The strength of Beijing’s propaganda: the Chinese model is gaining ground also in the West
The Chinese Communist Party undoubtedly has a formidable propaganda machine. Very active since the foundation of the People's Republic, proclaimed by Mao Zedong in the distant 1949, in the last decade it has increasingly refined using sophisticated technologies which, on the one hand, have led to the complete domination of internal public opinion and, on the other , made it possible to project a positive image of the country abroad.
This image has also made its way into numerous Western intellectual and academic circles. This is demonstrated by Federico Rampini's interview, published in Repubblica , with Branko Milanovic, an American economist of Serbian origin with a remarkable curriculum, holder of teachings in numerous US cultural institutions.
Milanovic has therefore published a volume entitled “Capitalism against Capitalism” at Laterza . A somewhat curious title. The main thesis is that, today, the term "capitalism" must be declined in the plural rather than the singular. Or, even better, the author agrees with Francis Fukuyama when he foresaw the global triumph of capitalism. But forgetting that, according to the Japanese-American political scientist, capitalism itself is inseparable from liberalism. And, in fact, in his famous best-seller "The end of history and the last man" , the story ended (in his opinion) for the inevitable worldwide spread of the liberal democratic systems.
Milanovic does not think so. In fact, he argues that, today, capitalism based on liberal democracy is no longer the only one available. It would have a fearsome competitor in the so-called "political capitalism" embodied by the People's Republic of China. A model that Beijing is proposing to the world as a plausible alternative to classical Western capitalism.
Naturally, the author is convinced that present-day China is not a communist country at all, but capitalist in the full sense of the term. In this sense it is close to other Asian nations that have adopted the aforementioned “political capitalism”, however, bringing it to levels of efficiency never seen before.
Milanovic adds that communism played a fundamental role in the modernization of archaic societies such as those of China and Vietnam. The economic reforms desired by Deng Xiaoping then allowed the accumulation of wealth by private individuals, overcoming the previous collectivist phase. Since that moment, the People's Republic has strung up an uninterrupted series of successes allowing a large part of the population to overcome the mere subsistence economy.
What differentiates Chinese capitalism from Western capitalism is, of course, the central role of the state. The latter, rather than worrying about maximizing profit, checks that the general needs of society are met in the best way. And freedom is not a serious problem, as it guarantees a better life for a large number of people.
Milanovic also argues that in Western societies it is necessary to prevent the increase of inequalities by making the education system totally public, and by taxing inheritances to prevent the accumulation of wealth by too small groups of individuals. Again, the author forgets that in China there are "red princes", that is, the descendants of those who followed Mao in the Long March. This is the well-known "red aristocracy" who has access to better education (often in universities in the much-maligned United States of America), and who can afford a standard of living unthinkable for ordinary citizens.
I confess that, after reading the interview, I spontaneously rubbed my eyes, since from my point of view it is difficult to define a nation like the People's Republic as “capitalist”. Yet the Chinese model is gaining ground in the West as well. Many took their cue from the institutional chaos in the US after the last presidential elections to enhance China's extreme stability. In addition to the usual grillini, Giovanni Tria, former minister of the economy in the first Conte government, did so.
It seems, in short, that many are willing to trade freedom for stability, and that they judge the one-party system as better than the one that leaves voters free to choose between competing political formations. The fascination of the Chinese model, therefore, does not only concern Africa and Asia, but also Europe and North America. In conclusion, a word about Milanovic. It is an emblematic example of the success of neo-Marxism in US universities, a fact already known and which is now producing concrete results.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/la-forza-della-propaganda-di-pechino-il-modello-cinese-sta-prendendo-quota-anche-in-occidente/ on Sat, 28 Nov 2020 05:06:00 +0000.