Beijing has officially announced the Communist Party’s Central Committee proposal for the nation’s 15th five-year plan, including language that signals strategic support for the private sector and an acceleration of China’s transformation into a financial power, easing market concerns about their positions in the economy over the next five years.

These messages were not mentioned in the communique published last week at the end of the fourth plenum of the Communist Party.

“The state should implement the Private Economy Promotion Law to ensure, through legal and institutional means, equal access to production factors, fair participation in market competition, and effective protection of legitimate rights and interests, so as to develop and expand the private economy,” the proposal said.

It vowed to “fully stimulate” the vitality of all types of business entities and encourage the joint development of various forms of ownership.

The proposal also called for a more “sound and standardised” mechanism for law enforcement involving companies, cautioning against unlawful cross-regional enforcement and profit-driven enforcement.

The recommendation could be seen as part of Beijing’s efforts in recent years to court private business owners and boost confidence in the private sector amid an economic slowdown.

It also pushed for increased private capital access in key infrastructure projects, under the guidance of public funds.

“The state should enhance the guiding and leveraging role of government investment funds, stimulate the vitality of private investment and increase its share … strengthen the market-driven momentum for effective investment growth,” the proposal said.

It also called for continued efforts to promote the yuan’s internationalisation, including the building of “a self-reliant and controllable cross-border yuan payment system”, plus more access to foreign funding in domestic projects.

China should strengthen and modernise its financial system by enhancing regulations and coordination between central and local regulatory authorities, the proposal said while also calling for the acceleration of Shanghai’s development as an international financial centre.

And the proposal stressed the need to “enhance the inclusiveness and adaptability of capital market institutions, improve the coordination between investment and financing functions, actively develop direct financing through equities and bonds, and steadily advance the development of futures, derivatives and asset securitisation”.

Compared with the language used for the last five-year plan, the current proposal placed greater emphasis on preventing risks in the financial system, calling for “a risk-prevention and resolution system”.

The focus on regulation is also more highlighted, relative to five years ago, as the new proposal vowed to “comprehensively strengthen” financial regulations.

On accelerating the building of a strong financial nation, the proposal called for the development of science and technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance and digital finance.

get home from work in the United Soviet States of America in 2024

thirty hour weeks are tough, but I get more vacation days than most people in order to make up for it

boot up my home PC, an Electronika 9100 XMT

it’s located in my garage, in a standard rack mount along with its standard power source and network components

head to the terminal in my living room to actually use it

computer monitor makes a satisfying hum as it comes to life

see the logo for the default OS pop up

it’s a Linux distribution maintained by the Computing Centre of the Academy of Sciences

it’s good enough

go into Firefox, log onto my favorite website

it’s called Hexbear, it’s a pretty standard BBCode forum

see that I have a private message

a comrade is calling me a revisionist

they sent me a picture of a pig pooping on its balls

Aaron Maté
Abby Martin
Abdaljawad Omar
Abubaker Abed
Adam Rouhana
Ahlam Muhtaseb
Ahmed Hijazi
Ahmed Alnaouq
Ahmed Shihab Eldin
aja monet
Ajay Singh Chaudhary
AK Blakemore
Alana Hadid
Alberto Toscano
Alec Karakatsanis
Alex Colston
Alex Press
Alex Sujong Laughlin
Alexander Chee
Ali Winston
Alia Al-Sabi
Alyssa Battistoni
Amanda Seales
Amelia Bande
Amira Jarmakani
Anahid Nersessian
Andreas Malm
Angela Garbes
Anita Shepherd
Annia Ciezadlo
Aparna Gopalan
Aria Aber
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
Artie Vierkant
Asa Seresin
Ashton Applewhite
Asmaa Azaizeh
Assal Rad
Audrey Wollen
Avgi Saketopoulou
Avik Jain Chatlani
Azad Essa
Basel Adra
Bayan Abusneineh
Beatrice Adler-Bolton
Ben Ehrenreich
Brendan O’Connor
Bruce Robbins
Camille Squires
Camonghne Felix
Carmen Maria Machado
Carvell Wallace
Catherine Lacey
Chase Berggrun
Chelsea Manning
China Miéville
Chris Hedges
Chris Randle
Claire Dederer
Claire Schwartz
Cyrus Dunham
Dalia Hatuqa
Dan Sheehan
Dan Sinykin
Danez Smith
Daniel Denvir
Daniel José Older
Danielle Carr
Dave Zirin
Davey Davis
David Lloyd
David Naimon
David Velasco
Dean Spade
Deborah Eisenberg
Derecka Purnell
Diala Shamas
Dr. Dylan Rodriguez
Dr. Sarah Ihmoud
dream hampton
Dylan Saba
Edna Bonhomme
Eileen Myles
Eli Coplan
Elia Suleiman
Elias Rodriques
Elise Joshi
Elizabeth Crane
Eman Abdelhadi
Emma Copley Eisenberg
Erik Baker
Esmat Elhalaby
Esther Allen
Eve L. Ewing
Fadi Quran
Fady Joudah
Farah Barqawi
Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
Fariha Róisín
Fatima Bhutto
Franny Choi
Gabor Maté
Gabriel Winant
Geo Maher
George Abraham
Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Gita Jackson
Greta Thunberg
Hafsa Kanjwal
Haley Mlotek
Hamed Sinno
Hannah Einbinder
Hannah Moushabeck
Hari Nef
Hazem Jamjoum
Hermione Hoby
Huda Fakhreddine
Hugh Ryan
Hussein Ahmed Hussein Omar
Ibtisam Azem
Indya Moore
Inès Abdel Razek
Isabella Hammad
Ismail Ibrahim
J. Mijin Cha
Jake Romm
Jameson Rich
Jamie Lauren Keiles
Jamie Loftus
Jared Ball
Jasbir Puar
Jasmine Sanders
Jasper Nathaniel
Jehad Abusalim
Jenny Zhang
Jesse Darling
Jia Tolentino
Joe Osmundson
John Early
Jonny Diamond
Jordy Rosenberg
Jos Charles
Joseph Earl Thomas
josh briond
Juliet Jacques
Kaleem Hawa
Kamelya Omayma Youssef
Kareem Rabie
Kate Aronoff
Kathleen Alcott
Katya Schwenk
Kaveh Akbar
Keiran Goddard
Kelsey McKinney
Khalid Albaih
Kiese Laymon
Laila Al-Arian
Laila Lalami
Lara Bitar
Lara Elborno
Lara Sheehi
Laura Albast
Laurie Penny
Layth Hanbali
Layth Malhis
Léopold Lambert
Leslie Jamison
Lily Hu
Lily Scherlis
Lina Mounzer
Lisa Borst
Lisa Duggan
Luke Williams
Lydia Kiesling
Maaza Mengiste
Maira Khwaja
Marc Lamont Hill
Marcia Lynx Qualey
Mariam Barghouti
Mariame Kaba
Martín Espada
Marwan Kaabour
Mary Gaitskill
Mary Turfah
Maura Finkelstein
Max Ajl
Max Porter
Maya Binyam
McKenzie Wark
Melissa Gira Grant
Michael Magee
Michelle Peñaloza
Mirene Arsanios
Mohammed El-Kurd
Molly Crabapple
Momodou Taal
Mona Chalabi
Mona Miari
Morgan Bassichis
Morgan Parker
Mosab Abu Toha
Mouin Rabbani
Muna Mire
Nada Elia
Naib Mian
Nan Goldin
Nancy Kricorian
Nasser Abourahme
Natalie Diaz
Natasha Lennard
Natasha Soobramanien
Nathan Goldman
Nathan J. Robinson
Nathan Tankus
Nerdeen Kiswani
Nicholas Glastonbury
Nicki Kattoura
Nihal El Aasar
Noah Kulwin
Noor Hindi
Nour Annan
Noura Erakat
Nyle Fort
Omar El Akkad
Omar Robert Hamilton
Omar Zahzah
Orisanmi Burton
P.E. Moskowitz
Paul Preciado
Paula Chakravartty
Plestia Alaqad
Porochista Khakpour
Rabea Eghbariah
Randa Jarrar
Rashid Khalidi
Rashida Tlaib
Rayan El Amine
Rayne Fisher-Quann
Raz Segal
Remi Kanazi
Rémy Ngamije
Rhonda Roumani
Richard Beck
Richard Seymour
Rima Hassan
Robin D. G. Kelley
Roshan Abraham
Ross Gay
Rupi Kaur
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Sabrina Imbler
Safia Elhillo
Sakir Khader
Saleem Haddad
Salim Tamari
Sally Rooney
Sam Adler-Bell
Sam McKinniss
Sam Sax
Sama Abdulhadi
Samaa Khullar
Sana Saeed
Sarah Aziza
Sarah Hagi
Sarah Ihmoud
Sarah Jaffe
Sarah Leonard
Sarah Nicole Prickett
Saree Makdisi
Sasha Frere-Jones
Saul Williams
Sesshu Foster
Shakeer Rahman
Sharif Kouddous
Shatha Hanaysha
Sherene Seikaly
Sinan Antoon
Solmaz Sharif
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Sophie Lewis
Stefan Tarnowski
Stella Rose Cooper
Stephanie Wambugu
Stephen Sheehi
Steven Salaita
Steven Thrasher
Sukaina Hirji
Sumaya Awad
sunny iyer
Susan Abulhawa
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Susan Stryker
Tara Alami
Tareq Baconi
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Taylor Lorenz
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Tracy Rosenthal
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Viet Thanh Nguyen
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Yara Eid
Yara Hawari
Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Yasmin El-Rifae
Yasmine Hamdan
Yi Wei
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Zefyr Lisowski
Zena Agha
Zena Al Tahhan
Zoé Samudzi

“Language makes genocide justifiable. A reason why we are still being bombed after 243 days is because of The New York Times and most Western media,” the Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat wrote months before Israel assassinated him. As Palestinians in Gaza return to their homes and take stock of the destruction Israel has wrought with two years of air strikes, massacres, and starvation, it is our responsibility in the West to hold complicit institutions to account for these crimes. As much as any weapons manufacturer, the media is part of the machinery of war, producing the impunity and bigotry that enables and sustains it.

There is no U.S. newspaper more influential than The New York Times. Editors and producers in newsrooms across the West take cues from its coverage, it is widely considered the “paper of record” in the United States, and it uniquely shapes elite consensus on U.S. foreign policy. Historically, this consensus has been fatal: Iran, 1953. Iraq, 2003. Libya, 2011. Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, The New York Times has obfuscated, justified, and outright denied the occupier’s war crimes, thus continuing the paper’s decades-long practice of acting as a bullhorn for the Israeli government and military.

The paper has reprinted outright lies from Israeli officials, withheld or amended coverage at the behest of the Israeli consulate and pro-Israel lobby groups, and directed its reporters to avoid terms like “slaughter,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “occupied territory.” The paper’s anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases also seep into its hiring practices: Top executives, editors, and reporters at the Times maintain material ties to the Israeli occupation and to the Israel lobby in the U.S., while Arab and Muslim employees have been purged from staff or subjected to a “racially targeted witch hunt.” And while claims by Israeli officials are treated as fact in news coverage, genocide is reduced to a matter of debate in the Opinion section.

One of the primary avenues through which the paper of record seeks to maintain its prestige, mitigate years of reputational damage, and promote the appearance of diversity, equity, and inclusion is its Opinion section. Here, the Times invites contributions which “contrast with or challenge those of our newsroom and our own Opinion columnists and editorials.” The Times has described the section as a social gathering: “Picture a dinner party,” the NYT Open Team wrote. “The conversation swings from topic to topic and everyone is engaged in a lively discussion.”

As past contributors, as well as novelists, essayists, scholars, lawyers, poets, political analysts, and various public figures covered in the pages of the Times, we decline this invitation to participate in what Ghassan Kanafani, the revolutionary writer and martyr, called “a conversation between the sword and the neck.” There is nothing appetizing or enlivening about the prospect of sitting across from the likes of Bret Stephens, Thomas Friedman, or David Leonhardt, politely debating the definition of genocide while Israeli soldiers use American weapons to shoot starving children at aid sites and assassinate journalists in their tents. There is no crumb of exposure worth the price of cooperation with a newspaper that has refused to research and authenticate these war crimes, let alone name their perpetrators. The Times’ opinion section is nothing without its contributors, and it is our responsibility to delegitimize and decenter the Times as the “paper of record.”

Allowing the most damning facts on the ground — like Israel’s systematic sniping of children — to be presented exclusively as a matter of opinion is journalistic malpractice. Until The New York Times takes accountability for its biased coverage and commits to truthfully and ethically reporting on the U.S.-Israeli war on Gaza, any putative “challenge” to the newsroom or the editorial board in the form of a first-person essay is, in effect, permission to continue this malpractice. Only by withholding our labor can we mount an effective challenge to the hegemonic authority that the Times has long used to launder the U.S. and Israel’s lies.

We, the undersigned, refuse to contribute to the Times’ Opinion section until three demands from the Palestine solidarity movement are met. These demands, of both the newsroom and the Editorial Board, have been put forward by a coalition that includes Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC), PAL-Awda: The Right to Return Coalition, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), the US Palestinian Community Network, Palestine Solidarity Working Group (PSWG), Healthcare Workers for Palestine (HCW4P), and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). They are as follows:

1. The newsroom must conduct a review of anti-Palestinian bias and produce new editorial standards for Palestine coverage. The Times must correct decades of biased, racist reportage on Palestine by reviewing and revising its style guide, methods of sourcing and citation, and its hiring practices. The paper must bar journalists who have served in the Israeli Occupation Forces from reporting on Israel’s wars and end the practice of printing information gathered through embeds with the Israeli military.

2. The newsroom must retract the widely debunked investigation “Screams Without Words.” In 2004 the Times’ public editor acknowledged the paper’s misreporting on alleged but non-existent “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, which helped drive the disastrous U.S. invasion. “Screams Without Words,” with its unevidenced claims of “weaponized sexual assault” on October 7th, was just as damaging. Its key researcher was fired for liking openly genocidal social media posts, its key witnesses have been discredited, and its subjects have come forward to deny its claims. The reporting failed to meet the Times’ own factchecking standards.

3. The Editorial Board must call for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel. Since the editorial board finally backed a ceasefire in January of 2025 — after more than a year of genocide — that position was adopted by a number of lawmakers and finally implemented this October. But Israel has proven that a ceasefire deal is insufficient to stop its destruction of Gaza. Only an arms embargo can deliver a lasting ceasefire. The U.S. must cut off the arms shipments that make Israel’s crimes possible, and the Times editorial board should use its significant influence to call for the end of American weapons transfers to Israel.

These demands are neither impossible nor unreasonable. The paper has updated its style guide in response to public and internal pressure before. In 1987, facing public criticism, Times editors updated the paper’s style guide and later took stock of its scant and biased coverage of the AIDS crisis. The Times has also issued retractions. In the wake of the Iraq war, the Times catalogued the many unverified claims it repeated, pushed out the author responsible for some of its most egregious coverage, and apologized for printing biased commentary as fact. “The failure was not individual,” its public editor wrote, “but institutional.” The Times has also called for legislative action to limit arms sales, both nationally and internationally — including to Gulf states, South Sudan, China, and apartheid South Africa.

Perhaps most apt is the Times’ own accounting of its “staggering, staining failure” to report accurately and urgently on the extermination of European Jews. “The failure of America’s media to fasten upon Hitler’s mad atrocities stirs the conscience of succeeding generations of reporters and editors,” a former executive editor wrote on the paper’s 150th birthday. “It leaves them obviously resolved that in the face of genocide, journalism shall not have failed in vain.”

We owe it to the journalists and writers of Palestine to refuse complicity with the Times, and to demand that the paper account for its failures, such that it can never again manufacture consent for mass slaughter, torture, and displacement.