Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:06:43 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: Chinese H-1B group slams CNN's Cafferty To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter As an observer of the dynamics of H-1B/green card politics, I sometimes write postings to this e-newsletter about organizations of H-1Bs or other foreign nationals who lobby Congress for more expansive green card programs. In the early 90s there was the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS), whose ostensible goal was to promote democracy in China but whose membership consisted mainly of Chinese nationals who hoped that IFCSS would convince Congress to give all Chinese nationals in the U.S. at the time of the Tiananmen Square uprising automatic green cards in a mass political asylum action. Congress did so in 1992, after which the organization quickly faded away. In 2000 there was the primarily-Indian Immigrant Support Network; it too, disappeared soon after legislation was passed along the lines they promoted. In the last couple of years we've been seeing Immigration Voice, again largely Indian. Here I will discuss a Chinese group, the Legal Immigrant Association (http://legalimmigrant.org/en/nodequeue/1), which calls itself "a leading organization of legal immigrants mainly comprised of people from China." This is highly misleading, as (a) they are NOT immigrants, merely H-1Bs who hope to become immigrants and (b) they are certainly not a "leading" organization; most Chinese immigrants in the U.S. had never heard of them until the last week or so. The reason LIA suddenly acquired some visibility in the Chinese-immigrant community is that they have launched a protest against remarks made by CNN's Jack Cafferty, in which he said "They [the Chinese] are the same goons and thugs they were 50 years ago." He was apparently referring to the Chinese government, but with all the anti-China rhetoric in the press and Congress the last few weeks, many ethnic Chinese took Cafferty to mean the Chinese people as a whole. LIA launched a petition campaign to have CNN fired or at least reprimanded Cafferty for his remarks. When I checked just now, the petition had 27550 signatures. I'm enclosing the text of the petition below. I'm also enclosing an op-ed from today's New York Times by Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time. Forney's report on popular support of the Chinese government on these issues is accurate, though sadly he is condescending in tone, taking it for granted that he knows better than Chinese youth about matters such as Tibet. My guess is that CNN will respond to LIA's demand in some way, say with Cafferty making some kind of "statement of regret." The latter is the phrasing that Connie Chung made on the CBS Evening News some years ago. She had broadcast a report claiming that many Chinese foreign students in the U.S. (including those now working as H-1Bs) had been sent by the Chinese government as spies. The IFCSS hotly objected (conveniently forgetting that it had earlier claimed that its members needed asylum because the government was spying on them), and Chung made her public mea culpa. Though I agree that the U.S. press' recent coverage of China has fallen way short of careful, nuanced reporting (concerning the Tibet issue, I do recommenad an article by James Miles in The Economist; see http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10875823), I wonder if LIA realizes that they are not helping their cause in terms of green cards. Even though immigration is a sensitive issue, Congress has generally looked at immigrants, especially those from communist countries like China, as future fervent Americans, not loyal partisans for their home-country governments. Of course, it is not nearly as simple as that, but the recent Chinese-immigrant backlash against perceived China bashing in Congress and the press is being taken very negatively by many on the Hill, I'm sure. These incidents are also bringing to light a large cultural gap. Aside from whether the claims of misdeeds by the Chinese government in Tibet are valid, a common theme among Chinese immigrants who disagree with the "boycott the China Olympics" crowd is that Tibet etc. are internal matters to China, and thus the Chinese are baffled that many Westerners want to push China to take action. The Confucian philosophy of focus on family is taken by many Asians to mean helping ONLY one's own family (or by extension, only one's own country), in great contrast to the Judeo-Christian tradition of helping people in need even one does not know them (the notions of the Good Samaritan, tikkun olam etc.). There is a mutual lack of understanding here, with both sides baffled by the other. Accordingly, as members of LIA visit congressional offices, they might find a somewhat cooler reception than before. They will still likely to achieve their goal in the end, but I'm sure that many Hill politicians will wonder just what they're getting into by expanding the green card program. Norm Demand for Apology from CNN and Situation Room View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition To: CNN and Situation Room We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hatred remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator Jack Cafferty. In Situation Room aired on April 9th, Cafferty charged the Chinese people with a highly despicable assault by saying, "They (Chinese) are basically the same bunch goons and thugs they have been in the past fifty years." (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/09/sitroom.03.html) It's not common to witness such a blatant discrimination against an ethnic group of people with such a derogatory connotation in a national TV program. We believe his remark clearly exposed his hatred and bigotry against Chinese people as a whole. Without doubt, many people feel hurt, especially, the Chinese people, by this shameless assault. Cafferty's hatred speech has been recorded and uploaded to Youtube. So far the click rate is approaching ten thousand. People from around the world have left comments condemning his vile remark. As a leading organization of legal immigrants mainly comprised of people from China, we strongly condemn Jack Cafferty's racist remarks and urge CNN to take immediate action against him. We also demand an official apology from CNN to all Chinese people. We would reserve our right to take further actions on this matter. Sincerely, The Undersigned Click Here to Sign Petition View Current Signatures ________________________________________________________ The Demand for Apology from CNN and Situation Room Petition to CNN and Situation Room was created by Legal Immigrant Association and written by Legal Immigrant Association (petition@legalimmigrant.org). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/opinion/13forney.html?ei=5087&em=&en=45f3cfe648f924cb&ex=1208318400&pagewanted=print The New York Times April 13, 2008 Op-Ed Contributor Chinas Loyal Youth By MATTHEW FORNEY Beijing MANY sympathetic Westerners view Chinese society along the lines of what they saw in the waning days of the Soviet Union: a repressive government backed by old hard-liners losing its grip to a new generation of well-educated, liberal-leaning sophisticates. As pleasant as this outlook may be, it’s naïve. Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or upset by their government’s human-rights record, rank among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you’ll meet. As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly support their government’s suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising. One Chinese friend who has a degree from a European university described the conflict to me as “a clash between the commercial world and an old aboriginal society.” She even praised her government for treating Tibetans better than New World settlers treated Native Americans. It’s a rare person in China who considers the desires of the Tibetans themselves. “Young Chinese have no sympathy for Tibet,” a Beijing human-rights lawyer named Teng Biao told me. Mr. Teng — a Han Chinese who has offered to defend Tibetan monks caught up in police dragnets — feels very alone these days. Most people in their 20s, he says, “believe the Dalai Lama is trying to split China.” Educated young people are usually the best positioned in society to bridge cultures, so it’s important to examine the thinking of those in China. The most striking thing is that, almost without exception, they feel rightfully proud of their country’s accomplishments in the three decades since economic reforms began. And their pride and patriotism often find expression in an unquestioning support of their government, especially regarding Tibet. The most obvious explanation for this is the education system, which can accurately be described as indoctrination. Textbooks dwell on China’s humiliations at the hands of foreign powers in the 19th century as if they took place yesterday, yet skim over the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s as if it were ancient history. Students learn the neat calculation that Chairman Mao’s tyranny was “30 percent wrong,” then the subject is declared closed. The uprising in Tibet in the late 1950s, and the invasion that quashed it, are discussed just long enough to lay blame on the “Dalai clique,” a pejorative reference to the circle of advisers around Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Then there’s life experience — or the lack of it — that might otherwise help young Chinese to gain a perspective outside the government’s viewpoint. Young urban Chinese study hard and that’s pretty much it. Volunteer work, sports, church groups, debate teams, musical skills and other extracurricular activities don’t factor into college admission, so few participate. And the government’s control of society means there aren’t many non-state-run groups to join anyway. Even the most basic American introduction to real life — the summer job — rarely exists for urban students in China. Recent Chinese college graduates are an optimistic group. And why not? The economy has grown at a double-digit rate for as long as they can remember. Those who speak English are guaranteed good jobs. Their families own homes. They’ll soon own one themselves, and probably a car too. A cellphone, an iPod, holidays — no problem. Small wonder the Pew Research Center in Washington described the Chinese in 2005 as “world leaders in optimism.” As for political repression, few young Chinese experience it. Most are too young to remember the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and probably nobody has told them stories. China doesn’t feel like a police state, and the people young Chinese read about who do suffer injustices tend to be poor — those who lost homes to government-linked property developers without fair compensation or whose crops failed when state-supported factories polluted their fields. Educated young Chinese are therefore the biggest beneficiaries of policies that have brought China more peace and prosperity than at any time in the past thousand years. They can’t imagine why Tibetans would turn up their noses at rising incomes and the promise of a more prosperous future. The loss of a homeland just doesn’t compute as a valid concern. Of course, the nationalism of young Chinese may soften over time. As college graduates enter the work force and experience their country’s corruption and inefficiency, they often grow more critical. It is received wisdom in China that people in their 40s are the most willing to challenge their government, and the Tibet crisis bears out that observation. Of the 29 ethnic-Chinese intellectuals who last month signed a widely publicized petition urging the government to show restraint in the crackdown, not one was under 30. Barring major changes in China’s education system or economy, Westerners are not going to find allies among the vast majority of Chinese on key issues like Tibet, Darfur and the environment for some time. If the debate over Tibet turns this summer’s contests in Beijing into the Human Rights Games, as seems inevitable, Western ticket-holders expecting to find Chinese angry at their government will instead find Chinese angry at them. Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, is writing a book about raising his family in China.