- Beijing accuses “foreign forces”” of being behind the unprecedented demonstrations in favor of freedom of information and democracy in the southern province of Guangdong
Jose Reinoso Beijing 8 ENE 2013
The rise of social protests that China has experienced in recent years has taken a significant turn this week, having joined them journalists and citizens who demand greater freedom of expression and democracy, which represents a challenge for new leaders. Hundreds of people demonstrated again this Tuesday in Canton (capital of the guangdong province) to support journalists Nanfang Zhoumo (Southern Weekly), who have carried out a strike in rejection of official censorship.
Although the street protests have been carried out by a small number of people, have great relevance. On the one hand, because they affect a sensitive issue for the Government —freedom of information and democracy— and , for another, because they have had a wide echo on the Internet and social networks, where these days the expressions of sympathy for the journalists of the Nanfang Zhoumo, one of the most liberal and respected newspapers in China.
Beijing's reaction has not been long in coming. The Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ha enviado una nota urgente a responsables del partido y medios de comunicación en la cual ratifica el poder total del PCCh sobre la prensa y acusa a "fuerzas extranjeras" to be behind the mobilizations. In it, also urges officials to continue preventing editors and writers from expressing support for the publication on the Internet.
The demonstrations occurred after the weekly's employees accused the censors of blocking the publication of an article last Thursday., on the occasion of the New Year, que pedía la realización del sueño "del constitucionalismo en China" and to replace it with another one praising the CCP. Algunos de los manifestantes llevaban el lunes carteles con eslóganes como "La libertad de expresión no es un crimen", "El pueblo chino quiere libertad" y "Queremos libertad de prensa, constitucionalismo y democracia". Cantonese weekly editors blame provincial propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, to be behind the censorship of the article.
The statement from the propaganda department assures that it has reached three conclusions regarding the conflict, according to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. These are: "El partido tiene control absoluto de los medios de comunicación en China. Este principio básico es inquebrantable". Second: "El incidente de publicación en el Nanfang Zhoumo has nothing to do with Guangdong propaganda chief, el camarada Tuo Zhen". And third: "Fuerzas extranjeras hostiles han interferido en el incidente".
The note also urges newspapers to reproduce an editorial published on Monday by the newspaper Global Times —linked to People's Daily, official organ of the CCP— in which he pointed out: "No importa si esta gente (the protesters) are you happy or not, It is common sense that, with the social and political reality of China today, es imposible tener el tipo de medios de comunicación libres con los que sueñan". And it continued: "Los medios no se convertirán, by no means, en un área política especial", and , if they intend to fight against the Government, "perderán sin ninguna duda".
In the editorial published this Tuesday, Global Times acusa a "antiguos empleados" del semanario y a "activistas, including Chen Guangcheng, que actualmente reside en Estados Unidos", to promote mobilizations. E insiste en que "su campaña, apparently directed at specific officials, en realidad tiene como objetivo el conjunto del sistema de los medios de comunicación en China". "El desarrollo de los medios en China necesita reforma. Pero la reforma debe estar en línea con la política china", duck.
Bloggers and celebrities have come to the defense of the Canton newspaper. Yao Chen, an actress who has 32 million followers on Weibo —Chinese Twitter—, has written a message with the newspaper's logo and a quote from Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn: "Una palabra de verdad pesará más que el mundo entero". another actor, Chen Kun, what you have 27 millions of followers, he replied: "Yo no soy tan profundo, and I don't play with words, support for friends Nanfang Zhoumo". The popular blogger He He, Named by Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people in the world 2010, He has also criticized the pressure on journalists. Academics in different parts of China have signed a letter requesting, like the editors of the weekly, the immediate dismissal of Tuo and more freedom of the press.
Chinese leaders are increasingly sensitive to the mobilizing power of the growing middle class and have bowed more frequently to popular demands in recent years., especially when these have been limited, of an environmental nature and not clearly political. Calls for greater freedom of expression add a new challenge for leaders who came to power at the party congress last November, headed by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC and next president of the country, who has promised to govern with a more open style. They come to join the greater willingness of the Chinese to take their demands to the streets, the growing awareness of their rights and the rise of the use of the Internet as a communication tool.
The southern province of Guangdong was the cradle of the reform process in China, started three decades ago. The way the party responds to the battle of the journalists of the Nanfang Zhoumo against those responsible for propaganda will be a key indicator of reformist tendencies, or not, de Xi Jinping.
It is estimated that in 2010 some were produced in China 180.000 "incidentes de masas", euphemism with which the Government calls the protests, strikes and social unrest. Most of them were related to environmental problems, land expropriations, labor disputes and complaints against government corruption. Now, Requests for greater freedom of expression and democracy are joining.
