VITAL READS: Et Tu Amazon?

Ben Hickey

For years I have reviewed books on Amazon, providing both extremely positive and negative reviews. Always well argued and based on the details of the book and many times referencing other books. Only very recently have I ever experienced any feedback from Amazon that my reviews were not welcome, and of course only for negative reviews against books that pushed an establishment narrative.

Then I wrote a review for the book “China’s Age of Abundance” by Wang Feng (a professor of Sociology at University of California, ex Fellow of the Brookings Institute and on the board of the Columbia University China Centre for Social Policy). A book which works hard to remove the Party-state as the main driver of China’s remarkable development and to trash the era of Mao during which the whole basis for the post-1978 rapid growth was built (and during which China doubled India’s growth rate while being under brutal Western sanctions). Perhaps not surprising given that he was a “sent down” youth during the Cultural Revolution, spending three years (1975 to 1978) in a Northern Chinese village. He got his BA in China (Hubei 1982) but then left for the US where he got his Masters (1984 Michigan) and PhD (Michigan 1987). Then, echoing so many current Western commentators, opining about the increased political “interference” (i.e. Xi’s successful campaign against corruption and capitalist profiteers, now followed by a successful state driven re-orientation toward economic upgrading and technological independence) leading to an end to China’s growth. The standard Western liberal rewriting of history to remove the central role of the state, and the fundamental restructuring of society (i.e. revolution) required to drive successful socialist development.

And suddenly I was not only unable to comment on any more books, but every single review that I have ever written has been removed. I have become an unperson on Amazon for the sharing of thought crimes, very1984! I had received an email warning, but not any communication about any such erasure. When I went to review a book, I simply got this message:

We apologize but Amazon has noticed some unusual reviewing activity on this account. As a result, all reviews submitted by this account have been removed and this account will no longer be able to contribute reviews and other content on Amazon.  If you would like to learn more, please see ourcommunity guidelines. To contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.

They seem to have taken a page out of the book of YouTube in wiping all content without warning and not providing any real explanation why, apart from a breach of their extremely vague community guidelines. As in trueKafka style, it is up to me to guess how I breached these guidelines and I am provided with an utterly impersonal email address for any appeal against the Judgement of Amazon.

Now of course this action is extremely hypocritical as Amazon is rife with extremely nasty reviews, just generally not usually of establishment narrative texts written by establishment authors. A while ago Amazon used to provide the ability to comment on a review at Amazon, which provided many times very illuminating and back and forth discussions; but then this function was removed. It appears now that any cogent criticism of the establishment narrative, even in the form of online book reviews is now deemed to be a thought crime requiring unpersoning.

In Gramscian  terms, the ruling class is attempting to both regain control of the dominant narrative and to further restrict the ability of alternative cultural hegemonic projects to develop or even criticize the dominant narrative. When we may very well be on the cusp of widening conflicts in multiple theatres (Russia, Middle East, China), driven by US and US vassal and proxy actions, this makes absolute sense from the point of the ruling class. At the same time the dominant liberal element of the ruling class is still fighting the insurgent Trump element, which is also reflected in the censorship being carried out.

If Kamala Harris becomes the US President she could become the equivalent of Woodrow Wilson who created a fascist state within the US, with full censorship and even a para-military thug force (the American Protective League) and book burning, to drag an unwilling US public into WW1. A period utterly memory-holed (along with Wilson’s utter racism until recently) by US domestic historians and political scientists, until the book “American Midnight” by Hochschild. During which the US was made safe for “liberal democracy”, through the crushing of anti-establishment elements. This period pre-dated the rise of Mussolini and his brown-shirts and of course Hitler and his SA; both learned much from the US and also gained much support from members of the US ruling class. A ruling class that planned a US fascist coup in the mid-1930s.

Trump may have more of the personality of a Mussolini, but a Liberal Fascism may be much more probable than a Trump one. This could be the future of the US, as well of course a UK under the execrable Starmer. One will note many parallels of this era already occurring in the present, including the utter vilification of everything to do with the official enemy (then Germany and Germans, now Russia and Russians and increasingly also China), and the silencing of oppositional voices. The utterly racist and elitist Woodrow Wilson dragged the US population into a war against their will and stakes a good claim to being the worst US president ever; perhaps Kamala Harris will vie for that prize.