Winter is Coming – on the situation in China
As China’s economic, political and geo-strategic role increases, Charlie Hore assesses the position of China today and outlines a number of key challenges that face the leadership Introduction In October, the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ended with ‘paramount leader’ Xi Jinping becoming seemingly more powerful than any Chinese leader since […]
Reviewing BBC Radio 4’s coverage of the Russian revolution
Martin Crook analyses the presentation of the Russian revolution by the BBC, questioning the accuracy of a review that blames the revolution for the sins of Stalinism.
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (5): China: Where All Roads Meet
In this last of five pieces on Uneven and Combined Development, Neil Davidson looks at its applicability for China today and concludes on how we think about revolutionary conjunctures in the 21st Century.
Remembering the riots of spring 1976 in China
It’s 40 years since workers, students and school-students broke the oppressive regime that had come out of the Cultural Revolution in China and forced a change of direction on their rulers with mass protests in the spring of 1976. Charlie Hore looks back. 1976 was a pivotal year for China. In September Mao Zedong, the […]
The slow death of Hong Kong
Sue Sparks reports from Hong Kong, where mainland China is tightening its grip Hong Kong rarely makes it to the international news, but the disappearance of five people, all connected with a publishing company and bookshop in the city which specialises in titles unwelcome in mainland China – many of them scurrilous accounts of the […]
The unofficial cult of Mao: instability in modern China
Charlie Hore places the recent construction and destruction of a giant statue of Mao Zedong in the context of the instability facing the Chinese ruling class Blink and you may have missed it, but there is already a contender for the strangest news story of 2016. In early January, pictures began circulating of a massive […]
Five books you should read on China
Charlie Hore offers some suggestions to help understand what is happening in the world’s largest country China has hardly been out of the headlines in the last few months. In August, the second stock market crash in two months sent shockwaves around the world financial system. China’s government had taken panic measures after the first […]
Bubbles, bounces and soft landings – China’s stock-market implodes
Charlie Hore discusses the dramatic recent crash on the Chinese stock market Even by Chinese standards, the figures are eye-watering – from a high point in early June, Chinese stock markets have lost over 3.5 trillion dollars to date, almost fifteen times the value of Greece’s GDP, and there is no end in sight to […]
A deal to save the planet – or to wreck it?
Jonathan Neale is the international coordinator of the Campaign against Climate Change and the editor of the One Million Climate Jobs report. He has written this article on the Campaign website analysing what the deal means for all of us. Obama of the United States and Xi of China have signed a bilateral climate agreement. Much of the […]
Crisis in Argentina: China and Russia in the USA’s backyard
As vulture capitalists continue to deepen Argentina’s economic crisis, China and Russia are showing increasing interest in strengthening their economic, military and cultural influence over the country. Argentinian socialist David Justo asks what this new situation means for anti-imperialist politics in Latin America. In the so-called “multipolar world”, with the USA losing its hegemonic dominance, […]
Hong Kong protests two weeks on
As another week begins in Hong Kong, people are still blockading the streets in several areas of the city. There are talks about talks, but the protesters say they are not giving up their positions without something much more substantial than what the government is offering. Sue Sparks reports. Two weeks into the protest one of […]
Thousands attend Hong Kong solidarity protest in London
Charlie Hore reports from the protest outside the Chinese embassy on Wednesday 1 October. The organisers hoped for three to four hundred people, I was told, but at its height, there were up to 3,000 people outside the Chinese embassy in London on Wednesday night, showing their solidarity with the struggle in Hong Kong. The demonstration […]
10 things you need to know about the protests in Hong Kong
The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong continue. Demonstrators have set a deadline of midnight tonight for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive to resign. German revolutionary magazine Marx21 interviewed Sophia Chan from Left21, Hong Kong about the background to and prospects for the mass protests taking place. The interview in available in German here. 1. When did the protests start and why? What […]
Obituary: Pierre Ryckmans (Simon Leys)
Charlie Hore looks back at the work of a pioneering and idiosyncratic writer.
Hong Kong’s new mass movement
‘Beijing and the Hong Kong government have succeeded in producing a genuine mass movement which will not easily be demobilised’. Sue Sparks reports on the mass protests in Hong Kong earlier this week. July 1st in Hong Kong is Handover Day, the anniversary of the handing back of Hong Kong by the British to China […]
Candles in the night: Vigil in Hong Kong commemorates Tiananmen Square
Sue Sparks reports on the vigil held in Hong Kong 25 years after Tiananmen Square.
The May of the masses: the Tiananmen Square movement 25 years on
4 June marks the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Charlie Hore looks back at the inspirational movement that went before, and repression that followed. Twenty-five years ago, a mass protest movement exploded across China’s cities, posing potentially the biggest challenge to China’s rulers since 1949. The Tiananmen Square movement, as it came to […]
Shoe strikes escalate as protests surge
Tens of thousands of Chinese workers employed by a Taiwanese firm Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings have been on strike for almost two weeks in a dispute that has now become news around the world. The workers make shoes for Nike, Adidas and Timberland and the company claims to be the world’s largest footwear maker. Charlie […]
Students occupy Taiwan’s parliament against trade deal
Hsiao-Hung Pai reports on the unprecedented occupation of the Taiwanese parliament.