Of Mao and Money

Of Mao and Money Read about how Chinese leader Xi Jinping is using Marxist language to further consumer-driven realignment. Received this from a friend? [SUBSCRIBE]( CRITICAL STATE Your weekly foreign policy fix. [The World]( [INKSTICK]( If you read just one thing … … read about how Chinese leader Xi Jinping is using Marxist language to further consumer-driven realignment. In name, China is a communist country. But in deed, “a bonfire of local regulations is [unleashing]( market forces to further centralize the provinces around the capital, and the world around China,” [writes]( Jacob Dreyer in Noema. Dreyer traces the history of money and its relationship to people and how they have been understood in Chinese history, and examines how Chinese capital is being used both within the country and in projects around the world. Dreyer describes a shift that is happening with respect to China and the global economy: “Chinese people are moving from the invested into the investors, from the subjects of global capitalism to its protagonists.” But the Shanghai-based writer and editor also looks to the future. “Breathe in. Breathe out. For the past 10 years, China has been breathing in,” Dreyer muses. “It feels like it’s about to start sneezing, scattering capital, infrastructure projects and people around the world. Or it might inhale the world into China, importing an unprecedented amount of goods and services and realigning the orbit of the global economy in the process. There’s nothing to say that both can’t happen at the same time.” Might Checks Right? Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) are pushing for President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to investigate whether US weapons are being used by Israel to carry out human rights abuses against Palestinians, Alex Kane [reports]( for Jewish Currents. The letter, which Kane says has so far been signed by eight additional lawmakers, asks the administration “to undertake a shift in US policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights,” and more specifically, “ensure US taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements” and to “determine whether US-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing US laws.” The lawmakers expressed concern over Israel’s postponed plan to reform the judiciary, which the plan’s critics say will gut judicial independence. The lawmakers worry such a plan, if carried out, could pave a path to further annexation. Kane describes the letter as “the most forceful response yet by Democratic members of Congress aimed at Israel’s new far-right government” that “represents a rare instance of members of Congress publicly asking the State Department whether Israel is violating laws governing how US weapons may be used.” [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [Credit: Kyle-Philip Coulson on Unsplash] History Lived Here [• • •] Mahikeng, a city in South Africa, was once a regional capital—and home to literary hero Solomon Plaatje. In Africa Is a Country, Gopolang Botlhokwane [examines]( the way in which his city remembers him — and how feints at stirring nationalism can have the opposite effect. “In today’s Mahikeng Plaatje’s legacy doesn’t reveal the depths of history, but exposes the moral hollowness of those claiming to be advancing it. Plaatje then, is as much a symbol of the town’s failure or what its people often describe as its ‘slow death’ as he is, a symbol of its history and contribution to the South African story,” writes Botlhokwane. Botlhokwane argues that Plaatje is not more fully remembered and honored in part because of the political leanings of his writings, offering, “if Plaatje dreamed of a South Africa where it’s natives have land, the ruling ANC, inheritors of his party, the South African Native National Congress, have largely made a mockery of that dream. The ruling party’s record of governance is incompatible with Plaatje’s legacy.” Botlhokwane also suggests that that legacy cannot be fully respected without more fully reckoning with history, both of South Africa but also of neoliberalism. [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( DEEP DIVE Who Will Plant a Bumper Crop? If you had a meal today (and if you did not, please go do that before finishing this), you relied on crop diversity. The very food systems that we need to stay nourished depend on crop diversity if they are to be resilient and sustainable. But crop diversity, [write]( Hannes Dempewolf, Sarada Krishnan, and Luigi Guarino in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” can’t be used if it hasn’t been preserved. In their article, “[Our shared global responsibility: Safeguarding crop diversity for future generations](,” the authors make the case that: “As the ways in which crop diversity is used in research and breeding change and expand, the global conservation system for crop diversity must keep pace; it must provide not only the biological materials themselves, but also the relevant information presented in a comprehensive and coherent way — all while ensuring equitable access and benefit sharing.” The point of the piece is to “explore the evolving priorities for global efforts to safeguard and make available the diversity of the world's crops through ex-situ genetic resource collections.” Collections held outside standard gene banks, they argue, should be better integrated with other global resources. “Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture” (PGRFAs) are believed by many to be increasingly important, but they cannot be used if they are not accessible and available. “Gene banks” have been set up around the world to store PGRFAs, but PGRFA networks are not always sufficiently funded, which is to say that the world is not working in concert as it ought to be. The authors outline challenges for gene banks, which include preempting genetic erosion and making the most of the data that is available. And they concede that much of the work that needs to be done will not be done by gene banks, but insist it is impossible to do without it. And while the disparate way in which information is held is a challenge, so, too, is it a strength. “There is much diversity among gene banks and their staff, and that is a great strength that must be fostered and embraced,” the authors write. “If they collaborate and share responsibilities, if they truly serve their users, and crucially, if they are properly resourced, gene banks will live long and prosper as will the PGRFAs in their care, the farmers on which they depend, and all of us who depend on farmers.” Which is to say, all of us. [LEARN MORE]( [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [• • •] SHOW US THE RECEIPTS Abishek Sharma [explored]( the way in which India is struggling with geopolitics out at sea. Sharma wrote that India is “still oblivious” to the emerging threat of potentially compromised submarine cables, which carry an estimated 99% of Internet traffic. The current state of underwater geopolitics gives India an opportunity, according to Sharma, to improve its bureaucracy and regulatory system. But it’s an opportunity that is India’s to take or to ignore. If it chooses the latter, Sharma warned, it will find itself in a more vulnerable state than it is now. Susanne Berger [wrote]( that the Global Magnitsky Act is playing an increasingly prominent role but has not yet had the “decisive impact” imagined by those who pushed for its advent. The law, which allows the US government to impose sanctions for human rights abuses, and which has applied globally since 2016 (the original, Russia-specific version passed in 2012), has seen 760 individuals and entities in 46 countries on five continents. But, Berger noted, “Activists are concerned that when it comes to the designation of Magnitsky sanctions, not all human rights violations appear to be created equal. The current war in Ukraine and the civil protests in Iran have essentially usurped global attention, with other sanctions applications being pushed to the sidelines.” Halima Gikandi [looked]( at a new six-part series of short films that premiered in Kenya on Netflix. The series is called “African Folktales, Reimagined.” The films were produced through a Netflix partnership with UNESCO and are based on traditional African folktales. One is based on a Kenyan story about an ogre determined to eat children; another, a Mauritian tale about djinns. “Folk tales have always been an important way of passing culture and heritage and the values, you know, from generation to generation,” Tendeka Matatu, Netflix’s director of film in Africa, told Gikandi. [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [Film Updates tweet] WELL PLAYED Battlefields [are now]( battlefields. Not sure we’ll be seeing [this one]( in any neighborhood yards. This joke has [crossed]( the Finnish line. I [learned this]( about Swedish, so now you’re going to, too. The future [is now](. The answer [is yes](. [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( Follow The World: [fb]( [tw]( [ig]( [www]( [DONATE TO THE WORLD]( Follow Inkstick: [fb]( [tw]( [ig]( [www]( [DONATE TO INKSTICK]( Critical State is written by Kelsey D. Atherton with Inkstick Media. The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news and insights from PRX and GBH. With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.” Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. [Preferences]( | [Web Version]( [Unsubscribe](