Listen to and follow ‘Matter of Opinion’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon Music The New York Times Audio app includes podcasts, narrated articles from the newsroom and other publishers, as well as exclusive new shows — including this one — which we’re making available to readers for a limited time. Download the New York Times Audio app here. As authoritarian nations like China and Russia try to assert their power, President Biden has said the United States is fighting a global battle to save democracy. So why is…
Tag: democracy
When Dictators Find God
What is the 21st century going to be about? If you had asked me 20 years ago, on, say, Sept. 10, 2001, I would have had a clear answer: advancing liberalism. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of apartheid, Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in China, a set of values seemed to be on the march — democracy, capitalism, egalitarianism, individual freedom. Then over the ensuing decades, democracy’s spread was halted and then reversed. Authoritarians in China, Central and Eastern Europe and beyond wielded power. We settled into the…
Hong Kong police raid museum commemorating 1989 Tiananmen victims
HONG KONG, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Hong Kong police on Thursday raided the premises of the closed June 4th Museum, dedicated to the victims of China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The raid came hours after a dozen pro-democracy activists pleaded guilty of knowingly participating in an unauthorised assembly during last year’s June 4 anniversary, when rallies were banned by police, citing the coronavirus. The 2021 vigil was banned for similar reasons. The reason for the raid was unclear. Police did not immediately reply…