As We Go Up, We Go Down

The arrogance is just incredible. On the heels of China’s brutal crackdown in Xinjiang, it seems as if the Chinese government thinks it can control all information around the world.

Should I not call it brutal? Well, when the CCP shuts down all independent media, seizes all evidence about what really happened, and then discloses a bare trickle of self-serving information, unworthy of the name as it is more likely dis-information, then I am allowed to suppose that they are hiding something. It is quite possible that the numbers floating around are, in fact, true. Unfortunately we will likely never know with any certainty.

You can’t have it both ways. If you are committed to truth then you allow reporters to gather it. If you are not then you don’t get to argue that news organizations, trying to gather information around official blockades, are being overly imprecise or unfair. I personally do not trust organizations like CNN very much, but at least they don’t suppress or falsify information on a regular basis. In China, official government policy is to do just that.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Apparently controlling all information with an iron fist within China is not enough. Now, no one may show a film in another country, because it offends China’s delicate sensibilities. Is this not the nation which always complains about ‘foreign interference in our internal affairs’? (1.8 million hits, if you don’t want to link through.)

And now they want to dictate what Aussie citizens will see at a film festival. Isn’t that just sick? How unstable must a system be to lead to such a result?

Behold the hubris:

China’s government, entangled in a row with Australia over alleged commercial spying, has stirred more controversy by demanding a documentary about restive ethnic Uighurs be dropped from Australia’s largest film festival.

Chinese consular staff contacted organisers of the Melbourne International Film Festival urging them to dump a film about exiled Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, blamed by Beijing for instigating this month’s ethnic riots in Xinjiang.

New Melbourne cultural attache Chunmei Chen phoned last week to insist the documentary “The 10 Conditions of Love” be withdrawn ahead of its Aug. 8 premiere and demanding justification for its inclusion, festival director Richard Moore said on Wednesday.

“No-one reacts well to strident approaches, or to the appearance of being bullied. I don’t think it’s a positive way of behaving,” Moore told Reuters.

“She urged me to withdraw the film from the festival and then told me in no uncertain terms that I should justify my decision to include the film in the festival programme,” Moore said. The incident is attracting widespread media attention in Australia.

In fact, just to be honest, the movie likely highlights a breakdown in rule of law in China, and hence is verboten. Now, this is vaguely comic (except for the people in jail) because the profile of the film just went up about one thousand percent, but all in all the entire story is ugly, and entirely too telling.

One of the essential issues facing China is whether the party can police itself, control corruption, and establish a real rule of law governing state actors as well as the citizenry. So far it seems that all efforts on this front are coming out of the political and propaganda wings, which are trying to sweep everything under the rug. And I do mean everything.

It is just a bit sad because China has so much to offer, and has come so far. But at this moment, with my internet half shut down, the chill in the air all around, and who knows what coming next, I feel we are moving in exactly the wrong direction.

3 Responses to As We Go Up, We Go Down

BDR says:

July 16, 2009 at 23:27

GbV allusion noted!

Be safe.

Rhodo Zeb says:

July 17, 2009 at 21:17

Aww, no fair, that one is too easy.

Things are just a bit frustrating right now, I am sure things will improve.

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As We Go Up, We Go Down

3 Responses to As We Go Up, We Go Down

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