Chinese Internet dissident gets 10-year sentence
Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
20/03/2006 13:14:48
Chinese authorities have sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for posting an anti-government article on the Internet, a human rights advocacy group said.
Ren Zhiyuan, a secondary school teacher from Shandong province, was handed the sentence after being found guilty of "subversion of state power," Human Rights in China (HRIC) said in a statement. Ren was detained by police on May 10, 2005, the group said.
Citing a copy of the indictment, HRIC said Ren was detained because of an article he wrote entitled "The Road to Democracy," in which he wrote that people have the right to violently overthrown a tyrannical government. Ren was also suspected of planning the establishment of an anti-government group called Mainland Democracy Frontline, HRIC said.
During his trial, Ren plead innocent to the charges, HRIC said.
Reporters Without Borders, a press advocacy group based in France, issued a statement that criticized the conviction of Ren, saying his views reflected the ideological underpinnings of China's government.
"The Communist Party Manifesto, written in 1848 by Marx and Engels, and on which the Chinese Communist Party's ideology is still based today itself ends with these words : 'The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions,'" Reporters Without Borders said.
Ren's lawyer plans to appeal his case, HRIC said.
Monday, March 20, 2006
THANK GOD THAT I DON'T BLOG FROM CHINA!!!!
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8 comments:
Good Story Charles ;
It amazes me how people in Canada as a whole beat and pound their Chests, bragging about living in a Democracy, and how great it is to have freedom of speech, the freedom to be able to Vote and all.
Yet when it comes to doing Commerce with a Communist Regime Government like China { notice folk's, I said Government Of China, Not Chinese People }
All of the things we pride about our way of living goes out the door when it comes to the Almighty Dollar, and somewhere along the line, Our Wonderful Society finds some way to Justify Our Actions in the long Run.
Just think folk's, living in China under a Goverment like that, 10 years because you speak your mind.
I wonder what the sentence would be for calling into a Talk Show like CFBC Offers. Should be good for 10 to 20 I'd say. What say you.
An our Mayor and Council, and our University here in Saint John, want to do Business, and Does With THE CHINESE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT "
No wonder when students come over to Saint John and the province of New Brunswick, their Scared and Nervous.
I would be to, if I thought I was going to get 50 in the Pen, for leaving this comment.
Uh, before you beat your chest TOO much, you might want to reread the article. You'll notice that this guy didn't post a message saying 'the government sucks' or 'bad government'.
He set up a website saying that people had a right to VIOLENTLY overthrow the government, and that he was actively setting up such an organization.
You might not get ten years, but if you set up a website and start talking about violently overthrowing the canadian government I guarantee that you're life is going to get a heck of a lot more difficult. Ernst Zundel said FAR less than that and he's still rotting in prison even though he hasn't been charged with ANYTHING. You'll notice just how rarely Canadians talk about him, even though he's in jail under far less aggregious circumstances that this chinese guy.
Hmm, let's see.... if you spoke your mind on CFBC and got ten years for it... well, that would give just about enough time for most CFBC callers to get to their point... so it all balances out....
"The nature of the evidence, kept partly secret, and the fact that no cross-examination was possible for Mr. Zündel mean that I must be particularly careful in assessing the evidence presented and determinin what weight it should be given...That being said, I have come to the conclusion, based on the information presented to me in camera, that Mr. Zündel does represent a danger to the security of Canada, and should remain in detention for the time being. "
So you'll note that Canada is not above throwing people in prison if they think they are a threat to 'national security'. In fact, while Zundel's actions are truly reprehensible, he certainly made no threats of any kind, and certainly not to the government. He was held in prison until finally germany came up with the 'holocaust denial' charges so that everybody else in the world could ship racists there with a clean conscience.
So in fact Canada is FAR worse in this regard than China, as Zundel didn't even recieve a fair trial and the charges against him weren't about things he did, but only about the people he knew. That's pretty scary stuff, so keep in mind while you might think your speech is free, well, its only free as long as you don't cross the line. This is, of course, no defense of China, it is just meant to tell people to have a look at the plank in their own eye before judging others.
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) -- Wal-Mart Stores plans to hire 150,000 people in China over the next five years, five times the number it currently employs here, as it prepares for a major store expansion.
Joe Hatfield, chief executive of Wal-Mart Asia, who has worked at the world's biggest retailer for more than 30 years and was its first employee in China in 1994, said on Sunday the company plans to open 20 stores in the country this year and is racing to train more staff so that it can speed up growth.
"We're really going to ramp this up," Hatfield told Reuters in an interview while touring stores in Shenzhen, Wal-Mart's China headquarters.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer currently has 56 stores in China, putting it behind other global chains such as France's Carrefour, which had 78 at the end of 2005.
Wal-Mart did not even register enough sales to crack the top 30 on the Ministry of Commerce list of the biggest retailers in China, released last month.
That looks set to change.
"We're going to be growing in all directions," Hatfield said, adding that new stores were planned for both the major metropolises and the smaller cities.
Barring any major economic upheaval, Wal-Mart's China operations could be as big as its U.S. business in 20 years, Hatfield said -- something that Wall Street analysts have long predicted. Wal-Mart now has about 3,700 U.S. stores.
The United States generated 80 percent of Wal-Mart's $312 billion in sales for the latest fiscal year, but slowing growth and rising opposition at home have made international expansion all the more appealing.
America's love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart is well-documented. The retailer boasts that 100 million people shop at its U.S. stores each week, and yet its critics have grown increasingly vocal in the past year.
Two union-funded groups have set up Web sites and launched grassroots campaigns aimed at drawing attention to what they consider stingy wages and benefits for Wal-Mart workers.
Communities across the country have campaigned against new Wal-Mart stores, saying they devour green space, increase traffic congestion and drive competitors out of business. Activists have succeeded in blocking or delaying dozens.
Wal-Mart University? In China, however, consumers can't seem to get enough. Stores here can draw 1.2 million people per month, and the retailer is constantly on the lookout for new locations.
The biggest challenge is finding staff.
Hatfield said he has asked Wal-Mart to set up a university degree program here to train future employees to work in jobs ranging from master baker to accountant.
The retailer employs about 30,000 people in China, and Hatfield said he will need to hire 150,000 more as the expansion picks up steam. Wal-Mart has already started putting extra staff in stores so that they can learn on the job and be ready to manage newly opened locations.
Wal-Mart got off to a slow start here. Hatfield arrived in 1994, but it was nearly two years before the retailer opened its first stores. Growth has been modest since then, but China relaxed rules for foreign retailers at the end of 2004, making it easier to expand.
Hatfield spent his first months in China visiting other retailers to get a feel for shopping habits and tastes. As a result, outlets here may look like American megastores from the outside, but they carry a wide array of local delicacies such as sliced pig's ear, live fish and even crocodile.
Hatfield, 61, said he has no desire to leave, and hopes to stick around long enough to see the day when Wal-Mart China rivals the retailer's U.S. operations. He tells co-workers he plans to work until he is 80.
And after that, he wants to be a Wal-Mart greeter, standing at the entrance to welcome shoppers.
Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
We maybe able to write articles and call some radio stations and take among ourselves but when it comes to big issues the politicians decide and have meetings behind closed doors and change Bills to suit themselves and their friends.
They we can demostrate but really we have no say just police to control the people and they hope we go away. The Legislature and Council in NB do not listen to the thousands of people they just scurry away until another election and do as they want.
Thanks Charles for this Blog sight.
At least we can state our opinions even if changes do not come fast enough. At least now people can vent.
Our system is definitely not democratic; more like when I run I tell you what you want to hear and once I'm in I do not need to answer to anyone and do as I want. My how great it is to confuse the people and have them bickering among themselves.
The politicians break the laws, nothing happens. They tax us more for their lies and sponsership program, gun contol, NB Power Fiasco, Auto insurance scam to gouging us at the gas pumps. Aren't we feeling like life is good.
When we are struggling to make ends meet because our wages don't go up but the politicians receive extra money with no tax after big wages , bonuses and pensions; when will we say enough is enough?
I guess some of you are not their yet and the rest of us will have to wait and struggle until you feel what we are experiencing right now.
Sickening democratic system that is not working as it should.
we might not be as bad as China yet but it is getting there simce now we are getting denied freedom of speech .....as a beginning and more is to come ...
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