Eli Friedman
@EliDFriedman
Followers
8,204
Following
1,213
Media
646
Statuses
5,671
Teaching at @cornellilr | The Urbanization of People: | Labor politics in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan
Ithaca, NY
Joined June 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
#WeAreSeriesEP7
• 370196 Tweets
Robert Fico
• 134239 Tweets
PondPhuwin WeAre EP7
• 121394 Tweets
Peru
• 92121 Tweets
Slovakia
• 89599 Tweets
Wicked
• 68307 Tweets
サーティワン
• 49194 Tweets
Accendio
• 44106 Tweets
キダ・タローさん
• 43958 Tweets
#JO1ANNX
• 39778 Tweets
NAYEON NA TRACKLIST
• 34786 Tweets
#BillkinPPKrit1stConcert
• 28768 Tweets
浪花のモーツァルト
• 24101 Tweets
スロバキア
• 22269 Tweets
Eslovaquia
• 21174 Tweets
Ludmilla
• 15655 Tweets
Ubisoft
• 15493 Tweets
Yasuke
• 15416 Tweets
DANIEL CAESAR
• 12654 Tweets
リリムハーロット
• 11416 Tweets
Ivete
• 10791 Tweets
Handlova
• 10709 Tweets
最高顧問
• 10137 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
We wrote this book to introduce how China's integration into capitalism transformed its society while catalyzing a destructive imperial rivalry with the US.
Lots of reasons for pessimism, but as we show, resistance springs eternal!
Available in June
5
83
251
By a 2:1 margin, students have called on Cornell to divest!
0
590
4K
Singing The Internationale at an anti-lockdown protest at Peking U
26
512
2K
The uprising at Zhengzhou Foxconn is China's most significant worker revolt in many years. Take a few minutes to watch these videos.
29
479
1K
Xi on social protection: "Even if our level of development is higher in the future and finances are more abundant, we cannot set too high a goal and have excessive guarantees. We must resolutely guard against falling into the trap of supporting lazy people through 'welfarism.'"
32
152
732
I thought writing a second book would be easier than the first... it wasn't! But makes it all the sweeter to hold this in my hands.
22
76
698
Time to start organizing some international actions in solidarity with protestors in Zhengzhou, Urumqi, Shanghai, Beijing, and everywhere else in China. PRC consulates and universities should be key sites.
48
145
598
In case we need a refresher, neither KMT nor CCP considered Taiwan a part of China until 1942.
46
164
562
Can't stress enough that when he says "socialism" he means state control of the economy, not an economy organized on the principle of responding to social need. Related but very distinct aims!
14
45
535
Feel like vacation hotspot + strategic military base is kind of the essence of America's Hawaii too
12
58
559
According to the People's Daily, the most important story in the world today is that Xi Jinping wrote a letter to a snowboarder.
32
71
404
CCP's deeply felt admiration for Kissinger really underlines that they have no opposition to the violence of US empire in principle. They are narrowly opposed to US efforts to contain/undermine China.
Today I left a message in the condolence book at
@StateDept
to express my deepest condolences over the passing of Dr. Kissinger.
May he rest in peace. 🕯
38
45
304
20
116
412
It's been ten years since the Zengcheng uprising, when migrant workers rioted for days after a pregnant hawker was violently shoved to the ground by security. 1/7
3
86
378
Cornell showing its commitment to fighting antisemitism by sponsoring a lecture on replacement theory by an overt antisemite
6
133
384
Feeling devastated by the situation in China. Just hope people find a way to sustain themselves through this nightmare and then to grieve together.
52
35
347
Daily Show just broke the news that China has annexed TW, Tajikstan, AND Kyrgyzstan. Wild.
12
32
337
First hand account of escape from Zhengzhou Foxconn.
"Finally, a kind-hearted man led me to the place where the wires had a big hole. He used his motorcycle light to illuminate for me and said: run, run."
5
137
326
Quite risky but hugely important for PRC citizens to publicly take this position on Taiwan. Hope to see more of this anti-war activism in the diaspora
"No war of unification with Taiwan! We support Lai Ching-te!"
Chinese supporters of Taiwan's vice president chant slogans ahead of his arrival in New York.
116
324
2K
27
71
334
No context, but hard to see how this is not an awful situation.
Sign reads "we want to go to school, we don't want to be left behind children"
20
132
310
Thinking about the expat banker who was cool with years of wanton state violence, evisceration of civil society, elimination of opposition parties and electoral democracy, but was like if they kill hamsters I'm buying a one way biz class ticket to Singapore.
8
59
307
One of the first things the HKSAR did after reverting to PRC rule was to eliminate collective bargaining rights.
On every meaningful issue since 1997, Beijing has continued the colonial policy of siding with corporate oligarchs.
Hong Kong has long been a tycoon dominated, financialized plutocracy; one of the most unequal societies on earth. One lesson from the Riots may be that the PRC should have intervened against its development into neoliberal hell for its workers.
38
177
993
1
71
287
My Xmas present is finally getting the right opportunity to use this
Anyone who wants to question me: I have 5,000 years on my side. What you got?
1
20
215
1
56
293
A master class in American inability and fundamental lack of interest in understanding other places on their own terms
Hasan Piker explains Taiwan as if the Confederacy ruled America, the Union took it over, but Texas (Taiwan) still remained a Confederate state, and that the world still gives them weapons to use as a stronghold against the Union.
280
115
2K
6
42
272
Can't believe it but my book is happening for real!!!
Still several months before it'll be available but you can preorder through
@ColumbiaUP
, get 20% off with discount code "CUP20"
8
49
253
The gvt is great at building field hospitals in a few days... but lack of investment in health care is really astonishing.
Keeping in mind uneven access to ICU based on region and hukou status, a LOT of people will not be able to get adequate care if they get sick.
15
77
250
Former CE of Hong Kong basically warning parents their kids will turn gay if they move to the West.
Wow. Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying just delivered an anti-LGBTQ post.
17
93
216
18
61
240
Very gratifying to have my book out in Chinese. It was hard work to "untranslate" a lot of the book (go back and find the original Chinese) but it's very cool to have voices of teachers and parents in their original form.
10
47
248
They were ok doing lockdowns and endless testing for years to save lives, but can't be bothered to spend money to make effective treatment universally available.
14
80
242
Since Oct 7 I have repeatedly been subjected to harassment that specifically targets me as a Jew.
100% of the time it has come from Zionists.
3
42
245
One real failure of PRC's TW policy is that deeper econ integration for 30+ years has largely benefited a small and elite slice of TW society, most workers have experienced increased material insecurity. There is no broad class constituency pushing for deeper integration.
15
41
238
China's labor force peaked in 2016 and fell by 17 million in four years.
10
62
227
I wrote a whole-ass book about bioplotics and urbanization in China and only today did I realize:
Foucault rhymes with hukou
11
23
210
Li Qiang getting all the attention, but Cai Qi is another megacity secretary with a history of brutal treatment of residents who just got promoted. 2017 mass evictions and dispossession of migrants were Cai's doing.
13
69
210
In France they're burning barricades and Macron's facing a no confidence vote, meanwhile China raises the retirement age and there's hardly even any news coverage.
14
37
210
Beside myself with joy that one of China's most important feminist activists Zheng Churan, aka 大兔 Big Rabbit, is coming to Cornell
9
53
212
Two days into this war and the world's second most powerful country, self-proclaimed leader of the South, and Israel's second biggest trade partner has said almost nothing. Just a spokesperson saying "two state solution" then running for cover. Xi has said zero.
1
46
202
Activists in China calling for boycotts of Nabisco in solidarity with strikers in the US.
@BCTGM
#Striketober
1
40
195
Cornell continues to suspend students with zero evidence that they have broken any rules, then proceeds to tell them everything is negotiable if they stop their activism.
Faculty and the grad union not gonna take this lying down!
0
48
201
Many levels to this. The diversion of floodwaters away from Beijing is a real reflection of long-standing governance practices of dispersing "non-capital" functions to the hinterland. This includes undesirable people, low-end econ activities, and apparently flood waters.
6
69
197
Women's income share in China has bucked the global trend and dropped significantly over the past 30 years.
10
60
180
Wait the "nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs" guy is the CEO of a venture capital firm called Social Capital.
This is the worst parody ever.
7
35
177
I was at this event. What isn't included in this video is the long segment at the beginning where Russell affirmed, forcefully, Jewish humanity and our refusal to disappear in the face of recurrent pogroms and genocide.
Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford speaking about Hamas terrorist attacks. Shameful
@Cornell
.
3K
3K
9K
3
36
181
Government adviser on why paxlovid imports are restricted: “We need to create market space for locally made medicines.”
Economic nationalism is literally killing people
9
44
176
The China Question ebook is out! Check out the incredible list of contributors covering a range of critical issues in the US-China relationship and China's domestic social problems and politics.
And it only costs $1.19!
0
52
173
Would pay big money to see this live debate:
Friends of Socialist China vs. Friends of Capitalist China
7
25
160
Really recommend this. This whole work is devastating, he sees so clearly the political dynamic that will one day land him and countless other Uyghurs behind bars.
I wrote two endorsements, here's the more flowery one that is not on the book: 1/4
13
55
163
In case it wasn't obvious already: the CCP sees the bloody history of US racial capitalism as nothing more than an opportunity to score political points.
Mirror image of Rubio et al pretending to care about Uyghur forced labor.
Patriotic song broadcast on Chinese state TV: look at the crying American Indians, the desperate blacks. Never regret my choice of being born in China
116
146
467
5
40
165
When I moved to Ithaca over a decade ago, I wouldn't have dared to dream of this day. We've arrived
9
2
165
Everyone is making fun of Ron for this but you won't be laughing when your five year old comes home referring to themselves as 寡人
11
17
157
When I moved to Beijing in 2002 I thought it very important to have a business card. Who did I imagine would need the card for a college kid there to study Chinese? 🤷🏻♂️
19
3
156
America's most prominent anti-war org out there demanding peace by supporting a government that repeatedly threatens to start an irredentist war of aggression
5
31
157
Rereading "Dying for an iPhone" for class. It's just astonishing what the state has done for this corporation.
1
25
154
After the 2010 suicides, Foxconn held lots of morale boosting events for their Chinese workforce.
9
26
150
Can't wait for someone to write a history of nail houses. Couple more years and I think we'll be ready
9
10
155
A huge number of my students wrote their final papers on 996/lying flat. Perhaps it resonates.
5
12
152
The disjuncture in China between the state's astonishing ambition in infrastructure development and its modest, piecemeal, and poorly implemented social reforms is jarring. But they are in fact linked.
5
16
147
It's here!
Very gratifying to have my book out in Chinese. It was hard work to "untranslate" a lot of the book (go back and find the original Chinese) but it's very cool to have voices of teachers and parents in their original form.
10
47
248
2
23
152
Wonder how cognizant the students are of what happened to PKU Marxists in 2018. The state is very intolerant of left critiques from university students, and especially from students at PKU.
Sending strength and solidarity!!!
3
15
145
Shame on Cornell for suspending students for political speech. We are going to fight this!
I have been suspended from Cornell University alongside three others for my presence in our encampment. Cornell thinks that picking off four students will be sufficient to destroy our movement. They’re wrong — all they have done is enraged our community.
1K
6K
30K
0
40
151
850 people at world's largest dairy plant haven't left the factory for 70 days.
6
56
147
I wrote about resistance to the closed loop - the key governance strategy for managing labor amid zero covid.
In April workers rioted against mobility controls that denied them social existence, presaging the nationwide uprising we see today.
3
54
141
One reason we see recurrent social resistance in China is there is an unending series of microgenerations who know very little/nothing about the repression their immediate predecessors were subjected to
5
26
146
Xi's comments about lazy people on welfare got all the attention. But an equally neoliberal part of the speech is that he argues improving human capital is the way to advance common prosperity. Chicago school 101.
4
23
136
Major protest in Kangle Village in Guangzhou. This was also the site of a dramatic anti-lockdown riot last fall, as the gvt wasn't delivering adequate food or medicine. These migrants have always been seen as disposable, now they are being bulldozed out of the city.
「广州“湖北村”强拆冲突多人被抓捕（12月27日）」广东省广州市海珠区康乐村，是广州最大的城中村之一，也是广州的“制衣村”，有数百家缝纫加工厂，为全国乃至全球的服装市场提供产品。因为村里居住了大量的湖北籍人口，这里也叫“湖北村”。12月19日，当地政府发布了拆迁通告，要求康乐村内的缝纫加工厂在
40
137
470
2
61
142
US thought the market would integrate China into global liberal order, and was spectacularly wrong.
PRC thought the market would integrate Taiwan into China, and was spectacularly wrong.
7
17
144
Got a message from my publisher about the Chinese version of my book: "[it] will be for sale throughout the world excluding China"
10
16
146
Bus drivers in Puyang, Henan on strike. Banner claims they haven't been paid in 16 months!
Don't have other details on this case but not a good indicator about local gvt budgetary situation.
5
43
141
May I live to see the day when US leftist magazines publish articles on Taiwan without super basic factual errors.
"the losing Kuomintang declared Taiwan an independent state"
13
16
140
This is insane. US students just turning away from foreign languages, but especially Chinese. Korean and Japanese only languages on upswing. Requires explanation.
27
113
135
"Whatever the opposite of decolonize is, that's what we want"
Chinese academics want Tibet to be known as Xizang to help ‘reconstruct’ image
7
5
9
1
31
135
Americans curious about how censorship works on Chinese campuses can try speaking out in support of Palestine. Pretty similar experience!
1
34
133
Very pleased that
@chuangcn
has translated this piece, one of the most important left analyses of this fall's movement.
1
36
130
It's always a good time to remember when Terry Gou did this
BREAKING: Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Apple product manufacturer Foxconn, announces he will seek the opposition
@kuomintang
nomination for Taiwan president in 2024 elections. If unsuccessful, he says he will support whoever the KMT chooses.
7
24
60
4
37
132
Does the absolute majority of people who do not identify as Chinese get to determine their future too?
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be murderous, inexcusable and very stupid. But, Taiwan to China bears no relationship to, say, what Iraq was to the ... US. Taiwan IS predominantly Chinese and it should be a matter of its predominantly Chinese people to decide their future.
182
35
272
6
14
128
I'm begging US leftists to ask Taiwanese people what they would like for Taiwan.
7
17
122
Looks like they decided to try and dial back the sinophobia, at least a tiny bit.
Couldn't let go of "Cold Warrior" though.
3
18
121
Folks in Wuhan singing the Internationale at a protest against cuts to their health care.
Cops might have to remind them that sometimes in the primary stage of socialism health care has to be treated as a commodity to... uh... build productive forces
6
30
124
Today is the release of the
@ILRLaborAction
2022 Annual Report!
Big finding is there were many more strikes than 2021. Read the whole thing here:
2
49
125
Next time you hear someone defending colonialism in Tibet because slavery, ask any follow up question at all:
-Who were the slaves?
-Where in Tibet did they live?
-What did they produce?
-What happened to the slaves after they were freed?
I guarantee blank stares
Imo if you’re some sort of nerd that only likes analyzing English language Xinhua to score internet points over your dad to look edgy stay the fuck away from China politics lol
2
21
212
5
26
120
Spotted in the crowd
Coming out to stop student repression and demand divestment
0
5
82
2
24
128
Eight years ago this week, 40k workers at the Yue Yuen factory in Dongguan were on strike.
4
24
113
Amazing they manage to talk about US support for the white terror and then conveniently forget to mention how Taiwanese people beat that very regime.
Also they are completely indifferent to what the people living in Taiwan want, but you already knew that.
🚨 The United States is using Taiwan to provoke China. To maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait and avoid turning the island into the Ukraine of East Asia, it is necessary to stop US interference in the region.
To learn more, read our Briefing no. 6:
111
95
286
3
13
110
We don't think of China as a labor importing country, but they've had nearly 400k Vietnamese guest workers in southern Guangxi province alone.
Really recommend checking out Adam's insightful work on this.
Very excited that my paper is out in
@IMRjournal
! I study a newly established guestworker program in China that recruits temporary migrant workers from Vietnam. 1/5
2
19
57
2
34
115
Looks like this is a whole thing
Thank you to those who echoed
#SitongBridge
#newtankman
at
Stanford
GWU
Colby College
University of Glasgow
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
NorthWestern University
University of Connecticut
Amherst College
And many to come.
1/3
65
323
1K
1
26
104
Since our friend the leader of the world's largest democracy is visiting, reposting this on Xinjiang and Kashmir. Violent anti-Muslim colonial projects are bad everywhere.
1
42
111
It's been totally normalized that if you're a labor activist in China you can be disappeared at any time.
1
14
107
As Taiwanese capital becomes a less sturdy pillar for deepening cross-strait ties, the pro-CCP elements in Taiwan will have to lean harder on blood and soil nationalism, e.g absurd ceremonies paying tribute to a mythical common ancestor
199
27
109
"What China needs is a major transfer of income from local governments and elites to ordinary workers, but that is a political problem which is difficult to pull off."
3
13
106
Great gathering of Chinese students tonight at Cornell. Folks collectively working through some tough political questions.
3
11
107
Socialism with bailing out billionaires characteristics
2
26
103