Chinese Netizens Calling for the Release of Zhao Lianhai

Zhao Lianhai in a campaign T-shirt

More than one hundred Chinese netizens have signed a petition to call for the imminent release of Zhao Lianhai.  The following is my translation of the petition:

A Letter to the Beijing Police: Urging for the Release of Zhao Lianhai, the Father of the Kidney Stone Babies

Zhao Lianhai, a famous rights activist and the founder of an organisation called the Home for the Kidney Stone Babies, was detained by Beijing Police at around mid-night last night (13 November 2009) on an alleged criminal charge of “provoking an incident”.

It is understood that Zhao’s arrest is linked to another incident that took place earlier. The trial of the first compensation claim lodged by the parents of a Kidney Stone Baby was supposed to commence on 10 November 2009. Many people, including the parents of some victims, had worked very hard for over a year in preparation for the trial. However, a day before the trial, the plaintiff’s parent Wang Gang was arrested and roughed up by the Police. Information in relation to the court case was confiscated. As a result, the trial had to be postponed.

Because of this, Zhao Lianhai has been busy collecting signatures for a letter of protest. It is ashamed that the Beijing Police will treat such a peaceful act of protest as a provocation. The signatures that Zhao has collected from over 500 netizens are now used as evidence against him. His computers, cameras and campaign T-shirts are all confiscated. Who, in their right minds, could have imposed such cruelty on the children and their parents, who are already victims of the worst man-made disaster? The slogan we once used to advocate for the release of another rights activist (“Your Mum asks you to go home for dinner”) is now changed to: “The 2 kids are calling for their Dad to come home for dinner”.

The Beijing Police had made a serious mistake when they arrested Zhao Lianhai. They are making a bad situation even worse by inflicting more pain on those whose sufferings are already unbearable.  So on this bitterly cold winter day we urge all netizens to join us in protest against the detention. We urge you to sign this petition to call for the immediate release of Zhao Lianhai.

I have already signed the online petition. Those who intend to join us can either visit this LINK or send an email to liushasha007@tom.com or Liushasha008@gmail.com . Your signature on the petition should include: your name, the city of your residence and your occupation.

I thank you in advance for your support. For those of you who need more information about Zhao Lianhai’s detention, please check out the press release at the Human Rights In China website.

 

 

Spokesman for Tainted Milk Parents Arrested

I strongly condemn the Beijing Police and demand the immediate release of Zhao Linhai, an Internet activist and the spokesperson for the parents of the tainted milk scandal. Various sources from Twitter and Facebook reported that Zhao was detained during a house raid at around 10.00PM Friday 13 November 2009. His computers and cameras were believed to have been illegally confiscated, since neither Zhao nor his family members had been presented with a warrant for his arrest.

I have been following Zhao at Twitter and Facebook, and admire him for his courage in breaking the Chinese authorities’ imposed code of silence.  Zhao has been a hero in disseminating news about the parent groups’ struggle with authorities for their rights, not just to appropriate compensation, but also to form mutual support groups in promoting health care for infants whose health have been terminally damaged by the Sanlu tainted milk powder.

The last entry of Zhao at Twitter was posted about 13 hours ago. His tweet reads:

Zhaolianhai: 屠夫兄客气了，利用好推特很重要，能将每个经历的事件第一时间传播出来，建议也注册个做啥，然后绑定到推特，利用做啥的手机功能发信息就能同步到推特来RT @tufuwugan: 新兵屠夫来报道，谢谢赵连海老师，在学习中。

Zhaolianhai: My brother Tufu, it is important to learn how to use Twitter so that every incident experienced can be broadcast instantly.  You may also want to register for a Zuosa account and have it linked to Twitter.  You can then use Zuosa’s mobile phone function for sending and synchronising information with your Twitter account.  RT @tufuwugan: a new soldier Tufu reporting.  Thanks to my teacher Zhao Lianhai. I am still learning.

This is just very typical of Zhao Lianhai, a very kind and generous person who has a very strong sense of social justice. Zhao has been teaching Tufu how to use Twitter. Tufu is the nickname of the blogger who used the Internet to rally support for the release of Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old waitress from Hubei Province who fatally stabbed a Communist Party official after he tried to force himself on her. Deng was eventually found not guilty and walked free from a murder charge.

I think it is about time for other bloggers, netizens and Twitterers to stand up for Zhao Lianhai, who has been bravely fighting this battle against censorship. I’ll update with more information and I’m urging everyone to take action to disseminate this news as widely as possible and to lobby for the release of Zhao Lianhai.

The End of an Era for Caijing Magazine

The much anticipated resignation of Hu Shuli from the Caijing Magazine has finally been confirmed.  This marks more than just the end of an era for an influential finance magazine that earns its reputation for its relatively independent voice.  It is also a solemn reminder of the inevitably futile task of negotiating freedom with a totalitarian regime.

The news about Hu’s resignation was first circulated among Chinese Twitterers this afternoon.  About nine hours ago a blogger called Hecaitou posted this tweet:

Absolutely reliable information: Hu Shuli has resigned to take up a position as the Dean of Media Studies at Sun Yatsen University.

Three hours later, Deng Zhixin of Southern Metropolis Daily posted the following under his Twitter username @xmarden:

Sun Yatsen University stated in an interview that Hu Shuli had been offered a full-time tenure position as the Dean of Mass Media and Design. The letter of appointment was issued several days ago. I note in particular the way in which the spokesperson has put stress on the term “full-time”.

Wang Shuo, the Managing Editor of Caijing, announced his resignation through Twitter:

I have put in my resignation from the position of Managing Editor at Caijing.  However I’ll stay for the transitional hand-over.  Everyone is blogging about my resignation via Twitter: my wife, my colleagues, the media and the finance sector.  I don’t think the stock market will be affected.

Wang Shuo has also provided a list of names of Caijing employees who have resigned.  They include Editing Director Yang Daming, Deputy Editors Zhang Jin, Zhang Jiwei and Wu Peng, as well as Wang Xiaobing and Ye Weiqiang, the two assistants to the Chief Editor.

Joel Martinsen of Danwei is the first person in the English language media to cover the news.  Joel has also included a translation of Hecaitou’s blog post on this topic.  Other major international news agencies that have covered the news, including AP, Reuters and Wall Street Journal, have described Hu’s resignation as a major set-back for Caijing and for the prospect of independent reporting in China:

Ms. Hu’s resignation comes as the media in China is coming under double-barrelled pressure: to make money but also toe the government line on a variety of sensitive topics. It also shows the fragility of institutions like Caijing, which earned a reputation for pushing the envelope on press freedom in China, said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst.

“The way the media is set up here, there’s basic instability,” Mr. Moses said. “Today’s star can be tomorrow’s martyr.”

Is this the end of Hu’s journalism career and the beginning of her academic career?  Most commentators, including the Chinese tabloid Global Times, are not totally convinced.  The most widely circulated rumour seems to suggest that she will be teaching journalism while at the same time launching a new financial magazine with a new media partner.  Maybe? Maybe not? We’ll soon find out.

Why Americans are doomed

Why Americans are doomed:

Chen Guangcheng – Lest we Forget

Tomorrow is the International Day for the Blind.  Chen Guangcheng’s wife Yuan Weijing has written to remind the world of her husband’s life in prison.  Yuan is under strict surveillance at the moment.  We express our thanks to anyone who has had the courage to smuggle the letter out.  The original letter is published at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders’ website.  The following is my translation:

 

October 15 is the International Day for the Blind. On behalf of my husband who is a blind person, I would like to send my greetings to all blind people and wish them good health and happiness.

My husband Chen Guangcheng is also blind. Due to his disability and various other reasons, he did not start his formal education until after he turned 18. He graduated from the Nanjing Chinese Medicine University with a major in Acupuncture. As a medical practitioner, his main interest is in social welfare, and he is particularly concerned about the rights of people with or without disabilities.   He has fought for the right of blind people in rural communities to be exempted from agricultural tax (as a matter of fact, today farmers are no longer required to pay agricultural tax). He has also fought hard for blind people in rural areas to enjoy the same free public transportation as those who live in the cities. In short, my husband has worked tirelessly to secure basic human rights for ordinary people. In the course of his rights defending endeavours, he has offended many local government officials who very often are violators of civil rights.

The confrontation with local officials escalated in 2005. In that year, large scale forced abortion and forced sterilization campaigns were launched in Linyi and other 12 counties in Shandong Province. The local governments required all couples with 2 children to be sterilised at hospitals. Pregnant women who were unable to secure government permission to have a second child were forced to go through abortion. Some people managed to escape or to live in hiding. However, their parents, siblings, relatives and even neighbours were subjected to brutal beatings and had fines imposed on them by officials or their hired thugs. This was a serious violation of China’s Constitution and other legal provisions. My husband and I carried out some investigations with the support of a group of Beijing based lawyers and reporters, and proceeded to commence legal actions against the government. We also attempted to expose their wrongdoings through the mass media. (Strict media censorship meant that a negative report about birth control would not find its way to the mass media.) Who could have guessed that these efforts would have incurred such serious suppressions and retaliations from the government?

Since September 2005, the local government began to restrict my family’s freedom of movement. More than 10 government officials and their hired staff would stand guard outside of our house 24 hours a day in order to stop us from leaving our home. Our telephone was disconnected and mobile phone signal shields were installed nearby to cut off all our communications with the outside world. On 3 November 2006, my husband was taken away and secretly detained for three months. He was finally sentenced to four years and three months imprisonment on fabricated charges of malicious damages, illegal gathering and disruption of traffic order. More than 10 Beijing rights-defending lawyers and activists attempted to intervene on our behalf. However, every time a lawyer conducted an investigation to gather evidence for defence, he was followed, harassed and beaten up by government paid triad members. Two of the lawyers were seriously injured.

My husband is completely blind. According to Chinese law, a disabled person like him should never receive a custodial sentence, because he is incapable of taking care of himself. Nevertheless, the government rejected our lawyer’s application for my husband to serve his sentence out of jail. Since then, my husband has been serving his prison terms at a prison in Linyi of Shandong Province. His life in prison has been difficult from the start. He is deprived of even the most basic rights of an inmate to read books and newspapers because Braille books are not available in prison, and our family’s effort to supply him with books has been met with objections. My husband then went on a hunger strike to protest against being violently beaten up by six or seven inmates. Since late July 2008, he has been suffering from diarrhoea. We have made several requests for him to be properly examined and treated. However, the prison is unwilling to pay for his medical expenses because his disability has prevented him from working and from contributing financially to the prison, as other inmates are required to do. We have also made several requests for him to be temporarily released so that he can seek medical treatment. But we are still waiting for a reply.

As Chen Guangcheng’s wife, I have been subjected to unlawful imprisonment. It has been more than four years now since September 2005 that the local government has placed me under 24 hours round the clock surveillance. Not only have I lost my freedom, on several occasions I was even physically and verbally assaulted by the guards. Some friends, including reporters and writers, were beaten up when they made an attempts to visit me.  As I am writing this letter, 12 guards are conducting 24 hours round the clock surveillance around my house. The last time I visited my husband was in December 2008. Even Guangcheng’s other relatives have been deprived of the right to a monthly visit. No visitor has been allowed since April 2009. The humiliation and suffering that I have endured are beyond words. And I am also mindful that this letter should not be too long.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank friends around the world for their moral support. Because of their advocacy, Chen Guangcheng was made a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award. He was honoured at the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award and was voted by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Institutions such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, as well as many politicians in Europe and America have called for the release of my husband.

Presently, I am very worried about my husband’s health. He is now applying his medical knowledge every day to try to lessen the pain that he is suffering. As the International Day for the Blind is approaching, I earnestly hope that those in the World Blind Union will extend their helping hands to ensure that my husband’s legal rights to health and to proper medical treatment will be protected. Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all for your help.

Yuan Weijing

The Wife of Chen Guangcheng, the Blind Rights Defender

14 October 2009

Major Crisis at Caijing Magazine

财经杂志大地震，总经理与九名业务主管中的八人已辞职，据说其创办人兼主编胡舒立可能另起炉灶。据悉集体辞职，与胡舒立和杂志资方之间的权力斗争有关。

According to today’s South China Morning Post, the influential Beijing-based financial magazine Caijing is experiencing a crisis of seismic proportion. Consequently it will lose two third of business staff. It is understood that General Manager Daphne Wu Chuanhui and eight of her nine business directors have resigned. Another unnamed source further suggests that 70% of the 100-staff strong business department will quit their positions in the next few days. The exodus has caused speculation that charismatic founder and managing editor Hu Shuli may also be prepared to leave.

Caijing was founded in 1998 by senior journalist Hu Shuli. It is one of the few publications in China that has gained its reputation solely through investigative journalism and exclusive commentaries. Its editorial independence is made possible through a commercial sponsorship model backed by the Stock Exchange Executive Council (SEEC). The SEEC is a semi-government institution that represents the interests of private investors.  These investors advocate market-oriented economic reforms and are likely to benefit from a more liberal style of journalism.

A 2001 survey found that over 70% of Caijing’s regular readers were company executives who had decision-making responsibilities. That is why Wall Street Journal once described Caijing as “the leading finance publication in China”. With an estimated advertising income of more than RMB 200 million, Caijing is possibly one of the most profitable finance publications in China.

It is unclear what has triggered this wave of resignation. An iFeng.com report suggests that it is the result of a fall out between Hu Shuli and senior management at SEEC over editorial independence. The report speculates that Hu may start a new publication with overseas funding. There are also rumours about argument over a takeover deal.

Internet Human Rights Declaration

Issued by 15 Chinese intellectuals

Source: Canyu

Author: Ling Canzhou and others

On 8 October 2009, 15 Chinese intellectuals, including writers, scholars and lawyers, jointly issued the following online Internet Human Rights Declaration:

Internet Human Rights Declaration

Those of us who are standing on the embankment overlooking the torrent of history have witnessed the potential of this new technology: the Internet. We understand how this new technological revolution has brought about progress and social changes. It has great potential to advance basic human rights and freedom for Chinese people. Its contribution to civilisation will be on a par with the discovery of iron and fire, or the invention of plough and wheel in ancient days.

We acknowledge the arrival of netizen activism and regard it as an irreversible trend. Citizen reporting, which involves the use of mobile phones and digital cameras for in-situ information dissemination, has become fashionable and trendy. The Internet has also provided netizens with unlimited space for creativity and for voicing opinions through weblogs, podcasts, BBS and online comments.

We believe it is a citizen’s responsibility to be concerned about public affairs, and a netizen’s responsibility to care about freedom of speech on the Internet. Netizens are exercising their civil rights when they legally express their opinions or when they report the truth of what has actually happened. The best way to rejuvenate an ancient civilisation is to inject it with new core values based on the advancement of happiness and of basic human rights for individuals. It is also the best way to improve well-being for everyone in China. For these reasons, freedom of speech on the Internet should be encouraged, nurtured and tolerated.

We therefore pledge for the following principles to be endorsed:

1. Freedom of speech on the Internet is a part of citizens’ rights to freedom of speech. It is the most basic human rights and the most fundamental value that should be pursued, treasured and protected.

2. Netizens who express their opinions on the Internet using words, sounds, pictures or videos, should be protected and encouraged, as long as such conduct is in accord with the constitution and local statutes.

3. The right to publish opinion is the most basic rights for netizens. This includes the right to publish through weblogs and podcasts, as well as online discussion forums. Netizens’ rights to publish should not be subjected to unlawful investigation and interference. They should be allowed freedom to hold and to express their views without feeling intimidated.

4. Netizens’ editorial rights should be respected. When they are exercising those rights, they should not be subjected to harassment by authorities who act outside of law.

5. It is the right of Netizens to conduct interviews and to report their findings. This right is protected as a part of their constitutional rights to freedom of speech. Netizens who excercise this right should endeavour to report the truth, and to avoid distortions, fabrications and malicious slander.

6. It is the right of netizens to make comments and to exchange opinion. This includes the right to ask questions, to monitor, to criticise and to boycott.

7. Netizens’ freedom of speech encompasses a right to express themselves anonymously. Anonymity enables some authors to express their opinions in ways that best suit their needs. This legal right should be respected as long as an anonymous author is expressing his views in accordance with legal and constitutional requirements.

8. The right to conduct information searches on the Internet is an integral part of netizens’ rights to express, to be informed and to monitor. It is our opinion that legal websites should not be filtered, and that netizens’ rights to conduct searches on public information for personal use should be respected and protected.

9. Online privacy should be respected and protected. Netizens’ real identities and personal information should not be disclosed unless the information is required for a transparent legal proceeding, or else if the disclosure is necessary under the rule of law.

10. The freedom of disseminating information should be respected and protected as long as it is conducted in line with legal and constitutional requirements. Website monitoring, filtering and blockades that go against the principle of freedom of speech should be condemned by public opinion. Netizens are entitled to seek freedom of expression and justice through judicial proceedings.

We call for the establishing of an Internet Human Rights Day, to remind everyone of the need to safeguard freedom of speech on the Internet. This is the only effective way to make sure all people in Chinese enjoy human rights and happiness.

10 October 1911 was the day when a group of patriots staged an uprising to end the rule of a cruel and racist dynasty. They also put an end to a long imperialist history. As a way of commemorating their bravery and their spirit of freedom, we suggest to make every October 10th China’s Internet Human Rights Day.

Written by: Ling Cangzhou

On: 8 October 2009

Signed by:

Ling Cangzhou (Beijing, scholar, senior mass media worker)

Zhao Guojun (Beijing, Legal Scholar)

Ran Yunfei (Chengdu, writer, scholar, editor)

Beifeng (Guangzhou, senior Internet media worker)

Zan Aizong (Hangzhou, writer, reporter)

Zhang Hui (Beijing, scholar, officer-in-charge of Mr De Research Centre)

Tang Jitian (Beijing, lawyer)

Wei Ke (Beijing, poet, animator)

Jiang Tianyong (Beijing, lawyer)

Jin Guanghong (Beijing, lawyer)

Han Yicun (Beijing, lawyer)

Guo Yuju (Beijing, scholar)

Shi Yijun (Beijing, historian)

Ba Zhongwei (Henan, youth rights worker)

Zuo Qiao (Beijing, educator)

A Chinese version of the declaration can be found HERE.

Wiedervereinigung: a Jacaranda Tree series

This is our first installment in a series which we will run until November 1989, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the consequent Wiedervereinigung (I just love pronouncing that word!) and the death of Communism.

The Marxist kind of socialism was born in Germany, and it died in Germany in 1989.   And so did the Modern Age, arguably born in Germany in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

The Modern Age, including but not limited to the Age of “Reason”, was born in Germany, and it died in Germany on the night when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

When our co-blogger Ivan was a young American in 1988, he lusted after the “forbidden fruit” of  East Germany’s Olympic skating champion, Katerina Witt! And the Berlin Wall fell around 18 months later.    In that light, we submit our first installment in our series celebrating the death of Communism, titled, “Wiedervereinigung”:

Myfenwai and JR discuss genetics and farting

Film footage of a discourse between Myfenwai and JR/JustRecently.   JR is of course the one speaking German.

Diversity Training

This is the first installment of our new series of animated cartoons by Ned Kelly.   This one takes place somewhere in metropolitan Los Angeles.