Activist who spoke out on quake gets 3 years

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Daily news, November 24, 2009.
"Chinese court on Monday sentenced a veteran dissident to three years in prison after he critized the government's response to the 2008 earthquake that killed about 90,000 people. Web site manager Huang Qi had been accused of illegally possessing state secrets by the Wuhou district court in the western city of CHengdu, his wife ZengLi said by telephone. Huang was detained on June 10, 2008 after posting articles on his web site criticizing the government's response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province the month before. Huang had also spoken to foreign media outlets about parent's accusations that their children had been crushed in badly built schools, complaints that the government has attempted to squelch."

When I read this, I was chilled to think about the consequences of no free speech in China. We forget here in America that we can almost say anything without consequences. I was also struck by how tightly controlled the Chinese government is about letting information out to foreign outlets.

[Anonymous]

This is just another example of a general lack of concern on the part of SOME higher ups in China. If you can't criticize and investigate who is responsible for building shoddy schools that CRUSH CHILDREN, or tainted infant formula, pet food, and lead-based paint toys, is there any hope for higher-level discussions on political, social, economic, and human rights issues? It does not look good. Perhaps the world should move toward a NO CHINA Christmas until they at least start addressing these issues.

[clay dube]

It would probably be best to include this topic in the human rights thread or the contemporary China thread.

Huang Qi is a fascinating figure. We mentioned him in last week's Talking Points. That issue of TP includes links to a variety of resources on human rights in China and on Chinese perspectives on human rights. http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1904

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