2011年5月20日 星期五

艾未未幹嘛的?馬英九主政三週年有感


寧波一間好吃的拉麵店

The latest freeze casts this widespread hope into doubt, for three reasons. The first is the scale of the crackdown. Ai Weiwei, China’s best-known artist and dissident, who was detained at Beijing airport on April 3rd, is only the most notable figure to be caught by it. Calls on the internet for a “jasmine revolution” have prompted armed police and plain-clothes goons to descend in huge numbers on public places to stop people from “strolling”, as a veiled form of protest.
Baby, it’s cold outside
Dozens have been detained and now face criminal charges in relation to these inchoate calls. Others have faced different kinds of harassment, including beatings and house arrest. But the freeze runs deeper. Since February some of the country’s top defence lawyers have vanished. Activists for villagers’ rights and the environment have faced repression. Bloggers have been rounded up. Members of a big underground (ie, non-state) church in Beijing, stopped from meeting in their usual building, were arrested as they tried to worship outside.
A second reason for doubt is the duration of the crackdown. With hindsight, it began after Tibetan riots in 2008 drew a harsh response. Since then, two events, the Beijing Olympics later that year and the Shanghai World Expo of 2010, might have served as coming-out parties for a rising China. They offered the regime the chance to show the world a more confident face. Yet both were accompanied by harsh treatment of anyone deemed likely to embarrass the government. Tens of thousands of unwashed migrant workers were forced out of Beijing for lowering the tone. Outspoken activists were kept out of sight.

來源:經濟學人 China's Crackdown  


去了一趟中國回來,發現這回在中國上網似乎特別麻煩,有可能是這次我已經用了iphone這類智慧手機了,上網需求更大。但也有可能是中國管制更嚴重。

比如我原先會透過 iphone 下載的 podcast 在廣東或浙江都無法下載,這些都是外媒新聞。但即使有些可以下載的有聲書,下載速度也極端緩慢。

我用筆電連結有線上網,乖乖,gmail竟然時好時壞,google docs 根本上不去。facebook無法更新,也看不了。

後來經過朋友指點,給我一個程式,叫做逍遙游,突破封鎖,幾乎所有網路就都上得去了。朋友說還有類似的程式叫freegate之類的都是可以使用的,不過我在當地上網搜尋freegate,這個字眼已經被中國政府給鎖定,無法查詢。

回來後,剛好看到經濟學人最近有一期在談論中國現在的管制更加嚴格,雖然經濟情勢大好,但為了避免類似中東茉莉革命出現在中國,網路管控之嚴格可說前所未有,包括最近鬧得沸沸揚揚的艾未未事件,都是基於這個因素。

我在中國覺得蠻好玩的,充滿許多城市探險,唯獨對於網路言論管制感到十分痛苦,你會覺得有個老大哥躲在某個地方監視你網路上的一舉一動。

回到台灣,還是感受台灣言論自由之美好,只是馬英九政府在頻頻向中國靠攏之際,言論自由似乎受到頗大威脅,且看蘋果日報昨日社論(馬政府不在乎言論自由)提到:

言論自由是一切自由的基礎。不但立法、司法都要對言論自由寸土必爭,行政部門更要把保護言論自由落實到最基層,讓民主成為生活的態度。可惜馬政府沒這個使命感,反而多方限制。例如南港高工學生貼文反六輕,主張環保,竟被主任教官扣以「鼓動學潮」的大帽子。

馬英九政府箝制言論自由還有許多例子,在馬英九主政三週年之際,不管馬先生提出多少好聽的話,光是這點就完全打槍了。