【Second Opinion】No #MeToo Until no CCP (Mark Simon)
源起美國的#MeToo運動在全球範圍均得到性侵受害者響應。
There is life as we wish it to be, and life as it is. The one honest aspect of the Chinese Communist Party is the CCP dispenses with the camouflage of polite western society the moment it sees any threat. Nowhere is this more evident than in women's issues. The Communists are quite ready to celebrate the accomplishments of women, even promote women in all walks of life. Yet, what the CCP will not do is empower women.
The CCP has as its sole guiding principle its own survival. That survival is placed above all else. The continuation, the survival of the CCP is achieved by coercion, and if that is not enough, by use of state violence.
In fairness, the coercion and violence of the CCP is merit based. Any threat, any upheaval which threatens the rule of the CCP sooner or later, if needed, results in violence against the threat. So it follows, that if a #MeToo movement which results in removal of party officials or destabilizes party authority rises up it will be regarded as a threat. If that threat becomes serious enough it will be dealt with through violence.
Sexual harassment may be bad in China, but being beaten and sexually abused in prison is probably not seen as a viable tradeoff for women to remove a local CCP official for inappropriate behavior. The CCP doesn't differentiate between a women rights activist and a democracy activist if either threatens stability.
In its current western incarnation, the #MeToo movement is about disrupting a power structure, the patriarchy. In China, Xi Jingping and the leadership of the CCP is the patriarchy. Ever seen a org chart of the CCP? No one's humming "It's a Small World" when selecting members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Outside of rape I just can't think of any charge of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior that could be leveled, aside an allegation used by one party rival against another, which would not be seen a threat against the CCP. #MeToo is unpredictable. The CCP synonym for unpredictable is NO.
The #Metoo movement in the US didn't happen because men acting out of chivalry went to the rescue of women. It was women who took care of business, just it was women who have led all women's rights movements which have engaged the changes in society that benefit women. People free themselves. But here's the catch. All of this happened in an open, civil, and democratic society where respect for basic human rights and a common understanding of personal dignity is upheld by law, societal norms, and to get my leftist friends upset, built of a judeo-christian foundation.
Women are not treated equally in China. Whether by pay or opportunity the deck is stacked against them. There is no doubt the CCP responds, and adjusts, to pressure. How that pressure comes about will be decided by the women of China. As with most in China, it is Chinese who will make changes based on Chinese values and outlooks. The West may offer a few ideas, a nudge or enticement.
Yet, I can't see how any close semblance of #MeToo works with the CCP. The only thing an aggressive #MeToo movement is going to earn anyone is a jail cell. Challenge to the Chinese Communist Party whether by religion or feminism is met with the same response, force. Until the ability of the CCP to deliver unchecked physical force for the preservation of their rule is eliminated it will remain a man's game in Beijing and there will be no #MeToo in China.