Can The Olympics Open Up China?

Can the Olympics Knock Down the Great Firewall?

The issue of the internet and China is – naturally! – a hot topic in the blogosphere. Bob, blogger for Beijing Olympics blog, has been hoping to tackle this for some time, and so was pleased to see the IOC raise the issue this week (via BBC):

“Inspectors from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said China was obliged under its Games contract to provide journalists with web access.

The IOC’s Kevan Gosper said there was concern that the web had been blocked during recent unrest in Tibet. He said this could not happen during the Games.

The Great Firewall: The Chinese government has a very effective system of blocking websites, censoring content and enforcing self-censorship by internet companies. These methods allow the CCP to effectively road-block the information superhighway. This is the Great Firewall.

China’s effort to Re-Educate, or brainwash dissidents has a short term effect on the victims. As in George Orwell’s 1984, there will be those to play the game to survive. But, given opportunity, they will recover their true identity and resist.

The term “Re-Education” sends shivers. The Chinese need to stop this non-sense and move into the 21st century. The world needs to boycott the Olympics so that China knows without a doubt that what it is doing in Tibet is not acceptable.

China warned on Saturday it would step up a controversial “re-education” campaign for Tibetans after a fresh protest showed a huge security crackdown had failed to extinguish nearly one month of unrest.

Beijing’s behavior in Tibet is repulsive; this century has no place for cultural genocide. An effort to take Tibet out of the Tibetan people and to replace it with the Han culture, and not even true Han but rather neutered, sanitized, secularized post Mao Han culture.

The jailing of prominent Chinese dissident Hu Jia on Thursday for subversion added to concerns around the world that the human rights situation in China was getting worse instead of better ahead of the Games.

Through the controversy and headlines, there may a larger reason to embrace. Dissent brings change. World opinion applies pressure. The IOC will not condone censorship to protect the integrity of CCP propaganda. This may finally be the long awaited tear in the Chinese Cloak of Disinformation. Reeducation by any other name is still Brainwashing. North Korea made that concept famous in the 1950s and 1960s. Humans cannot remain robots forever. Preventing human beings from exploring and expanding their own minds, is like caging a wild animal the releasing them into the jungle without the tools to survive. A large segment of Chinese appear ready to break out of their cage. The Olympics may be their key.