folks, i know that there are peace negotiations under way among left
intellectuals and activists on this list; i hope they will be fruitful.
i find it unbearable though to see untenable claims of "mccarthyism"
made against somebody who just stays in an argument, when anybody in his
right mind should know that we must reserve the "mccarthy" reference to
cases where livelihoods are threatened, or destroyed, of people who
speak their mind. (i think that there is no need for moderation here; it
is easy to ignore the people whose contributions you're not interested
in; and it is possible not to respond to provocations.)
i find it equally unbearable that this thread should end without
reference to the political prisoners that are being made and held and
convicted in the PRC and the territories it controls. many of them are
people like us. they require our solidarity.
(as an example of many such documents - why are they necessary? - i send
a resolution of PEN International from two months ago.)
regards,
-a
https://pen-international.org/who-we-are/annual-congress/2020/pen-resolution-on-china
The Assembly of Delegates of PEN International, on its 86th annual
Congress online, 2 to 6 November 2020;
PEN International is increasingly concerned over the systematic erosion
of the right to freedom of expression in the People’s Republic of China
(PRC), and the ongoing government crackdown against those who engage in
peaceful expression. These concerns echo those expressed in previous
years through resolutions adopted at several of its annual Congresses,
most recently at its 85th World Congress in September 2019. Despite some
welcome releases since then, including Huang Xiaomin, Xu Lin and Liu
Xianbin,[1] the public space for free speech has continued to erode
across the country. At least 12 members of the Independent Chinese PEN
Centre (ICPC) are still imprisoned or detained, while dozens more have
suffered various forms of harassment and travel restrictions, reflecting
the ongoing persecution of the Centre’s membership. In the 2019 Case
List,[2] PEN International has documented 39 cases of writers in various
forms of detention in the PRC, the highest of any country featured.
The severity of the crisis in Xinjiang remains of the utmost urgency.
With reports of as many as 1.8 million Uyghur and other minorities being
held in extra-judicial re-education camps,[3] the PRC government has
shown no sign of relenting in the face of mounting international
condemnation.[4] By design, the intensity of the crackdown has had a
devastating impact on the Uyghur identity in the region, with detainees
forced to undergo intensive political indoctrination and coerced to
renounce their deepest beliefs.[5] Among those held in the camps are
hundreds of Uyghur writers, poets, scholars, translators, and other
public figures, many of whom have had no communication with the outside
world since they were indefinitely detained without trial.[6] Examples
of those detained include world renowned scholar Rahile Dawut,[7] a
leading expert on Uyghur folklore at Xinjiang University, who
disappeared without a trace while travelling from Xinjiang to Beijing in
December 2017. Perhat Tursun, one of the world’s greatest Uyghur
writers, was reportedly disappeared by the security services in January
2018 and has been sentenced to sixteen years’ imprisonment.[8]
Throughout the PRC, the government has continued its crackdown on civil
society, limiting the space for free expression and controlling access
to information. Authorities have utilised the latest technological
advances to create an increasingly panoptic surveillance apparatus,[9]
providing extensive powers to monitor and shape public discourse through
censorship and propaganda. The resulting climate of repression impacts
every strata of Chinese society, and is perhaps most starkly illustrated
by reports that the PRC government initially sought to silence Dr Li
Wenliang when he attempted to raise awareness about the dangers of
COVID-19,[10] resulting in a public backlash against a government that
has prioritised control over the health of its citizens.
Efforts by the PRC government to impose greater controls on society have
also accelerated across the country’s outer regions. In Hong Kong, a
territory which has long acted as a sanctuary for those fleeing
persecution in the mainland, the promulgation of the national security
law marks the latest assault on the territory’s unique rights and
protections.[11] The sweeping language used in the law provides
government authorities with broad discretion to arbitrarily redefine the
limits of expression,[12] posing a potential threat to anyone who
expresses dissenting views of the Hong Kong or PRC governments. PEN
International continues to call for the release of three Hong Kong-based
writers and publishers, Gui Minhai, Yao Wentian and Wang Jianmin.[13]
Gui Minhai, who is a member of ICPC, was last seen on October 2015 in
Thailand and has since been detained at an unknown location in the PRC
without legal assistance or consular access.[14] A Swedish citizen,
Gui’s arrest and reported refoulement from Thailand to the PRC provides
a stark illustration of the PRC government’s ability and increased
willingness to aggressively pursue critics beyond its borders.
In Tibet, authorities have actively sought to expand coercive labour
initiatives throughout the region,[15] while writers, including Kunchok
Tsephel Gopey Tsang and Jo Lobsang Jamyang, remain in prison on spurious
security charges.[16] While in Inner Mongolia, recent changes to the
educational curriculum that place a greater emphasis on instruction
through Mandarin Chinese at the expense of Mongolian-medium instruction
has led to mass protests and a subsequent crackdown by the government
authorities.[17]
Across the world, the PRC government has increasingly sought to utilise
its economic power to reshape international norms and institutions in an
effort to project its influence and shield itself from criticism.
Universities have been at the forefront of these efforts, and PEN
International is highly concerned over numerous reports of PRC
government authorities engaging in the censorship, intimidation and
surveillance of students and scholars in universities around the
globe,[18] undermining the principle of academic freedom that is so
vital to the development of critical thinking and the exchange of ideas
through free expression.
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