People are demanding freedom in Libya, Bahrain, Iran, and Yemen. Military snipers murdered dozens of mourners in Libya who were attending funerals for protesters that were killed.
Now, people are demanding freedom in China. As usual, the government has responded with a brutal iron fist to crush any dissent or criticism of the government. A "jasmine revolution" (similar to what occurred in Tunisia) is brewing in China where the people are harshly punished for any dissent against the communist party.
Many have been detained in China as part of the government's response to the unrest. China viciously controls the media, including internet access to key websites:
China's extensive filtering and monitoring of the Internet meant that most Chinese were unlikely to know about Saturday's call to protest. Boxun.com, for example, is blocked as are Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in Egypt's protest movement. Still, young tech-smart Chinese are savvy about getting around controls.
The Chinese government's reaction to protests is standard operating procedure for brutal tyrannies, right out of Stalin's "how to book" on running a communist/socialist system: "Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday amid a nationwide police mobilisation, according to activists, while the government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations."
Like all tyrannies, the government fears the people which is why it must control the people through brutality, intimidation, violence, censorship, and fear.
I can't help but believe that this new awakening for freedom has it roots in the freedom agenda of President George W. Bush. Bush, like Reagan, Lincoln, Adams, and Washington before him, believed that freedom was not an American idea, but a universal idea and the desire of people throughout the world regardless of creed, race, religion, gender, or culture.
Freedom bears fruit, and it is doing so in Iraq, Egypt, and across the world. Modern technology has created the means by which people may assemble online, through mobile devices, and ultimately in person to challenge autocracy.
In Bahrain, they are screaming for help and freedom. In China and elsewhere, the same demands may soon be made and a new dawn of freedom might enfold.
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." - Ronald Reagan
Now, people are demanding freedom in China. As usual, the government has responded with a brutal iron fist to crush any dissent or criticism of the government. A "jasmine revolution" (similar to what occurred in Tunisia) is brewing in China where the people are harshly punished for any dissent against the communist party.
Many have been detained in China as part of the government's response to the unrest. China viciously controls the media, including internet access to key websites:
China's extensive filtering and monitoring of the Internet meant that most Chinese were unlikely to know about Saturday's call to protest. Boxun.com, for example, is blocked as are Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in Egypt's protest movement. Still, young tech-smart Chinese are savvy about getting around controls.
The Chinese government's reaction to protests is standard operating procedure for brutal tyrannies, right out of Stalin's "how to book" on running a communist/socialist system: "Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday amid a nationwide police mobilisation, according to activists, while the government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations."
Like all tyrannies, the government fears the people which is why it must control the people through brutality, intimidation, violence, censorship, and fear.
I can't help but believe that this new awakening for freedom has it roots in the freedom agenda of President George W. Bush. Bush, like Reagan, Lincoln, Adams, and Washington before him, believed that freedom was not an American idea, but a universal idea and the desire of people throughout the world regardless of creed, race, religion, gender, or culture.
Freedom bears fruit, and it is doing so in Iraq, Egypt, and across the world. Modern technology has created the means by which people may assemble online, through mobile devices, and ultimately in person to challenge autocracy.
In Bahrain, they are screaming for help and freedom. In China and elsewhere, the same demands may soon be made and a new dawn of freedom might enfold.
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." - Ronald Reagan
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