Thread: China launches major crackdown on dissidents

(Coming to a city, town, state, government near you)

China launches major crackdown on dissidents

Chinese authorities have launched a major crackdown on dissidents amid growing demands for freedom.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 11:25AM GMT 17 Dec 2008

Pro-democracy activists in Shanghai said that the police have assaulted residents who have tried to lodge complaints at official agencies.

The restrictions coincide with Thursday's 30th anniversary of Gaige Kaifang, the moment when China opened up to the world under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.

An increasing number of critics are pointing out, however, that China's economic success is a hollow victory without political change.

The purge was launched at the end of November, after the execution of Yang Jia, a 28-year-old man convicted of killing six policemen.

During Yang's trial, the authorities in the city were stunned by an enormous outpouring of public anger, as hundreds of people gathered outside the court to stridently denounce the police and the government.

The Communist Party, which is trying to maintain its iron grip as China enters an economic downturn, was further unnerved last week by the publication of a document calling for basic human rights and democracy.

Charter 08, which was drawn up and signed by over 300 pro-democracy activists, has received widespread attention.

Chang Xiongfa, 50, a former teacher who signed Charter 08, said two Shanghai-based public interest lawyers were arrested on Tuesday in the purge.

"I was visited twice by local police, once on Dec 14 and then again two days later. They searched my house and asked me who was behind the Charter," he said.

"Our lives are not safe here."

Mr Chang said that around 500 activists had formed a network in Shanghai, using the internet to exchange ideas and speak freely.

"I have worked on 97 appeals against government injustice in Shanghai, but not one has succeeded. The police told me that if I took a case to Beijing, I would get five days in prison the first time, ten days the next time, and then I would be sent to a re-education through labour camp," he said.

Liu Changliang, 46, a former businessman who also signed Charter 08, said it was easy to see police brutality. "The Shanghai government petition office opens every Wednesday morning at 10.30am. Hundreds of petitioners go to complain about their situation. In front of them all, the police beat up one or two every morning, despite their age or sex, as an example," he said. His claim was verified independently by a number of other observers.

"Our 30 years of reform is a cripple. The economic leg is walking, dragging the political leg. What's happened is that resources and wealth have been re-distributed from the ordinary people to the privileged," said Zhao Hanxiang, 67, another signatory.

The anger of the Communist Party over Charter 08 is not limited to Shanghai.

Liu Xiaobo, who protested at Tiananmen Square and who is one of the Charter's most prominent activists, was arrested at his home in Beijing along with another scholar, Zhang Zuhua. In Guangzhou, police arrested Ai Xiaoming, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... dents.html

And yet we give China most favored nation trade status, forcing American workers to directly compete with Communist slave labor.

Sounds like the beginning of blatant Stalinism, genocide, just like Putin is doing while promoting "democracy." And, I am frightened to say, the same road we have been heading down, ala warrantless wiretapping under the auspices of the Patriot Act.

Originally Posted by vortex

Sounds like the beginning of blatant Stalinism, genocide, just like Putin is doing while promoting "democracy." And, I am frightened to say, the same road we have been heading down, ala warrantless wiretapping under the auspices of the Patriot Act.

Stop the New World Order now!