-2018/ There's also more detailed documents from the NED showing where their money goes each year you can probably find online that I remember gave money to China Digital Times but I can't be bothered to look it up if you want more sources.
This site is kinda sus I’m gonna certify it
Edit: this site is Trotskyite as fuck.
Here is them on Comrade Stalin, who saved the world from Fascism, and brought communism to its greatest peak.
The Russian Revolution was betrayed and degenerated under a counter-revolutionary bureaucracy, led by Stalin. Understanding why this happened is critical for Marxists.
Here is them on anarchists, who are heroic people fighting for communism
Marxists share anarchists’ objective of overthrowing the bourgeois state. But the anarchist understanding of power and the state is abstract, rather than scientific - and therefore limited
Once again, every criticism thrown at the CCP is revealed as counter-revolutionary concern trolling
Anyone can come in with any take on anything that happens. That doesn't mean the thing didn't happen.
But spreading it in an anti China context is weaponized anti communism
Sharing an article from a Marxist site on a pro-China site is an anti-China context?
:xi-lib-tears:
Marxists can and should criticize other leftists. Engage with what's being said or log off.
Respect that people have differences of opinion and that every leftist has a place in our community. Discussing differences in theory is fine and encouraged, just don't make it personal. Remember: Sectarianism is liberalism.
Except critical support requires support. This site does not support China. You wanna have criticism of China? Sure, but China is one of the best countries out there
Yeah, , but that doesn't excuse you for refusing to engage with the reality of the situation or the legitimate concerns of your comrade.
Marxist.com is the website of the IMT, who I firmly believe from personal experience along with some clues from their publications are crypto-transphobes.
I live and study in China. Of course there are legitimate criticisms to be made, China is not perfect, no country is. But the wording of your post gives me weird vibes: "not everything that isn’t pro-CPC is CIA".
Yes, of course not everything that isn't pro-CPC is CIA, but that doesn't make Western propaganda more true. It's like you are trying to make the point that we should be trusting of the negative things we read about China, when most of the time they are lies, and there is clearly an open war/fabrication of consent/smear campaign against the country.
If your point is that China is not a perfect socialist state, and has many contradictions due his hybrid system, then I think most of us are already aware of this, no one is so delusional to think China is perfect.
Xiong Yan’s video explained that, prior to the “adjustment”, riders would receive about 5 yuan regardless of the distance they travelled for each order. The “adjustment” cancelled this flat fee and tied the fee that the riders receive to the distance they’ve travelled, which could range from 3 to 10 yuan. In practice, the video explains that this amounts to an overall pay cut for the workers, and each delivery worker would lose at least 1,000 yuan per month from this change for the same amount of work.
Xiong Yan also highlighted another scandalous act on the part of Ele.me, which promised riders that they would be awarded with a large bonus of 8,000 yuan should they fulfill a set amount of orders during the Chinese New Year holidays. This is comparable to an entire month’s worth of income for most of these riders. Many workers worked their heart out for this bonus, only for Ele.me to move the goalposts by changing the required delivery target at the final hour to deprive them of it. Xiong Yan exposed this on 18 February with an online video that received over 9 million views, while related topics on Weibo reached 200 million. Although the state soon repressed all discussion of this deception, the truth was already widely known.
Is this true? If so, why does China even have this sort of neoliberal gig economy in the first place?
Seems like a fucked up industry:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1212188.shtml
A 43-year-old rider surnamed Han died on December 21 while delivering food. Ele.me on Wednesday told Han's family that he had no connection with the platform, but the platform was willing to provide 2,000 yuan ($309.5) to his family out of compassion, media reported. Han reportedly worked for Fengniao, a sub-brand of delivery services under ele.me. In its user agreement, it noted that registrant riders do not have any form of labor relationship with the company, according to media reports.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1213073.shtml
Liu Jin, a deliveryman of Ele.me, set himself on fire with gasoline in front of a delivery site in Taizhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, on January 11 as he sought to claim wages owed to him.
Liu's case is slightly different from other labor disputes. The official statement shows that Liu did not sign a labor contract with Ele.me, but registered a studio through an online platform, and then by signing a "project subcontracting agreement" with other companies to work for Ele.me. However, Ele.me is responsible for paying his salary. Industry sources point out that this is a frequent employment method for food delivery platforms these days. This helps them avoid legal risks when labor disputes arise, but makes it more difficult for workers to defend their rights.
Previous media reports pointed out that deliverymen work on a very tight schedule, and taking time out could lead to significant wage deductions, which has triggered protests. Its solution was to urge users to tell deliverymen that they are willing to "wait another five minutes." "Ele.me is actually asking consumers to take responsibilities that fall to the delivery platform," a Beijing-based independent analyst who wished to be called Zhang, told the Global Times. "It is capital that squeezes riders and creates safety hazards. This is a systemic problem of the online platforms," Zhang added.
China has that gig economy because that is precisely the sort of model that can help to fill in the gaps in its evolving political economic structures since the 1980s. No more iron rice bowl and cooperatives means meaningful employment for everyone is impossible, and likewise foreign investment + indigenous bourgeoisie all thrive on the constant availability of cheap and 'flexible' labor. Tbh even before the internet and apps took this to another level, the hukou system in conjunction with massive construction projects often meant that day laborers and migrants from rural areas would get absolutely shit-tier jobs doing important, necessary work, only to be given very little stability/financial security in return.
This isn't even like 'CIA propaganda' either, in fact there is a whole genre of modern Chinese literature (migrant literature - see this https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/05/07/proletarian-nora-discussing-fan-yusu/) that is about the struggles and disappointments that migrant labor faces.
Thanks for posting this. So many people on Chapo continue to insist that any story that showcases the neoliberal aspects of Chinese political economy is just CIA bait, mostly because (I would guess) they do not speak Chinese and are not particularly familiar with how the CCP's has routinely treated striking workers and rural migrants. Instead, they just see a red flag, a 'vanguard' party, and state-owned enterprises, and assume that all contradictions between capital and labor have disappeared.
China struggle sessions continue even on socialist websites, much in the same way that class struggle continues even in socialist countries. Solidarity with the Riders' League, workers are supposed to represented by the CPC's union in China and things like this reveal the cracks in that system.
It appears that the Rider's League was basically acting like an independent union and independent unions have historically been opposed by Marxist-Leninist governments (Solidarity in the Polish People's Republic being one of the rare examples of an independent union within a ML state and its unfortunate outcome likely hasn't helped improve the reputation of independent union activity in the minds of many ML government officials. Cuba also discourages independent labor union activity). The ACFTU is the official party-affiliated union in China and is still undergoing a process of reform. It can still be pretty inefficient with only recently beginning to recruit large numbers of delivery workers and has secured only fairly minor gains so far for delivery workers, hence the presence of some independent labor organizing. Hopefully, this can get resolved effectively.
