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A Single Re-Tweet Lands Chinese Woman in Labor Camp
lee1 writes "A woman in China has been sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labor camp for the crime of 'disrupting social order' after retweeting a joke on Twitter (which is entirely banned in China, but popular nonetheless). Cheng Jianping had repeated a Twitter comment suggesting that nationalist protesters smash Japan's pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, adding the words 'Charge, angry youth.' At the time, China and Japan were feuding over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, and groups of young Chinese had been demonstrating against Japan, smashing Japanese products; the tweet amounted to gentle chiding of the protesters. Ms. Cheng may also have been targeted because she is a human rights activist: she had signed petitions calling for the release of China's jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. She has been detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticizing China's Communist Party."
Anyone using Twitter should be sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labour camp.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
If you are a political activist in any country (not just China), don't post things publicly that are unrelated to your cause. Don't post things electronically that are or could be considered illegal, or be used as blackmail material. Remember that you are not representing yourself anymore, you are representing your cause. Everything you say and do will be put under a microscope, and the internet never forgets and never forgives mistakes.
Now that that's out of the way: China, you suck.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
No, she was imprisoned for making fun of the people actually causing racial unrest...
you know, the snide comments "well, its almost just as bad/ the same/ worse in the usa/ uk/ western nation"
no
it actually isn't
when you confuse hyperbole and reality, you are no longer commenting intelligently, you are merely broadcasting your ignorance
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
What would happen if someone tweeted a "joke" about a bomb threat in the EU or the USA?
Oh that's right, they get a visit by their friendly neighborhood police officers. http://boingboing.net/2010/11/13/twitter-users-re-twe.html
This is probably front page news because we clearly all hate China, and Twitter is involved. In full seriousness, relying on the humor of law enforcement/secret police to keep you out of trouble is a bad bet. Relying on that sense of humor when seemingly inciting violence against a nation with whom ties are already strained is an even worse bet. Is this seriously anything new or surprising?
Signatures are the new names.
Who cares about the human cost as long as we can continue to get cheap electronics, right?
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Or the UK, where you get arrested for suggesting you might blow up an airport on Twitter.
No, the KKK were arrested for ACTING upon incitement toward violence.
The KKK are allowed to march and yell in public, openly, as is any group like that, so long as they obtain
a parade permit, WHICH THEY CAN, in the US.
But if you break the law, like, oh, I dunno, KILL PEOPLE, commit arson, violate labor laws, intimidate employers...
such as what got the Klansmen in question in the parent post put in prison...
in China, you'd be the government. In the US, you're arrested.
Paradoxically, the Chinese leadership's need to quell
even the slightest expression of dissent, or the slightest expression of
free-thinkng, simply telegraphs the inherent weakness and illegitimacy
of their system of government. If the government is truly legitimate, is
truly based on the consent of the people, then it does not require such
measures. The most legitimate form of government is that which requires
the least repression of individual expression and will while still being able
to function in a stable manner.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
She has been detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticising China's Communist Party.
So in the USA the Republicans would be locked up for criticizing the Democrats, and the Democrats would be locked up for criticizing the Republicans. With almost everybody locked up, who could work as prison guards? I guess this could be solved with some H-1B visas.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Really. Well I guess its not like in the U.S. where a sports athlete will be fined at least 20 grand for posting nothing out of the ordinary. AKA Terrel Owens, Randy Moss
The fact of the matter is - if you have money in a bank account, and some spare change, you are better off than the majority of China, and most of the rest of the world.
Its populace is in a frightening situation, where speaking out against the regime is often a criminal activity. Its economy feeds off itself and other countries, and is reflected strongly to foreign markets, but the smoke-and-mirrors reality draws many comparisons to Cold War Russia, specifically its unsustainable growth and complete disregard for things like environment and human safety. Its foreign policy is bullheaded and unrepentant - and they get away with it, because the rest of the world admonishes it with one hand and spoon-feeds it with the other.
Possibly because it didn't happen? Klan members were arrested and imprisoned for crimes they commited (murder among them), but they still exist today and hold public rallies and events without being imprisoned for speaking.
You seem to be confusing hate-speech with hate-crimes. Going up on a stage and saying that "group X is a bunch of subhuman degenerates" is certainly hateful, but you have the right to do it. Going on stage and saying "group X is a bunch of subhuman degenerates" while beating a member of group-X with a club is a hate crime, and will carry different penalties than just beating someone with a club would normally.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/18/pakistan.blasphemy/index.html?hpt=C1
"This month a Pakistani court sentenced Isham's mother, 45 year old Asia Bibi, to death, not because killed, injured or stole, but simply because she said something."
"The town cleric, Qari Muhammad Salim, reported the incident to police who arrested Bibi. After nearly 15 months in prison came her conviction and the death sentence."
USA's best friends, China and Pakistan. Awesome.
That's a difference in degree, not kind; not a fundamental difference, but surely much less unpleasant to undergo.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
No, it's just required to hold a parade, which disrupts traffic and commerce in the area for a short time. There are plenty of other ways to exercise your freedom of speech that don't disrupt anyone, and don't require a permit.
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
Because "Being an anti-government activist lands Chinese woman in labour camp" isn't nearly exciting enough.
20 grand is probably more than a chinese laborer earns in their entire lives
FTFY
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
If the government don't lock up disruptive individuals who cause public unrest. The harmony in the country will be gone, and the whole economy will tank. Personal freedom is a small price to pay for a thriving economy. Look at the US and Europe now. Their freedom of expression mires them in endless internal silly arguments while not solving any pressing problem.
This is actually a popular view in China and the party actively promotes it. Our increasingly frustrating politics make it more and more believable.
Correction: the financial human right they disagree with is "people have the right to make a profit off of the financial loss of other, to the point of causing significant suffering/death."
Soon America will be like this, if we don't start electing politicians who remove, rather than add laws.
I get a little tired of the bitching about China's human rights problems not because they aren't problems, but because people seem to just like to bitch rather than suggest what might be done. See the US can't just make China play nice and respect human rights that movie about Team America: World Police was a comedy/satire, not a documentary, if the puppets didn't give that away. The US can't just police China.
Now, the US could of course do things like refuse to trade or embargo China. Ok, ignoring any consequences to the US itself, what makes you think that would work? What evidence is there that wold do any good? It has been tried time and time again and never seems to improve conditions in countries, only make them worse. That isn't to say it cannot be a useful tool for security related issues, but it doesn't seem to do anything good human rights related.
In fact a rather strong argument can be made that the only way China will get better at human rights is if their own citizens demand it. They will have to force the change internally. Like with most things in human nature, people have to want to change before you can help them change. You can then also argue the best thing that the US can do for that is to keep as much free and open trade as possible. With free trade comes free information. though the Central Committee might not like it, they can't just cut off the flow of information, it would hurt business.
Free trade with China is producing dramatic increases in the standard of living for many people, and has actually improved the human rights situation from what it was. It is far, FAR from good but it is a hell of a lot better than when the great leap "forward" happened.
There's a strong argument that the best thing we can do is just to trade freely and make all our information and culture available. If you've a different suggestion then let's hear it as well as the defense for it, but please less with the hand-wringing.
She was imprisoned because she is a human rights activist, the joke regarding the anti-Japan demonstrators was only a pretense. The PSC (the Politburo; the Standing Committee of the Communist Party) couldn't care less about a joke that makes fun of people they hate anyway.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
...plus a criminal record and a £3000 legal bill when he lost his appeal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-11736785
Are you fucking serious? That bitch was slapped with contempt of court because she was both nasty enough to decide the defendant she'd sworn to judge impartially was guilty before the defence had even been made, and stupid enough to post that on facebook. That wasn't about expressing an opinion, it was about openly declaring her intention to put someone in jail unjustly. Being on a jury is incredibly serious business.
Every time you elect a lawyer to elective office you are guaranteed that you will get a flood of redundant, contradictory, unenforceable & expensive laws, thereby ensuring the perpetual employment of their colleagues who are paid handsomely to unravel, defend against & prosecute this utterly pointless bullshit!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
How is this modified as a troll? This is the writing on the wall and it will be too late to be disappointed once it has come to pass.
I'm conservative, and I'm not scared of China's threat to our security. I'm also disgusted by their human rights track record. Not everyone falls neatly into one corner of the Nolan Chart.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
It's sort of like how America's medieval-style prisons are called the "correctional system".
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
If I tell someone how much I love them while beating them do I get less time then just beating them? How about if I'm apathetic towards them?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
That has what to do with the U.S. government now?
It's stupid?
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
Ms. Cheng is pretty hot.
Because here where we have "free speech" it's not a crime.
"Who says this is a left-leaning website?"
This is a left-leaning website.
There. I said it.
I love my sig.
We probably need a whole new rating system.
Beating someone while shouting racial slurs at them: +10 years
Beating someone while staring into the distance trying to remember if you left the oven on: +0 years
Beating someone while shouting "I love you man!" at them: Actually, that's creepy. +12 years
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
Those douchebags still praise Mao
I'm "left", and I don't praise Mao. Or Stalin. Or Pol Pot.
I do know a lot of folk on the "right" who praise Pinochet, though. Better dead than red and all that.
No, that would be \. This is /. - obviously right-leaning.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
He's a libertarian. You can't argue with them based on things like facts and evidence. They believe that governments are the cause of all evil, and that without governments keeping them in check corporations will be warm and fluffy.
See jcr? It works better when you use an ad hominem as well as a straw man.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
It's fortunate for ordinary Americans that the government does such a poor job enforcing these laws or we would all be living in a police state already. Of course, the real purpose of these laws is not to enforce, but rather to render any citizen, even the most honest and upright, vulnerable to felony prosecution at the whim of the state. Those who naively support such proscriptions would do well to remember the words of Cardinal Richelieu who famously said, "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged". This goes hand in glove with another of his assertions; namely that, "Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state." Ironically, it seems to have become the first essential in the affairs of individuals as well these days.
In a free market, someone can end up better off than someone else, but nobody gets screwed.
In a planned economy everyone can end up better off, and only the multinationals get screwed in their turn.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it