Sunday, February 27, 2011

Blogger Charged on Subversion of State

Writer and blogger Ran Yunfei was arrested on charge of subversion of State on Feb 24, 2011. Ran had been known as a '100 public intellectual' of China.

By no measure is Ran a political dissident. Ran never advocate for a regime change, never criticized the Communist Party. Ran did commented on some of the public policy, particularly in non-government areas. After the 2008 Sichuan Earthquate, Ran wrote an article encouraging the government to make good use of the feeling of pride among people and be truthful in handling corruptions revealed in the rescue mission. in 2009, Ran blamed the Central China Television Station was ineffective in repeating old brainwash tactics. In 2010, Ran asked more coverage of the history of KMT's resistance of Japanese invasion during 1937-1945.

Ran did sign the 'Charter 08' in 2008, in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Co-author Liu Xiaobo was subsequently jailed by the communist regime, but most of the 303 signees as well as the other co-author Zhang Zuye had been mostly left out of the persecution. It is equally surprising and puzzling as to why Ran caught in trouble.

Perhaps it's the Flower revolution. Mr. al-Gaddafi praised the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and Mr. Hu Jintao vowed last week to apply tighter control of the Internet. It is likely that Ran was picked up to make an example for the rest of the Chinese. That explains why he, rather than some of the more vocal dissidents was singled out. The communist authority is trying to make a case that any ordinary people could be persecuted, if your mind is not aligned with the rules of the Party.

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