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Chinese protest outside newspaper gates in rare censorship demo
1 of 2. Demonstrators gather along a street near the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, January 7, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/James Pomfret
GUANGZHOU, China |
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Scores of supporters of one of China's most liberal newspapers demonstrated outside its headquarters on Monday in a rare protest against censorship, backing an unusual strike by journalists against interference by the provincial propaganda chief.
The protest in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, comes amid an escalating standoff between the government and the people over press freedom. It is also an early test of Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping's commitment to reform.
The outcry began late last week after reporters at the influential Southern Weekly newspaper accused censors of replacing an original New Year's letter to readers that called for a constitutional government with another piece lauding the party's achievements.
Police allowed the demonstration outside the headquarters of the Southern Group, illustrating that the Guangdong government, led by newly appointed and rising political star Hu Chunhua, wants to tread carefully to contain rising public anger over censorship.
The protesters, most of them young, laid down small hand-written signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom". Many clutched yellow chrysanthemums, symbolizing mourning the death of press freedom.
"The Nanfang (Southern) Media Group is relatively willing to speak the truth in China so we need to stand up for its courage and support it now," Ao Jiayang, a young NGO worker with bright orange dyed hair, told Reuters.
"We hope that through this we can fight for media freedom in China," Ao said. "Today's turnout reflects that more and more people in China have a civic consciousness."
The attention paid to the protest domestically highlights the unique position of Guangdong, China's wealthiest and most liberal province and the birthplace of the country's "reform and opening up" program. In a symbolic move, Xi chose to go to Guangdong on his first trip after being anointed party chief in November.
On Sunday night, the Southern Weekly official microblog denied the removal of the New Year Letter was due to censorship, saying the "online rumors were false". Those remarks drew criticism from Chinese Internet users.
Many Southern Weekly journalists disavowed themselves from the statement on the microblog, which they say was taken over by management, and pledged to go on strike the next day.
Several open letters have circulated on the Internet calling for the Guangdong propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, to step down, blaming him for muzzling the press.
Photographs on microblogs showed banners that said "if the toxin of Tuo isn't removed ... Guangdong will be castrated."
"Not since the time of reform and opening up and the founding of China has there been someone like Tuo Zhen," Yan Lieshan, a retired veteran editor at Southern Weekly, told Reuters by telephone. "He's too arrogant, he has gone overboard and constantly violates regulations."
Xiao Shu, a former prominent commentator at the Southern Weekly newspaper, said Tuo required that journalists submit topics for him to approve and yanked issues that he disliked.
"These details illustrate one problem: that he has established within the Guangdong media a system of prior censorship of the press," Xiao said, calling for Tuo's removal.
Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.
China shut the website of a leading pro-reform magazine on Friday, apparently because it ran an article calling for political reform and constitutional government, sensitive topics for the party which brooks no dissent.
(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Beijing Newsroom, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Fake “dissidents”, fake “demonstrations”, liberal “journalists”, etc. are merely the precursors that the Chinese Communist Party created to provide the rationale for the upcoming fake “collapse” of the Chinese Communist government. This disinformation operation (the “collapse” of the government) is a stratagem that falls under the “Long-Range Policy” (LRP), the “new” strategy all Communist nations signed onto in 1960 to defeat the West with. The last major disinformation operation under the LRP was the fake “collapse” of the USSR in 1991.
For more on the LRP, read KGB defector Major Anatoliy Golitsyn’s book, “New Lies for Old” (available at Internet Archive), the only Soviet era defector to still be under protective custody in the West.
We all lie, however as far as the LRP goes Golitsyn’s predictions were 94% on target. And we don’t need Golitsyn to know that Communists never left power in the USSR, because they are STILL in power:
A sample of post USSR Presidents and who they were before the collapse:
Armenia:
Levon Ter-Petrossian – October 16, 1991 – February 3, 1998, Communist.
Robert Kocharyan – February 4, 1998 – April 9, 2008, Communist.
Serzh Azati Sargsyan – April 9, 2008 – Present, Communist.
Azerbaijan:
Ayaz Niyazi oğlu Mütallibov – October 30, 1991 – March 6, 1992, Communist.
Abulfez Elchibey – June 16, 1992 – September 1, 1993, not Communist.
Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev – June 24, 1993 – October 31, 2003, Communist.
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev (Son of third President) – October 31, 2003 – Present, Communist.
Belarus:
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko – July 20, 1994 – Present, Communist.
Kazakhstan:
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev – April 24, 1990 – Present, Communist.
Kyrgyzstan:
Askar Akayevich Akayev – October 27, 1990 – March 24, 2005, Communist.
Ishenbai Duyshonbiyevich Kadyrbekov – March 24, 2005 – March 25, 2005 (Interim), Communist.
Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev – March 25, 2005 – April 15, 2010, Communist.
Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva – April 7, 2010 – December 1, 2011 Communist.
Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev – December 1, 2011 – Present, Communist.
Russia:
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin – July 10, 1991 – December 31, 1999 – Communist.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000 (Acting) and May 7, 2000 – May 7, 2008 – Communist.
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev – May 7, 2008 – May 7, 2012, during his studies at the University he joined the Communist Party.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – May 7, 2012 – Present, Communist.
Tajikistan:
Emomalii Rahmon – November 20, 1992 – Present, Communist.
Ukraine:
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk, December 5, 1991 – July 19, 1994, joined Ukraine Communist Party in 1958.
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma, July 19, 1994 – January 23, 2005, Communist, 1960.
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko, January 23, 2005 – February 25, 2010, Communist, 1980.
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, February 25, 2010 – Present, Communist, 1980.
Uzbekistan:
Islam Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov – March 24, 1990 – Present, Communist.
If the collapse of the USSR were legitimate the 15 electorates of the former USSR would NEVER have elected for their respective Presidents Soviet era Communist Party Quislings. Such persons would have been immediately (1) arrested in the interest of national security; or (2) shunned by society. Remember, these Quislings belonged to the political party that for 74 years persecuted the 90% of the population that wasn’t Communist.
Imagine it’s 1784 America. The Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed the previous year ending the revolutionary war with Britain. So who do the electorates of the newly independent 13 colonies elect for their respective governors? They elect persons who were Loyalists (American supporters of Great Britain) during the war for independence! Of course, in reality the persecution was so bad for Loyalists in post independence America that they had to flee the country en masse for Canada.
Or try this one out: After the collapse of the South African Apartheid Regime in 1994, the majority black population reelect for their Presidents only persons who were National Party members before the 1994 elections!
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