The farcical myths of American exceptionalism such as "free speech" facilitate a mass ignorance of the deadly censorship that Assange's case represents. Any real leftist movement in the United States would do well to reexamine the material conditions that create the need for censorship and let go of anti-communist and racist stereotypes which only serve to cloud political judgement. While China is certainly a leading economic power, the Communist Party-led state is by no means a military hegemon. That position rests with the United States. The United States possesses the biggest military apparatus in the world by several proportions, one that is used to destroy and plunder the planet with impunity. Corporate media censorship has ensured that the struggles of oppressed people, whether Black Americans, Palestinians, Venezuelans, or Libyans, are systematically excluded from the U.S.' so-called "free press," including its online channels.
The Great American Firewall is a massively important tool of the U.S. imperial state that protects the interests of private capital and its overlords. How we talk about censorship is influenced by the ruling class' imposition of ideological hegemony to support its political and economic hegemony. Censorship in China takes on a different character under the conditions of socialism. In China, living standards have improved dramatically, absolute poverty has been nearly abolished, and political and economic reforms have been implemented at a breakneck pace despite the existence of the firewall. In the U.S., increased censorship has been complimented by the growth of the prison population, the pauperization of all workers, and the development of a bipartisan consensus in Washington in favor of endless war and austerity. In other words, while China has changed dramatically in less than half a century, the United States remains stagnant and mired in a centuries-long settler colonial and imperialist project.
"Corporate media censorship has ensured that the struggles of oppressed people are systematically excluded from the U.S.' so-called 'free press.'"
The principle aim of this article was to inspire a broader political and ideological debate on the question of censorship as it relates to the specific conditions that exist in relation to China and the United States. The fact remains that the U.S. is moving closer and closer to a dangerous military confrontation with China in a futile attempt to contain its growth. U.S. public opinion of China has hit a low point. A truly principled left and anti-imperialist movement expresses solidarity with anyone who, to paraphrase Malcolm X, is interested in ending the miserable conditions that exist on this planet. This includes nations such as China. As millions of people in the U.S. of all racial backgrounds begin to rethink the function of the police amid the uprising against the racist murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, it is important that the issue of censorship be taken out of the narrow confines of American exceptionalism and scrutinized with the full context of the U.S.' power structure of empire, racism, and capitalism in mind.
Danny Haiphong is an activist and journalist in the New York City area. He and Roberto Sirvent are co-authors of the book entitled American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News--From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror (Skyhorse Publishing). He is the co-host with BAR Editor Margaret Kimberly of the Youtube show BAR Presents: The Left Lens and can be reached at wakeupriseup1990@gmail.com and Twitter @spiritofho.
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