Yep. Why China censors banned Winnie the Pooh

And the next whataboutism! What a waste of time.

Yeah, these are the ‘tankies’ who got banned on Reddit, right? I guess it takes time until they get a minority, but it’s good that the community grows steadily.

One thing that’s obvious here on Lemmy is that whataboutism works only in one direction. If an article is critical of China, Russia, Iran, or other dictatorships, you’d read, “But about U.S./EU/the West”. But there are tons of articles here critical of Western countries, and it’s accepted. Why is this? Just wumaos?

The real change in retail pricing might be discrimination pricing (or ‘surveillance pricing’ as it is now called sometimes). Simply speaking, it uses personal data to personalize prices not just for each customer, but also for each customer depending on actual circumstances such as day time, weather, an individual’s pay day, and other data, collected through apps, loyalty cards, …

As one article says, there is One Person One Price:

"If I literally tell you, the price of a six-pack is $1.99, and then I tell someone else the price of a six-pack for them is $3.99, this would be deemed very unfair if there was too much transparency on it,” [University of Chicago economists Jean-Pierre] Dubé said. “But if instead I say, the price of a six-pack is $3.99 for everyone, and that’s fair. But then I give you a coupon for $2 off [through your app] but I don’t give the coupon to the other person, somehow that’s not as unfair as if I just targeted a different price.”

The linked article is a very long read but worth everyone’s time. Very insightful.

I am thinking the same. Must be some sort of Streisand effect :-)

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Texas wants solar energy but forced labor in China is a concern

While the deployment of affordable renewable energy is great for Texas, the broader solar supply chain is cause for concern. Unfortunately, many solar panel manufacturers are entirely reliant on cheap Chinese materials with opaque traceability and forced labor concerns in the Xinjiang province. The State Department has concluded that since Xinjiang produces 45% of the global polysilicon capacity and a significant amount of silicon metal, much of the global solar supply chain could include inputs made with forced labor from the region.

As a result, U.S. Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in late 2021, creating a rebuttable presumption that all goods, made in whole or in part, from the region contain forced labor and are thus barred from entering U.S. commerce. Customs and Border Protection is tasked with enforcing the law and Congress specifically directed CBP to target polysilicon from Xinjiang. Since enforcement began in June 2022, CBP has detained over $2 billion in goods.

Forced labor appears to have a broader meaning than slavery as far as I can understand, for example, from the ILO definition or here. But I don’t know either.

Just two more pieces for those interested.

China’s Pioneering Gay Rights Group Halts Operations Under ‘Force Majeure’ (May 2023)

The 15-year-old Beijing LGBT Center, one of the pioneers of the “different sexual orientation movement” in China, announced this week that it had terminated its operations without explanation.

Analysts said the closure of the well-known rights center was seen as inevitable and a reflection of the increasingly repressive political environment in China under Xi Jinping.

[…] In 2019, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Special Act on Same-Sex Marriage, becoming the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage, but the regulations stipulated that married same-sex couples could adopt only children biologically related to one of the partners […] Taiwan is now leading Asia in same-sex marriage legislation.

The Chinese government claims LGBTQ+ people are protected from discrimination. Our interviews with 26 activists tell another story (October 2023)

The evidence suggests LGBTQ+ activists in China have had a particularly tough time since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. The effects of targeting have spiralled in the past few years, reflected in the abrupt closure of the Shanghai Pride in 2020, and the 2021 shutdown of LGBT Rights Advocacy China – an organisation that held law-based campaigns.

Sinicization of Islam in China is genocidal —[Opinion]

It has been reported that more than one million ethnic minorities have been killed, arrested and forced into detention camps/prisons, what is referred to in Beijing as “re-education camps”, like the one witnessed during the Cultural Revolution. In reality, minority people are subjected to humiliation, torture and political indoctrination in these so-called camps to make them “de-radicalised”. China claims this to be an effective way of “tacking extremism”, whereby, once de-radicalised, these people would acquire skills to be employable and contribute to the economy. The mass internment system has affected not only those subjected to the state crackdown but also the family members of those incarcerated, especially children.

@Bartsbigbugbag What’s a good source on that issue in your opinion? I know a lot more, but would like to learn new ones if possible. Would be great if you posted a link.

It’s not because we hate them for their religion (for the saner part of Europeans it’s the same bullshit as Christianity)

Yes, I am firmly convinced that religion (and ideology) is used as a pretext for suppresssing people. One of Iran’s major partner countries is China, for example, but Iran says nothing about Beijing’s oppression of the Muslim Uyghur minority in China. They don’t care.

It’s all about power, and we see similar things all around the globe across all cultures and ages, including here in Europe.

@umbrella

There is ample evidence that China is suppressing its own people, including prohibiting emigration. One good source among many is the Safeguard Defenders, an NGO focusing on China.

You’ll find many good sources, including here on Lemmy. The situation has even been getting worse in recent years.

Julian Assange’s forthcoming hearings and what they could mean for his freedom

The announcement of what could be Julian Assange’s final hearings – on 20 and 21 February before the British High Court – has sparked a flurry of speculation about what could be the final fate of the now 52-year-old Australian journalist and publisher, who has been imprisoned in London for four years while awaiting extradition to the United States where 175 years of supermax almost certainly await him.

But how is it possible that Assange can be jailed for 175 years, just for doing what any responsible journalist and editor should always do – that is, disclose war crimes and other wrongdoings he or she learns about by way of spontaneous witnesses? Especially since the US Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that it is permissible to reveal state secrets if it is in the public interest to do so?

US critical of China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday voiced concern over China’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait during a year-end news conference in Washington.

The US and its allies are “more closely aligned than ever” to face the challenges presented by Beijing, Blinken said.

'Prison or bullet’: new Argentina government promises harsh response to protest

President Javier Milei and his allies are preparing new security guidelines in anticipation of protests against currency devaluation

In the meantime, the Kenyan government has ordered cryptocurrency project Worldcoin to stop signing up new users, citing data privacy concerns.

The ministry of the interior has launched an investigation into Worldcoin and called on security services and data protection agencies to establish its authenticity and legality.

@poVoq @Supercell

Complementary currencies have been in place for thousands of years in human history, and it was largely for the benefit of the societies and their individuals, for crisis development, transitional economies and/or commons-based communities.

Blockchain is a great tool for this kind of money. Saying something like the whole of the crypto world is a scam is a gross generalization that has nothing to do with reality, as much as fiat money isn’t a scam because of the corruption, scandals and crises we have been experiencing in the fiat system.

If you want to bribe a person or something, then the least thing you need is a decentralized network like a blockchain where all the data is stored across the network on all nodes. Crypto “enables corruption on a scale unseen before” ?THIS is BS.

“Amazon insisted I report my missing package to the police”. Although it was marked as ‘delivered’, it won’t believe it wasn’t.

Amazon, however, told me that without the report and crime number it couldn’t help. At a time when the police are under significant pressure, Amazon’s insistence on reporting missing packages is, at best, in bad taste and, at worst, contrary to consumer rights and protections.