tankies

Tricontinental Institute Letter Claims that Taiwan is Part of China…Because of a Land Bridge During the Ice Age

Brian Hioe
A recent letter published in Vijay Prashad’s Tricontinental Institute written by Chen Meei-shia, a professor of public health at National Cheng Kung University, proves a bizarre exercise in cognitive dissonance. The letter begins by claiming Taiwan to be part of China…on the basis of that the two were connected by a land bridge during the Ice Age...
Cross StraitEnglishInternationalJune 2026PoliticsSelf-DeterminationSocial Movements4 min read

The Logic of “Solidarity for Me, But Not For You” in Xinjiang Denialism

Brian Hioe
Walaa Alqaisiya's paper in Middle East Critique, “Moving Beyond Imperialist Frameworks: The False Equivalence Between Palestine and Xinjiang”, proves a masterclass in a failure of solidarity. What is most distinctive about the paper is that the author is Palestinian, but rejects comparisons between Palestine and Xinjiang. Alqaisiya takes issue with such comparisons, as most famously ventured by Chinese dissident intellectual Wang Lixiong, who suggested in 2007 that Xinjiang would be treated by China much as the West Bank has been by Israel....
April 2026EnglishRaceSelf-DeterminationSocial Movements4 min read

Vijay Prashad’s Letter on Chomsky Proves Hypocritical Attempt at Damage Control

Brian Hioe
A recent letter by Vijay Prashad in Counterpunch is a poor attempt at damage control. In effect, with it now known that Noam Chomsky was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, as disclosed in what has come to popularly be known as the Epstein files, Prashad attempts to cut ties with Chomsky–this being an effort at damage control shortly after co-authoring a book with Chomsky...
EnglishFebruary 2026PoliticsSocial MovementsTheory and History6 min read

Campists React to Iran Protests With Usual Dehumanization of Non-Western Struggles

Brian Hioe
With the protests that have broken out in Iran, one has seen all-too-typical reactions from those often referred to as tankies or campists. With the emergence of protests against an autocratic, theocratic regime that has positioned itself in opposition to the US, tankies and campists have been quick to denounce the protests as a US-orchestrated “color revolution.” Indeed, if the Trump administration carries out airstrikes or some other form of military intervention directed at the Iranian government, it is to be anticipated that tankies and campists will lean into this narrative all the more. This occurs even as some estimates have more than ten thousand dead as a result of brutal crackdowns in Iran...
EnglishJanuary 2026PoliticsSelf-DeterminationSocial MovementsYouth Movements5 min read

Qiao Collective Uses The History of Premodern Empires to Justify Contemporary Ones

Brian Hioe
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the Qiao Collective’s “Taiwan: An Anti-Imperialist Perspective”, published in the Monthly Review, is to what extent it focuses on premodern history–and to what extent the Taiwanese people are absent from a history purportedly about them. This should not surprise for Qiao, but one still finds one’s self somewhat surprised that the Monthly Review allowed for the publication of a perspective on history that is clearly more cultural nationalist than Marxist...
August 2024EnglishInternationalRegional Tensions11 min read

Code Pink Webinar With Carl Zha on Taiwanese Skips Most of the Last Century, Has No Taiwanese Speakers

Brian Hioe
Anti-war organizations Code Pink and Massachusetts Peace Action held a webinar on the possibility of war in the Taiwan Straits late last month, featuring Chinese podcaster Carl Zha and Madison Tang from Code Pink. The event proved a striking example of the sort of discussion of Taiwan one gets from elements of the anti-war left when they speak over Taiwanese voices, with neither Zha nor Tang being Taiwanese. Zha was the main speaker, with Tang moderating...
December 2021EnglishPolitics10 min read