I haven't done any clicktivism recently, so here's a petition:
On November 7th, 2012, the day before China’s new leadership transition began, Chinese Twitter user @Stariver was taken away from his home in Miyun, a northern suburban county of Beijing, by state security police for a tweet he had sent on November 5th. @Stariver ‘s family has since received notification of him being “criminally detained” for “spreading false and terrible information.” He is currently held in the detention center of Miyun County. His family has not been able to see him since the 7th, nor has his lawyer.
The false and terrible information consisted of a joke about the 18th Party Congress which you can see at the link and which speaking for myself I can't make head or tail of.
Never mind. Apparently it meant something to the guobao. I'm reminded of the man in Chongqing who got a year's Reform Through Labour for tweeting something similar about Bo Xilai, which is worth bearing in mind when you hear all the stuff about reformists versus Maoists and so on.
I suspect in both cases the cops were working towards the leaders, and that the arrest of Zhai Xiaobin took place because the Congress is a 'sensitive time'. However, sensistivity can run both ways and with Xi Jinping just gearing up for the big swivel chair, now is not the time the people in Zhongnanhai will want to get involved in a big fuss about a trivial issue. In fact, a big enough fuss could not only get Zhai out of jail but mean trouble for the securocrats who embarrassed their superiors at such an inopportune time. Wouldn't that be fun.
Done!
Posted by: Strategist | November 21, 2012 at 10:27 PM