The Other Cultural Revolution
China crash: the faltering of economic transition
New series of factory stories from China
Dagong Diary, Part 1: Job Hunting
Elis died of slave-like life in agency center
An Indonesian migrant domestic worker recently died in a Hong Kong work agency hostel. We re-post an article from WKNews that examines the collusion between Hong Kong authorities, the Indonesian government and private agencies and the effect it has on the situation of Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.
Gender war and social stability in Xi’s China: Interview with a friend of the Women’s Day Five (1st half)
Many friends and associates of the five feminists detained on March 7 are still in hiding, but one was willing to meet for an interview on March 16. The fact of their detainment has been widely reported in the international media, but so far little analysis has been offered, so this interview focuses on questions such as: what is unique about this case? Why were these individuals targeted? Why, in the Xi regime’s crackdown on civil society in general, does it seem especially afraid of feminism?
Free the Women's Day Five! - Statements from Chinese workers and students
Translation of a statement by the partner of "Da Tu" (Giant Rabbit), one of the feminists detained on March 7, focusing on mutual aid between feminists and workers, with solidarity photos workers have posted online. Followed by translation of a petition by students at Da Tu's alma mater, Sun Yat-sen University (one of many petitions circulating in China, despite censorship).
Four years later, still a graveyard of Chinese youth
In 2014, on the eve of China’s national day celebrations, scenes recalling those of four years ago appeared in Chinese headlines. Foxconn became known to the world four years ago when thirteen of its young workers jumped to their deaths in quick succession. The death of young Foxconn worker and poet Xu Lizhi reminded us that in this Fortune 500 company that produces some 40% of the world’s electronics, the cruelty and hopelessness of workers' situation has not changed. But most of us are unaware that Xu is not alone. At least five other workers, and likely more than that, have joined him this year. Many other workers have taken their own lives since the famous 13.
Land grabs in contemporary China
"Professor Xu": Laid-off plastics worker becomes China's Walter White
Repost of a story of interest less for its similarity to "Breaking Bad," and more for what this similarity (and differences) reveal about capitalist development, increasing precarization and exclusion of "surplus" proletarians, and how criminality enables a few proles to prosper at the expense of many others, in a vicious circle of class cannibalism.
Another shoe strike in the Pearl River Delta: Lide, Guangzhou
Translation of a brief report on a strike of 2,500 workers at a shoe factory in Guangzhou that began today. As with the strike of about 50,000 workers at another company's shoe factories in the Pearl River Delta several months ago, one focus of this strike is on the company's non-payment of social security, along with factory relocation.
Sold on promises: China's intra-working class exploitation
An interview recorded from memory. This blog is about the upsurges that occur, the cracks that appear in China’s system. But sometimes the picture we give out of a China in revolt is rosy in a way that misses the very deep scarring in this society—the kind of fracturing of trust within the working class, between friends and family, in the relationships that underlie organization.
The margins and the centre: for a new history of the Cultural Revolution
Gender, temporality, and the reproduction of labour power. Women migrant workers in South China
Shanghai on strike: the politics of Chinese labor
The poetry and brief life of a Foxconn worker: Xu Lizhi (1990-2014)
Between the competition and the capitalists: Guangzhou’s taxi driver strike
No buses are due on Nathan road - Mong Kok occupation 2.0 weekend sum-up
Hotpot, Gods, and "Leftist Pricks": Political Tensions in the Mong Kok Occupation
Analysis of events in the Mong Kok occupation (part of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement") from October 9 to 11, related to a split between what could roughly be called "left" and "right" factions, regarding "leftist" efforts to expand the movement from a single-issue protest for liberal democracy to a broader movement for the transformation of everyday life.