'I Know Who My Comrades Are' China plays cat-and-mouse with the Internet.
Agudath Israel Officials arrive on a fact finding mission.
BY EMILY PARKER The Wall Street Journal Saturday, January 27, 2007
Out of China this week came two telling news items. One is that Internet users hit 137 million, putting them on track to surpass their U.S. counterparts in a couple of years. The other is President Hu Jintao's plea that officials further regulate the Web and "actively and creatively nurture a healthy online culture."
At a photo op after a closed door meeting, Rabbi Avi Shafran of the Agudah and Mr. Jintao lambasted UOJ and said that censorship of the internet is for the good of the people. Sources tell the Wall St Journal that negotiations are underway to include Latin American strongmen Fidel Castro & Hugo Chavez in the initiative and that Rabbi Shafran is to travel there next week. Mr. Jintao presented Rabbi Shafran with a dusty hat, the customary headgear in the Manchurian region.
There you have it: The Chinese cat-and-mouse game. This all raises an old, unsettling question of whether the spread of the Internet will actually help lead to China's democratization. Sure, the Web has pried open doors to free speech and information on the mainland. But if Beijing is always just a few paces behind, dispatching the censors to slam those doors shut--then ultimately, does the Internet really matter?
Of course it does, optimists might argue. Just imagine what China would look like if its pragmatic, development-minded leaders had kept the Internet out. Mainlanders would not have been able to sign online petitions, read as many outside news reports, write blogs, and post their comments on "sensitive" topics. More generally, think in terms of that Milton Friedman-esque link between economic and political liberty. With forces like the Internet ushering in development and commercial opportunities, can political freedom really be that far behind?
Some of those optimists may have underestimated Beijing; or at least its willingness to unleash tens of thousands of Internet police--on top of firewalls and the like--to keep the Web in check.
Some of these "netizens" have skillfully outwitted the censors by purposely miswriting terms or using proxy servers. Their words dance above the Communist Party line--alluding to, but failing to directly address--hot-button topics. They have created a web in the true sense of the word: Even if an individual site is taken down, another will just spring up in its place. Yet the fact remains: Any truly controversial piece of news or opinion would likely be too coded--or too quickly deleted--to reach the majority of Chinese.
This all brings us back to the original question. If words are written, but nobody gets to read them, will they make a difference? Beijing's censorship of language is a serious obstacle to democratization, but it would be a mistake to overemphasize this point. In China, the Internet has already set into motion a core component of democratic consciousness. I know who my comrades are--those words can easily be deleted. The realization behind them can not.
Even when real gedolim agree with these internet efforts, there have been scumbags who figure prominently in the execution, like the hothead fanatic Gottlieb running Citifield & TAG after he was thrown out of chinuch for being an abuser of children
2 comments:
http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2007/01/insane-boro-park-jew-and-their-double.html?showComment=1170082080000#c117008212683072512
'I Know Who My Comrades Are'
China plays cat-and-mouse with the Internet.
Agudath Israel Officials arrive on a fact finding mission.
BY EMILY PARKER
The Wall Street Journal
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Out of China this week came two telling news items. One is that Internet users hit 137 million, putting them on track to surpass their U.S. counterparts in a couple of years. The other is President Hu Jintao's plea that officials further regulate the Web and "actively and creatively nurture a healthy online culture."
At a photo op after a closed door meeting, Rabbi Avi Shafran of the Agudah and Mr. Jintao lambasted UOJ and said that censorship of the internet is for the good of the people. Sources tell the Wall St Journal that negotiations are underway to include Latin American strongmen Fidel Castro & Hugo Chavez in the initiative and that Rabbi Shafran is to travel there next week. Mr. Jintao presented Rabbi Shafran with a dusty hat, the customary headgear in the Manchurian region.
There you have it: The Chinese cat-and-mouse game. This all raises an old, unsettling question of whether the spread of the Internet will actually help lead to China's democratization. Sure, the Web has pried open doors to free speech and information on the mainland. But if Beijing is always just a few paces behind, dispatching the censors to slam those doors shut--then ultimately, does the Internet really matter?
Of course it does, optimists might argue. Just imagine what China would look like if its pragmatic, development-minded leaders had kept the Internet out. Mainlanders would not have been able to sign online petitions, read as many outside news reports, write blogs, and post their comments on "sensitive" topics. More generally, think in terms of that Milton Friedman-esque link between economic and political liberty. With forces like the Internet ushering in development and commercial opportunities, can political freedom really be that far behind?
Some of those optimists may have underestimated Beijing; or at least its willingness to unleash tens of thousands of Internet police--on top of firewalls and the like--to keep the Web in check.
Some of these "netizens" have skillfully outwitted the censors by purposely miswriting terms or using proxy servers. Their words dance above the Communist Party line--alluding to, but failing to directly address--hot-button topics. They have created a web in the true sense of the word: Even if an individual site is taken down, another will just spring up in its place. Yet the fact remains: Any truly controversial piece of news or opinion would likely be too coded--or too quickly deleted--to reach the majority of Chinese.
This all brings us back to the original question. If words are written, but nobody gets to read them, will they make a difference? Beijing's censorship of language is a serious obstacle to democratization, but it would be a mistake to overemphasize this point. In China, the Internet has already set into motion a core component of democratic consciousness. I know who my comrades are--those words can easily be deleted. The realization behind them can not.
Paul Mendlowitz said...
To Wall St- Funny & appropriate!
10:09 AM, January 29, 2007
Even when real gedolim agree with these internet efforts, there have been scumbags who figure prominently in the execution, like the hothead fanatic Gottlieb running Citifield & TAG after he was thrown out of chinuch for being an abuser of children
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