
The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown - nwrk
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown
======
nstart
Reading this article triggered some feelings I've been having for a while.
Honestly the internet, and everything political feels like a shitshow that's
exceptionally depressing.

Recently there were racial riots in Sri Lanka. The government raced to block
social media, messaging, and VPN's. Hell, even mobile connections were
disrupted when people were desperately trying to contact their relatives while
their houses burned. The government's reasoning was that they wanted to quash
rumours. No talk of what they did in the lead up to the riots when communities
kept pointing out fascist groups steadily gaining more steam and operating
with a middle finger held up to the law. The government also ordered a media
blackout during the time.

China praised these actions. China is also heavily invested in Sri Lanka as
part of its belt project.

I have no doubts that eventually we'll see similar censorship arrive in SL.
Criticism of the predatory nature of China will be blocked ruthlessly with the
power that the Chinese gov seems to exert over social networks. China will
probably happily extend its technology to countries under its belt project
too. I can't see how this wouldn't benefit them.

In the midst of this, the US is also busy fighting China's ownership of Sri
Lankan resources. The result is a split of political factions that have chosen
China or US. The US media is now pushing stories that Sri Lanka's previous
regime took campaign contributions as under the table payments from China.

The thing is, while I appreciate investigative journalism, everything around
feels like propaganda. This article feels like propaganda.

At some point it feels miserable that whatever I read is trying to manipulate
me rather than inform me. And if I can't be manipulated, then I'll be
controlled instead. So when I think of the Internet, I don't really think of
some powerful tool in my hand anymore. At a deeper level, it's just another
propaganda machine that people will use against me, or take away from me if I
don't play by their rules.

------
zawerf
Did the US ever respond to China's use of the "Great Cannon" on github?

Having a nation state actor so publicly attack/censor a small company
shouldn't be tolerated.

~~~
forkLding
Aside from sanctions/trade wars and legal litigation, the other alternative
would be a legitimate war, which would likely ensue into a world war and then
maybe a nuclear war.

~~~
forapurpose
> Aside from sanctions/trade wars and legal litigation, the other alternative
> would be a legitimate war

This isn't true at all. There are many, many levers of diplomatic power, and
the U.S. has far more of them than anyone (or they did before they started
withdrawing from a world leadership position). There are many, many things
that China wants and needs, economically, politically, in trade, in finance,
in agriculture, in tech, etc. etc. The U.S. can make them pay a price in many
ways without starting a trade war.

That's the essential art of diplomacy: Act without escalating to a bigger
problem.

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stretchwithme
They want freedom from interference so they are free to interfere.

------
woodandsteel
Based on comments to previous HN links on this topic, I expect we will be
seeing some whataboutism that tries to divert criticism of China.

So let ask anyone who makes such a comment, what is your political philosophy,
are you for liberal democracy or Xi's brand of authoritarianism, or are you
just a cynic who thinks all reform efforts are hopeless, or what?

~~~
dmitrygr
Return question for you: do you believe as you imply that government exists in
only two forms? Either a liberal democracy or authoritarianism?

~~~
outlace
There’s surely a spectrum from authoritarianism to liberal democracy, but
there’s also a case to be made for free vs not free countries: if you can get
into a public Twitter spat with the President of your country, and not worry
someone will come break your legs (or worse) the next day, I call that a free
country. Everything else is not.

~~~
RVuRnvbM2e
The thing with US free speech though is that it is mostly only allowed in
specific, ineffectual circumstances - like Twitter or "free speech zones".

Try doing something that is actually effective - like staging a protest - and
you'll be charged with "unlawful demonstrating". How is that freedom?

[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/us/politics/womens-
march-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/us/politics/womens-march-
arrests-dc.html)

There are plenty of countries around the world that have real free speech.
China is of course much worse than the US, but I don't think the US is the
gold standard here.

~~~
learc83
>Try doing something that is actually effective - like staging a protest - and
you'll be charged with "unlawful demonstrating". How is that freedom?

The 600 or so people who were arrested did so on purpose as part of the
protest. They went there with the goal of being arrested and they staged a
sit-in of a Senate office building in order to accomplish that goal. There
were tens of thousands of other protesters marching through the streets who
weren't arrested, asked to leave, or even bothered.

>There are plenty of countries around the world that have real free speech.

I don't know of a country in the world were taking over the atrium of a
government building and refusing to leave when the police order you to
wouldn't get you arrested. What countries are you thinking of?

~~~
_jahh
Op bloviates/ they probably hate / those United States

