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January 21, 2008

Comments

Shen Congwen

It would be ethical to note that a number of your selected books are written by your father.

Rebecca MacKinnon

Thanks, I figured it is pretty obvious that he is related to me.

mahathir_fan

This video capture is a good start.

But it is terribly lacking in details to prosecute. The video shows several people harrassing some lady (not Hu Jia himself). For all we know, they could be loan sharks.

I want to offer some advice:
Can Hu Jia get a video of him being prevented from leaving his home? (in that video, a woman was harrassed, but she was allowed to leave after that thus this does not constitute house arrest because she left after a few seconds of delay)

Can he get a video and audio recording of the people guarding him that they are from the government?

Does he have documentation that he is officially under house arrest?

If not, can he file an official complain that these people below his apartment are harrassing him and document that the Public Security Bereau is refusing to assist him to deal with these harassers?

Please, think like a lawyer. Get REAL evidence. Also, provide evidence that Hu Jia had indeed tried to get assistance from official channels regarding these harassers.

It seems to me that even if his claim is true, these guards are non-threatening enough that a woman dared to boldly hold up a protest card in front of these guards. This is puzzling. Another puzzing aspect is that we routinely read about AIDS being a serious problem in China, so why is Hu Jia prosecuted while others are not? There must be more to this story.

I am dismissing this issue as a hoax. Not that it is non-existent, but that there is more to this story than just a simple AIDs activist that the media and you are not reporting. Or that the victim is not seeking the right assistance to get rid of his harassers from the official channels but is exploiting their stupidity for media attention.

Richardlee

As a common Chinese, I am really ambivalent about Hujia's arrest. I admire people like him. At least at the beginning, he had passion for the cause he thought he should do. But if he has gone too far, that's not good. I guess he had sort of connection with foreign Human rights orgs. That's why it is getting on CCP's nerves. And being too radical is not good. Calling foreigners to boycott BEijing Olympic games is not wise either. This is a dilemma for the people like him: how to fight against CCP but as the same time, not to be the people's enemy?

mahathir_fan

oh...so you mean to say that hu jia is using his "aids activism" as a platform to subvert the socialist system? if so, then that explains the rationale for the house arrest. journalists should explain both sides of the story! what i have been reading on and off about him from the foreign media seem to imply that he is just an innocent aids activists which is highly doubtful given size of the response from the government.

i hope he gets off soon from this arrest anyway. in a democracy like China, Hu Jia can always take his issue at the ballot boxes which is held once every 5 years. I think they just had the Beijing election a few months ago. There is no need to resort to undercutting China's democracy through external means when a fair and just system exists and that is through the ballot boxes - or he could have even run for office himself.


Charles Liu

Look at those who have ideologically invaded China. Can you really blame the Chinese?

- Radio Free Asia is the official US propaganda outlet.

- Reporters Without Border(RSF) receives funding from the NED and European Commission to do their political bidding.

- Student For a Free Tibet in Canada is linked to Harper advisor Tenzin Khangsar (former leader of Tibet Commission)

- Falun Gong is getting millions from US Congress thru a quasi-government organization "Friends of Falun Gong" run by Congressman Tom Lanto's wife, operated by embassador Mark Palmer, co-founder of the NED.)

So next year when some Far Long Gone nutcase torch themselves in Beijin, remember it's our tax dollar at work.

mahathir_fan

There also isn't enough Marxism education in China. A lot of Chinese I have met have never read Marx. Contrary to what the Western press reports, Chinese from China do know a lot about Tiananmen protests, (The Western press claims that a generation of Chinese are growing up ignorant about the 89 protests). but not enough Marxism.

Also, the department of Marxism in Chinese universities should be combined with the Department of economics. It is dangerous to give Marx its own department for it confines critical thinking into a box. Its study should be combined with that of other theories, free to be critiqued and analyzed.

So while China is being invaded by foreign ideological departments, it itself is also not doing enough to counter such attacks.

Marxism is relevant in the world today, and labour not oil should be the most important commodity in the world. we have oil cartels, why is there no labour cartels??


Sophie

To mahathir_fan

I was very shocked at what your advice was about how Hu Jia should try to get "real" evidence that the government is trying to prevent them from getting out of the house.

Perhaps you dont understand how powerful the government is or how dangerous it is for him to try to make an extra move which can easily jeopardize the safety of his newborn baby.

I'm not here to talk you down or anything, but i just want to remind you the nature of his house arrest and I really think that they're doing everything they can to get the media's attention without bring more trouble unto themselves.

xiaoxi liu

Congwen,

I found the books by Rebecca's father on China are among the best in the field I ever read, well-documented and researched, and well balanced. I see nothing unethical for her to recommend them here if she truely likes them and if she thinks that they are worth your while to read. Besides, she only chose her father's books on journalism....

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