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Action of “Omission” to Protest Chinese Censorship
Written by Mary Joyce on June 25, 2009 – 3:45 pm -
What: To protest the implementation of the Green Dam Youth Escort filtering program on all computers sold in China, the blogger Ai Wei Wei is asking Chinese users to boycott the Internet on July 1st, 2009.
When: July 1st is the date on which Green Dam much come pre-installed (or on an attached disk) for all new Chinese computers.
Where: People’s Republic of China
Why: To protest Green Dam in particular and Chinese censorship in general.
Who: We previously wrote about Ai Weiwei’s largely successful effort to collect the names of the children killed in the Sichuan earthquake last year. He is also a well-known artist, who helped design the Olympic “Bird’s Nest” stadium in Beijing.
How: Via Twitter, Ai asked people to “Stop any online activities, including working, reading, chatting, blogging, gaming and mailing. Don’t explain your behavior.” The interesting aspect of this protest is that Ai is trying to create a political action which does not entail risk to participants. By asking people not to acknowledge they are taking part in a boycott, Ai hopes to protect them from persecution by Chinese authorities.
It is hard to claim innocence when taking part in a political actions of “commission,” even one that is apparently innocent. (In Belarus in 2006, for example, young people were arrested for assembling to eat ice cream.) However, an action of “omission” puts the government in a more complicated position. After all, not using the Internet isn’t criminal. It will be interesting to see how many people participate in the action and whether or not the action of omission becomes a new strategy in digital activism.
Hat-tip: Stan Schroeder on Mashable
Image Source: Daily News
Tags: censorship, china, Green Dam, twitter activism
Posted in Action Alerts, Asia | 1 Comment »
Images for Advocacy: Green Dam Girl
Written by Mary Joyce on June 14, 2009 – 11:41 pm -
Green Dam Girl: “That unhealthy information is so gross; I’m a girl worth 40 million”
Mud Grass Horse: “I’m just an alpaca.” (source: Danwei)
Background: Using pop culture references in an advocacy campaign is an effective way to get non-activists involved. It’s also a way to subtly push a political agenda in a country where overt political messages are censored or where posting or passing on political messages can endanger the activist.
Because of the Chinese government’s limitations on freedom of speech and persecution of dissidents, Chinese activists have become masters of satire and symbolism. The image above is a prime example of their techniques. Originally published by Chinese blogger Hecaitou, this drawing uses on the visual language of Japanese anime while bringing together some of the greatest hits in Chinese political satire: behold…Green Dam Girl.
Tool: satiric images spread online
How it’s being used: Green Dam Girl is a cartoon avatar for Green Dam, a piece of self-censoring software which will be mandatory on all computers sold in China starting July 1. She’s also holding a rabbit, which is the software’s logo. (Read a review of the software from the OpenNet Initiative.) On her cap is an image of the river crab, a homonym for the word “harmony” in Chinese and a dig at the Chinese government which calls censorship harmonization. (Read more on river crab from China expert Rebecca MacKinnon.) Green Dam Girl is carrying a bucket of paint (or maybe soy sauce) to cover up all the filth on the Internet.
Finally, the animal she has chained up is an infamous mud grass horse. Another great Chinese homonym, mud grass horse sounds just like “f— your mother” in Chinese and is another dig at censors. A few months ago there was a group of very funny and popular videos with children singing ever so innocently about the exploits of mud grass horse… and sounding completely filthy! (Read more about mud grass horse here.) Of course, mud grass horse has been chained up because he’s part of the Internet filth that Green Dam Girl has been sent to destroy, but he says he’s been falsely accused – he’s just an alpaca!
Lessons: 1) Funny travels further than Angry, especially to engage an audience of non-activists. (The Free Kareem campaign also uses cartoons to get their message across.)
2) Symbols and language tricks are a great way to get around censors and mock them at the same time.
3) Digital activism campaigns need the skills of people who do not have digital skills. Someone who is good at drawing can help a campaign create great a poster, graphic, or logo and then all you need is a scanner to get it online.
Tags: censorship, china, Green Dam, mud grass horse
Posted in Asia, Digital Images, Tactics | 2 Comments »