Letters

China Ban Regrettable

It is regrettable that the May 2008 issue of the REVIEW has been taken off from newsstands in China. To project alternative views on any particular issue, irrespective of the religion, race and ideology of the reader or writer, is good journalism. Let not the Chinese incident dampen your spirit. Keep up your excellent work.

Ti Han-venn
Hong Kong

Convenient Truths

You are correct when you write that censorship is not merely, or even principally, a matter of suppressing undesired messages (“China’s Holistic Censorship Regime,” May 2008). Due to this the Chinese Communist Party, or rather Mao Zedong and his rat-pack, suppressed anything not matching the Party’s goals, or conveniently formulated it to fit with the Party’s intentions to get and stay in power. The gloriole of Mao is the result of successful communist censorship (terror) since then.

Henner Lotz
Germany

Olympic Double Standard

May I pose the question as to why we should hold major sport events of any kind anywhere else in the world, since there is always a remark about human rights to be made? My country, Belgium, for instance, helps in the logistics for the United States’ war effort in Iraq and is, together with the Netherlands, a candidate for the world football games in 2018. But I guess for the review, as long as we stick to targeting U.S. unfriendly places such as China and Russia then it’s OK.

Willy Van Damme
Belgium

Who Are You Calling Fascist?

I’m not a fan of the current Chinese regime in China, but I have to say I find Mr. Ledeen’s characterization of China (“Beijing Embraces Fascism,” May 2008) as a fascist state intellectually dishonest, self-righteous and war provoking. If I were Chinese, it certainly would make my blood boil.

Josie Nguyen
via feer.com

Mr. Leeden is immediately accused of heaping insult upon China by speculating the regime is “fascist,” by those who obviously have never studied what fascism was. They think it an all purpose insult. Rather, it is a political situation with noticeable features. Those include hypernationalism, private enterprise controlled by the state and severe absence of, and hostility to, democracy. One might also add the worship of a mythical, and deeply “wronged,” past. Looks like China, sounds like China, tastes like China.

Peter Gee, Kenya
via feer.com