[WikiEN-l] Tearing down the Chinese Firewall

[Sean Barrett]

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Prasad J stated for the record:

> Although I agree with you guys that these censorship laws are unfair,
> I do believe that there are other organizations (like the U.N or the
> International Human Rights Commission) to deal with (what we consider)
> oppression. However not even the U.N has the authority to prevent
> people from being prosecuted for breaking laws which were legislated
> upon by elected Governments-in this case the Chinese Government.Again,
> let us note an important point-the present Government of China is an
> elected one, it is not a military junta or a dictatorship so it will
> be rather difficult for us to actually prove that they are suppressing
> the Chinese in the manner in which (for example) the North Korean
> Government oppresses its people.The Chinese government is receiving
> some flak from the international community as a result of these
> policies, however as the Chinese Government has pointed out-these are
> their internal affairs. Having said this, I do stand by my earlier
> statement that to aid Chinese citizens in their efforts to break the
> law of their land (even if the said law is unjust) is tantamount to
> abetting a crime.

And there you have a wonderful summary of the difference in attitudes
often seen between Americans and those who did not build their country
on the violent overthrow of established government.  I, in apparent
contrast to Prasad, believe that whenever any form of government --
whether elected or not -- becomes destructive of its people's
unalienable rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

- --
 Sean Barrett     | Careful. We don't want to
 sean at epoptic.com | learn from this. --Calvin
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