Friday, March 18, 2005

China Further Cracks Down on Free Speech






According to Washington Times today:


Beijing, China, Mar. 18 (UPI) -- China's most popular online chat room, hosted by Beijing's Tsinghua University, has been closed to non-students to limit the exchange of ideas on the Internet. Operators of the chat room at the Shuimu Tsinghua website (www.smth.org) posted a message saying that non-students would no longer be able to log on, the South China Morning Post reported Friday. The university is China's foremost for science and technology, and the chat room has become famous for its intellectual debate and social commentary, as well as updates on information technology. Its popularity is comparable to that of Beijing University chat room, which had 30,000 users before it was shut in September. New rules from the Ministry of Information Industry go into effect Sunday, and will hold chat room operators liable for any "objectionable content" on their sites. All Tsinghua users were required to register under their true identities by Tuesday of this week. The Ministry of Education has issued a circular on strengthening "political thought" at universities, and the Communist Party's Propaganda Department has increased its monitoring of cyberspace for subversive trends, the report said. As a result, Weblog portals have discouraged their users from discussing political or sensitive topics.


Here is a link to Wikipedia on this event, written in Chinese:


2005年中华人民共和国教育部下达文件,要求各高校的BBS必须向实名制下校内交流平台改造,BBS水木清华站被要求作为典型来实施。为此,清华大学决定BBS水木清华站从开放型的BBS向校内型的BBS转型,并于2005年3月16日起开始执行。

3月16日下午BBS水木清华站站务委员会发布了《致水木清华站全站用户的一封公开信》,阐明了他们对校外用户的看法:“BBS 水木清华站过去十年的历史表明,在良好的用户群体氛围,优秀的学术、信息类版面建设,和有效、严格的站内管理条件下,校外用户既不会是干扰站内管理的因素、也不会是导致各类不稳定因素的源泉。相反,一个充分开放、严格管理的校外用户群体,对于水木清华站的活力和质量、进而对于彰显清华大学的学术声誉,都有着巨大的贡献。”并且他们进一步声明:“校外用户是BBS水木清华站极其重要的一个活力源泉。无论过去和未来,在任何情况下,BBS水木清华站都不会忘记广大的校外用户。”与此同时,不少BBS水木清华站的校外用户开始发现无法正常访问,并且站点的进站画面上写明:“从即日起,BBS水木清华站由开放型转为校内型,限制校外IP使用”。

3月17日众多高校BBS(包括北大未名BBS、西交兵马俑BBS等)也相继关闭了校外用户的访问权限。

3月18日清华大学的学生组织了抗议活动,不少人通过折纸鹤的方式表达了他们的哀思。

这个事件表明中华人民共和国政府进一步加强了他们的网络管制。





One user on MITBBS thus expresses his/her feelings:

他们封锁反动网站的时候我不说话,因为我不喜欢那里的观点。
他们封锁色情网站的时候我也不说话,因为我可以在街头随意买到A片。
他们删除攻击政府的言论的时候我还不说话,因为我对政治没有兴趣。
他们说,要实行论坛ID实名制,只有校内的IP才可以登陆,我想说话,TMD已经说不了


This is an adaption of the famous poem of Martin Niemöller. Translated roughly--

First they came for the "counterrevolutionary websites"
and I did not speak out
because I didn't like their opnions

Then they came for the adult webiste
and I didn't speak out
because I could get those videos from street vendors

Then they deleted posts criticizing the government
and I didn't speak out
because I had no interest in politics

Then they say only campus people using their real name can post there
I want to speak up
but now have no fucking voice ...