The China Public Security Ministry offical made it official: no public protests or so-called "unathorised" marches will be allowed during the Beijing Games. That isn't what Wang Wei promised in 2001 when he said that "anyone was welcome to stage a demonstration, you just have to apply for the correct permit and it will be approved."
Who's fooling whom here?
Certainly the Security Ministry official who's lies are just about as transparent as the excuses Brit gives to her parenting coach.
We've had almost six years of the wool being pulled over our eyes in regards to how transparent the Beijing Games actually will be. They say that dissent "will not be tolerated."
OK then what happens when the first reporter interviews a Falun Gong believer, or internet dissident (and broadcasts or publishes the work while they are inside Mainland China. I wonder if there are contingency plans with NBC, BBC, and the other major broadcasters if one of their own suddenly gets a knock on the hotel room door in the middle of the night. What then?
Today's Security Ministry announcement really concerns me. This is just the beginning. It's not enough to decry what is happening. For those of us who work with the written word, it is up to us to put it into actual practice every day of our working lives. It is our responsibility to our brothers and sisters who can't do what we are doing, and if they are doing it, putting their lives on the line every single day.
Shine the light into the darkness. It's our moral responsibility.
