Thread by @OzKaterji

It was really only a matter of time before Novara Media figures started publicly engaging in apologism for the Chinese dictatorship, I suppose they had to get their kicks somewhere after spending so many years gaslighting Jews.

We’re at the explicitly dismissing human rights concerns stage of propaganda now. Mocking the very concept of liberal democracy doesn’t make your political opponents look like the extremists in this situation, let’s be clear on that.

To put names to it so there no vagueness here, Aaron Bastani and Michael Walker are doing the “Hitler made the trains run on time” argument from the left, using their platforms to whitewash the nature of a dictatorship committing genocide. It’s unconscionable.

And credit where credit is due, Owen Jones called out his own allies publicly on this issue. He has been much more outspoken on Xinjiang than most Corbyn supporters have been. People should categorically not ignore their friends spouting dangerous apologism for totalitarianism.

To be honest I feel a lot of sympathy for Sarkar here, who has been outspoken on the issue, and as a Muslim is now in the incredibly difficult position of watching her colleagues engage in crude shilling for a regime guilty of genocide against its Muslim population.

Those who have followed me for a long time know that much of my complaints towards the far left are that it enables & platforms atrocity revisionism or authoritarian propaganda. Important to recognise when people break ranks to speak out.

I agree but when almost an entire ideological movement fails this test, it’s time to start asking broader questions. Chomsky has an entire career of genocide revisionism spanning decades, yet he is still considered the left’s greatest living intellectual. The problem is endemic.

https://twitter.com/dinostraciatela/status/1372531015848226816

Just dismissing the safety & freedom of an entire ethnicity subjected to genocide as “Balkanisation”, in terms of a “regime change” narrative that doesn’t even exist outside his head. He is clear in his beliefs here, genocide is preferable to an independent East Turkestan.

Quite literally “made the trains run on time”. It’s not only nauseating - it is effectively whitewashing the violence used to achieve these ends.