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US reporter talks West's anti-China campaign
US reporter talks West's anti-China campaign - People's Daily Online
(People's Daily Online)13:58, October 12, 2011 People's Daily Online conducted an interview with U.S. journalist Andre Vitchek, who recently wrote “The West Perfecting Its Techniques to Hurt China”, in which he criticized the role the Western press plays in bashing China. Below is the interview:
PD Online: How long does it take to gather the necessary materials for the article? Why did you write this article? What is the article trying to tell the readers?
Vitchek: Writing such article is an ongoing process. And it is logically deducted from my experience; from working and living on all continents – North and South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa and Europe. The purpose of the article was to warn, to alert readers about the forces of Western propaganda, to show how it works and what are its goals.
PD Online: What kind of response have you received after the article was published? Are you worried about might be called “sinophile”?
Vitchek:They can call me whatever they want. I am not afraid to be called ‘sinophile’. I spend most of my life in Asia and that’s where I feel most comfortable.
The article did evoke wide range of comments, but most of them positive. Although I have to admit that I was called names, too. The same after my open letter to Fidel Castro appeared on line.
PD Online: You said in the article that "anti-China has become the access to research loans or ways to climb up in the press field.” On what bases did you say that?
Vitchek:I would rather not name the names. But look at the days of the Cold War; many people were suddenly specializing in the Soviet Union, studying Russian, etc. In retrospect we see that they were not in it for pure love for Russian literature or music – they were in it for certain reasons that we now all understand. Western academia and the media were not truly independent for decades. There is always political game behind. For example, look at the West and Indonesia: no matter what happens, after 1965 pro-western coup and genocide, Indonesia received mostly positive reviews from the press and academics in the West, because the regime there opened up fully to the western political and business interests. More the resources were plundered, more impoverished were Indonesian people; more the country has been glorified and called ‘democratic’ and ‘tolerant’.
The press and academia in the West are very disciplined. When it comes to our ‘allies’ – Thailand and Philippines and Indonesia, there is very little noise and criticism of appalling human rights violations there. When it comes to China or Venezuela, Cuba or Bolivia, the criticism is part of the daily diet in the newspapers, magazines, television, and universities. Reporters are expected to produce articles directly critical of China, or attacking Chinese foreign policy in the region and all over the world.
To put it simply: in Africa, journalists are periodically ‘trained’ by the UK or US media, schools, institutions. They fly journalists abroad (tremendous perk), or they give them grants and other type of funding. It is certain type of corruption, of course. In Africa reporter often makes lesser than 100 dollars a month. Who could refuse nice trip to London or New York, all expenses paid, in exchange for writing few damning anti-Chinese reports. It happens every day – in Kenya and Zambia, in Uganda and even in South Africa, which is China’s ally!
The same applies in Southeast Asia. In Malaysia for instance, you can’t say anything against Dalai Lama, even if you are talking to so-called ‘progressive intellectuals’, and especially if you talk to the NGO’s or to young artists and intellectuals. It would mean the end of funding. You see, most of Southeast Asian NGO’s are like massage chair – you put money in and it moves for 10 minutes. Money run out and it stops. And the money comes mainly from the West. Artists are pampered by funding and by grants, as long as they do not deal with social issues, don’t attack the Western policy in the region, and do not support China. And what could be greater sin than to trash Dalai Lama, darling of the West! Of course, many intellectuals and media people here are not paid directly to attack China. There is certain understanding between the donors and recipients. Donors know that recipients understand what is expected from them, what they should and should not do or write. It is very difficult to explain. I just finished writing a novella/short novel – called ‘Aurora’ – dealing with this very issue. Hope it will be translated to Chinese one day – it deals with this topic in detail.
PD Online: As far as you can see, how much has the ordinary western people been influenced by the media’s negative reporting about China? How do they generally think about China?
Vitchek:A lot! And that’s the problem. They are influenced much more than people in China could even imagine. In a way, it is all very sad. I met Chinese people – simple workers – building government buildings in Samoa or roads in Kenya. Many of them are so simple, good and defenseless! They come and they think that they could win hearts of the peoples in far away lands by doing good things – like improving infrastructure, building schools, hospitals. And they do win hearts, but just for a while. After short period of time, the press kicks in, basically reprinting Western propaganda and perverting, turning up side down everything good that China is doing.
It breaks my heart and makes me so angry. I saw it all over Oceania. I suggest reading my non-fiction book “Oceania” (http://www.amazon.com/Oceania-André-Vltchek/dp/1409298035). It would be good to have it in Chinese, too, as it is addressing Western neo-colonist strategy in Oceania and touches the issue we are discussing right now. There, the influence and propaganda of the West is so obvious. For instance: once there was this big anti-government demonstration in Apia, the capital of Samoa. It happened when Samoan government decided to switch driving from the right side of the road to the left. Suddenly, I saw 4 men holding huge poster: “China, You Will Not Make Us Drive On The Left!” I went to the protestors and asked them who paid them to carry the poster. “Do you know that in China people drive on the same side as in your country?” I asked. They were mad and began screaming that “China is dictatorship and evil country and that they drive on the left and now they want to force Samoa to be like them.” Even after the big demonstration was over, these for people kept walking around the capital city with the poster. Of course they didn’t invent this…
In Africa – China does so much good. But forget about reading about its fight against malaria or about archeological excavations or building schools. What you will read is that ‘China needs natural resources’ and is willing to cooperate with African dictatorships. Or you will read about Chinese people shooting African miners in Zambia. You know, the West was plundering, enslaving, and committing genocides. It exterminated entire cultures and tribes like Herero in Namibia. It killed some 6 million people in Congo during King Leopold II of Belgium. Rights now, between 6 and 10 million died in Congo alone, as the most horrible civil war is being fought on behave of Western economic interests! But there is one incident in Zambia and China becomes as guilty as the West! As guilty as the West that was building concentration camps in Africa, trading with slaves, overthrowing governments. It is absurd! But it works. The West had been perfecting art of propaganda for centuries.
PD Online: In recent years, China has proposed the concept of "harmonious world" and "peaceful development". What is the western view towards that concept? Do you think the western attitude towards China has got more positive these years?
Vitchek: Definitely not ，One thing that is necessary to understand is that the West is not acting rationally, or from good will. Just look at the past centuries: the only interest the West had was to plunder natural resources and control the world. Anybody who looks at the world map from the beginning of the 20th century would see the point. Harmonious world is the biggest danger to the Empire, to Western economic and geo-political inserts that are intertwined. Because ‘harmonious world’ would mean that each and every country has right for self-determination, for its own way… right to put interests of its own people first. And that is exactly the opposite what the West wants to achieve. Gustav Jung, one of the greatest European psychologists, argued after the WWII that western desire to control and to plunder is pathological and has no equivalent in the world.
‘Harmonious world’ would mean the end of plunder and Western control. That’s why it is the biggest danger, something that is being discredited day and night, 24/7! It would mean no more invasions to Iraq and Afghanistan, no more Libyan adventures, no more attempts to overrun Syria. No coups and ‘structural adjustments’ forced down the throats of the people all over the world. It would mean respect and tolerance, something inacceptable to the rulers in Washington, London and Paris.
Please understand: China is the only country – the only real power in the world that stands between full control of the global Western political and economic dictatorship and the rest of the world. Of course there is Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, but these are relatively small countries. There is Brazil and South Africa but they could be sidelined. There is Russia, but it is not as determined or as inspiring and its system is hard to define. So China is in a way the only hope. And that’s why it is so hated, that’s why it is constantly attacked! More good it does, attacks will intensify.
US reporter talks West's anti-China campaign - People's Daily Online
(People's Daily Online)13:58, October 12, 2011 People's Daily Online conducted an interview with U.S. journalist Andre Vitchek, who recently wrote “The West Perfecting Its Techniques to Hurt China”, in which he criticized the role the Western press plays in bashing China. Below is the interview:
PD Online: How long does it take to gather the necessary materials for the article? Why did you write this article? What is the article trying to tell the readers?
Vitchek: Writing such article is an ongoing process. And it is logically deducted from my experience; from working and living on all continents – North and South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa and Europe. The purpose of the article was to warn, to alert readers about the forces of Western propaganda, to show how it works and what are its goals.
PD Online: What kind of response have you received after the article was published? Are you worried about might be called “sinophile”?
Vitchek:They can call me whatever they want. I am not afraid to be called ‘sinophile’. I spend most of my life in Asia and that’s where I feel most comfortable.
The article did evoke wide range of comments, but most of them positive. Although I have to admit that I was called names, too. The same after my open letter to Fidel Castro appeared on line.
PD Online: You said in the article that "anti-China has become the access to research loans or ways to climb up in the press field.” On what bases did you say that?
Vitchek:I would rather not name the names. But look at the days of the Cold War; many people were suddenly specializing in the Soviet Union, studying Russian, etc. In retrospect we see that they were not in it for pure love for Russian literature or music – they were in it for certain reasons that we now all understand. Western academia and the media were not truly independent for decades. There is always political game behind. For example, look at the West and Indonesia: no matter what happens, after 1965 pro-western coup and genocide, Indonesia received mostly positive reviews from the press and academics in the West, because the regime there opened up fully to the western political and business interests. More the resources were plundered, more impoverished were Indonesian people; more the country has been glorified and called ‘democratic’ and ‘tolerant’.
The press and academia in the West are very disciplined. When it comes to our ‘allies’ – Thailand and Philippines and Indonesia, there is very little noise and criticism of appalling human rights violations there. When it comes to China or Venezuela, Cuba or Bolivia, the criticism is part of the daily diet in the newspapers, magazines, television, and universities. Reporters are expected to produce articles directly critical of China, or attacking Chinese foreign policy in the region and all over the world.
To put it simply: in Africa, journalists are periodically ‘trained’ by the UK or US media, schools, institutions. They fly journalists abroad (tremendous perk), or they give them grants and other type of funding. It is certain type of corruption, of course. In Africa reporter often makes lesser than 100 dollars a month. Who could refuse nice trip to London or New York, all expenses paid, in exchange for writing few damning anti-Chinese reports. It happens every day – in Kenya and Zambia, in Uganda and even in South Africa, which is China’s ally!
The same applies in Southeast Asia. In Malaysia for instance, you can’t say anything against Dalai Lama, even if you are talking to so-called ‘progressive intellectuals’, and especially if you talk to the NGO’s or to young artists and intellectuals. It would mean the end of funding. You see, most of Southeast Asian NGO’s are like massage chair – you put money in and it moves for 10 minutes. Money run out and it stops. And the money comes mainly from the West. Artists are pampered by funding and by grants, as long as they do not deal with social issues, don’t attack the Western policy in the region, and do not support China. And what could be greater sin than to trash Dalai Lama, darling of the West! Of course, many intellectuals and media people here are not paid directly to attack China. There is certain understanding between the donors and recipients. Donors know that recipients understand what is expected from them, what they should and should not do or write. It is very difficult to explain. I just finished writing a novella/short novel – called ‘Aurora’ – dealing with this very issue. Hope it will be translated to Chinese one day – it deals with this topic in detail.
PD Online: As far as you can see, how much has the ordinary western people been influenced by the media’s negative reporting about China? How do they generally think about China?
Vitchek:A lot! And that’s the problem. They are influenced much more than people in China could even imagine. In a way, it is all very sad. I met Chinese people – simple workers – building government buildings in Samoa or roads in Kenya. Many of them are so simple, good and defenseless! They come and they think that they could win hearts of the peoples in far away lands by doing good things – like improving infrastructure, building schools, hospitals. And they do win hearts, but just for a while. After short period of time, the press kicks in, basically reprinting Western propaganda and perverting, turning up side down everything good that China is doing.
It breaks my heart and makes me so angry. I saw it all over Oceania. I suggest reading my non-fiction book “Oceania” (http://www.amazon.com/Oceania-André-Vltchek/dp/1409298035). It would be good to have it in Chinese, too, as it is addressing Western neo-colonist strategy in Oceania and touches the issue we are discussing right now. There, the influence and propaganda of the West is so obvious. For instance: once there was this big anti-government demonstration in Apia, the capital of Samoa. It happened when Samoan government decided to switch driving from the right side of the road to the left. Suddenly, I saw 4 men holding huge poster: “China, You Will Not Make Us Drive On The Left!” I went to the protestors and asked them who paid them to carry the poster. “Do you know that in China people drive on the same side as in your country?” I asked. They were mad and began screaming that “China is dictatorship and evil country and that they drive on the left and now they want to force Samoa to be like them.” Even after the big demonstration was over, these for people kept walking around the capital city with the poster. Of course they didn’t invent this…
In Africa – China does so much good. But forget about reading about its fight against malaria or about archeological excavations or building schools. What you will read is that ‘China needs natural resources’ and is willing to cooperate with African dictatorships. Or you will read about Chinese people shooting African miners in Zambia. You know, the West was plundering, enslaving, and committing genocides. It exterminated entire cultures and tribes like Herero in Namibia. It killed some 6 million people in Congo during King Leopold II of Belgium. Rights now, between 6 and 10 million died in Congo alone, as the most horrible civil war is being fought on behave of Western economic interests! But there is one incident in Zambia and China becomes as guilty as the West! As guilty as the West that was building concentration camps in Africa, trading with slaves, overthrowing governments. It is absurd! But it works. The West had been perfecting art of propaganda for centuries.
PD Online: In recent years, China has proposed the concept of "harmonious world" and "peaceful development". What is the western view towards that concept? Do you think the western attitude towards China has got more positive these years?
Vitchek: Definitely not ，One thing that is necessary to understand is that the West is not acting rationally, or from good will. Just look at the past centuries: the only interest the West had was to plunder natural resources and control the world. Anybody who looks at the world map from the beginning of the 20th century would see the point. Harmonious world is the biggest danger to the Empire, to Western economic and geo-political inserts that are intertwined. Because ‘harmonious world’ would mean that each and every country has right for self-determination, for its own way… right to put interests of its own people first. And that is exactly the opposite what the West wants to achieve. Gustav Jung, one of the greatest European psychologists, argued after the WWII that western desire to control and to plunder is pathological and has no equivalent in the world.
‘Harmonious world’ would mean the end of plunder and Western control. That’s why it is the biggest danger, something that is being discredited day and night, 24/7! It would mean no more invasions to Iraq and Afghanistan, no more Libyan adventures, no more attempts to overrun Syria. No coups and ‘structural adjustments’ forced down the throats of the people all over the world. It would mean respect and tolerance, something inacceptable to the rulers in Washington, London and Paris.
Please understand: China is the only country – the only real power in the world that stands between full control of the global Western political and economic dictatorship and the rest of the world. Of course there is Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, but these are relatively small countries. There is Brazil and South Africa but they could be sidelined. There is Russia, but it is not as determined or as inspiring and its system is hard to define. So China is in a way the only hope. And that’s why it is so hated, that’s why it is constantly attacked! More good it does, attacks will intensify.
