MCLC: "terrorism" in Kunming

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: KevinGLawrence <kglnyc at gmail.com>
Subject: "terrorism" in Kunming
***********************************************************

Have list members read (or written) anything that explores in depth yet
about why on earth the U.S. and the American media have strategically
refused to condemn the terrorist attacks in Kunming as terrorism? In
practically everything I have read, terrorism and terrorists are
consistently being put in quotation marks and there is a very conscious
avoidance in major media outlets to call these attacks terrorism outright,
or even just something to the effect that it is highly suspected to be a
terrorist attack? (Thankfully, the UN Security Council hasn’t followed
suit and has rightfully called it a terrorist attack.)

I can’t be alone among list members in finding the use of quotation
marks/scare quotes by U.S. media outlets around any mention of terrorism
or terrorists in relation to this attack in Kunming as callous,
insensitive, and highly suspect. A very basic definition of terrorism is
that it involves "the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an
area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.” (Merriam-Webster)
While we may not be 100% clear yet about who exactly is behind this
organized use of random violence against non-combatant citizens and what
their exact objectives are, is it really too far of a stretch for media
outlets to initially see that this attack reasonably fits within a basic
definition of terrorism? I haven’t done the fact checking, but I’d be
willing to bet that initial reports on 9/11 or even the Oklahoma City
bombing stated clearly that these attacks at the very least were suspected
to be terrorist attacks, sans insulting quotation marks (not to mention
the whole brouhaha in Benghazi.) There seems to be a very insidious
attempt by U.S. interests to imply that the Chinese cannot claim to be
victims of terrorist attacks since these interests agree that the Chinese
regime is authoritarian and therefore not deserving of laying claim to
being a victim of terrorism (unlike Madrid, London, Tokyo, New York, etc.
— allied parties in the U.S.’s “War on Terrorism.) Or if this terrorist
attack was perpetrated by Uighur separatists, does the U.S. have a stake
in trying to give a nod and a wink to their cause?

At any rate, if there is an in depth analysis of why the U.S. government
and its supporting media outlets are not calling this terrorist attack for
what is, I would appreciate it if folks would post it to the list.  In the
meantime, the ever venerable NYT posted the entry below today on their
blog to cast aspersions on how their rival news agency Xinhua is tailoring
its own version of events in Kunming different from NYT’s tailoring. This
blog entry is but one impetus behind my post.

In solidarity with Kunming’s residents,
Kevin Lawrence

======================================================

Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (3/3/14): l
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/u-n-security-council-condemn
s-terrorist-attack-in-kunming/

U.N. Security Council Condemns ‘Terrorist Attack’ in Kunming
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

The United Nations Security Council has condemned as a “terrorist attack”
the slashing rampage Saturday night in a train station in the southwestern
city of Kunming, in which a group of black-clad assailants with knives and
daggers killed at least 29 people and wounded 143. Hong Kong news outlets
said about 75 of those may be severely injured.

Apparently seeking to contain domestic anger against Uighurs — the
Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim ethnic group from the western region of
Xinjiang whom Chinese officials blame for the attack — and to censure some
Western news media for not immediately describing the killings as
terrorism, Xinhua, the state news agency, ran the United Nations statement
prominently on the Chinese-language version of its website, along with
comments from other governments and leaders, notably that of President
Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Here’s how The New York Times described the scene in Kunming:

The group of about 10 attackers, dressed in black and wearing cloth masks,
arrived in front of Kunming Railway Station in southwest China on Saturday
night and began slashing at employees and commuters, sometimes repeatedly
plunging their long knives and daggers into people too stunned or slow to
flee.

By the time the police shot dead four assailants and ended the slaughter,
the square and ticket sales hall at the station were strewn with bodies
and moaning survivors in pools of blood.

At the same time, Chinese censors are deleting from social media many
comments or images that they consider unhelpful to their management of the
situation, or that challenge the official narrative.

Items deleted from Sina Weibo, the popular microblogging service, include:

* Photos of what some Weibo users said was the shirt worn by the
attackers: black with the crescent moon and star of Islam in its top left.
Chen Qiyu, the editor of the Fujian Today newspaper, wrote: “If anyone
sees this black shirt in public, please call the police and make a quick
escape.” Similar posts labeled “Photo of what the Kunming terrorists wore”
were also deleted.

* Bloody photos of people on the ground outside the station. (Many news
outlets used drawings instead of photographs.)
* Questions from ordinary Chinese wondering about the background of the
event. This comment from Fu Zhibin, a Beijing resident with more than
45,000 followers on Sina Weibo, was deleted
<https://freeweibo.com/weibo/3683609574200029>: “After dealing with
Xinjiang for over 60 years, the result is bringing disaster to the entire
country. Can you let us all know the internal situation and let us
participate in the discussion about Xinjiang’s future. If you can’t handle
things, then don’t cover them up.”

The statement by the United Nations Security Council, issued late Sunday,
was unequivocal: “The members of the Security Council condemned in the
strongest terms 
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-03/03/c_133154365.htm>the
terrorist attack on 1 March 2014 in Kunming Train Station, China, which
has caused numerous deaths and injuries of innocent civilians.

“The members of the Security Council extended their deepest sympathy and
condolence to the victims and their families suffered from such most
heinous terrorist attack, as well as to the people and the government of
the People’s Republic of China.”

“Western hypocrisy” was another target of ire in some state news outlets.

“Completely hypocritical and callous,” ran the headline of an opinion
piece in People’s Daily, the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist
Party, under the byline of Wen Xian, a possible pseudonym. It accused
Western media of soft-pedaling the attack and failing to state clearly
that it was an act of terrorism.

“This violent attack shows the fundamentally anti-humane, anti-civilized,
anti-social nature of the attackers,” wrote Wen Xian. “They are
out-and-out terrorists.”

“But some Western media, including CNN, The Associated Press, The New York
Times and The Washington Post, were mystifying, confusing, even to the
point of sowing discord. These media are always the loudest when it comes
to anti-terrorism, but in the Kunming train station terrorist violence
they lost their voice and spoke confusedly, making people angry.”

China is eager to ensure that the world recognizes the attack as terrorism
and does not merely blame the Chinese government for what many critics
call its repressive policies in Xinjiang.

Further complicating matters, leaders must keep on course one of the most
important political events of the year, as the Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress meet in Beijing
this week.

The front page of The Beijing News mentioned the carnage in a headline
that quoted President Xi Jinping’s instruction on how to handle the
incident. But below the headline was a photograph not of the attack scene,
but of two star athletes who are delegates to the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative Conference: Yao Ming, the  former basketball
player, and Liu Xiang, the hurdler.

One Sina Weibo user named Kang Shaojian, in a deleted post, remarked:
“There’s no Kunming in The Beijing News or Beijing Times. For such a major
case that could influence history, there are no responsible media to say
anything. Yes, the media have been throttled. Every one of us is
experiencing the horror, and we don’t even know the reasons for the fear
and anger. How can we hope that we will be safe?”

The meetings themselves are contributing to the tension in the capital,
with speculation rampant among many well-informed Chinese that a public
announcement may be made on the fate of Zhou Yongkang, the former head of
the country’s powerful security services who has been under investigation
over corruption allegations.

Criticisms of security forces were also quickly deleted.

In a deleted blog post from Australia showing what appeared to be a victim
of the attack — a dead man next to a suitcase — Qiu Yueshou raised
questions about security in Kunming, noting that many local senior
Communist Party members were already in Beijing for the national meetings.
“Where did the Communist Party members go?” he asked five times.

Wrote Chen Zhongliu, in another post that was deleted: “The main objects
of protection for the Kunming police are no longer in Kunming.”

Bree Feng and Echo Xie contributed research.