Some are calling it the worst crackdown in a decade. And this weekend, Chinese officials continued their campaign of detaining and jailing dissidents and rights activists in an apparent effort to prevent a repeat of the democratic awakenings in the Arab world.
It began in the middle of February, after first the Tunisian president and then Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak had been swept from power by popular demonstrations. In mid-February a call went out on the Boxun website for China’s own Jasmine rallies, a call that was met with a show of force in Beijing and elsewhere at designated rally points as security forces swarmed the areas.
But not content with stamping out these proposed gatherings, reports suggest that more than 200 activists are currently under house arrest, while more than two dozen have been jailed. Dozens more have simply ‘disappeared.’
According to a report by AsiaNews: ‘The situation is worse than before the 2008 Olympics, because now the authorities do not only want to silence dissidents for some time, rather they want to silence them entirely. To be questioned by police and put on trial for "subversion" or "inciting subversion", an offense that carries a life sentence, all that is needed is for you to have written on the Internet about the Jasmine revolution or criticize the government.’
And now high-profile artist and activist Ai Weiwei has apparently joined the ranks of the detained. The Sydney Morning Herald reports today that Ai was held at Beijing airport yesterday before he was able to board a flight to Hong Kong. An immigration officer is said to have told one of his assistants that Ai had ‘other business’ and so couldn’t board.
‘Between 15 and 20 uniformed and plainclothes police surrounded his home and studio in Caochangdi, in the north of the capital, and one of his assistants told the BBC it had been searched and a number of people who work for him had been taken to a local police station,’ the paper reported.
This isn’t Ai’s first run-in with the authorities. In 2009, after conducting his own investigation, he created a public list of the names of over 5,000 children that were killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake after the government had refused to disclose the number of lives lost. Ai was reportedly beaten by police and suffered a brain hemorrhage.
More recently, in January this year, demolition workers tore down Ai’s Shanghai studio in a move apparently linked to his political activism.
It’s hard to believe that this is the same artists who is perhaps most famous for designing the Beijing National Stadium, the ‘Bird’s Nest.’ The structure was the centerpiece of the 2008 Olympic Games and was seen as symbolizing a modern China. It’s an irony that will be bringing Ai and others little comfort now.
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Johnny
I would like to ask on simple thing to all readers – Is it wrong to raise voice and demand basic human rights in a Peaceful manner? I never advocate violence as a mean of protest and I still don’t but nobody shall be denied the right of peaceful protest. It is easy to sit back and smile at people who are worried about apprehension of artists, lawyers and activists who never,ever killed or used violence but were still detained illegally and some are even executed. I would like to remind all that it is a small world we live in and things like this affect us all. One should raise voice against wrongdoings. This is what separates us from tools and animals.
JhuQin
WeiWei is a good man as he had lots of powerful friend and money and if he wanted could have lived without caring of his brothers but he sacrificed himself for poors and for the greater good of all. We will neither forget what you did for us nor what they did to you.
Nahian J
The uprising within the Middle East was a result of different variables and aspects of the situations. For example, in Tusnisia, most of the citizens were not able to acquire even the barest of necessities. China is currently a developing nation, modernizing every aspect of itself at a staggering, rapid rate. The standard of living is rising and the economy is growing. The rate of unemployment is lessening, giving the population jobs, a key element in growing uneasiness or uncomfortableness within a populace. Censorship is also another factor in a rebellion occurring in China since China censors everything from bad news to worse or reinvent it in such a way that the government still represents the good of the people. The recent crack downs are terrible but if the government controls the media, they will spin it in away the people will it as justice served.