China

Chengdu Worldcon GoH applauds Russian attacks on civilians

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Sergei Lukianenko, one of the guests of honor at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, has called the Ukrainians “fascists” and applauded Russia’s attacks on populated areas in Kyiv.

The 2022 WSFS meeting condemned Chengdu’s choice of Lukianenko as a GoH. As far as I know, Chengdu hasn’t responded, nor has Ben Yalow. If I’ve missed anything, please let me know.

The convention’s shills tell you, “So what if China has no free speech? Just go there, shut up, listen to the GoH speech, and come back.”

By now there should be a huge movement in fandom to boycott the Chengdu Worldcon. Why isn’t there?

Lukianenko and free speech issues 3

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If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you should know I support a climate of free speech in science fiction fandom, and I also support the requests that the China Worldcon drop Sergei Lukianenko from its list of Guests of Honor. No one I know of has accused me of inconsistency in these positions, but I’ve had to think carefully about whether there’s any clash. I’d like to explain, even though no one has asked.

I wouldn’t support banning Lukianenko as a program participant or kicking him off panels. Subjecting advocates of bad ideas to criticism helps to expose why they’re wrong. It also gives people an opportunity to answer their critics rather than being dismissed without a hearing. The WSFS resolution which urged a boycott of anyone who “platforms” the Ukraine invasion might be interpreted as a call to disinvite him from all opportunities to speak. I don’t support that.
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WSFS condemns Lukianenko; Chengdu doesn’t care

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The business meeting of WSFS, held at Chicon, passed a resolution saying “[Sergey] Lukianenko should neither be platformed nor celebrated, and we ask the Chengdu 2023 committee, fans and members to refuse Sergei Lukianenko as your guest. it is shameful that he is honored by Worldcon.”

Leaving aside the sloppy language about “platforming,” I agree with the resolution, but it’s unlikely to have any effect on the guest list next year. As I’ve said before, the committee has to watch its step to avoid the Chinese government’s displeasure.
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Proposed Chicon resolution condemns Lukianenko 2

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A proposed resolution for this year’s Worldcon, Chicon 8, condemns the inclusion of Russian author Sergey Lukianenko as a Guest of Honor at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu. Scroll down in the linked page to item D.6, “Short title: Sergey Lukianenko.” The text of the resolution is:

Resolved, that it is the spirit of the Business Meeting to show solidarity with Ukrainian fans and to condemn Worldcon 2023’s Guest of Honour, Sergey Lukianenko’s appalling utterances, calling Ukrainians Nazis and encouraging an illegal invasion of Ukraine. This is utterly unacceptable. Lukianenko should neither be platformed nor celebrated, and we ask the Chengdu 2023 committee, fans and members to refuse Sergei Lukianenko as your guest. it is shameful that he is honoured by Worldcon.

What happens next, I think, is that the WSFS business meeting, held at Chicon, votes on this resolution. While I support it, one point gives me concern. The call for him not to be “platformed” could be interpreted as saying he should never be given an opportunity to speak. I would not support that, but the point is vague enough that I won’t let it stand in the way. He certainly should not have the status of a guest of honor, and I hope that the resolution will pass.

Worldcon and NASFiC hypocrisy 1

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Recently I got a strong lesson in how hypocritical some people in fandom are. A while back, I said on a certain Discord channel, replying to an ongoing conversation, that everyone should boycott the China Worldcon because of the nation’s horrible human rights record. One person replied that it’s only necessary to keep quiet on sensitive issues while there and you won’t get into trouble. I responded that a Worldcon is about discussing sensitive issues. He wasn’t convinced, but fine, I don’t have to convince everyone.

More recently, I posted to the same channel a link to a File 770 news item reporting that the Orlando, Florida bid for the North American Science Fiction Convention had been withdrawn, leaving only the Winnipeg bid in the running. When a Worldcon is held outside North America, a NASFiC is held the same year for people who don’t want to travel so far.

The same person who said that ignoring China’s monstrous record is fine went on a rant that he would never set foot in a state as evil as Florida.
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Update on boycotting the Chengdu Worldcon

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The World Science Fiction Convention scheduled for 2023 in Chengdu hasn’t made a lot of news lately. This is normal for a con in its early stages of preparation. I’d really hoped that the calls for boycotting it would grow, though, especially since they would have a bearing on the NASFiC to be held the same year. Winnipeg and Orlando have filed bids. Florida also falls below some people’s threshold of acceptability because of things its government has done, but that’s a discussion for another time. If Florida is unacceptable, China certainly has to be.

The Chinese government can bring trouble for anyone who criticizes it, even outside China. I’m obscure and hard to put pressure on, so I haven’t run into any problems, though that could change. My obscurity means I don’t have a lot of influence on many fans, though I turn up high in the search results if you look for something like “boycott Chengdu Worldcon.”
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China holds Australian journalist on unsubsantiated charges

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Enter China at your own risk.

The Chinese government is holding Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australian journalist, on charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas.” According to the BBC report, China is subjecting her to a “closed-door trial” and the specific nature of her offenses is unknown. The Australian ambassador has said, “This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable. We can have no confidence in the validity of the process which is conducted in secret.”

To be sure, China isn’t the only country that ignores basic principles of justice when it raises the “state secrets” excuse. The United States’ treatment of Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange has been abominable. But in China, it’s much more the norm. If its government especially dislikes someone who comes to the Chengdu Worldcon in 2023, it may be a long time before they come back.

The cries that boycotting the Chengdu Worldcon is “racist” are getting thinner. Pretty much everyone who thinks about the matter realizes how dishonest it is to accuse supporters of the Uyghurs, Falun Gong, and Hong Kong residents of racism.

An article by Sarah Mughal Rana on the Chengdu convention raises some good points.
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Sergey Lukianenko and the Chengdu Worldcon

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One of the guests at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention, Sergey Lukianenko, has attracted negative attention for his public support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is echoing the Putin line, smearing Ukrainians as “Nazis.” There have been calls to rescind his invitation.

From what I can tell, Lukianenko is a despicable person. His activity goes far beyond Cixin Liu’s excuses for China’s treatment of the Uyghurs. Cixin was just answering a question; Lukianenko is actively praising Putin’s brutal actions.

However, I don’t like the idea of withdrawing speakers’ invitations when their views are unpopular. I’d rather view his presence on the guest list as a symptom, a concrete example of what holding a Worldcon in China means. At a convention in any semi-free country, it would be great fun to have him speak before an audience and face merciless question after question about the invasion of Ukraine. I absolutely wouldn’t want him shouted down; that’s a confession of fear that people will hear what the speaker has to say. But having him face a fannish inquisition in the Q&A — I relish the thought.
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Authors condemn China as host of Worldcon

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Over 80 speculative fiction authors have signed an open letter opposing China’s hosting of the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention in Chengdu. Prominent authors include Angie Thomas, N.K. Jemisin, G. Willow Wilson, S.A. Chakraborty, Zoraida Córdova, Tochi Onyebuchi, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Jeannette Ng, Tracy Deonn, Roseanne Brown, Usman T. Malik, and Tahir Hamut Izgil. The letter was spearheaded by Muslim writers concerned about the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghurs. Sarah Mughal Rana, one of the people who created the letter, is quoted as saying, “At the very least, I hope for a boycott and for people to be educated on these matters so they do not gaslight and shutdown Muslim voices again. The last discussion about Chengdu’s bid, Muslims were gaslit and accused of being racist, and Western-centric.”

To gaslight is to manipulate people to make them doubt their sanity. I don’t know what the gaslighting consists of, but I’ve discussed the bogus accusations of racism in previous posts.

Emerson College: Criticizing China’s totalitarian regime is “hate”

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This is a writing blog, not a blog on the China Worldcon, but I’ve been getting a bump in readership from the Worldcon articles, I’ve been talking about intimidation of China critics with vague claims of “racism,” and I just came upon a new outrage. Emerson College is apparently in the pocket of the Chinese government. It derecognized a chapter of Turning Point USA, a student organization. The organization had distributed stickers with the text “China kinda … sus.” That’s gamer slang for “suspicious.”

Emerson president William Gilligan, who seems like a typical academic tinpot dictator, has smeared the Turning Point chapter with a claim of “anti-China hate.” “Hate” is a wonderfully flexible word; in this case, it means criticism of an authoritarian state. If Gilligan is consistent (which I don’t expect he is), then he ought to regard kneeling during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “anti-America hate.” Or maybe he just likes concentration camps.
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