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SHENYANG, China (Reuters) - As the hospital treating Liu Xiaobao says his organs and breathing have begun to fail from cancer, few in China outside a small circle of dissidents know about the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and his lifetime pursuit of liberal democratic reform.

Even other patients at the First Hospital of China Medical University in the northeastern city of Shenyang, where Liu is being treated, seem not to know they are sharing the facilities with a world famous dissident.

When Reuters visited the floor where friends say Liu is being treated, visitors for other patients on the same ward seemed confused and asked why there were new procedures when security questioned them and checked their IDs.

Nothing has appeared in Chinese-language official media since Liu was diagnosed with cancer in late May. Searches for "Liu Xiaobo" on Chinese social media show no results.

China's foreign ministry answers questions from international media at its daily briefing with the standard line: China is a country ruled by law and the case is an internal affair; other countries should not meddle. Even that line is missing from the official transcripts of the briefings on the ministry's website.

The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, is the only publication that regularly writes articles about Liu, in English, and usually to rebuff international criticism.

The paper has cast Liu as an outsider marginalized from society whose cause has failed inside China.

It was overseas dissidents" who are the most active in "hyping the issue and are trying to boost their image by deifying Liu, the Global Times said in a Monday editorial. Western mainstream society is much less enthusiastic than before in interfering with China's sovereign affairs, it said.

Liu was the co-author of a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08, which attracted more than 10,000 signatures online before the authorities deleted the document from internet pages and chatrooms. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a year after he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion.

Charter '08, issued in 2008, reflected an apparent shift in China at the time toward becoming more open to liberal ideals, said Beijing-based historian and political commentator Zhang Lifan. That changed when Xi Jinping came to power in 2013.

"Since (Liu) was sentenced, peaceful transformation as a route for change has essentially been blocked off by the party. Since the new administration came into office, the party is moving in the opposite direction," he said.

Hu Jia, a well-known Beijing-based dissident and friend of Liu's, says few people in China know anything about him or his work.

"The reality is that if you are on the streets of Beijing and you stop a hundred people, to have one know who Liu Xiaobo is would be a great result," he said.

"Chinese society, due to internet censorship and being cut off from the rest of the world, essentially does not get to hear our (dissident) voices. Protesting voices on Weibo are almost not existent these days," Hu said.

But Xi has helped the dissident movement by locking up a peaceful protester and letting him die in detention. "The last state to do that was Nazi Germany," Hu says.

Carl von Ossietzky, a pacifist who died in 1938 in Nazi Germany's Berlin, was the last Nobel Peace Prize winner to live out his dying days under state surveillance.

While China's censorship makes it difficult to assess Liu's support, he is a "hero" for many liberals in China, even if few will speak out for him, a Chinese editor at an online publication said, declining to be named.

"I am really not sure if it's accurate to claim he is unknown to the public, (or if) people are just too scared to show their knowledge (of Liu)," the editor said.

Despite the restrictions, internet posters have written in support of Liu and his cause, using variations on his name to avoid the censors.

"When it comes to freedom, comes to constitutional government, we have talked too much, now we need to act," read one comment on the micro-blogging platform Weibo. "Situations like Liu Xiaobo's are still a worry, but we nevertheless need people to act, bravely face the risk of death and act."

The post echoed something Liu wrote in April 1989 when he returned from studying in the United States to take part in the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square: intellectuals often "just talk", they "do not do".

"He's leaving, but we cannot see, cannot speak, cannot act" said the headline of an article shared as an image on the popular messaging platform, WeChat, a method that can slow down the censors. In the article, three people born in the 1980s were interviewed about Liu.

"I will see him as a very important symbol, (but) people like him fail to get attention from common folk, and given his plight as an unknown prisoner of conscience, there is little to say," one person identified as L said in the article.

Albert Ho, who heads the Hong Kong Alliance organizing protests in Liu's support, said China's efforts to erase Liu from people's memory will fail.

"Don't underestimate the power of the internet ... And don't underestimate the people. I have seen many episodes where suddenly the hero gets degraded into the devil and the devil becomes the hero," he said, referring to previous shifts in China's political system.

"People are not living in an open society in China so you never know," he said.

Additional reporting by Venus Wu in HONG KONG and Beijing news room; Editing by Bill Tarrant

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China's liberals quietly fight efforts to erase Liu Xiaobo legacy - Reuters

By Jason Willick By Jason Willick July 12 at 12:21 PM

Jason Willick is a staff writer at The American Interest.

Its anyones guess whether the latest round of Russia revelations will flame out or bring the administration toppling to the ground. But either way, the drama is only one act in an ongoing cycle of outrages involving Trump and Russia that will, one way or another, come to an end. That is not true of the controversy over the Presidents remarks in Warsaw last week, which exposed a crucial contest over ideas that will continue to influence our politics until long after this administration has left office. And the responses from Trumps liberal critics were revealing and dangerous.

The speech a call to arms for a Western civilization ostensibly menaced by decadence and bloat from within and hostile powers from without was received across the center-left as a thinly veiled apologia for white nationalism.Trump did everything but cite Pepe the Frog,tweeted the Atlantics Peter Beinart.Trumps speech in Poland sounded like an alt-right manifesto,read a Vox headline. According the New Republics Jeet Heer, Trumps alt-right speechredefined the West in nativist terms.

Thus, the intelligentsia is now flirting with an intellectually indefensible linguistic coup: Characterizing any appeal to the coherence or distinctiveness of Western civilization as evidence of white nationalist sympathies. Such a shift, if accepted, would so expand the scope of the term alt-right that it would lose its meaning. Its genuinely ugly ideas would continue to fester, but we would lose the rhetorical tools to identify and repudiate themas distinct from legitimate admiration for the Western tradition. To use a favorite term of the resistance, the alt-right would become normalized.

[Trumps visit to Poland was a study in breaking norms]

There is no shortage of fair criticism of Trumps speech: For example, that he shouldnt have delivered it in Poland because of Warsaws recent authoritarian tilt; that his criticism of Russia should have been more pointed; or that he would have better served Americas interests by sounding a more Wilsonian tone when it came to promoting democracy around the world. And, yes, Trump has proven himself a clever manipulator of white identity politics during his short political career, so it is understandable that critics would scrutinize his remarks for any hint of bigotry.But by identifying Western civilization itself with white nationalism, the center-left is unwittingly empowering its enemies and imperiling its values.

How did progressive intellectuals get themselves into this mess? The confusion comes in part from loose language: in particular, a conflation of liberalism and the West.Liberalismis an ideology defined by, among other things, freedom of religion, the rule of law, private property, popular sovereignty and equal dignity of all people.The Westis the geographically delimited area where those values were first realized on a large scale during and after the European Enlightenment.

So to appeal to the West in highlighting the importance of liberal values, as Trump did, is not to suggest that those values are the exclusive property of whites or Christians. Rather, it is to accurately recognize that the seeds of these values were forged in the context of the Wests wars, religions and classical inheritances hundreds of years ago. Since then, they have spread far beyond their geographic place of birth and have won tremendous prestige across the world.

What is at stake now is whether Americans will surrender the idea of the West to liberalisms enemies on the alt-right that is, whether we will allow people who deny the equal citizenship of women and minorities and Jews to lay claim to the legacy of Western civilization. This would amount to a major and potentially suicidal concession, because the alt-right not in the opportunistically watered-down sense of immigration skeptic, or social conservative, but in the sense of genuine white male political supremacism is anti-Western. It is hostile to the once-radical ideals of pluralism and self-governance and individual rights that were developed during the Western Enlightenment and its offshoots. It represents an attack on, not a defense of, of the Wests greatest achievements.

[On his trip abroad, Trump left American values behind]

As any alt-rightist will be quick to point out, many Enlightenment philosophers were racist by current standards. (Have you evenreadwhat Voltaire said about the Jews?) But this is a non-sequitur: The Enlightenment is today remembered and celebrated not for the flaws of its principals but for laying the intellectual foundations that have allowed todays conception of liberalism to develop and prosper.

AsDimitri Halikiaspointed out on Twitter, there is a strange convergence between the extreme left and the extreme right when it comes to understanding the West. The campus left (hey, hey, ho, ho,Western Civ has got to go)rejects Western Civilizationbecauseit is racist. The alt-right, meanwhile, accepts Western civilizationonly insofaras it is racist they fashion themselves defenders of the West, but reject the ideas of equality and human dignity that are the Wests principal achievements. But both, crucially, deny the connection between the West and the liberal tradition.

To critics, one of the most offending lines in Trumps speech was his remark that the fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Trump clearly intended this to refer to the threat from Islamic extremism and, presumably, the politically correct liberals who he believes are enabling it. But there is another threat to the Wests survival in the form of a far-right politics that would replace liberalism and the rule of law with tribalism and white ethnic patronage.

The best defense we have against this threat is the Western liberal tradition. But by trying to turn the West into a slur, Trumps critics are disarming. Perhaps the presidents dire warning wasnt so exaggerated, after all.

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The alt-right is an attack on Western values. Liberals shouldn't ... - Washington Post

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Posted: Jul 13, 2017 12:01 AM

As the Grand Marshal of the Supreme Court assembles the posse of Bailiffs, Trumpeters and Attendants, the Learned Scribes are generating the Official Law Warrant of Justice to arrest Donald Trump Jr. for High Treason, which they will do after marching to the White House on a carpet of rose petals strewn by Fair Maidens.

Or something. Whatever. The Menscian media is in a spazz yet again.

Boy oh boy, maybe this time we can overturn the results of the election

And I admit I almost didn't think it could happen, but things have gotten stupider. Somehow the media and their enablers decided that the worst thing in the world is for someone to be willing to hear negative information about a political opponent from a foreign government, which wasn't a bad thing until Trumps son tried it unsuccessfully. Apparently Putins cunning spies work through chunky music industry gadflies and third-tier lawyers and dont actually have any dirt to give. Who knew?

But hey, collusion or something. Whatever.

Its almost pointless to mention the actions of Hillary Clinton's cats paws regarding Paul Manafort and the Ukrainian government, or further back, Ted Kennedys anti-Reagan conspiracy, because neither counts as this is all posturing and lies. If Hillary thought Lenins embalmed corpse could have provided dirt on Trump, shed have been in Red Square doing CPR.

Surprise! This stupidity drops right after Trump crushes it with a speech in Poland and right after James Integrity Boy Comey was revealed to have been playing the kind of classified materials games he let Clinton slide on.

Yeah, yeah, intent. Whatever.

Its all about liberals retaking power and trying to make sure we normals never get a say in our own governance again. Make no mistake, there are plenty of nominal Republicans who would be happy for that to happen. According to David Brooks, we peasants lack sufficient sandwich savvy for self determination.

None of this is about right and wrong. It's about power - their power, and ensuring we have none.

Let me break down how this is going to end. Liberals are going to gobble yet another Treason Viagra and the hot chick of success is gonna let them buy her a pricy dinner and then smile and say Let's just be friends.

Again.

I would almost feel sorry for them if they werent a bunch of evil, aspiring fascists who want to turn all of America into Evergreen College.

Oh, meanwhile in Iraq, which never mattered to Democrats, the people who were slicing the heads off dudes, tossing gays off buildings, and selling women into sex slavery, have been annihilated. This happened under the tender loving care of Mad Dog Mattis, the guy who Trump put in command of our armies and who refocused our military away from making it more comfortable for people who don't understand that a penis makes you male to killing our civilizations enemies.

You might think that the annihilation of ISIS in Iraq would merit a mention, but no. See, in the middle of a political campaign, a campaign was willing to hear out someone promising negative information about an opponent, which, as we all now know, is the worst thing in the history of ever and is treason or something because thats a useful narrative right this minute. CNN is all over one of these stories. Guess which one.

Go on. Guess.

I feel stupider watching CNN, so I don't. In fact, a lot of people aren't watching it. CNN is getting beaten out by Yogi Bear, a cartoon which provides more reliable information than Fredo Cuomo and the rest generate. In fact, Yogi Bear has had to retract exponentially fewer stories than CNN.

Let me say that again. A cartoon bear whose entire life focus is stealing picnic baskets from tourists is a more popular and more accurate source of information than Cable News Network.

But memes! Whatever.

Do you think this latest nonsense is going to stop Trump, by which I mean the people who support him? Do you think the normal people in America are thinking Gosh, a campaign tried to get negative information about its opponent? I'm shocked and stunned and emotionally ruined. I don't know where to turn or what to do. I guess I better support a bunch of liberal fascists who want to take my money and my power and my guns and who boo God.

Whatever. Now Tim Kaine is channeling his inner Louise Mensch, who seems to be channeling the voices in her head, and is screeching TREASON!!! But we should be forgiving because Tim has an excuse.

He's an idiot.

The liberals are losing and they're going to keep losing. They're going to lose in 2018, despite the Republicans best efforts to fail. And in 2020 well get four more years of Donald Trump and I'm going to laugh during every minute of it. Let all those latter-day converts to McCarthyism working as associate sociology professors at Gumbo State and who drive old Corollas with fading bumperstickers that read Nuclear Freeze Now keep tweeting TREASON in all caps. You go, girls.

Again, whatever.

Let's assume every single thing the liberals postulate is absolutely true. Let's say Donald Trump, Jr., knew that the Russian government was using a crew of goofuses to try to feed him negative information on Felonia von Pantsuit and he went to get it and found out they didn't have any, which is a miracle because if there is one thing in the world there's a lot of, it's negative information about Hillary Clinton.

So what?

This was never some sort of rule acquiring you be fussy about where you dig up your dirt, and to the extent Clinton didn't already break this fake rule, she would've in a heartbeat if she had been presented the opportunity. I don't think I'm going to give up my freedom to honor your bogus principle du jour.

It won't work. Nobody's getting arrested, nobodys getting impeached. You liberals suck and you're going to lose. Again.

MSNBC Reporter Walks Away From GOP Senator When He Mentions Clinton Campaign's Meetings With The Russians

Flashback: That Time Clinton Surrendered American Uranium Mines To Russia

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This Time We Liberals Have Totally Got Trump. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. - Townhall

It's not uncommon for liberals to applaud abortion rights; it's less unusual for them to straight-up advocate a kind of soft eugenics in order to improve, of all things, climate change. This is not only authoritarian and immoral but a natural extension of being fanatically pro-choice.

Liberals are applauding the study cited in this Guardian piece, originally published in Environmental Research Letters, which finds that "the greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions."

Vocal pro-choice proponent and feminist Jill Filipovic approves those suggestions and took it a step further, revealing an inside look at how many of her peers feel about where children rank on the scale of importance, next to the all-consuming, scientifically-proven armageddon of the future: climate change.

The study also found that, while having fewer kids could also somehow help the planet fight its own demise, "there are other things, like "selling your car, avoiding long flights, and eating a vegetarian diet." Not only do scientists fail to agree climate change poses an imminent threat to the world 40 percent doubt man-made global warming but notice a difference in the scale of important things people can do to lessen climate change? One has to do with mostly material stuff, and the other is about procreating a human.

For liberals who are vocal about the right of women to abort their own growing, unborn babies, it stands to reason the same group would applaud the concept of merely avoiding having babies altogether, or at least family planning, for the environment's sake.

Children are not only a gift, but a boon one of those babies might actually become the person who cures cancer or invents the newest Apple-like product. I wouldn't expect a group who rallies for eugenics and abortion to understand that.

Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator's Young Journalist Award.

If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.

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'Study' finds fewer children would help climate change liberals ... - Washington Examiner

Photo Credit: Commentarymagazine.com

It isnt easy for some Jewish liberals, but many of them are waking up to a world that doesnt neatly conform to their existing prejudices.

The event that really set off the alarms took place last month when a gay pride paradeexpelled LGBT Jewswho carried rainbow flags with a Star of David. The reason was that this symbol of the Jewish people offended the left-wing parade organizers who felt triggered by anything that reminded them of racist Israel and Zionism.

Much like the statements of Linda Sarsour, the Palestinian activist who is a leader of the anti-Trump resistance, insisting that Jews must choose between their support of Israel and feminism, the Chicago march organizers claimed the Jewish star made people feel unsafe at an event that they said was avowedly anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian.

It didnt matter that the overwhelming majority of American Jews support gay rights or even that the state of Israel is one of the worlds most gay-friendly nations. Nor are they interested in the fact that Palestinian LGBT individuals must either stay in the closet or flee to the Jewish state for their lives from a society where they are oppressed.

That counts for nothing when weighed against intersectionality,which asserts the fight for gay rights is indivisible from the efforts of Arabs and Muslims to eradicate the one Jewish state on the planet that also happens to be the one democracy in the Middle East.

The one element that lends an element of logic to this ironic stand: anti-Semitism.

To those who hate Jews, any inconsistency is permissible. But what makes this hard for many Jews to understand is that it doesnt conform to their pre-existing worldview, in which enemies are on the right and allies are on the left.

We saw how that worked earlier this year when mainstream liberal Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and others were quick to blame President Trump for a surge in anti-Semitic incidents that mainly centered on a series of bomb threats at JCCs around the country.

Trumps views about immigration and volatile rhetoric were assumed to be the source of the trouble. But it turned out the culprits were a left-wing American writer and an Israeli teen with a mental health condition. Yet embarrassed liberals still refused to apologize.

That doesnt mean right-wing anti-Semitism doesnt exist. But the neat lines in which political foes must somehow always be anti-Semites, and sympathetic allies must be friends of the Jews, dont exist except in the minds of liberals living in a dream world.

One such dreamer who may be slowly snapping out of it is ADL national director Jonathan Greenblatt, whose recent article in Time magazine carried the headline Anti-Semitism is Creeping Into Progressivism. But to claim that it is creeping into the landscape of the political left is shockingly ignorant. It has been an integral part of it for decades.

Unfortunately, many decent liberals have turned a blind eye to left-wing anti-Zionist agitation that is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism. Those who say they wish to deny Jews statehood, the right of self-defense, or the ability to live in peace in their homeland are practicing discrimination against Jews. This is the definition of anti-Semitism. And it is on the left, not the right, where support for such hatred, whether in the form of backing for the BDS movement or cultural boycotts, is growing.

It isnt alt-right Internet trolls who are orchestrating anti-Jewish protests like those of Sarsour orefforts to boycott Israeli plays at Lincoln Center, where the appearance of even the work of a critic of Israel like David Grossman was enough to generate protest from mainstream artists.

Nor is it Trump who is responsible for turning universities into places where Jewish students no longer feel safe expressing their Jewish identity.

But unfortunately, all too many liberals would still rather believe Trump, their main political foe, is the real reason anti-Semitism is growing.

Its long past time for the Jewish community to understand that its best allies in this struggle are conservative Christians with whom they disagree on social issues, while it is their alleged friends on the left who are preaching intolerance for Jews.

That doesnt obligate liberal Jews to abandon their political principles, but they need to understand the world is a complicated place where Jewish safety can be endangered by solidarity with the left.

Originally posted here:
Liberals Still Slow To Recognize Anti-Semitism On The Left - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com