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There has been surprise and awe as protestors in China chant “Xi Jinping, stand down” (习近平下台). Yet from our knowledge of power and resistance in authoritarian states, these demands should be expected to emerge sooner or later. 🧵
#ZeroCovidChina #UrumqiFire #ChinaProtests
#ZeroCovidChina #UrumqiFire #ChinaProtests
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The late, great Stephen White who taught Post-Communist Politics 101 emphasised that the more personalised an authoritarian system, the more that social discontent will focus on that leader as the sole actor responsible for policy and with power to change course.
The late, great Stephen White who taught Post-Communist Politics 101 emphasised that the more personalised an authoritarian system, the more that social discontent will focus on that leader as the sole actor responsible for policy and with power to change course.
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The more violent the leader, the more violence expected in state transformation. For example, no analyst wonders why Nicolae Ceaușescu’s end was so violent. It is explained in relation to the intensity of levels of state violence and personalisation of the political system.
The more violent the leader, the more violence expected in state transformation. For example, no analyst wonders why Nicolae Ceaușescu’s end was so violent. It is explained in relation to the intensity of levels of state violence and personalisation of the political system.
#NOW on #CUHK campus dozens of students gathered , with white papers in hand, to mourn the victims of the #UrumqiFire and protest China’s stringent covid measures , chanting slogans put on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge last month in Cantonese and Mandarin.
“We are not foreign forces! We are Chinese youth!”
“Do you hear the people sing”
Now in #HongKong: More than a dozen turn out to show solidarity with Chinese protesters, joining calls to mourn victims of #UrumqiFire and support the nationwide demonstration with blank paper & candlelight silently. There are both Hongkongers and mainland Chinese here. 
As the number of protesters grows, police cordon some of the areas and warn of possible violation of social distancing rule, meanwhile filming the participants.
Less than 1.5hr since the protest has begun, the authorities sent cleaners to remove all the flowers, candlelights and all kinds of sheets. Police order protesters and bystanders not to stop at the corner.
