At our home, we've been following a cable TV program, CHINA: Ascent of the Dragon. It's a great primer on the intersection of Chinese history and China, now. Segments have covered all aspects of Chinese life-- food production was one episode, the one-child policy was another, trade... medicine.... media.... changes in gummint structures/policies... technology... markets.... etc. Culture, history, current events-- all explored.

Some of the episodes are harder to follow if one has not started from the beginning of the series, but see one or two (even out of sequence), and a picture begins to form that is compelling in its complexity.

We started following it because what we were picking up from "daily" news sources was overwhelming. It seemed to me that we needed to know about all of it; the US/China relationship is just not one that can be properly understood in TV soundbites, Wiki's, or even good magazine coverage. As we began to take it all in, even guided by this program, frankly, it was staggering.


One thing that is clear is that, like the US, China is too big geographically (and too diverse culturally) to be referenced accurately by name only. It also seemed clear that name-only referents were being used propagandistically to fit the prevailing culture of fear that has been so powerful in recent years-- confirming the need to look deeper, slower, more awarely.


That said, it has long been my sense that a huge worldwide labor movement was going to need to be "prosecuted" (campaigned, fought, negotiated, diplomatically pursued, etc.) before class justice could ever occur. The development of outsourced economics has only borne this out.


Rectifying the continuing pattern of underclassed labor in the "global marketplace" will take not only traditional labor strategies, but also cultural and diplomatic work to support labor movements and to help create the conditions where change can occur. Some people will be involved in this with their "fighting" gifts. Some will be involved with their "loving" gifts. Some will use academic gifts. Some efforts will occur politically and some will occur through other channels.


A promising area I am just now learning about has become somewhat professionalized since the kind of community work I've done in the past-- it didn't have a name then, but nowadays the umbrella term is "Track II Diplomacy." Just as no one in my youth could ever have accused me of being "clergy spouse" material, LOL, people who know me well have trouble putting my name in a paragraph about diplomacy. :~) But it's the best description I have ever seen for what I DO when I'm not opining at Mudcat to try to think out loud about things I'm doing IRL.

Track II diplomacy is for EVERYONE, because what it amounts to is a cultural movement by smallfry which can move large movements forward by dint of relationships with individuals involved in the peripheries or in a Track I ("official" diplomacy) effort.

Track II explains how strong, interpersonal relationships can spark powerful nudges toward change, because in the crucible of friendship one can find oneself motivated to question in one's own heart what one has been doing or allowing or, even, profiting from.


There is so often an argument, in any conflict, between potential allies, partners, players-- "MY way is the ONLY way this can change, help ME do MY plan!" "No! MY way, can't you SEE? I need YOU!"


The reality is that there need be no conflict between "players" if they understand that their best help will come not from other existing players, but from EACH player building an effort embodied by a new, not-already-involved cadre of new "activists." That's usually hard to remember to do-- to reach for strangers instead of trying to change people we already know. It's hard, too, to choose to always, always, always be developing new leaders as they come into the effort so that they, too, can reach beyond the known pool of activists to find even more of them.

Cesar Chavez was a GREAT practitioner of an approach that is always spreading the acreage where the grass roots are spreading naturally. There are other examples, other models. But our human urgency to MAKE change happen NOW sometimes clouds our minds so that we do not act as powerfully as we might.... we run without sleep or food, we take the shortcuts instead of laying the groundwork, we get pulled into whatever feels most urgent instead of strategizing more broadly...



So I recommend that people really take the time to learn about China, think about it smartly, think about what existing relationships might give you a place to start supporting change that, IMO,is inevitable. We can help it move more smoothly and quickly, or we can slow it down.

~Susan