Correction July 17, 2022: The following translation draws from a commentary that circulated on WeChat allegedly authored by He Weifang (贺卫方), a legal intellectual and former professor at Peking University Law School. The U.S.-China Perception Monitor can confirm this commentary is actually authored by Zhang Hongliang (张宏良), a professor at the Minzu University of China and frequently associated with China’s new left.
In the commentary’s comparison between China and fascist Germany, there are undertones of antisemitism in his ahistorical narrative of income inequality. The U.S.-China Perception Monitor reject antisemitism in all forms, and the commentary’s views do not represent those of the website or its affiliates.
I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I went back and forth from my bedroom to my study, and every time I entered my bedroom, I couldn’t help but write something, but every time I came to my study, I didn’t know what to write and, until dawn, anger kept welling up in my chest.
For years we have talked about the bottom line, and more and more about the bottom line. I am afraid that the bottom line that people have talked about throughout the ages is not as much as the bottom line that we on the Chinese left have talked about!
At first, we called for not breaking the bottom line of socialism! Later, we called for not breaking the bottom line of a civilized society! And [then] we referred to the bottom line of human society! Until recently, we called for not breaking the bottom line of an animal society following a few big men in Tangshan beating up a feeble woman! And now we have to call out the last bottom line of all bottom lines— that is, the governance of the state must not cross the bottom line of fascism!
But just yesterday morning, the city of Zhengzhou crossed the bottom line of fascism when countless brawny men in uniform (the purpose of uniformed clothing is to avoid accidentally injuring one’s own people in a mass siege) surrounded and beat thousands of depositors who wanted to withdraw their money from their bank accounts. One video clipping shows seven or eight brawny men picking up a thin man and beating him brutally. The reason these depositors were beaten was because they wanted to take their hard-earned money out of the bank. Maybe their families were waiting for the money to buy rice for the pot, or maybe their dying loved ones in hospital were waiting for the money to save their lives! But whatever they want to do with their money, these people shouldn’t be beaten to death for it.
Obviously, this not only breaks the bottom line of socialism and the bottom line of a civilized society, it has even broken the bottom line of fascism. German fascists did not do this to the German people, nor did Japanese fascists do this to the Japanese people. Although death camps were established by German fascists, they were the result of class and ethnic hatred. At that time, when the average German person’s income was only 37 marks, the average Jewish people’s income exceeded 70,000 marks. Such a huge disparity between the rich and the poor resulted in extremely cruel class confrontation and ethnic cleansing. But neither the German fascists nor the Japanese fascists have brutally beaten their own depositors on a large scale. And now Zhengzhou, Henan, China has done it! They crossed the fascist bottom line!
Many of the analyses of the bank frauds are insightful and shocking. The financial fraud by local banks in Henan is unprecedented. That people go to the bank to deposit money is based upon years of trust in the government. One could not have expected the collapse and the consequent loss of one’s hard-earned money. In recent years, there have been many cases of financial fraud, P2P schemes have collapsed all over the country, and countless elderly people’s hard-earned money has evaporated overnight, unjustly killing countless elderly people. Is this not a consequence of the upper-level government’s behavior? So far, the country’s judiciary has taken an evasive attitude towards these cases, and has instead acted as a protective umbrella for corrupt officials. This is unprecedented worldwide, and from any point of view the defrauding of thousands of people was the result of a government’s action (or inaction). Banks are supposed to be owned by the state, and the entire state administration, including the public prosecutor and the law, is involved. The financial fraud that occurred at the Henan banks is an escalated version of the government scamming people’s hard-earned money. The incident provides iron-clad evidence that the judicial system protects criminals. Needless to say, the bloody facts show that the bottom line of the fascist state has been crossed.
整整一夜，不能入眠，从卧室到书房来回折腾，每一次进入卧室都忍不住要写些什么，可是每一次来到书房又不知道该写什么，直到天亮，愤怒始终充满胸膛。
多年来我们就一直在谈底线，越来越多地在谈底线，恐怕古往今来人们所谈的底线加起来，也没有我们中国左翼所谈的底线更多！
最初我们呼吁不能突破社会主义的底线！后来又退而求其次呼吁不要突破文明社会的底线！再后来更是退而求其次呼吁不要突破人类社会的底线！直到最近唐山几个彪形大汉围殴一个弱女子我们呼吁不要突破兽类社会的底线！而如今我们喊出了所有底线中的最后底线，就是国家治理不能突破法西斯的底线！
可就在昨天上午，郑州市便突破了法西斯底线，无数身着统一服装（身着统一服装的目的是避免在大规模围殴中误伤自己人）的彪形大汉将数千名前来银行取钱的储户围起来殴打，现场视频中显示有七八个彪形大汉将一个瘦弱男子架起来殴打。而这些储户被打的原因就是因为他们想从银行里取出他们所存的血汗钱。或许他们家里正在等着这笔钱买米下锅，或许他们在医院里垂危的亲人正在等着这笔钱救命！但无论他们想用这笔钱做什么，都不应该被人往死里打。
显然，这不仅突破了社会主义的底线，突破了文明社会的底线，甚至已经突破了法西斯的底线。德国法西斯没有对德国人民这样干过，日本法西斯也没有对日本人民这样干过。虽然德国建立过死亡集中营，但那是阶级斗争和民族斗争的结果。当时在德国人民平均只有37马克的情况下，犹太人平均超过7万马克，如此悬殊的贫富差别由此而形成了极端残酷的阶级斗争和民族斗争。但是无论是德国法西斯还是日本法西斯，都没有大规模残暴毒打过本国储户。而如今中国河南郑州市这样干了！他们突破了法西斯底线！
许多对银行诈骗案的分析很有深度，也很震惊。这次河南地方银行的金融诈骗行为是前所未有的，老百姓去银行存錢是多年来对政府的信任。绝没有想到的是竟然崩盘，血本无归的结果。 连想到近年来，发生在银行金融诈骗案比比皆是，p2p崩盘全国，无数老人血汗钱一夜蒸发，冤死老人无数。这难道不是上层政府行为？对这些冤案，至今，国家司法竟采取回避态度，反而对捲包贪官们充当了保护伞。这在世界上是绝无仅有的，对成千上万人的诈骗，无论从任何角度来讲都是政府行为。银行本来就是国家的，并且包括公检法在内的整个国家管理机关。在河南银行发生的这场金融诈骗，就是政府骗取老百姓血汗钱的升级版。对欧打受害者的事件，充分说明司法系统绝对是保护犯罪的铁证，毋宁至疑，血淋淋的事实说明，已经突破了法西斯國家底线。
