Are you fed up of mid terms elections ? Because I am. Republicans this, Democrats that, bla bla bla. I would like to thank Louis- Vladimir to save my Friday about it. He has chosen to take an article which comments the new granding published by Forbes.
About what? Power. The article deals with the most powerful person in the world. You will ask me: "who is the best of the best?". The suspense is unbearable. It's... (drum roll)... Hu Jintao. Poor Obama: he's second everywhere (I know I said that we should stop talking about mid- term elections...).
Hu Jintao is the general secretary of the communist party of China. Why Hu Jintao? Louis Vladimir explained us giving three reasons. First, China is not an actual democracy. so it is easier to be powerful when nobody has the right to prevent you doing whatever you want. Hu Jintao doesn't car about free media, independant judiciary or mid term elections with its tea party. Secondly, China's economy is stronger while unemployment in the USA is getting worrying. Thirdly, China has a great place in the world diplomacy because of its important army, its nuclear weapons and its permanent membership of the select "Council of Security" club of the UN. So, we can consider China has a great place in the world order.
But, Forbes doesn't tell the whole truth. Hu Jintao is NOT the most powerful person in the world. Ha. Hu Jintao is totally dependant of the communist party whereas Obama has more freedom. The decisions of Hu Jintao are the decisions of the Politburo and the journalist doesn't hesitate to write about Politburo:"the most powerful person in the world". Does Hu Jintao deserve his first place since he has actually not absolute power in his country? I think Forbes wants to make people realize that China is taking more and more importance in the world and the United States could be threatened by China's uprising.
While reading this article, we can wonder "What is actually power?" "What are the characteritics of power?" Pope Benedict XVI, Angela Markel and Bill Gates are present on this top 10 list even if they are totally different from one each other. I believe that power concerns the influence on people but it is not rendered clear in the article.
Louis Vladimir asked two interesting questions to the class. The first is about an alternative to the American way of life: the Chinese way of life. Classmate's answers are unanimous: they prefer the American way of life. I understand them. I would not live in a country where the thought is uniform, the point of you of the ruling class. Furthermore, wages are higher in the United States: American people have better access ton consumption than Chinese people.
The second is "China: a rival? an ally? an enemy? or our future "master"? Louis Vladimir underlines also the fact that China's population is pretty important: 6 persons out of 68 are Chinese. They are bank magnates, propaganda chief or entrepreneurs. Classmate's opinions are divided. They think China must to be an ally because of its geopolitical position but it is a real rival in economy. In my opinion, China can not be our future "master". Being a master implies gaving an influence on the whole world and I'm not sure that people from other industrialized countries want to give up their freedom. I concede that China has a strong economy but the social development is as much important as economy development. What about wages? What about press freedom? what about political pluralism? What about working rights? What about equality between men and women ? Indeed, in the grading concerning the most powerful women in the world, Chinese women are away! But, maybe when China will tend to become a more democratic country, maybe we could consider it as a concrete rival.
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