"Call me if there's a revolution"
By Melissa Chan in
on February 20th, 2011.
"Call me if there's a revolution."
That's what I told my friend, also a journalist, as he headed to central
Beijing. I did not go. Not because I've become a lackadaisical journalist, but
because I was pretty certain nothing would happen and that it would be a waste
of my Sunday afternoon (instead, I started reading Richard McGregor's book, The
Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers).
On Twitter and China's more popular microblog Sina Weibo, users were reposting
calls to gather across 13 major cities in China to protest and kick off a
so-called "Jasmine Revolution", clearly inspired by the events in North Africa
and the Middle East over the past few weeks. It's unclear where this plan
initiated - but what is clear is that none of the usual suspects from China's
activist and human rights community knew much about the march - some expressing
doubt, others simply reposting the plan to gather at squares and city hot spots.
Never mind the culprit though - police officers peremptorily swept in and
rounded up at least a dozen dissidents overnight. Sina Weibo censors kicked in,
and any tweets referencing jasmines were deleted. There were unconfirmed
reports that students at some universities were told they could not leave
campus for the day. In some cities, online users told of a greater show of
police on the streets.
So at 2 pm sharp, there was no congregation of Chinese - but quite a
congregation of journalists and police waiting for this imaginary revolution.
Over the past few weeks, as country after country witnessed protests, there has
been a China subtext, with many people wondering if the same thing that
happened in Egypt could happen in China. This question was especially asked by
many with the news that China's Sina Weibo had apparently started censoring
searches for the word "Egypt".
Here's why I think China won't be having a revolution anytime soon:
-- The government knows how Twitter and Facebook work and have a sophisticated
system of censorship, supported by an army of people and software. This means
there really isn't a means for anyone to organise protests here the way the
students did in Egypt with online tools. Anything of the sort would be deleted
almost immediately after posting.
-- Speaking of students, Chinese students would probably riot if you took away
their iPhones with the Angry Birds computer game on it, sooner than they would
rise up to demand greater human rights. This is because college students are
privileged. Most of them grew up in cities, where their parents paid tutors to
supplement their education so they could do well in the all-important high
school examination that got them into university in the first place. They are
comfortable and middle-class, and have too much to lose to bother rabble
rousing.
-- People in China have a lot to complain about. But consider the many
Americans who complain about how their country is going downhill these days.
It's not quite the same, but it's a good enough comparison to give you a better
idea of how dissatisfied people here are with their government. In other words
- people will complain, but few would actually do anything to change the
system, because the system is just good enough. Most people have food, shelter,
clothing, the basics - and still remember a time when things in China were much
poorer.
-- The revolution did happen. In 1989. And it failed, with the People's
Liberation Army tanks and guns firing on civilians. Back then, the Chinese
government had let the demonstrations get out of hand, with some officials
sympathising with protesters' calls for reform. Sympathy or no sympathy today,
leaders have learned their lesson and they will never let anything get out of
hand like that again.
So you might ask... why does all the news out of China seems to always talk
about repression, dissatisfied people, worker protests, and the whole lot that
suggests this is a country on the brink?
The best way I can explain it is partly the nature of news - that old adage
that "no news is good news". As a journalist, I sometimes worry about all the
focus on negative news - and we do occasionally try to bring you a fun,
uplifting report. But part of the purpose of our jobs, I think, is to hold
truth to power and play a watchdog role in the countries we cover. Otherwise,
how can institutions and governments improve and thereby improve the lives of
ordinary people?
And the other part of the explanation, is that the gross human rights
violations, protests, and injustices which occur in this country happen to a
small minority of the 1.3 billion people here. As I have mentioned already -
people here complain, but they're usually not so worked up about it to actually
do anything. China is a place where the rule of law is weak. But what this
means is that if you're an ordinary person, just like an ordinary person
anywhere else, you will not likely in your lifetime see the inside of a
courtroom or a police station or feel the need to retain a lawyer. Life is
humdrum with its natural ups and downs for most.
So the big problem is little rule of law. Many of the stories we do on the road
go down to there being little rule of law, and it's an issue with the potential
to prevent China from ever becoming a great, stable and progressive power. But
this is another story, a big topic for another time.
For now, I'll just leave with the anecdote tweeted by McClatchy Newspaper's Tom
Lasseter, who did swing over Sunday afternoon to check up on things:
"Watching large crowd of cameras following around the police, young woman
in Dior sunglasses asked me if there was a celebrity" or something.
------------------------------------
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe : [email protected]
Unsubscribe : [email protected]
List owner : [email protected]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
