Several reports have come out of China alluding to unrest similar to what we’ve seen in Egypt, Libya and Wisconsin. Boingboing.com blog on the 26th (Saturday) noticed the censorship and detention of bloggers who used the word “jasmine revolution” online. (update: first reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists). Wikipedia has coverage here, but the item is flagged – of course it is disputed. [Update: NY Times reports on the governmental prevention of reporting on the Protests. ]
Apparently significant numbers of people are taking to the streets, but with the government controlling so much communication it’s hard to say what is really happening. At least one of my friends in China has told me this blog isn’t accessible.
Human Rights in China has translated a manifesto published by the protesters and the English translation can be found here. Excerpts from the document:
Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: So much public housing has been sold to individuals, so many state-owned enterprises and so much land have been sold, and nearly all state-owned property has been sold off. But where has all the money from these sales gone? It goes without saying that state-owned property belongs to the entire people. But what did the people get? Led by an authoritarian regime, the opaque process of privatization has made a small number of people rich, but what did the vast number of ordinary people get?
Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: When Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were in the process of industrializing, they were able to make the overwhelming majority of their people prosperous. Why is it that during China’s industrialization the ordinary people are becoming poorer? Why is it that in just the last few decades China has gone from being a country with the smallest gap between the rich and the poor to one with the largest? It is because the unfair system has made a small number of people incredibly wealthy, and the vast majority of people remain poor.
If anyone has information please share it. The rallies are supposed to continue – the following is a screen grab from the blog
(photo courtesy wikimedia commons – https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:Voa_beijing_230_20feb11.jpg)
