While Chinese authorities remain weaselly in their diplomatic response to Myanmar's fatal clampdown on the tens of thousands of monks and citizens of Yangon who have come out to rally for an end to the military dictatorship, a number of influential Chinese bloggers have taken the radical move of going against all known truths regarding The Chinese Mind as of Sept. 17, 2007 with some throwing their weight squarely behind the Saffron Revolution and others even using this incident as an opportunity to reflect on the state of China's own democratic movement.
Wednesday morning when the Chinese blogsphere began to respond to news of the growing protest and subsequent crackdown was when the first Bullog—an independent blog portal home to many prominent Chinese journalists’ blogs—blogger Don Ma posted the first of his several updates on the situation with ‘different government, same old line,’ a response to the junta's claim of instigation from both domestic and foreign enemies. “All dictatorships think the same way,” writes one reader; “Li Hongzhi” jokingly (?) blurts another. A further update from Ma closer to noon that the Myanmar military had begun cracking down on the monks received no response.
Bullog blogger and historian Fu Guoyong posted not long before lunch on Wednesday an essay he'd written on Aung San Suu Kyi back in 2002 in which he puts forth some ethical guidelines for China's own democratic movement, and without naming names, perhaps referring to those currently (housebound and imprisoned parallels nonwithstanding) involved in it.
One of Fu's readers writes:
昂山淑姬……丧失理想的中国何时才能有这种“圣徒”般的人物？
Writes another:
为何不期待自己成为这样的人物？
Coincidentally, a search on YouTube for 缅甸 brings up two recent cellphone-shot clips from the streets of Yangon, the latter having been posted by a ‘yongfuguo’:
By noon Thursday, other Bullog bloggers began kicking in. Blog editor for major internet news portal NetEase Wen Yunchao posted two photos under the title borrowed from People's Daily: ‘two photos of anti-authoritarianism':
9月23日，缅甸仰光，大约2万名僧侣和市民走上街头，反对军事独裁。
人民网的报道称这场运动是“反对军事独裁”：
Some comments:
我们物价上涨的时候……
follow monks
已经开枪了
震撼,感动!
啥也不说了……
I'm not gonna say anything…..
Indispensable ProState inFlames blogger and The Beijing News reporter moogee made his first post of several just after lunch Thursday with a translation of a Myanmar Daily editorial which dismisses the protests as the actions of an extremely small rumor-spreading and reactionary minority instigated by reactionary Western forces, manipulating and encouraging people to violate the constitution and attack the government, the military and the whole of society with the aim of throwing the country into chaos; the editorial adds that the government also hopes to see an end to corruption, the promotion of democracy, that in fact it's these illegal groups out protesting who are working against such goals…
Two translatable comments from the many caustic and sarcastic others left on this post:
好熟悉的文字
真他妈比的有意思
全世界的独裁专制统治者，说起话来，强调和语气都完全一摸一样
日他娘的比
Autocrats and dictators the world over, everything they say, what they emphasize and even their tone, it's all exactly the same
[bleep][bleep][bleep]
A few hours after another post from Don Ma responding to news that monks and citizens were being attacked—“sure enough, the Communist Party of China government won't interfere with another country's domestic politics”—moogee added that:
和尚情绪稳定，开枪的都是临时军人
Reader comments:
不知道仰光的路况能不能支持住坦克…..
党太虚伪了，当年没有日本人干涉内政，他们有今天。对自己是自由主义，对别人是专职主义的垃圾。
缅甸的和尚还算对得起自己的信仰
另一方面也反应缅甸的专制还不成熟
我们共产中国老早就专辟了一个“宗教事务局”，一网打尽佛道僧尼上帝安拉……
有时候我想，如果要我一边信仰一个神，一边服从宗教事务局的领导，我真会害怕自己下地狱。
But at the same time it just shows how unripe Myanmar's totalitarianism is
Here in Communist China we've had a “Religious Affairs Bureau” set up for ages, which rounds up the whole lot of various religions…..
Sometimes I think that if I was to believe in one god, but then obey the RAB's leaders as well, I'd be really scared of going to hell.
Later in the afternoon moogee reposted one netizen's strongly-worded demand for China to immediately dispatch troops to Myanmar and restore order, generating two pages of heated and fascinating debate in comments over this issue; Sina blogger Yan Nanfei put out a post at five pm that the authorities had begun using tear gas to stop the procession, and then the Paparazzi Brigade ycul blogger put out at just before nine:
会不会大开杀戒
缅甸的局势如火如荼地进行着,全世界都在关注,
然而国内媒体确是静悄悄的,好象俺们的邻国什么都没发生一样.
最新局势的进展到处都有报道,但是深度报道却还一直没看到
僧侣集团和民主派是什么关系?为什么是僧侣们首先起来游行
后台是谁?
油价上涨是导火索,缅甸国内深层次的矛盾是什么?
< <经济学家>>还是比较靠谱,比较客观,而且把事情的来龙去脉说清了,
但是深层次的分析估计要等到下一期
< <经济学家>>好象对前景很悲观,
And now mainland media have clearly gone dead silent, like nothing were happening in our neighboring country at all.
There have been reports all over on the latest developments of the situation, but I've yet to see anything in-depth.
What's the connection between the monks and the democrats? Why were the monks the first to get out and start protesting?
Who's behind all this?
Rising oil prices ignited this, but what's the conflict at the lower levels in Myanmar society?
…..
中国在这中间起到什么作用?
各国都在关注.
中国也担心事件对自身的国际形象不利
对08年的奥运会有负面影响
就象苏丹达尔富尔人道危机中国的不作为
导致一些国家抵制俺们的奥运会但是中国对缅甸军政府的警告好象并不起作用
和朝鲜核危机一样
中国的作用并不象西方想象的那么大
小弟弟并不很听老大哥的话会不会大开杀戒呢?
心里有点寒
Every country is watching to find out.
China's worried about the impact this will have on its international image
As well as negative impact on the '08 Olympics
Just like where China has fallen short in the Darfur humanitarian crisis
Leading some countries to boycott the Olympics
But China's warning to Myanmar's military government seems to have had no effect
Just like with the North Korean nuclear missile crisis
China's role isn't as great as the West seems to think it is
The little brothers don't seem to be listening so much to what Big Brother says
Is there any way to stop the killing?
I'm a little worried
Then Thursday night the Bullogers got wind of the Red Shirt Campaign worldwide protest scheduled for Friday, and support spread quickly. “Wear a red t-shirt!,” said journalist-blogger Priest Liu first at 11 p.m., “and support Myanmar's democracy movement!”
At eleven-thirty, Beijing-based journalist Taras the Arab Sohu blogger wrote:
据胡贲老师说，缅甸的游行，就是我们的19（8）（9），既然如此，那还是应当支持一下的。另外，全世界搞一搞，也是胡闹一把，好玩啊。
A world wide campain is going on now to support the people in Burma. There is a signifigant group at Facebook, discussion boards are buzzing and this sms-message is being sent to thousands right now: In support of our incredibly brave friends in Burma: May all people around the world wear a red t-shirt on friday, September 28. Please forward!
Just after midnight, Bulloger Huang Zhangjin, another journalist, wrote:
明天请穿红Ｔ恤
At 1:38 Friday morning, Beijing time, Bullog founder Luo Yonghao chimed in, posting the same image with a quote from Suu Kyi:
‘my existence is the best form of protest’, pledging to the red t-shirt protest five hours later.
The first comment left there:
怎么缅甸的事各大网站都没上头版！！！！！
Is also left on the aforementioned Wen Yunchao's second post on Myanmar:
缅甸僧侣9月23日在仰光发起了二万人的游行，展开近二十年来向军政府作出的最大挑战。此次群众运动因军政府上月取消官方补贴而导致燃油价格暴涨而引起。作为全球互联网管制最严厉的国家之一，缅甸经常封锁国外新闻网站和提供电子邮件服务的网站。然而，大批市民在仰光街头示威游行的消息和片断却恰恰是通过互联网传遍世界的。面对反网络封锁技术广泛传播而束手无策的缅甸政府，竟然一度切断了国内网与国际互联网的连接。有人认为，在这种境况之下，有关缅甸局势的详细报道依然能流向海外，这不能不说是一场打破政府对互联网封锁的全球性胜利，这场以信息主导的运动将来都很有可能被称为“Glite革命”（Glite，缅甸应用最广泛的代理网站）。9月27日，一则信息在包括中国大陆在内的国际互联网广为流传：“为声援缅甸民主运动，国际和解伙伴（International fellowsshipreconciliation）号召全球人民今天（9月28日）穿红T恤。”
As of 8 am Beijing time on Friday, September 28, only two more Bullog bloggers have publicly announced their participation in today's protest.
30 comments
I STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF BURMA THAT RISE UP IN COURAGE AGAINST A VIOLENT OPPRESSIVE REGIME!
Good plan. 1510‘s worth getting into. They had a great post on Burma that I overlooked for this post.
Mac, that’s some smart 70%.
Anug San Suu Kyi’s connection with the CIA (thru our intelops like DIA officer Col. Robert Helvey) and the Karen insurgency is an open secret:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Aung+San+Suu+Kyi+Robert+Helvey
http://www.google.com/search?q=Aung+San+Suu+Kyi+Karen+insurgency
And is it a suprise all this ties back to the American Enterprise Institute, the chief architect of the Iraq war:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Albert_Einstein_Institution
“Helvey “was an officer of the Defence Intelligence Agency of the Pentagon, who had served in Vietnam and, subsequently, as the US Defence Attache in Yangon, Myanmar (1983 to 85), during which he clandestinely organised the Myanmarese students to work behind Aung San Suu Kyi and in collaboration with Bo Mya’s Karen insurgent group”
Charles Lie did not bring one proof of what he is saying. Not one of the links he presents carry any corroborating information. On the other hand would you mean that even giving a Nobel price for peace was wrong ? Even the Nobel institution is corrupted ?
And after all, if the Albert Einstein Institution address lack of democracy and freedom with non-violent means, waht’s wrong with it ? Please explain.
As the cliche goes, even a broken clock is right two times a day; just because the fenqing accuse the US of everything doesn’t mean the US is guilty of nothing. But these connections from way back don’t convince me that what’s happening now has anything to do with any foreign government. And even if it did, I don’t think that would invalidate what’s happening now. Not even the apparently omnipresent CIA can mobilize that many people without there being genuine grievances.
MAC,
The trigger for the protest was higher oil prices. Such protests are not uncommon in countries where oil prices are fixed by the government. Malaysia also had our share of oil prices increase that led to protests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUmM4_x9hE
However, reading through the presses one can clearly see how journalists are trying to exploit the unrest. I remember during the first few days of the protests, no journalists bothered to explain the cause of the protest. All reports sounded like this: Monks protesting, Myanmar government is a military junta, human rights suppression, innocent killed, aung san nobel prize winner under house arrest.
The most important reason for what caused the protests (higher oil prices) were completely ignored by the press until a few days later.
Democracy is part of China. The country’s name is called PEOPLE’S republic of China. It belongs to the people. Constitution also says:
Article 2. All power in the People’s Republic of China belongs to the people.
Article 34. All citizens of the People’s Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of nationality, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, property status, or length of residence, except persons deprived of political rights according to law.
————————————————
You live in China so you should know that there are elections that are held in China every 5 years. And you should have come across names of places like Great hall of the PEOPLE, LIBERATION STREET, PEOPLE’S SQUARE – does those name not sound DEMOCRATIC to you?
Communists are supporters of Democracy. It is Fascism that is against Democracy and Anti Communist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Anti-Communism
Therefore it doesn’t surprise me that many Chinese Communists should be supporting Democracy in Myanmar.
@netzen & MAC, thanks for your comments. I followed through the first link there and this came up as result #2: kalimao.blogspot.com/2007/09/human-rights-mutiny-in-myanmar.html
..with the exact comment and set of links which led me there, so either Charles Liu, an interesting and dedicated troll in his own right, is none other than the notorious ‘China blog’ troll bobby fletcher—and I see now someone made that connection long ago—or else these guys plagiarize each other (see misspelling of Aung’s name both here and at kalimao).
Any news from Rangoon? Last I heard troops were marching in from Mandalay, but it wasn’t known if they were coming to stop the protesters or the Rangoon soldiers or both..
@mahathir_fan, the oil factor was mentioned in this post. You know, I spend a lot of time working on my posts; please at least read them before you begin trolling your absurdities in the future.
John,
I did not accuse you of not mentioning the oil factor. Please read what I posted again. I too spend a lot of time writing comments. I was referring to journalists who reported the incident during the first few days.
Start again from my sentence from “I remember during the first few days of the protests, no journalists bothered…”
Also, I do not believe what I posted is considered trolling. It is what I believe in, or based on my understanding of the subject matter. In fact, I almost always back up what I claim with sources when I think my reader would find what I have to say to be questionable.
Free Burma!
International Bloggers’ Day for Burma on the 4th of October
International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.