不听老人言, 吃亏在眼前. A new hubbub is brewing in Beijing, with a rare public criticism of governmental policy by retired government officials and academics. The Guardian's Johnathan Watts reports that a group of 13 old, formerly influential codgers have published a joint open letter to the Chinese government condemning its decision to shut down the (relatively) liberal Freezing Point, a weekly publication which formerly appeared in the China Youth Daily. For more background on the Freezing Point incident, check out ESWN. In any event, the geezers
called on the government to publish China's murky media laws, to "demolish every method of news censorship", and to protect the professional rights of the media. "Depriving the public of freedom of expression is bound to give rise to confrontation among the masses and lead to turbulence...
So, what will happen to these 老不死的? Probably nothing--these seditious septugenarians are really too old to send to prison, and if the government locks em up, it'll basically be shooting itself in the foot--at a critical time where the world's eyes are upon it (the terrorism distraction notwithstanding). On the other hand, if the government does nothing, it runs the risk of opening the floodgates of dissent, at least by bitter geriatrics who are bored of playing chinese chess all day. What's a totalitarian dictatorship to do?
Well in any event, I hope this incident will highlight a truth which is largely unknown by the non-Chinese speaking world: the communist party is not a monolithic entity which is free from dissent. Although generally dissent is not leaked to the public, the party is divided into many factions, each with differing thoughts on a great number of issues. I hope (but doubt) this will help bridge the perception/reality gap that exists in the West.
P.S. my insolent language is not meant to disparage old people in any way...I recently watched Happy Gilmore and the nursing home imagery is still in my head.
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