Connect with us

Sports

Peng Shuai, tennis diplomacy and online freedom.

 


Sign up to receive the Future Tense newsletter every other Saturday.

If Future Tense had a huge marketing budget, okay, any marketing budget would be tempted to spend it all on a sponsorship deal for a women’s tennis tour. And we encourage you to do the same.

The Womens Tennis Association, as you may have heard, suspend all tournaments in China out of concern for Peng Shuai, the Chinese star who went online in early November to charge Zhang Gaoli, a former member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, of sexual assault.

The WTA booth is a rare triumph of principle over commercial interests in international sport, where the compromising of values ​​for sport laundering by human rights abusers seeking to launder their reputation has become the core of the business model (paging FIFA and the International Olympic Commission) . If you haven’t already, read WTA President and CEO Steve Simons remarkable statement: If powerful people can suppress women’s voices and brush allegations of sexual assault under the rug, the foundations on which the WTA is built, equality for women, would face a huge blow. I will not and cannot let that happen to the WTA and its players. There is nothing symbolic or symbolic about this stand: the WTA had been betting heavily on China to grow the game and its revenues.

But the WTA movement and the increasing pressure on the communist regime is also a victory for today’s much denigrated internet.

Peng Shuai initially posted her allegations on Nov. 2, and the censors rushed to wipe all traces of it from the Chinese internet within the hour (though not before it was shared by thousands and inspired an online #WhereisPengShuai movement, supported by global tennis stars. ). The player disappeared from view for days, but the world let the Chinese authorities know that we were watching. The internet is getting a lot of grief these days for spreading bile, but this saga is a reminder of its power to hold the powerful accountable.

Beijing’s response was characteristically clumsy. Authorities reluctantly released images and pompous messages of Peng and then arranged a heavily brokered meeting with the gullible president of the IOC. It all had the curatorial sensibility of a polished hostage video.

It is not clear whether President Xi Jinping will eventually blink and agree to the kind of independent assessment and accountability the WTA demands. That’s definitely not his style. But the public relations disaster for him couldn’t come at a worse time as China prepares to host the Winter Olympics early next year, and to ratify it as the era of Xi Jinpinghes chases Mao’s stature, an important party congress later in the year.

Moreover, Pengs’ tragedy did not play out online like most Western outrage campaigns against China, and this must have alarmed the Communist Party quite a bit. This is a case where his leadership should be concerned simultaneously on domestic public opinion and international pressure. The scandal touches on widespread public concerns about party privileges and rampant sexism in an apparently egalitarian society. This is very different from cases of Western expressions of disapproval of Chinese actions, be it the Uyghur minority, Tibet, Hong Kong or Taiwan, which ultimately bolster public sentiment behind the party. The nationalism playbook does not apply here, and many ordinary Chinese citizens are probably applauding the WTA.

The Peng Shuai case also comes at a time when Xi and his regime have cracked down on independent life in China, reaffirming their control over social and economic activities that had acquired a measure of autonomy. The regime plans to close the chapter on its more lenient stance toward foreign markets, investors and norms (including the idea that it should relinquish direct control over large swaths of society) in pursuit of growth. In the past year alone, the government has cracked down on China’s largest technology companies, the online celebrity/superfan culture, online gaming, IPOs outside its jurisdiction, cryptocurrency, online education, the sharing economy, and the list goes on. If China sought the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as part of its campaign to take its place as a responsible power adhering to global rules, the message projected in the run-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics is a very big one. Other: we can handle this on our terms.

What happened to Peng Shuai? is not an anomaly under a regime that perfected the culture of cancellation it had inherited from its Soviet benefactors early in its revolution. Even the nation’s richest entrepreneur, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, almost left the stage since a speech he gave more than a year ago criticizing the government for an outdated approach to regulation. The response from the authorities was swift and stern, blocking the IPO of his fintech Ant Group empire and punishing his companies in a number of ways. Sightings of the once unstoppable billionaire since then (including a lofty hostage-esque January video in which he mused on thinking and learning about the need for rural renewal and communal prosperity) have been few. The cumulative impact of all these repressions on China’s technological competitiveness is not yet known, but they could very well lead to a decisive own goal. Yet the Communist Party is focused on maintaining full control over the country, even if that need sometimes clashes with the country’s long-term economic interests. There is no point in beating the US on the world stage if you lose power in the process.

Like it or not, sport will play an outrageous role in 2022 in the geopolitical battle between authoritarian and liberal-democratic norms, and in the ongoing battle to define our freedom of expression online. After all, the year will be closed by the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the FIFA Mens World Cup in Qatar later in the year.

Even before the Pengs case, there were concerns about how far China might go to curtail speech during the Olympics, and now athletes have a new reason (one with a fellow athlete, not an abstract political issue) to speak out about . Under the guise of COVID-19, the organizers are imposing heavy restrictions on the media. And they will likely put pressure on the IOC to strictly enforce its rule (relax before the Tokyo Summer Games) against any political reporting by athletes.

The NBA and the English Premier League have previously been punished by Beijing for individual displays of online solidarity with Hong Kong and Uyghurs, and neither league has responded with the WTA’s moral willingness. More recently, Enes Kanter of the Boston Celtics (a Turkish star who was naturalized as an American this week and added Freedom to his name to celebrate the occasion) has been extremely vocal about China’s mistreatment of its Muslim population, and of what he sees as the moral complicity of fellow NBA players who are not speaking out about the situation.

Regimes in China, Russia and the Persian Gulf countries have been eager to use sport to impress both international public opinion and their own people about where they stand in the world, and international sport has benefited greatly from the transaction. But the Internet spotlight is harder to target and control than the old broadcast paradigm, no matter how many censors and how impregnable your firewall thinks it is.

Sport could be the ultimate test of the authoritarian high-wire act and hopefully a justification for the internet, which needs its own form of reputation laundering.

For more analysis of what’s happening in China’s tech space, join us for our online event this Wednesday, December 8 at 6:00 PM Eastern Is China giving up the internet? with New America ASU future security fellow Li-Ying Liu and Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, editor of Foreign Affairs.

Here are stories from Future Tenses’ recent past:

Wish wed this published

Uber survived the spy scandal. Some careers don’t, by Kate Conger, the New York Times

Future tense recommended

A police movie. No, not a police film, but Netflix’s compelling new film about police in Mexico City. The Netflix film, directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios, one of the stars of this golden generation of Mexican cinema, blurs all kinds of lines between traditional documentaries, docudramas and the well-known police films that the title plays, just as the police in Mexico have traditionally crossed borders. between the law blurs, order and crime. Alexandra Zapata Hojel, a Future Tense fellow, is an associate producer for the film and is busy organizing mass viewing sessions for police officers and their families across the country, which A police movie the equivalent of a police bodycam on steroids, sparking much soul-searching and discussion.

What now: not yet known

This week, on the Slates technology podcast, host Lizzie OLeary spoke with Nick Bilton, special correspondent for Vanity Fair and author of Hatching Twitter, on Jack Dorsey’s announcement that he is stepping down as CEO of Twitter.

Future Tense is a collaboration of Slate,
New America, and
Arizona State University
that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.


Sources

1/ https://Google.com/

2/ https://slate.com/technology/2021/12/future-tense-newsletter-peng-shuai-internet-freedom.html

The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos

ExBUlletin

to request, modification Contact us at Here or [email protected]