Finger protest in China

ARTICLE: China's 'netizens' hold authorities to new standard, By Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post, November 9, 2009

Ah, but I thought Beijing was going to successfully keep everybody there under mouse arrest!

A severed finger sparked an online uproar that went viral. And very quickly, rattled authorities here took note.

The story of Sun Zhongjie, a 19-year-old driver who chopped off his finger to decry police entrapment, shows how the Internet has become an effective tool of public protest in this tightly controlled country.

Almost every form of open dissent is outlawed in China, but mass protests organized online are increasingly putting pressure on police, judges and other officials -- and getting results.

Again, the AOL/walled garden approach works for the first generation of users. It's the 19-year-olds that will screw you--God bless 'em.

Comments

[David]

Tom, although slightly different topic, still China. Check this out

http://www.theatlantic.com/slideshows/china-nations/

Useful for reminding us that "China" is really a not the monolith that it is sometimes put up to be.