China's Heavy Hand

Fire of Liberty

I find it interesting how the various protestors who marched in D.C. several weeks ago have such a horrific opinion about this country and its leadership. Everywhere you look, you could find signs comparing the US under George W. Bush has turned into Nazi Germany or you found signs equivocating US actions in Afghanistan and Iraq to acts genocide. It's rather sad that the anti-war movement have wrapped themselves up in a shroad of hatred towards President Bush that they would stoop to such low levels thus demonstrating their lack of critical thinking skills. What gets in my crawl is the fact that these groups are so immersed in their cause that they find it necessary to dish out a constant flow of invective slurs and spurious claims against this great nation but don't seem to raise a voice against the evils being committed by the likes of Sudan, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea as well as China.

Amongst all of the nations mentioned in the paragraph above, I'd say that China is the least likely to get any attention amongst the protestors who we find marching in the various large cities throughout the country. Whether it's China's recent crack-down on free speech on the INTERNET by restricting or even shutting down access to various websites like BBC and CNN or the usage of text messaging and blogs, the constant harassment and systematic oppression of the Uyghur's in Western China as well as the folks in Tibet, the Chinese government deserves the scornful eye of these protestors.

Though these actions taken against the people of China are horrific acts of tyranny against the Chinese government, it pales in comparison to China's one child policy. While the Chinese present this policy to the world via various Malthusian arguments about preventing a population explosion that would outstrip their food and natural resources, they fail to mention the heavy handed tactics they use to achieve such goals. Throughout the cities, villages and hamlets of China you will more likely than not will find an office or officers of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, who in the name of "population control," are systematically infringing on the liberty of the people of China to have children by forcing them to either be sterilized or abort their babies. No matter what your opinion about abortion is, you've got to be horrified that a nation has the gall to make its citizens barren or rob them of the right to have a child that the husband and wife agreed to bring in this world.

While I have pretty much written off the kids who show up at Moveon.org and ANSWER sponsored gatherings(I could be wrong. I hope?) as critics of the Chicom's horrific population control policies, I can't say the same thing about Chen Guangcheng, a blind legal activist, who has been helping several people in the Linyi area file suits against the government for illegally forcing these population controls on them. Though Chen has provided an avenue for the Chinese people to take on the government for its heinous acts, this brave activist still faces the long and brutal reach of the government. Just look at what the Financial Times reported that the state has thrown at Chen to prevent him from accomplishing his goal of helping the Chinese citizens take on the jack-boot of the government:

Mr Chen has been confined to his home near the Shandong city of Linyi since being seized by plain clothes officials during a visit to Beijing last month.

Local authorities have declined to comment on the legality of the action against Mr Chen but supporters say they have been told he is under investigation on suspicion of leaking state secrets a charge often levelled at critics of the government.

An attempt by a group of three Beijing-based legal experts to discuss the case with Mr Chen was blocked on Tuesday by unidentified people guarding his home, said Xu Zhiyong, one of the lawyers.

Mr Chen was beaten after villagers helped him push his way out of his home to meet the lawyers, Mr Xu said. The activist, who had been trying to organise a lawsuit against family planning authorities, lost a tooth and was hurt in the legs, he said.

The lawyers were also targeted by assailants. "“They pushed us back . . . then followed us and beat us," Mr Xu said. "“It seemed to be organised."

Luckily, Chen has the watchful eyes of the press, leaders in the West as well as blogs like Fire of Liberty which will continue to provide moral support for his brave stand against the authoritarian acts of the Chinese government. I just wish the "Peace Now" movement would take some time out of their busy schedule from drawing up infantile signs that equate President Bush to Hitler or Israel to the Nazis to make some "Stop Infanticide in China" or "China: Stop Sterilizing Mothers and Fathers" signs to carry around. It'd be nice.