作者：Chang Kun
编辑：韩立华
校对：毛一炜
翻译：戈冰
其实，现在的五四青年节，早就被过成了一场讽刺的“政治秀”。
一百多年前，那时候的年轻人冲上街头，是为了反对独裁、追求民主，是敢跟腐朽的权力叫板的。那时的“五四”是觉醒的标志，是独立人格的体现。可现在的中共，一边把“五四”挂在嘴边，一边却在拼命掐灭年轻人的独立思考。他们嘴里的“青年精神”，说白了就是四个字：听话、顺从。
你看看现在的年轻人，过的是什么日子？他们在学校里被灌输千篇一律的口号，在社交媒体上说句真话可能就会被封号甚至“喝茶”。本该是最有锐气、最敢质疑的年纪，却被权力修理成了唯唯诺诺、只管低头干活的“螺丝钉”。政府一方面在宣传片里画大饼，吹嘘盛世，把年轻人比作“后浪”；另一方面，却对高房价、就业难以及那让人窒息的“内卷”视而不见。只要你敢抱怨两句生活不公，或者想为社会正义发声，一顶“境外势力”或者“寻衅滋事”的大帽子马上就扣过来。
最荒唐的是，一个靠着学生运动起家的政权，现在成了世界上最害怕学生运动、最恐惧年轻人聚集的政权。他们把五四精神里最核心的“批判”和“反抗”给阉割了，换成了空洞的“爱党”和“效忠”。他们不需要你有灵魂，只需要你当一个没有思想的“耗材”，一个在宏大叙事里自我感动的工具人。
这种纪念方式，本质上是对历史的暴力绑架。他们用高音喇叭赞美青年，实际上是为了掩盖那些被消失的声音。当“德先生”被关进监狱，“赛先生”被用来搞全民监控，这个所谓的节日就成了一场大型的政治欺骗秀。
如果一个社会只允许一种声音存在，如果年轻人连质疑权力的勇气都要被当作犯罪，那所谓的“五四”就只剩下一具被权力填充的僵尸。真正的五四精神，绝对不是给权力唱赞歌，而应该是对不公说“不”，是对真理的执着。在这个被谎言和监控包裹的节日里，拒绝被洗脑、保持独立的人格、看清那双操控木偶的手，就是一个年轻人对这个荒诞时代最强有力的控诉。如果青春意味着服从，那这种青春就是廉价的劳动力；只有当青春意味着自由，五四才真正属于年轻人。
Reflections on May Fourth
Author: Chang Kun
Editor: Han Lihua
Proofreader: Mao Yiwei
Translator: Ge Bing
In truth, today’s May Fourth Youth Day has long since devolved into a farcical “political spectacle.”
Over a century ago, the young people of that era took to the streets to oppose dictatorship and pursue democracy; they dared to challenge a corrupt regime. Back then, the May Fourth Movement was a symbol of awakening and an embodiment of independent character. Yet today, the Chinese Communist Party pays lip service to the May Fourth Movement while desperately stifling young people’s independent thinking. The “youth spirit” they speak of boils down to four words: obedience and compliance.
Just look at the lives young people lead today. In school, they’re indoctrinated with cookie-cutter slogans; on social media, speaking a single truth might get their accounts banned or even land them in for a “chat” with the authorities. At an age when they should be at their sharpest and most questioning, they’ve been molded by the powers that be into meek “cogs in the machine” who just keep their heads down and work. On one hand, the government paints a rosy picture in its propaganda videos, boasting of a golden age and likening young people to the “rising tide”; on the other, it turns a blind eye to sky-high housing prices, employment difficulties, and the suffocating “internal competition.” The moment you dare to complain about life’s injustices or speak out for social justice, the label of “foreign forces” or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” is immediately slapped on you.
The most absurd thing is that a regime that rose to power on the back of student movements has now become the regime in the world most afraid of student movements and most terrified of young people gathering. They have castrated the core elements of the May Fourth Spirit—“criticism” and ‘resistance’—replacing them with hollow slogans of “loving the Party” and “loyalty.” They don’t need you to have a soul; they just need you to be a mindless “disposable resource,” a tool that moves itself to tears within their grand narrative.
This form of commemoration is, in essence, a violent hijacking of history. They use loudspeakers to praise the youth, but in reality, it is to cover up the voices that have been silenced. When “Mr. Democracy” is locked up in prison and “Mr. Science” is used to implement mass surveillance, this so-called holiday becomes nothing more than a massive political deception.
If a society allows only one voice to exist, if young people are treated as criminals for even having the courage to question authority, then the so-called “May Fourth” is nothing more than a zombie stuffed with power. The true spirit of May Fourth is absolutely not singing hymns to power, but saying “no” to injustice and holding fast to the truth. On this holiday shrouded in lies and surveillance, refusing to be brainwashed, maintaining an independent spirit, and seeing through the hands manipulating the puppets—these are the most powerful acts of defiance a young person can offer against this absurd era. If youth means obedience, then such youth is nothing more than cheap labor; only when youth means freedom does the May Fourth Movement truly belong to the young.
