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When we investigate at colleges and universities, we find that attention levels at thought and political theory classes are not high. People are there in body but not in spirit, ministerChen Baosheng lamented, calling for professors to do away with packaging that is not that fashionable and find new, trendy ways to encourage the nations youth to embrace Communism. With the spread of religion Christianity and Islam in particular and consumerism, fewer and fewer young Chinese people care to embrace the 20th-century ways of Mao Zedong.

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If the recent history of President Xi Jinpings tenure is any indication, that new trendy packaging will involve attempts at American-style hip-hop music. While Beijing has censored hundreds of pop songs, many of them rap songs, for harming social morality, the Chinese government has taken to publishing rap music videos with pro-Beijing, pro-Marxist messages in the hope of attracting youth attention.

Below, five of the most painful attempts at coolness from the Chinese government:

The Four Comprehensives Rap February 2016

The Four Comprehensives are vague government objectives intended to bring about the Chinese dream, Beijings communist alternative to the American dream. They are, according toThe Nanfang: to comprehensively develop a moderately prosperous society, tocomprehensively reform the country, tocomprehensively enact a rule of law, and tocomprehensively root out Party corruption.

Naturally, the state outlet Xinhua saw in this fertile ground for a hip-hop anthem.

The Four Comprehensives Rap features such catchy lyrics asthe environment will become greener and haze will disappear andProsperity is the goal, reform is the drive, rule of law is the guarantee, building up the Party is the key! While in America, rap music surfaced as a defiant voice against perceived corruption of those in power, Chinese government rap celebrates utmost submission to authority.Respect, obey and implement the law, the lyrics warn laypersons and Party members alike.

As with many Chinese government-sponsored rap videos, this songs music video features bizarre animated sequences featuring a middle-aged man lecturing a young girl with the song. The girl, who initially dismisses the Four Comprehensives as about the Chinese dream or whatever, learns to love the governments abstract promises.

The Reform Group is Two Years Old December 2015

Who would ever suspect that a rap song with a title as catchy asThe Reform Group is Two Years Old was written by stodgy old Marxists locked up in the bureaucratic mazes of Beijing? The titular reform group is an ad hoc creation meant to weed out corruption in local Communist Party offices. As with The Four Comprehensives Rap, the song praises the benefits of strict adherence to the rule of law and deference to authority.

Streamline the administration and delegate power to lower levels and unleash energy, the rapper performing the song demands.Only the daring will prevail at key stages of reform.

To rule the party strictly we must harden our bodies, the judicial reform must be victorious, the song continues, thanking Communist Party officials for their commitment to the environment: they hate smog to the bone. Chinese government propaganda repeatedly mentions the alleged successes of Xis administration in protecting the environment to mask its woeful failure in addressing the issue.

President Big Daddy Xi appears in animated form in the video, and the song itself incorporates some key quotes from Xi speeches into its lyrics.

This Is China June 2016

Unlike many government productions, this rap song was the product of an actual rap group, albeit a loyalist Communist Party rap group. CD Rev, which had previously released pro-Marxist singles independent of the government, wrote a song the government claimed was meant to show the real face of China. The red dragon aint no evil, the rappers claim. Instead, the nation is full of young men like us, aspiring and friendly.

The rap group celebrates the Chinese government because we have tight gun control laws and we can use apps to pay in nearly all the situations.

Marx Is a Millennial May 2016

Literally translating to Marx is a Post-90s, the Chinese language term for the same generation, thisgovernment-commissioned work of art is intended to address the issue Education Minister Chen appears so alarmed by: the fact that young Chinese people, attracted to Western culture and the hope of a comfortable, capitalist lifestyle, have little interest in Communist dogma. The rapper in this song admits to never being interested in Marx before one day, I discovered how awesome he was.

The music video boasts bright colors and a geometric design reminiscent of the 1980s Dire Straits music video Money for Nothing.

I saw my faith, dont even ask why/You are my Venus, my dear Marx,the song proclaims.

Xinhua appeared particularly proud of this production in its article about the rap song. How to make Marxism attractive to the Chinese youth? Maybe a rap!the state outlets write-up reads.

Battle Declaration May 2016

Unlike the videos previously mentioned, Battle Declaration does not rely on bizarre cartoonish designs or a fun, colorful tone to attract attention. This rap song was intended to attract young people to a career in the Chinese military, and its aesthetic is much closer to teen boy Xtreme marketing than the bright jewel hues of Marx Is a Millennial.

The lyrics are also significantly more dramatic:

Even if a bullet passes through my chest My mission remains carved in my heart Brothers, lets follow this path [Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!] Roar with animal spirit Look to the bravest general of them all Walk from here toward the site of combat

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5 Chinese Government Hip-Hop Anthems Meant to Make Communism Cool Again - Breitbart News

Offering statues as gifts to other nations has long been a subtle way of extending politicsinto the realm of arts. New York's Statue of Liberty, for instance, wasfunded by France to celebrate freedom and enlightenment.

But a similar gift from China is now putting Germans in a rather awkward position. The influential Germantrading partner wants to buy the town of Trier a statue of Karl Marx to honor him as one of the co-authors of the Communist Manifesto, a political text written with Friedrich Engels in 1848. Another German town accepted a similaroffer two years ago.

To some in Trier, the giftis a welcome expression of Chinese-German partnership. To others, however, the free Karl Marx is a provocation, given that Eastern Germany's own communist experiment resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people who tried to flee from the communist east into the west before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. They also think accepting such a gift from China, which is frequently criticized for violating human rights, would send the wrong message at a time when Western liberalism isunder attack by right-wing populists and authoritarianregimes.

The council of Trier accepted the gift Monday evening, paving the way for a permanent bronze statue, erected in the city center ahead ofthe philosopher's birthday 200 years ago in May next year.

It is a decision that is likely to surprise those who witnessed the early days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Across Eastern Europe, statues of communist heroes such as Marx and Vladimir Lenin were toppledduring the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.In 2014, during the Ukraine conflict, more than 200 remaining Lenin statues were destroyed within days in an expression of anger toward the Kremlin.

Although Lenin statues have long beenhard to find in Germany, a number of Marx monuments continue to surprise visitors in cities such as Berlin and Chemnitz in east Germany. The latter used to be called "Karl Marx City" until one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when officials decided it was time for Marx to assume a more subtle role.

Chemnitz's Marx statue was nottaken down, though,and it has once again become the city's landmark its head alone being 23 feet tall. In Trier, the Marx monument will probablybe much smaller.

City officials refrained from making a final decision on its height Monday evening, probably making it the city's next talking point. Some think that a tall statue standing on a plinth overlooking tourists and city residentswouldimply Marx's intellectual incontestability, whereas in reality his theories remain contentious in Germany. Critics want the Chinese statue of Marx to be of real-life height so that tourists can confront the communist theorist eye to eye.

"Take him down from the plinth," one resident told a German radio station. "I like that compromise -- [Marx being] on an equal footing [with everyone]."

Read more:

What toppled Lenin statues tell us about Ukraines crisis

A giant Lenin head was unearthed in Germany

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China keeps buying Karl Marx statues for Germany to celebrate communism. Not all want to join the party. - Washington Post

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TheSouth China Morning Postreports that Education Minister Chen Baosheng wants to make Communist ideology trendy and fashionable again:

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When we investigate at colleges and universities, we find that attention levels at thought and political theory classes are not high. People are there in body but not in spirit, Chen said.

Why is this? The content does not suit their needs. Perhaps the approach is outdated, the tools are rather crude and the packaging is not that fashionable.

Students needed to be led by the core values of Chinese socialism to ensure their healthy moral growth. They should also study traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, Chen said.

It is probably going to take a little more than some hip-hop music and a stack of Che Guevara T-shirts to get Chinese youth interested in studying advanced socialist culture to ensure their healthy moral growth, especially since the Internet keeps showing them glimpses of the world outside Chinas totalitarian ideological boundaries. It may or may not comfort Chen to know that left-wing academics in the West also complain that communisms biggest problem is poor packaging.

The Internet must be one of the major driving forces behind the cultural and ideological insecurity of Chinas elites, which is very encouraging. The SCMP article reads like a totalitarian nightmare, but it is good news that the Communist Party is so worried about losing its grip on the next generation. Under President Xi Jinping, the Party has been cracking down on organized religion for similar reasons.

Beijing is worried about people who make subversion look cool, as Korean-born, American-educated provocateur Kwon Pyonglearned the hard way last September. Kwons social media hijinks culminated in a selfie that featured a T-shirt comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Adolf Hitler.

In theory, few Chinese should have been able to read his Facebook and Twitter posts dedicated to overturning communism, because the Internet is locked down so tightly in China. The government nevertheless arrested him, put him on trial for subversion, failed to inform his defense attorneys which of his posts slander and insulted state power and the socialist system, and then forced his defense lawyers out of the case with an impossible paperwork demand, just to make sure Kwons fair trial ends with the necessary conviction.

Kwons former attorney Zhang Lei put the case in perspective for theNew York Times:

Mr. Kwon embodies a phenomenon that worries the Chinese government: young people, exposed to foreign ideas, sometimes through study abroad, who feel free to criticize the government, perhaps navely believing that they wont get into serious trouble, Mr. Liang said.

Hes from a younger generation thats absorbed ideas about democracy and freedom, he said. They have a clearer spirit of opposition.

To treat Kwon Pyongs online criticism of President Xi Jinping and the one-party state as a national security threat highlights the Communist Partys insecurity about commentary that does not accept the Partys monopoly on power, said Freedom House Executive Vice President Daniel Calingaert, protesting his arrest. Maybe Kwon will be sentenced to help the Education Minister develop a hip and cool curriculum for selling Communism to the kids.

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China Orders Universities to Make Communism Cool Again - Breitbart News

Wenceslao: Pope on communists | SunStar Sun.Star I understand that prejudices and biases against communists and communism is still widespread even decades after the end of the Cold War. I listen to even my friends and am amazed by the many misconceptions they harbor about the rebels and their ...

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Wenceslao: Pope on communists | SunStar - Sun.Star

The theory of communism is a fantastic idea. Really. The same goes for patriarchy.

That might be the last thing you ever expected a libertarian feminist to say, but there it is.

Communisms theoretical definition is a system in which labor and resources are equally distributed with everyone working towards a greater societal good. Because everyone is working towards the same goal no one person is overworked, and everyone reaps the benefits. Whats wrong with that?

Patriarchy has come to mean different things to different people. I define it as a society in which men hold power, responsible for the well-being, financial stability, and protection of those under their authority.

In theory, women in a patriarchal world just have to look after the house and kids and not worry themselves with things such as taxes, military service, and politics. It can be a highly stable system and was a trait of all of historys major world conquerors (Egypt, Rome, the Mongols, Great Britain, etc.).

Both communism and patriarchy are great ideas, but they have the same problemthey dont work in real life, and they fail for the same reason.

Both involve taking power from one group, which loses most if not all individual autonomy, and giving it to another group. Whats worse, the group in power rarely suffers consequences for abusing their power.

In practice, communism must be organized by an authoritarian figure who must be able to perfectly foresee and plan for everything from healthcare needs, natural disasters, food requirements, necessary buildings, and so on. Dictatorial power is needed to control all this and it also means that the average person has no power. Ergo, what we inevitably see develop under communism is a slave-state.

In a truly communist society, taking matters into ones own hands can be a capital offense. Since people have no power to address hunger and famine by, say, growing their own food, they are utterly at the mercy of the governing body.

Keeping with the food example, having private providers of resources is a threat to the governments control and a capital offense in some cases (dictators are not historically understanding or sympathetic people). It doesnt matter if the government is providing sufficient resources or not. Therefore, we see these systems deteriorate until people are making boats out of tires and crawling through barbed wire to escape.

Its the same with patriarchy. In a patriarchal world, a girl supposedly doesnt have to worry about her food, shelter, or upkeep. But when taking care of her constitutes a burden to her male guardian, we get things like sex-selective abortions and infanticide to curb the number of women within the population. There also exists a push to marry off young girls so as to limit the number of years they must be supported by their families.

When a girl grows up, she becomes subject to her husband whobecause he is the one assigned power and obviously knows whats bestcan pretty much do whatever he wants with her. Her medical, financial, and personal life are dictated wholly by his decree.

Affirmative action is another great idea, as it is supposed to lift minorities out of poverty by offering them government jobs. What actually happens is these jobs primarily go to minority workers who are already part of the middle class.

Affirmative action changed the social standing of very few. In addition, now every minority worker is suspected of having their job only because of diversity quotas, regardless of how skilled or effective they might be.

Subsidies and government pressure on banks to give every US citizen ownership of a home also seems great on the surface. It was so great that both Democrats and Republicans loved it right up until a bunch of people who couldnt sustain mortgage payments (and shouldve never been given loans in the first place) went bankrupt. The American populace collectively suffered from the Great Recession of 2008, but it was totally the banks fault.

All these ideas are rooted in the belief that a certain group of peoplelower classes, women, and minoritiescant take care of themselves. These systems developed around the good intention to care for those who were weaker.

But we all know what they say about good intentions and the road to Hell.

In the end, efforts to help are flawed because rather than creating a system where the disadvantaged could compete, we assigned a group already in powerpolitical leaders, men, banks, etc.to level the playing field. No one was empowered, no one was given liberty. In the end, we left power where it had always been.

The lesson we should learn is that assigning one group to look after another does not end well. Only by granting people personal freedom and autonomy can we ensure that they can at least work to secure what they need. Im not saying its perfect, no system is. However, its about as close as we can get.

Rather than designating one group of people to look out for another, be it the government or a group of private citizens, disadvantaged groups should have control over, and responsibility for, their own lives. No matter if those in power are richer, more educated, or more charismatic, we should never allow someone else to take care of us if we can help it. In the words of my favorite Avenger, The best hands are still our own.

* Elisabeth Wheatley is a college student, blogger, and fiction writer who loves freedom. Besides playing the token conservative in an aptly named liberal arts school, she is a gigantic nerd and pro-life feminist who dreams of owning a hobbit house.

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Communism, Patriarchy, and Other Great Ideas That Don't Work - Being Libertarian