World
Defiant Obama bats for middle class
Washington: Noting that he had no more campaigns to run, a defiant Barack Obama set out to seal his legacy in his final two years with a blunt veto threat against any attempts to undermine his legislative achievements.
“I have no more campaigns to run,” he reminded the Republican controlled Congress Tuesday night as he outlined an ambitious vision for “middle-class economics” with a call for tax reform, free community college and child care.
“My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I’ve had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America,” he said in his annual State of the Union message.
“If you share the broad vision I outlined tonight, join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of it, I hope you’ll at least work with me where you do agree,” Obama said.
In an address running over an hour, Obama in a dark suit and a light blue tie also offered a blunt veto threat of any Congressional proposals to undermine his major legislative achievements to date.
“We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got a system to fix,” he said.
“And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto.”
Obama said the “shadow of crisis has passed” after years dominated by wars, recession and the threat of terror, saying that it’s now time for the nation to “turn the page.”
“America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” he said.
Under Obama’s plan, tax hikes on the wealthy would help finance tax breaks for middle-income Americans, including a $500 boost for families with two working spouses and a tripling of the child care tax credit.
Other proposals included a push for more paid sick leave and a free community college education for qualified students.
Focused on domestic politics, Obama made no reference to his upcoming historic trip to India later this week.
But he accused China of wanting to “write the rules for the world’s fastest-growing region. That would put our workers and our businesses at a disadvantage.”
“Why would we let that happen? We should write those rules. We should level the playing field,” he said seeking”trade promotion authority to protect American workers, with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe.”
Obama also asked Congress to formally authorise the use of force against the Islamic State terror group.
He also told Congress that he will veto any additional sanctions on Iran as the administration seeks to finalize a long-elusive nuclear deal with the country.
Defending his administration’s move to normalise diplomatic relations with Cuba, he said that it ends “a policy that was long past its expiration date.”
Shanghai’s rich middle class is leading a wave of online dissent over the strict and prolonged lockdowns imposed in various parts of the country. Chinese internet censorship is struggling as patience is wearing thin in many urban centers, coming up with creative forms of online protests.
Social Media Posts Revealing Lockdown Tension in Shanghai
Drawn-out lockdowns are nothing new in China as authorities insist with the nation’s zero-Covid policy since the start of the pandemic. Currently over This time around, however, metropolitan areas like Shanghai are increasingly difficult to keep quiet, given that its more than 25 million residents have seen weeks of total isolation along with food shortages and many other service interruptions.
Dozens of towns and reportedly over 300 million Chinese citizens have been affected by lockdowns of different severity. As expected, urban netizens have been most outspoken over their difficulties by finding creative ways to get around state censorship and bans placed on topics, news comments and spontaneous campaigns.
Shanghai residents have been using mobile proxies and hijacking seemingly unrelated hashtags to talk about healthcare issues, delivery failures and the overall severity of their situation. The “positive energy” that the Chinese government wants to transmit during the recent prolonged series of lockdowns does not come naturally to those counting food supplies and online censors are working hard to filter words, trending topics and undesired social media sharing.
WeChat groups and message threads are under constant monitoring. Posts questioning the zero-Covid approach have been quickly deleted, including by leading Chinese health experts like Dr. Zhong Nanshan. Video footage is soon censored and protests and investigations are quickly made to disappear.
Where this has not worked, officials have exposed banners with warnings and outright threats like “watch your own mouth or face punishment”, while drones have been patrolling the city skies. Yet, if anything, this has led to further tensions and unspoken confrontation with Shanghai’s educated and affluent middle class.
Creative Online Solutions Harnessing Civic Energy
Announcements by Chinese social media that they would be publishing the IP addresses of users who “spread rumors” have not helped either. Tech industry research has shown that much of Asia’s tech-savvy population has a habit of using mobile proxies and other privacy tools, quickly finding workarounds to browse the internet freely and talk to the world about the hottest topics.
The sheer volume of forbidden posts is already a challenge for the very censorship system, experts explain. Unable to track all trending hashtags, state workers overlook topics that speak about the US, Ukraine or other popular news. Linking human rights elsewhere to their situation, Chinese online dissidents establish their informal channels and “hijack” the conversation to share personal or publicly relevant information about the Covid suppression in their town.
Sarcastic and satirical posts still dominate. Others hope to evade the censors by replacing words from famous poems or the national anthem. One thing is certain – social media, when harnessed with the right creativity, has proven its ability to mount pressure on the government in even some of the most strictly controlled tech environments like China.
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