Yesterday, the Chinese writer in exile Li Jianhong offered a conference on human rights in the ONCE auditorium, invited by the organization Amnesty International.. Harassed for years by the Chinese government for expressing her opinion, Li Jianhong traveled in 2008 to Sweden and since then China prevented him from returning. Now she is a refugee.
¿Chinese dissidence is a minority? ¿What the new generations think?
Young people have a lot of information through the internet and social networks, on social issues they have more open thinking. There was a campaign that emerged ago 20 years, in 1989 I don't tiananmen, where the Chinese authorities repressed the students with tanks and weapons. It greatly influenced subsequent generations., after the year 90 People don't worry much about political issues, they think more about their personal lives..
¿Marked a before and after?
Yeah, people are more afraid after the year 89. Although the law says that they have the right to protest and demonstrate, They don't do it anymore.
You had a website that cost you arrests, interrogations, house arrests, layoffs and that was blocked by the Government. ¿What did he write??
I was concerned about social issues, They were texts critical of the Chinese Government. He also carried out studies from the last dynasty until today and compared the situation of China with more democratic countries like India., Japan or Korea, or about the situation of the Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi who spent many years under house arrest and now her country began to be more democratic. Last year he was able to go to collect the Nobel Peace Prize that had been awarded to him in 1991.
¿How China exercises control over Internet users?
At the Police Station they created a new department called Internet Police, Your responsibility is to control the expressions of people and foreign pages. If there are sensitive topics on the national pages that the Government does not like, it will directly close them and if someone publishes “dangerous” things” they can stop you.
You made a stay in Sweden in 2008 and then the government of his country no longer allowed him to return to China. ¿Because?
They say I write things on the internet that have harmed China.
The Chinese Communist Party approved reforms last month, ¿What would you highlight about these measures??
One of the most important things is the abolition of reeducation through labor camps (an extrajudicial detention system that allowed thousands of people to be imprisoned). It's good news.
¿There are no improvements on freedom of expression?
The Chinese government says people have the right to freedom of expression, but they condemned me for saying what I think.
¿There are many journalists and writers imprisoned for saying what they think in their country?
Now I work in an organization to help journalists and writers who are in prison, threatened or persecuted, the Committee of Writers in Prison (WiPC). On the list we have 45 people in prison.
¿He believes that no country dares to criticize China for being a great economic power?
Yeah.
¿In your opinion, what should be the priority of change??
The first thing is freedom of expression, It is the basis of everything else.
¿That time will come?
I am convinced that in the future there will be more freedom of expression but I don't know how long it will take to arrive..
¿It will come for the young generations, now maybe a little asleep, or a change could be made from above, from power?
Since Tiananmen, people only worry about their personal affairs, although it has improved in that they have more independent thinking. They unified the books in schools and institutes and in them there are stories that are not real, Young people now doubt this information in books because they can consult it on the internet and social networks.. Supporting us in this, in social networks and high technology, a better society can be created. Another thing different is the time of our parents, The Chinese government told them “you have to work for the benefit of the country.”” and they did it, but today's young people don't pay much attention to it. I am convinced that little by little it will improve.
He has suffered police harassment for his writings and political dissident activities., but he didn't give up. ¿Have you ever felt afraid for your physical safety??
Sometimes I felt afraid, before 2008 one of my friends thought I was in danger and that at any moment something could happen to me.
