RSSAs Olympics near, China begins crackdown by arresting blogger
By Michael Hatamoto | Published July 23, 2008, 11:35 PM
As the country prepares to open the 2008 Summer Olympics in three weeks, Chinese officials have arrested a writer and dissident who was already on probation after being charged a few years ago.
Du Daobin, 43, who was found guilty of charges of "incitement to subvert state power" in 2004, was scheduled to end his parole on August 4, just four days before the start of the summer games. He was initially arrested in 2003 after posting blog entries and articles talking about democracy and human rights changes the Chinese government should make in the future.
The articles accused China's leadership of being illegitimate, violent, cruel, unfair and corrupt, among other accusations.
This time around, Du reportedly left his town on numerous occassions without approval by the government, although specific details about his arrest still remain shrouded in secrecy. He also reportedly published at least 100 articles and essays on several foreign Web sites.
Du is one of China's most well known cyber dissidents, and will now likely be required to serve out the rest of his three-year sentence that was later commuted to probation.
The Chinese government was expected to begin a pre-Olympic campaign against dissent, and Du is the first person to experience the crackdown. Human rights organizations said activists have been detained and arrested to help protect Olympic security, which has caused an uproar among government critics.
Another Internet activist, Huang Qi, was arrested and charged with illegal possession of state secrets after reportedly collecting information regarding children that died in the May 12 earthquake. Huang was reportedly attempting to reveal local government corruption that led to poor engineering of the school.
China has a checkered history of arresting dissidents, journalists and bloggers who speak out against the government and its actions both domestically and internationally. Human rights organizations often butt heads with China over the arrests.
American companies Google, Microsoft and Yahoo were heavily criticized after reportedly helping the Chinese government arrest Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist who allegedly leaked state secrets onto the Internet.
It's unfortunate that the Olympics have become what they are. It makes ppl overlook the athletes who have trained a lifetime for the chance to be there.
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|I lost all interest in the "olympics" when they started allowing professional athletes to compete in them. The olymics used to mean the best athletes in the world who havent been paid for their athlitic abilities.. non professionals. 'dream team' is a joke and a black mark on everything the olympics stood for. things have went downhill since then.
As for having the olympics in china? Who cares, like everything else it appears that the highest bidder wins whether they be the best for the job or not.
All this is just fluff anyhow, a glam... a distraction to keep our minds distracted from the real issues out there. Boo hoo, china's human rights violations.. what about the war crimes committed by the bush administration? what about the abolishment of the us constitution by the patriot acts I and II? what about bush signing into law an illegal law that exempts him and his administration from war crimes trials? what about the REAL US unemployment figures (not the lame ones we are handed (that are merely "new claims filed", not including those who cannot apply for benefits anymore. What about crime? what about the corporate takeover of the US by big business.. I could go on forever... wake up and stop being suck freaking lemmings. Complacency is NO excuse.
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|is this an article about software or hardware news?beta version of blogger prison?being updated?
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|Yes, the Chinese government goes from one bad incident to another. Then again, the country goes from one bad government to another and it's been that way for thousands of years.
It's not just business of the Olympics but the business of business. We want less expensive products, so China gets the business. The government has lax rules on protection of workers and the environment and doesn't care much about what goes into food, as long as the top officials are held safe.
I can't see their government changing for the better in my life time, but hopefully, I'm wrong.
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|I've noticed that if it's something we're not bothered about watching, like folk hopping and skipping and jumping then we are up in arms and from our laptops we demand that the games be stopped. However if it was a sport we rather like watching, in my country that would be footie then not a murmur is heard. So as to these Summer Olympics I'm with you 100%, but don't mess with our Football World Cup that's above politics no matter who is staging it.
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|The football isn't being held in China...
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|what the f**k are you talking about? It's being attempted to be stopped because China isn't doing much for the good of the World and it's morals and communist ways are wrong in the eyes of most countries on the globe, and should therefore have no part/benefit from other coutries who are. It's nothing to do with what people are 'not bothered about watching'. Christ... and what country are you from, ffs, cuz you're totally missing the point?
The Olympic Games are about uniting the World for a week. Forgetting our differences, and coming to gether to laugh and have fun as one. People all over the World watch it. I watch some, as does almost everyone. Football on the other hand, is full of corruption and greed. The World Cup is the only thing I care about, and that's for the same reasons I enjoy the Olympics.
And saying that, I believe it's the idea of the World uniting that's reason why the games are going ahead in China.
The fact that people get arrested for stating their views and ideas is one of the reasons why China is almost a totally failed country (when you look at the big picture) and I think it's disgusting.
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|Do you honestly think the Olympics are not about money......
hahahahahahahahahhahaahaha
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|"Football on the other hand, is full of corruption and greed."
Of course the Olympics isn't.
No one takes drugs at all.
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|Ironic you should mention this since it was announced today that a female swimmer who won her trial event tested positive. In China, they arrest people for speaking their mind and here we just do drugs.:)
Oh, and people shouldn't be surprised at China. They're not about to let a little thing like freedom of speech and massive pollution get in the way of their well-scripted event.
Finally, any comapny that helps the Chinese arrest people should face either very heavy fines or jail time here. Maybe learning how to bend over in the shower might do some of the CEO's some good.:)
Have a nice day:)
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|""Football on the other hand, is full of corruption and greed."
Of course the Olympics isn't.
No one takes drugs at all."
Are you kidding me? This damned steroid business started with those east German women popping pills and bulking up like a bunch of shemales in 1972! Only later did it spread to the European football leagues and American baseball players like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwirre...
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|It makes me wonder how the people that selected China to have the Olympics can sleep at night knowing they've given a 'democratic' dictatorship more reason to unfairly arrest people.
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|We should cancel the 2008 Summer Olympics over this and other Chinese government llegitimate, violent, cruel, unfair and corrupt practices....
down with China!
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|I would not so much as say "down with China" CyberDoc, rather, I strongly feel that the government needs a severe overhaul and that many of the visiting countries, including the United States, should show their opposition to the human rights abuses committed by the host country by protesting during the opening ceremonies.
I will say that for the people of China, the 2008 Games could be a respite from the hardships their government bestows upon them and for that reason only would I want the event to continue. However, I do believe that for the duration of the event, there should be protests!
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|Boycott the 2008 olympics. Don't watch them on TV. Don't buy merchandise or boxes of cereal with the trademaked 5 rings on the package either. It's real easy to just flip them off...
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|So so sad! Freedom of speech is so important, i'm really tired of China and all their censorship efforts.
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