|
China's Internet Democrats
Here's a question for
President Bush to ask Premier Wen Jiabao in Washington
next week: Why is the Chinese leader so afraid of a
mouse?
The "mouse" in question is a 23-year-old college
student named Liu Di, better known as "stainless steel
mouse," her online moniker. Miss Liu is one of 40 or
more Chinese citizens who have gone to prison because
they dared to use the Internet to peacefully criticize
their government. Miss Liu was freed Friday, along
with two other Internet dissidents, having been held
for a year without charges.
Before the police came for her, Miss Liu was a budding
Vaclav Havel, posting satirical and absurdist essays
on a popular bulletin board and, when that was closed
down, on her own site. Like Mr. Havel, she insisted on
living in truth, writing, "Ignore government
propaganda and live freely."
Miss Liu has inspired many others to risk their own
freedom to do the same. Several petitions calling for
her release have circulated, with hundreds of Chinese
attaching their real names and thousands others using
their online names. The police have arrested several
of the most active petitioners, but word is still
spreading; in chat rooms and bulletin boards many
users have incorporated "stainless steel" into their
user names as a gesture of solidarity.
Du Daobin was arrested on October 28 for agitating on
Miss Liu's behalf; he wrote that governments that use
"terrorist rule" will lose their legitimacy. Luo
Changfu, a laid-off worker in Chongqing, recently
received a three-year sentence for posting an essay
online and putting up posters calling for Miss Liu's
release. Others detained for supporting Miss Liu
include Cai Lujun, Yuan Langsheng and Jiang Lijun.
Miss Liu herself came to police attention in part
because of her lobbying for the release of Huang Qi, a
Sichuan worker arrested in 2000 for running a Web site
that helped people find missing relatives and also
exposed officials' wrongdoing.
http://online.wsj.com
|
