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China approves 'ethnic unity' law requiring minorities to learn Mandarin (www.bbc.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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China has approved a sweeping new law which claims to help promote "ethnic unity" - but critics say it will further erode the rights of minority groups.

On paper, it aims to promote integration among the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, through education and housing. But critics say it cuts people off from their language and culture.

It mandates that all children should be taught Mandarin before kindergarten and up until the end of high school. Previously students could study most of the curriculum in their native language such as Tibetan, Uyghur or Mongolian.

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[–] 26 points 8 months ago* (17 children)

In the US, all children are required to take English classes from kindergarten and up until the end of high school. There are no alternatives offered, if a student can't speak English, then they are at the very least offered ESL classes in addition to their regular English courses, but they still must take those courses and pass in order to get a diploma

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  • [–] -4 points 8 months ago (15 children)

    While I don't actually think that mandating the official national language as a class in schools is at all a problem (or a new idea), your argument is blatant whataboutism. Something cannot be justified merely by comparing it to somewhere else (especially the US, I might add).

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  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago (14 children)

    It’s not whataboutism when there’s a clear bias in terms of what country the BBC is criticizing. Having a national language and requiring it to be taught in schools is incredibly common for many states including the UK. Why is China singled out so often for things almost every state does?

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    So call out the journalistic bias, or hypocritical behaviour of the BBC. But if the topic in general is brought up in conversation, just pointing to the US as some kind of justification, is definitely whataboutism. It sidesteps actual critical thinking by playing to familiarity: "well if this country does it, then it must be fine!", which is clearly a logical fallacy.

    All countries actions should be criticized equally. No countries actions should be justified by being the same as another country.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    The person you initially replied to did not say anything about was or wasn’t justified. They just stated a simple fact. Their wording did not give any clear indication about how they actually felt. What does give you an indication of what they believe is the context under which they provided that fact.

    To me, knowing the history of the BBC and other western media outlets, it seems clear that their comment is calling out the hypocrisy and bias of the BBC. I imagine it only appears to you as whataboutism because you do not share a perspective which encompasses the prior behavior of the BBC.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    The reason I thought they were using it as justification, was because their comment was a reply to a comment that said something like "justify that tankies"

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Is it not obvious to you that “justify that tankies” is not a serious request? It’s a flippant way to dismiss any alternative opinions. It’s kind of absurd to assume that anyone replying to that request is taking it seriously. If you think otherwise, ask yourself if you really believe the person you replied to sincerely self identifies as a “tankie”?

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Yes it is obvious that it is flippantly dismissing others opinions, but do you seriously think that no people might want to justify it anyway, to rebuke the person acting flippantly? Or else why respond at all?

    Whether meant serious or not, the topic the original comment brought up was the justifiability of the event linked in the post. I see no reason to assume that someone directly responding to that comment, was not responding to that topic.

    Even if you think they weren't justifying anything, can you at least recognise that it can certainly look like they were?

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    You do understand that the widely recognized genocide in North America is and has been criticized for this, right? The language deprivation has mostly wrapped up in political terms but a linguistic rebirth is still struggling financially and in many nations/tribes will never fully recover.

    China is not being singled out, but called out based on historical familiarity with the process.

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  • [+] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago*

    The difference between how China is handling these classes compared to how the US (and Canada) handled tribal cultural and linguistic genocide generally is not even close to comparable. You have absolutely no clue. It is disgusting that you are attempting to compare the severity at all just to lose an internet argument.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    You’re right. There is no difference between banning native languages and ensuring children get taught the skills they need to succeed in life. Totally the same.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    The assumption here is that we should take CPC pronouncements as fully truthful. Ask tibetans about language rights.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    Tibetan is legally required to be used as a language of instruction in Tibet. That’s literally the opposite of banning a language. Nobody is really disputing that. Mandating that mandarin be taught in schools as well is not the same a banning Tibetan and it’s disingenuous to pretend that it is.

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