You, me, & the Chinese: China's gross attacks on human rights

There are good people in China. Very good people, within China, despite the substantial number of activists currently exiled in the U.S., restricted from returning home because of their past valiant works as Chinese journalists, writers, artists, and activists, for democracy and human rights.

"I met Hu Jia in the autumn of 2001 doing AIDS volunteer work. We fell in love and married on January 2nd 2006. A week after our wedding party, Hu Jia was put under house arrest by the State Security Police (SSP), and after a month he disappeared while under house arrest... He came back from SSP custody, as thin as a lath, became seriously ill and was hospitalized for early stage cirrhosis. I was so afraid he might disappear again that I guarded my lover, and assisted him with his work in AIDS and defending human rights." ~written by Zeng Jinyan, at the introduction to the documentary, Prisoner in Freedom City

In regards to those good people still living within China: the following articles exemplify how the "good" (in terms of talent to club down human rights) government in China has taken action towards those good people--patriots, who, despite the very real fear of Big Brother, continue to speak up for and about freedom and human rights for their sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, and friends together living in China...

...the Chinese government ruthlessly shuts them up, propogates their authoritarianism by "making them disappear":

(I) How nice, how thoughtful of the Chinese government to note and observe our "holiday season" this past December '07.

"The authorities have detained a prominent Chinese human rights advocate on suspicion of subversion, escalating a crackdown on dissent during the West’s holiday season." ~NYTimes, "China Detains Dissent, Citing Subversion," 12/30/07

What a gift! Merry Xmas! xoxo

(II) That "prominent Chinese human rights advocate" mentioned above is Hu Jia. This picture to your right is him with "his wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their daughter, Qianci, in November, before his arrest."

Aww. :) That's a real nice picture. Right? Well

"Mr. Hu was dragged away on charges of subverting state power while Ms. Zeng was bathing their newborn daughter, Qianci." ~NYTimes, "Dissident's Arrest Hints at Olympic Crackdown," 1/30/08

The article goes on to describe, heartwarmingly: "Telephone and Internet connections to the apartment were severed. Mother and daughter are now under house arrest. Qianci, barely 2 months old, is probably the youngest political prisoner in China." Sucks to live in China, and to want to speak up for and about freedom. Or to be born in China, under house arrest because your parents want to speak up for or about freedom. I think that is a beautiful picture, I truly do. <---Was I being sarcastic? No, I was just talking about that family photo 2 inches above, and 2 inches to the right...

So what exactly was Hu Jia doing, to deserve and account for so much Chinese state attention, monitoring, and supervision, before his door was metaphorically (and possibly literally) knocked down by "state security agents"?

He disseminated information about human rights cases, peasant protests and other politically touchy topics even though he often lived under de facto house arrest.

WOW! WHAT-A-RADICAL-UNPATRIOTIC-SUBVERSIVE-SHITHEAD-ANARCHIST, that pesky Hu Jia. Hmm... So... What I'm doing precisely right now, typing the words you're reading, "disseminating information about human rights cases," if I were instead simply located on China's soil, and was a Chinese national, I'd abruptly become the latest political prisoner? So that's how the newest generation of energetic citizen-idols seeks fame, over there in China! And yes: even unprofessional, wanna-be, non-journalist bloggers (like me) are and have been thrown in China's pleasant jails.

(III) Let's proceed on this pleasant journey. So today, on NYTimes I see the headline, "Chinese Rights Activist Reported Missing," and I think, No! Hu Jia can't be missing. Hu Jia was taken by the Chinese authorities and is sitting--he must be--safely behind bars; there must have just been some mixup. I mean, how could he be "reported missing"? Must have filed the papers wrong, those wacky Chinese bureaucrats, just like in the U.S. lol! C'mon, even his wife appears safe and sound in that enjoyable YouTube documentary posted above.

But then I find out the "Chinese rights activist" who today is "reported missing" is not Hu Jia, but Hu Jia's friend, Mr. Teng Biao.

"The lawyer, Teng Biao, 34, a part-time college professor, disappeared on Thursday evening after calling to say he would be home in 20 minutes, said his wife, Wang Ling. Shortly afterward, she said, she heard shouting in the parking lot below the family apartment and later found her husband’s empty car. Witnesses told her that two men had dragged someone out of the car and taken him away, she said." NYTimes, 3/8/08

Why are the Chinese Security Officials so fond of practices like making Hu Jia "disappear while under house arrest," and now making Mr. Teng disappear, with the residual impressions of two men "dragging" "someone" "out of the car" "away"?

Don't they know this PR is not magical like David Blaine, but instead is slightly-disturbingly jarring, with a tiny splash of subtle terror lingering under the tongue? I mean, that can't be their purpose, right?, haven't they even glanced at any of the introductory textbooks on good marketing and PR. With all their booming economy, you'd think they would have by now. Maybe the Chinese Communist Party is just better at mathematics, something like

• overt suppression + subtle terror once in a while - human rights = running our "stable, stable, stable dammit!," country = keeping our power

Well, enough of this tangent. Let us see what was Mr. Teng's sin--I mean, virtue--that he be graced with this benevolent state action of disappearing?:

• Already mentioned above, he is a lawyer; a part-time professor. aka A terrible man.
• Made "commentary on China’s record on human rights." Like, duhhhh. Obviously, he wasn't an overly bright or insightful man, either.
  
• Called "for the release of his friend and fellow rights campaigner, Hu Jia." This Mr.-Teng-guy disgusts me.
• "Mr. Teng was also in a group of lawyers, many living in Beijing, who represent dissidents and accept politically delicate cases."

Okay, on this last point (and here, I am serious) he is certifiably insane. I mean, sheesh: Who the hell, as a lawyer, would represent dissidents and "accept politically delicate cases"--in a paranoically authoritarian state society, as documented from recent months all the way back to Tiananmen Square "crackdown"--when the rest of China without even trying is getting fat and bourgeois and nouveau riche, as are investors all over the world??? Well, I guess emulation of institutional logic, in progressive Western societies like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (I mean, c'mon, globalization, right?), might have sufficiently brought consensus towards China's policy of "neutralization of the certifiably insane." So people like Mr. Teng they just disappear. Let's have the Olympics! :) :)

:) :)

Oh, look at the cute cuddly official Beijing 2008 Olympics mascots, on the official Beijing 2008 Olympics website! The mascots bring "a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world." Awwww, and amongst the mascots there's a cute little panda as one of them! I bet Hu Jia's little newborn daughter, Qianci under house arrest, would love that one (just look at her in the picture, don't you think so? :)). And so would all the little baby boys and baby girls currently being born in Taiwan, where China's military arsenal of active ballistic missiles currently pointed at the small island-country now number 1,200+, and growing--how e xciting! Post-Olympic celebratory fireworks.

____________________________________________

Now what is there that one can do? Become an international relations expert; explain to the CCP that human rights need be centerpiece in a better world, in a better country; how about enacting a boycott or embargo on the Chinese economy? Let's take note of the second-to-last sentence in the article recounting Mr. Teng's disappearance yesterday evening amid "shouting in the parking lot" and "two men dragging someone out of the car and taking him away," conveniently also taking away his vocalist tendencies:

This week was notable for the opening of the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of the Communist Party-controlled legislature. Typically, the police keep close watch on dissidents to guard against any embarrassing incidents during important political gatherings.

So, China--that is, the Chinese government--has a fear, no, a terrible phobia about embarrassment. Important point being that their fear is not debilitating, though: fear of embarrassment does not debilitate them. In fact, it drives the Chinese Communist Party to crack down on the truly good Chinese people, even more.

Ethics (and for that matter, morals, human rights) is far from the factor that drives, and would drive the Chinese Communist Party to change a hair on their body. Instead, the answer against
the CCP's fear-based suppression is the object, itself, of the CCP's fears: embarrassment.

* * *

This is a simple yet crucial call to everyone!: Embarrass the hell out of China's suppression all that you can--especially those whom, like all of us, are free and far away from within the confines of China's vigilante-state borders (excuse me if you are currently reading this in China somehow, despite China's censored internet)--Read about all of China's human rights abuses! Sign and spread all the petitions I've listed below (tell me if you know of any others, I'll add them)! Pass on this blog post to friends, then that'll go to friends of friends, and then to friends of friends of friends!*

(*Remember back when email was new and chain letters were actually cool to send & receive?
**Let's bring that idea back, 2.0,
***for the purposes of bringing up China's oppression,
****and for the ends of bringing down China's suppression!!!)

1. Reporters Without Borders petition to the Chinese Ambassador, demanding the release of Hu Jia. "Hujia&Jinyan's Spirit" website's letter that you can copy/paste and email to China's Olympics organizers and China's government--addresses are listed on the page.
   
   
2. Amnesty International petition: "China currently has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world." "Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, used his Yahoo! email account to send a message to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website. Seven months later, he was arrested and charged with the vaguely-worded crime of 'illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities'. Urge your Representative to intervene on his behalf and help repair a broken system of neglect of human rights."
   
   
3. PEN, human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization: urges China "to facilitate the immediate and unconditional release of all writers and journalists currently imprisoned and end the practice of detaining, harassing, and censoring writers and journalists in China; abide by China’s pledge that 'there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games'; and end internet censorship and reform laws t hat are used to imprison writers and journalists and suppress the free exchange of information and ideas on the internet." Add your signature!
   
   
4. At www.humanityatstake.com, listed under Appendix B down the page is a petition I wrote in 2004 "Supporting Democratic Taiwan Against China's Missile Deployment." At the time I wrote that, there were 496 ballistic missiles that China had pointed at Taiwan. 496 already felt like way too many then. That number has grown every year, the growth accelerating and now there are over 1,200 missiles pointed at the peaceful, democratic island country that many of my relatives (and many of your Taiwanese friends' relatives) now live. Add your name to the petition! (I hope to write an updated--sadly, updated with almost 3X as many missiles now--petition soon)
   
   
5. Human Rights Watch's helpful resources and insights about how anyone can take action and "promote human rights in China."
   

Do not discount the power of embarrassment (via education, via these petitions, or a simple reading, talking about, and passing around of information like all of the stuff in this blog post) to tangibly change China, Change China!, little by little. Just look at the fact that, regarding Sudan's genocide throughout all the years of China's economic partnership and weapons-sale profiting, China has finally, despite a bailout PR campaign defending it's Sudan policy, in little evanescant glimmers, taken some action by "expressing" its grave concern about Sudan's mass killing. This glimmer came only after Spielberg backed out of being an artistic director to the Beijing Olympics, citing "China’s economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan," and other groups' smear campaigns of the "Genocide Olympics."

Like Hu Jia's and Mr. Teng's joint open letter--“The Real China and the Olympics”--that might be the main effort that led to both their imprisonments, you can similarly do a part to Call out China, Embarrass China, Change China.

The 3 people featured in the montage below would really appreciate it. (courtesy of "Hujia&Jinyan's Spirit" website banner)