As I mentioned the other day, there are reports that Chen Guangcheng has died — that they have at last killed him. By “they,” I mean the Chinese Communist Party. Chen is the blind legal activist who has drawn attention to the horror of forced abortion and sterilization. The Chinese state has punished him in the usual ways.
If you have four minutes, please watch a video found here. It comes from Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, and its president, Reggie Littlejohn. The video tells the story of Chen, and asks us to sign a petition in support of him.
Admirers of Chen call him one of the great heroes in the world today. I am certainly one such admirer.
And somewhere, Tom Friedman is giving a lecture praising the benefits of "one party autocracy" over American Democracy..............................There is not much hope.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA friend of mine who has lived in China for over a decade once told me that "the Chinese are as free as any people on earth, as long as they keep their mouths shut about the government".
Government officials are terrified as to what might happen if hundreds of million of people rise up at once, so they quickly and ruthlessly destroy any kind of protest that can spread throughout China. As a tragic example, about which no one outside of China has heard a thing, if you search online for any information about the Jasmine Rebellion, you'll find a story or two about a few people being arrested for protesting in various countries. In China it was much more serious than that.
The real story? Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered. It's common knowledge over there, and the Chinese people just remain quiet about it. They have no choice. You will find nothing about these killings online.
Heroes like Chen Guangcheng are simply not discussed, and it's a shameful disgrace.
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