Posted on 07/30/2008 9:49:43 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING (AFP) - The Beijing Olympics were plunged into another controversy on Wednesday as China announced a backflip on Internet freedoms for the thousands of foreign reporters covering the Games.
China's decision to reverse a pledge on allowing unfettered web access proved an embarrassment for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had repeatedly said foreign press would not face any Internet curbs in Beijing.
It was also the latest in a long line of issues to have tarnished the run-up to the Olympics, which start on August 8, following controversies over pollution, human rights and terrorism threats.
Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide triggered the latest public relations flare-up when he confirmed foreign reporters would not have access to some sites deemed sensitive by China's communist rulers.
"During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters," Sun said.
However "sufficient access" falls short of the complete Internet freedoms for foreign reporters that China had promised in the run-up to the Games.
Sun specified sites linked to the Falungong spiritual movement, which is outlawed in China, as ones that would remain censored for the foreign press at Olympic venues.
He did not identify any others but reporters trying to surf the Internet at the main press centre for the Games on Wednesday found a wide array of sites deemed sensitive by China's rulers to be out-of-bounds.
These included sites belonging to Tibet's government-in-exile and Amnesty International, as well as those that had information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in which the military used deadly force to crush democracy protests.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“China has seen numerous dynasties come and go, some as brutal, if not more so, than the Communist “dynasty””
There has been no Dynasty in Chinese history as or more brutal than this one. The only one that is even remotely comparable is Qin, which prior to the 20th century was universally considered the worst and most brutal of them all. But Qin pales in comparison to what the CCP have done.
No doubt...That’s why they are trying to wrest away control over the Internet backbone from the U.S., so that they can go all medieval on it.
There is nothing in what China is doing that is inconsistent with Karl Marx. Capitalism is a necessary phase in the historical development of a country. At some point, the Chinese Communist Party will decide that capitalism has served its historical purpose and nationalize all the industry that the capitalists have created. Then will come socialism.
It was Lenin who believed that a country could “leap” directly from feudalism to socialism. Marx never said that.
Except if you watch them you can easily tell that they are not Marxian ideologues. The leadership in China is motivated by the accumulation of power and wealth, not by bringing about some Marxist utopia.
China’s regime dabbled with Communism for a few decades, now they are returning to their old Confucian/Imperialist ways. They are still our enemies because they disdain liberty, Communism is not alone on that subject.
Not true. I'm in China now and have accessed both sites. It is true that some videos on Youtube seem to be censored. But even those are easily accessed if you use a simple back door technique.
Well, chalk me up as another one who believes that China has drifted so far away from “Communism” that’s the label no longer really fits. Authoritarian, of course. Repressive in many ways, definitely. But free enterprise and private initiative have become the driving forces here.
I said it before, if Ayn Rand could suddenly “wake up” in Shanghai, she’d rub her eyes and ask, “When did the Chinese Nationalists regain control?”
That is absolutely ridiculous. I know that while you are being showed their version of Potemkin Village, its quite a different outside. And please, don’t ever try to pervert what Ayn Rand said.
I read that clown’s post. He should be ashamed of himself.
For some reason I am getting the impression that folks who are arguing this with me and some idea I don’t really understand the difference in various political systems.
The truth is, you folks are seeing exactly what the media feeds you - and what you’re all failing to take into account is the facts about what China really IS.
China is trying it’s level best to put on a good face for the world for the Olympics, and certainly they are Capitalist in the respect they want money.
HOWEVER, you’re also failing to realize that they have a serious, underlying “Socialist” bent and hate to tell you this, but the folks out there “making the money” are ALL government sanctioned. Every, single company in China must be sanctioned by the Chinese Government first. Guess what else? A lot of their “officers” are government officials.
That, folks, is COMMUNISM hiding behind a facade.
A lot of folks in the world of marketing, and economics, and certainly in Liberal Arts simply do not want to ADMIT that China hasn’t REALLY changed since 1949.
I’ve been to China. I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve dealt with their “non-communism” and you guys are wrong. Sorry, that’s the way it is, and you can argument semantics all you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are still listed as a Communist regime and they treat their PEOPLE like they are under a communist regime.
When they stop treating religious groups as political prisoners (which they won’t) I might be willing to believe they are trying to change, but that isn’t going to happen.
Dude you have no idea of what you speak. So don’t tell me what’a “absolutely ridiculous.” If Ayn Rand woke up in Shanghai, she’d do a double, then a triple take.
Believe me, I’ve been to China, more than you have.
What you don’t seem to understand is that I’m not trying to somehow pretend that China is a much better place because it’s moving away from Communism.
You may not believe this but there are other forms of government that is just as bad, and that Communism is not the only form of tyrannical government.
China is historically and culturally authoritarian and imperialistic, that has been true for about two thousand years. Much of what you are seeing, where everything has to be sanctioned by the government, isn’t something that was introduced to China through Communist ideology, it was something that was always true in China, even before the Communists.
The issue isn’t whether China has changed since 1949, it’s whether it has changed since about 200 B.C. The time period between the fall of the Qing imperial government in the early 1900s and the Communist take over of 1949 was
the exception to this general rule as the result of a lack of a strong central government during that period.
I really don’t get people who are permanently stuck in the cold war mindset. It’s as if the only enemies they are allowed to recognize are Communists.
/sigh...
How do you know you’ve been to China more than me?
I didn’t say you were trying to pretend anything. China is NOT moving away from Communism.
Please don’t patronize me. I am well aware of the various forms of governments on this planet and I’m also well versed in how they operate.
Unlike many people here, I don’t “fly my arm chair” I do go to many foreign lands and I’m quite well aware of the world, probably more so than even you.
You don’t “get it” because you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to the “Cold War” mindset.
That is part of your problem too. Don’t ascribe to them something that isn’t true.
“How do you know you’ve been to China more than me?”
Because it’s clear to me your understanding of China and Chinese culture is superficial at best.
How’s the work at IG Farben coming?
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