Campbell on China’s ability to infringe free speech
Gordon Campbell on China’s ability to infringe free speech in other countries
Luckily for us, China seems to have no interest in rugby, netball or cricket. Therefore, New Zealand is probably safe from the amazing erosion of those cherished American constitutional rights to free speech that China has just ripped to shreds in the course of its concerted attack on NBA basketball in general and on the Houston Rockets in particular. The saga began a few weeks ago, when the Rockets manager Daryl Morey sent out a private tweet expressing his personal support for the Hong Kong protests. “Fight For Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong !” Morey tweeted on October 4th. Ka-boom ! China went ballistic.
As China expressed its outrage, the offending tweet was removed, Morey apologised, the Rockets apologised, and the NBA apologised for an American citizen daring to hold a view to which Beijing objected, and for expressing it publicly at home in Texas. The NBA’s initial act of contrition on October 6th went like this:
We recognize that
the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl
Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in
China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear
that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA,
the values of the league support individuals’ education
themselves and sharing their views on matters important to
them. We have great respect for the history and culture of
China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a
unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people
together.”
Regardless, Beijing
threatened to withdraw CCTV television coverage of any and
all of this season’s NBA games. Big name sponsors in the
US, and in China piled on with their own forms of pressure.
Ads were pulled, Rockets’ merchandise burned by Chinese
fans etc. As the furore built and built, the NBA got caught
between trying to appease the Chinese authorities, while
also appeasing its domestic critics who were equally
outraged by the NBA’s craven surrender to a foreign
authoritarian state.
By October 19, NBA chief executive Adam Silver was trying to find a middle ground – blame Twitter ! - in an interview with Kyodo News. First, Silver defended Morey:
"There is no
doubt, the economic impact is already clear," he said.
"There have already been fairly dramatic consequences from
that tweet, and I have read some of the media suggesting
that we are not supporting Daryl Morey, but in fact we
have….I think as a values-based organization that I want
to make it clear...that Daryl Morey is supported in terms of
his ability to exercise his freedom of
expression."
Then Silver immediately
swivelled, and sympathised with China’s outrage:
“There are certain topics that are third-rail issues
in certain countries, societies and communities...Supporting
a separatist movement in a Chinese territory is one of those
third-rail issues, not only for the Chinese government, but
also for all citizens in China."
But
hadn’t it all been about the money, and wasn’t it all
indicative of the growing importance of the China market to
US multinationals?
Responding to criticism that the
NBA put its economic interests ahead of defending Morey and
his right to express his views, Silver was clear. "What I am
supporting is his freedom of political expression in this
situation," he said…... I can't ultimately run the NBA
based on trying to satisfy everyone on Twitter….And I will
just add that the fact that we have apologized to fans in
China is not inconsistent with supporting someone's right to
have a point of view."
Which overall, is
not a bad attempt at pushing a herd of camels through a very
small needle’s eye. Briefly, it seemed that the NBA had
put things back on an even keel. No such luck. Yesterday,
Lebron James – currently, he’s basketball’s biggest
star - weighed into the controversy with comments that could have been scripted by the Chinese
Communist Party:
“I don’t want to get into a
… feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t
educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke,” James
said before a preseason game at Staples Center. “And so
many people could have been harmed, not only financially but
physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful
what we tweet and we say, and what we do, even though, yes,
we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of
negative that comes with that, too.”
Yes, free speech is great – except when
it deviates in a misinformed way from the official party
line. America’s much vaunted cultural “soft power” in
sports, movies, music, fashion etc – clearly has a soft
underbelly that’s very vulnerable to pushback, if that
overseas market is big enough. In the meantime, at the next
RWC press conference in Japan, could someone please ask
Steve Hansen what his feelings are about the Hong Kong
protests?
Footnote: In Hong Kong, protesters have reportedly been burning Lebron James’ merchandise. So it goes on.
Trump’s fake
remorse
Welcome
back to the weird zone. US President Donald Trump is
imposing sanctions on Turkey for carrying out the invasion
of Syria. Yep, that’s the same invasion that Trump tacitly
approved barely a week ago. The limited set of weak US
sanctions go nowhere near fulfilling Trump’s boast that he
would “ destroy” the Turkish economy if its forces
misbehaved. If anything, the sanctions will only strengthen
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on power by giving him a
convenient excuse – it was the Americans’ fault ! - for Turkey’s failing economy.
[Even] in the face of reports of Turkish atrocities and other offenses,
Trump slapped Turkey’s wrist on Monday, announcing that he
would levy sanctions against a trio of government ministers
and the country’s steel industry. It’s a far cry from
the economic havoc he promised—and [it] comes as tens of
thousands of Kurds are fleeing, Islamic State jails are
emptying, and U.S. credibility is in
tatters.
The sanctions announced Monday
target three Turkish officials: the ministers of defense,
energy, and interior…. Trump also said he would pull out
of talks to reach a trade agreement with Turkey and would
put tariffs on Turkish steel back where they were this
spring. But critics say those measures are just as likely to
strengthen Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as they
are to hurt him. The Turkish economy is currently undergoing
a historic downturn, and Trump’s sanctions give Erdogan a
perfect bogeyman on which to blame his troubles. Trump’s
milquetoast measure may be an effort to forestall tougher
sanctions legislation under consideration in
Congress.
At the same time, Trump tweeted
blame at the Kurds for deliberately releasing Islamic State
prisoners. In fact, it seems to have been Turkey’s proxy
militias inside Syria that have been guilty of doing this,
and not the Kurds.
As Turkey wages
a violent campaign against Kurdish fighters and civilians
across northeastern Syria, Turkish-backed proxy forces with
ties to extremist groups are deliberately releasing
detainees affiliated with the Islamic State from unguarded
prisons, two U.S. officials confirmed to Foreign Policy.
The claim pours cold water on U.S.
President Donald Trump’s suggestion on Twitter that the
Syrian Kurdish fighters tasked with guarding the prisons
released the detainees to grab U.S. attention after the
Defense Department ordered all U.S. troops to evacuate the
region.
Keep in mind that these Syrian
militia allied to Turkey who have been (a) arbitrarily
executing Kurdish prisoners and civilians and (b)
deliberately releasing Islamic State fighters back onto the
battlefield are the same rebel forces that for years, the
American hard right has been praising as freedom fighters
and showering with funds. ( Supposedly, these militia were a
brave alternative to the Assad government in Syria.) No
surprise that they’ve turned out to be the murderous pals
of Islamic State – and equally unsurprising that Trump is
choosing to run cover for them.