Olympic torch rally, London: Human rights supports
(Image by Kaustav Bhattacharya from flickr) Details DMCA
The entire world is once again being treated to the wondrous spectacle of human potential and achievement at the 2022 Winter Olympic games in Beijing, China.
At the same time, American viewers are being mistreated by an accompanying display of jingoism, hypocrisy, and bias in the coverage of the games by its mainstream media (MSM).
They continually remind audiences that China is an "authoritarian regime" that disrespects human rights up to and including genocidal policies against Uyghur Muslims in China's northwest. In taking that position, the media typically omit any critical reflection on U.S. human rights shortcomings that in many cases surpass any of those the media attributes to China.
In what follows, let me briefly address that duplicity. I'll begin by summarizing China's approach to human rights contrasted with that of the United States. Secondly, I'll particularize those distinctions by comparing China's approach to its "Muslim problem" with the way the U.S. deals with its own corresponding dilemma. I'll finish by drawing some hopefully salutary conclusions.
Human Rights
To begin with, the media's allusions to "human rights" violations by communists implicitly assume that respect for human rights is an all or nothing matter. In their constant critique of China's system, the MSM even imply that (in contrast to China) human rights are universally recognized and respected within the national contexts the media spokespersons represent.
Nothing however could be further from the truth.
In fact, few (if any) nations on earth (socialist, capitalist, or any aspiring to communism) respect all human rights as elaborated in the U.N. Declaration. Instead, socialist systems like China's respect some human rights on the U.N. list, while disrespecting others. The same holds true for the United States. It too respects some human rights, while disrespecting others, even to the extent of denying their validity. (For instance, the U.S. has refused to sign off on a whole host of treaties implementing human rights protocols accepted by most other countries in the world.)
The United States' refusal is based on the fact that its system of political economy prioritizes human rights differently from that of countries like China.
More specifically, China, like other countries trying to implement socialism, prioritizes material rights to life, food, shelter, clothing, health care, education, dignified work, childcare, and comfortable retirement. All of those are recognized as rights by the U.N. Declaration.
Respect for the right to life is reflected in China's unprecedented achievement of virtually eliminating extreme poverty within its borders. Since 1981, China has lifted nearly 1 billion people out of such conditions. At the end of last year, President Xi announced that the final cohort of 100 million mostly rural poor had been raised above extreme poverty levels. Such accomplishment in such a brief time represents a unique historical achievement in the field of human rights.
Additionally, the right to health is also enshrined in the UN declaration of human rights. In response, China's universal health care system leads the world in minimizing its number of deaths due to COVID-19.
At the same time, the United States (alone in the developed world) has no universal health care system. With only 25% of China's population, the U.S. leads the world in COVID deaths. Of course the U.S. record could be painted as an extreme violation of the UN's recognition of health care as a human right. However, the MSM never presents it as such.
That violation goes unnoticed in the United States, because with its economy based on neoliberal "free enterprise," its list of prioritized human rights does not begin with the right to life, health, food, shelter, clothing, and dignified work. Instead, it starts with the right to private property and to have contracts respected along with freedom of speech, press, assembly, voting and religion.
That is, for the United States, the right to private property is paramount. If that right is threatened, all others (including voting and religion) will be suspended -- as shown by our government's support of authoritarian regimes throughout the world.
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