This topic came up in the tute and I didn't really feel like I got to communicate my point effectively, so I'm having a second attempt here, albeit a very brief attempt :p
Not even the Chinese gov. has the resources to filter and watch the actions of every net user in the country - instead they seek to intimidate. YES they do filter out websites, YES they do watch chat-rooms, yes they do a whole lot more and they do it very actively - that fact that they do it so actively is kind of the point. They've made it not in the interest of a great number of internet users in China to even bother looking up subversive material. This guy?/girl? (i didn't bother check) puts it in nicer language...
"Internet filtering in China is best described as a matrix of control in which technological and non-technological measures intersect at different levels of access to enforce strict information control policies. Such a matrix of controls (combining filtering and surveillance technology with fear, intimidation and imprisonment) discourages most people from attempting to access banned information, let alone actively seek out means to circumvent such controls."
And more on that theme of intimidation.
Hell yes they have arrested people for doing 'naughty' stuff on the internet - but primarily as a tool to remind the rest of the population that they could be being watched. At least, that's my opinion :D Here's the article one of the girls mentioned about 2 elderly ppl getting shipped off to countryside for protesting.
edit: And here's some slightly dated information on who is using the internet in china - see last paragraph. 60:40 split of men to women, "54.1% of all Internet users in China were under 24 years of age, 70.5% were under 30 and 82% were under 35". This group, to generalise, has only known a growing/prosperous china, and thinks the government isn't doing a terrible job. If they are angry at anyone, it's the Japanese. I was there from late Nov to early Feb this year, and wherever I was in the country and at pretty much any time of day, there was a film/tv series running that portrayed the Japanese as monsters. Pretty scary when you think there's a nation of people being raised on that sort of media :S
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think I agree with you, basically. Aren't all large-scale power hierarchies based on self-surveillance? (That's only partly a rhetorical question. I can't think of an example that isn't, but maybe someone else can.) As you said, "Not even the Chinese gov. has the resources to filter and watch the actions of every net user in the country ..."
The point is that China chooses to filter and censor Internet usage, and to make an example of those they catch breaking the rules. While the fact remains that it is impossible for the Chinese government to censor everything, their attempts to do so still hamper the Internet as a space of resistance. Yes, Chinese people can use the Internet for subversive purposes. Yes, they might very well get away with it. But they might not. So, although the Internet does offer (unique?) opportunities for resistance, it doesn't offer them to the same extent that it does in the West.
(Or perhaps it does. Perhaps the very fact that the Internet is censored in such a way makes its use for subversive purposes more subversive?)
More subversive? Are you saying that people have to become more 'hardcore' in their resistance to go to the effort/risk of organising resistance online?
And therefore that having a controlled internet pushes people to become more active in their resistance?
"More subversive? Are you saying that people have to become more 'hardcore' in their resistance to go to the effort/risk of organising resistance online?
And therefore that having a controlled internet pushes people to become more active in their resistance?"
I don't see why not. I think it takes guts for a person to lash out subversive content on a blog when there is a possibility that they might get caught for it and suffer severe penalties. I think that the act of Internet filtration by the Chinese government would push its people to both extremes whereby they either shun away from saying anything 'dangerous' or take the opportunity to have their say in the blogosphere. I don't know, that's just my take on it. :p
I think I mentioned something similar in regards to Singapore's media censorship - the whole paranoia of being watched by Big Brother and getting caught. The government hasn't been too strict on Singapore political bloggers though surprisingly. This article should be of interest to those who wanna read up more on the country's views and actions on censorship and blogging.
More subversive? Are you saying that people have to become more 'hardcore' in their resistance to go to the effort/risk of organising resistance online?
And therefore that having a controlled internet pushes people to become more active in their resistance?
I wasn't very clear in that last paragraph. I meant "more subversive" as opposed to its use in less restrictive countries, Australia for example, not as opposed to other forms of resistance open to the Chinese people.
I don't think that "having a controlled internet pushes people to become more active in their resistance". I do think that it makes their resistance more - meaningful? - in that they actually have to take a risk (a perceived risk, that is) to express their opinion. As Nessi said, "it takes guts". And a lot of people aren't going to be willing to take that risk - which is what the Chinese government wants.
It's kind of interesting then deciding what is meaningful, and if things can be meaningful and futile at the same time. Of course, who can say right now if it's futile - that's for the future. I guess I'm just skeptical about how successful they can be - I vaguely remember us mentioning something about blogs requiring a critical mass of readers to be influential? On the other hand, maybe it's breeding the potential leaders/organisers of revolutions. hahah who knows..
I suspect the 'revolution', if it ever does come, will rise from the rural regions of the country, and it will be lead by the peasants (at least initially). These things do already kinda happen, just we don't generally hear about it and they're always put down pretty violently and pretty quickly.
Here's 2 articles on peasant uprisings.
Article 1
Article 2
Bah so much for not being strict with bloggers. Gopalan Nair, a blogger, was arrested in Singapore recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD7HWzgI97w
Post a Comment