Popular Uprising in China: Zero Covid Exhaustion

 

The Chinese are Fed up with Lockdowns Finally

The Chinese are protesting in various cities against the zero Covid lockdowns. Whenever I read a story about the Chinese people it amazes me what they put up with. From the lack of press freedom to the social credit scores, they are constantly hounded by their oppressive CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Ever since Covid 19 escaped from one of their labs in Wuhan (I believe) the party has instituted a “Zero Covid” requirement on the public. Health officials in hazmat suits stand outside of apartment buildings testing and retesting citizens. No one who tests positive is allowed outside of their apartment. In some cases they are literally locked inside.

It's monstrous, and it’s been going on for too long. Maybe they’ve finally had enough. An apartment fire broke out in the city of Urumqi on November 24. Some reports said firetrucks weren’t able to get close due to blocked parking. 10 people were killed and 9 were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. The local officials issued some boilerplate statement about the building not being on lockdown. In other words, hey they weren’t under quarantine. They could leave whenever.

 Some residents apparently “lacked the knowledge or capability to rescue themselves”.

Ham fisted responses from officials, plus irritation from lockdowns is creating a backlash in major cities. It’s unclear how many of the demonstrations are due to the fire deaths and how many are Covid and lockdown related. Some protesters shout against the chairman (Xi Jinping) and the Communist Party, calling for his removal. From all the accounts I’ve read, there is an exhaustion with the loss of freedom. It’s not even the big ideological freedoms that westerners like, speech, press and religion. Losing the ability to walk to the market and buy groceries without being harassed is more to the point.

I’m surprised we haven’t seen this anger from the public on a massive scale. The Chinese put up with too much. The CCP is finding out how discontented people are being forced to stay home for months at a time. Has Xi Jinping overestimated his power or will this popular uprising fizzle out? China cracks down quickly on any form of dissent. During the 2011 Arab Spring when uprisings happened all over the Muslim world, China kept it from happening at home. I remember a few weak attempts by protestors to start shouting and marching in Shanghai against Communist rule. The government stopped it quickly by sending in goons and arresting the leaders. So this might be nothing.

But I like to think, hope, that this is the start of something big in that country. If the Tiananmen Square crackdown from 1989 tells us anything, it’s that Beijing doesn’t play around. That year was a rebellious year all over the country. University students engaged in marches and demands for much of the year. But unleashing the military on them at the most famous spot in all of China ended the rebellion. The fear of another big crackdown has kept the public in check for the most part.

But you can only push people so far. The best case scenario for the Chinese people is that the CCP gives up power completely and puts some form of democracy in place. This won’t happen easily and likely it will take long revolution, and lots of death. But how powerful is the Communist party anyway? I imagine in most cases the local functionaries won’t be able to do anything against an angry mob. Don’t forget how large of a country China is, 1.5 billion people. Violent protests in every major city across the country will force some kind of change.

The next best case is that XI Jinping has to step down and the rest of the government eases restrictions dramatically. This isn’t as good of a deal for the people of China because the same system that brought them zero Covid is still in place. But at least the arrogant Xi would be gone, as well as the lockdowns. I don’t think this is likely to happen however. Once the demonstrations prove useful the people will keep them going until the whole system collapses. But as a practical matter, having the government give up this medical tyranny would be better than what they have now.

Third, the government effectively stops this popular revolt and puts a chill on future revolts. That’s basically what the nineties looked like following the Tiananmen Square massacre. The security state got bigger and scarier. But they’ve gotten bigger and scarier since the lab leak at Wuhan so what’s the difference? That may be the conclusion the citizens eventually draw. We can suffer under this medical tyranny or we can fight to get back our basic rights. Either way, we aren’t going to live like this anymore.

I’m praying for the people of China.