Since the protests started in Tunisia and spread to Egypt and the rest of the Middle East, China has been actively blocking the internet for a number of sensitive words such as 'Egypt' and 'Mubarak' and photos of the peaceful protests but allowed reports and photos on violence. The 'Jasmine Revolution' called for Sunday, February 20 at various sites in China by an anonymous posting outside of China brought police and security personnel to those sites named in the posting. Is that call a trap set by the PRC government?
Interestingly although the word 'Jasmine Revolution' has been used to identify Tunisia's protests, the Chinese folk song 'Jasmine Flowers' was performed by Chinese-American violinist Lynn Chang during the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo for the 2010 Nobe Peacel Laureate Liu Xiaobo who was imprisoned by the PRC. Regardless of whether it was a genuine call for protests or a trap set by the PRC government to bring out potential dissidents, the jasmine flower has now become a new symbol to be used by the Chinese people to show their desire for freedoms. If it was indeed a trap set by the PRC government, the government must have regretted it as the word 'jasmine' has now been blocked.
No comments:
Post a Comment