#STRUGGLE SESSION 50 TV#
Scripting, forcing, and disseminating these TV confessions, then, is one element of this project. Authoritarian China currently seems ahead of all others in monitoring, censoring, and managing public opinion, especially in the successful harnessing of a new digital universe of technologies to suppress dissent.Ĭhina’s forced TV confessions are closely related to one key element in this authoritarian turn - to go beyond the mere silencing of alternative voices and opinions, and “shape reality.” In China this post-truth manufacturing seems to be not just about silencing dissent, but also - after the loss of faith in Communist ideology - about shaping a certain new kind of predictably obedient society sometimes framed as the harmonious society. They congratulate each other on their purported efficiency in “telling it like it is,” and in “getting things done.” They seek to censor and to “guide” public opinion. Today's authoritarians share many things, especially their contempt for the truth, for freedom of expression, and for equality before the law, without which there can be no democracy. In many countries around the world, as in similar conjunctures of times past, authoritarians are taking power either by force, or, where elections exist, with a constituency of voters longing for a strongman.
Instead, sadly, it is part of a worldwide authoritarian turn. This current trend is not unique to China. The spectacle of forced confessions frequently seen on Chinese TV in the last few years is part of a wider trend in China: The Party-State is silencing alternative and dissident voices, with a new wave of censorship, intimidation, disappearances, arrests, and imprisonments. Keywords: forced confessions, show trials, paraded prisoners, disappearances, China
#STRUGGLE SESSION 50 TRIAL#
Kafka's allegory in The Trial exposes how the powerful frame the innocent by forcing them to “confess,” in order to perpetuate their power. Elements for a historically grounded interpretation emerge from examination of Soviet Communist, Christian, and various East Asian parallels. Despite the painstaking choreography, the TV confessions are widely regarded both in China and internationally as fake - not least because of several new witness accounts provided by former detainees which emerged during 2016.
The new extrajudicial show trials, which are staged spectacles outside courts of law, suggest a return to Mao-era praxis, and have been criticized by many, including leading Chinese judges and lawyers. It also reverses multiple solemn declarations to prohibit police torture and forced confessions, both longstanding practices in China. This is a clear break with years of efforts to build the rule of law in China.
Currently, the authorities “disappear,” detain, and parade people, both Chinese and foreigners, on state television, forcing them to incriminate themselves by making abject confessions prior to legal proceedings. This article investigates the recent wave of staged confessions in China in historical perspective.
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