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| Danielle Robinette |
Each and every one of my study abroad experiences has been touched by social protest movements. In Brazil, those of us from UofL were the only ones attending classes as the UNESP student body was on strike. Then, the country experienced widespread demonstrations in protest of government corruption and exorbitant spending on the World Cup and Olympic venues. In Spain, as the country suffers from crushing unemployment, numerous groups went to the streets to protest anything from EU austerity measures to CocaCola factory closures.
Here in China, we have yet to witness any protesting of any kind, but our assigned text, China: Fragile Superpower by Susan L. Shirk, makes it a point to explain that the Chinese government's fear of political demonstrations like that which occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989 is a major driving force of their decision making in nearly all fields of politics.
For weeks in the summer of 1989, millions of students gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to demonstrate in favor of democracy. After some debate regarding how to respond, eventually Deng Xiaoping declares Marshall law and the PLA is sent to Tiananmen to break up the protests. In the end, hundreds of students die at the hands of the PLA and Chinese politics are changed forever.
In her book, Shirk explains that social unrest is one of, if not the, most dangerous forces opposing communism in China. She discusses the number of groups that have protested against the Chinese Communist Party, but emphasizes that unemployed college graduates are the most concerning for the CCP as they are educated, organized, and driven. This fear of a repeat of Tiananmen has driven both domestic and foreign policy decisions in China. For example, in order to avoid unemployed college graduates from demonstrating, the government works very hard to ensure that there will be jobs. In order to do this, they must focus on maintaining the double digit growth rate that China has experienced for years. Thus, the Chinese government must avoid foreign policy and international trade decisions that might risk a decline in the growth rate. As such, the lesson of Tiananmen, as Shirk calls it, has taught the CCP to fear such social protest movements so ardently that they allow that fear to affect an array of political issues.
For me, social protest movements are the most interesting form of politics to observe as an outsider. From a suburb of São Paulo to the overwhelming metropolis that is Shanghai, demonstrations have affected all levels of political change in every corner of the globe. I look forward to the opportunity to visit Tiananmen Square in a few weeks when we arrive in Beijing.
Danielle Robinette, of Ft. Thomas, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying spanish and political science.