MCLC: April Youths (2,3,4)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Kevin Carrico <kjc83 at cornell.edu>
Subject: April Youths (2)
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Following up on Mary Kay's comments, it is worth noting that this entire
April Youth movement was built up around  the discussion these errors, and
the resulting affirmation of a particular narrative of nationalism, which
in its peaks in the spring of 2008, really became quite disturbing.

What happens when the discussion of Tibet is narrowed down to an obsessive
and myopic discussion of errors in the "Western media"? This conveniently
avoids discussion of the larger issues at hand, such as what is actually
happening in Tibet, which is presumed in April Youth narratives to be a
land of happiness that always has been and always will be part of China.
Any source of unhappiness or discord always has to be located outside of
this presumably charmed space, where the people spend their days in
gratitude towards the government.

But does any of us really believe that the main issue facing contemporary
Tibet is a few mislabeled pictures? The April Youth do.

Kevin

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From: sean macdonald <smacdon2005 at gmail.com>
Subject: April Youths (3)

Thanks very much for both these postings.

I must admit, I never once considered these "April Youth" as radicals.
This would have been the last word I would use.

I haven't followed the "April Group" recently so I found the Hu Yinan
article interesting. I always associated them with the publicity
surrounding the Olympics, so up until now I considered them as a kind of
network of "Beijing Olympics PR Groups" that had, as Magistad noted,
pointed out a few mistakes in reporting around 2008. I would be interested
in hearing more about what the April Group has been up to.

As to the "alternative force" business. Perhaps the amount of bad press a
nation receives is proportional to the international power it represents.
If the People's Republic of China (now usually referred to as just
"China") has become the target of international criticism, this is
probably because the PRC is a big player now, and their actions are under
greater scrutiny, not just in Asia, but in countries in Africa and Latin
America, indeed around the world. And from the whispers I have been
hearing, the leverage problem in "Western" capitalism is no less of a
worry in China (i.e., the shadow banks).

But I am stubbornly hopeful and always believe there are many alternative
forces operating in this multivalent world.

All the best,

Sean

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From: Lily Lee <l.lee at sydney.edu.au>
Subject: April Youths (4)

I, as an overseas Chinese, support these April Youths. And I imagine many
overseas Chinese like me do too.

Lily