As with all technologies, the internet has been a mixed bag. For example, the internet has been a gathering point and tool for disseminating violent hate propaganda, just as the mediums of film, television and radio have been used to spread and incite violence against vulnerable minorities prior to and during various genocides. Yet as we observed in recent days, following the highly contentious election results in Iran, the internet has been a source for disseminating dissenting views and rallying opposition within Iran against Ahmedinajad and his recent but questionable electoral victory. While I have been tempted to write about the developments in Iran from the perspective of resistance and the law, I will reserve that for another day when the electoral results have been reviewed.
A recent New York Times article however charts some of the ways that the internet has been used to gather resistance to the abuses of government officials in China. In "Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online", we learn of the story of Deng Yujiao, a waitress who killed a communist party official in self-defence when the latter tried to force himself on her. The incident took place in a small town in Hubei Province. When she was charged for the killing, according to the article, news of the slaying spread through the internet and placed Deng in the national spotlight transforming her into a national hero. Whether on its own merits, or because of the fear of convicting someone who has become a popular symbol against a form of abuse by public officials, a court acquitted Deng, ruling that she acted in self-defence. The article highlights other instances of official abuse that are brought into the public spotlight through exposure on the internet.
The article demonstrates the importance of the internet in supporting acts of resistance or in serving as acts of resistance in and of themselves where government censors may seek to silence exposure of government abuse.
Sources:
A recent New York Times article however charts some of the ways that the internet has been used to gather resistance to the abuses of government officials in China. In "Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online", we learn of the story of Deng Yujiao, a waitress who killed a communist party official in self-defence when the latter tried to force himself on her. The incident took place in a small town in Hubei Province. When she was charged for the killing, according to the article, news of the slaying spread through the internet and placed Deng in the national spotlight transforming her into a national hero. Whether on its own merits, or because of the fear of convicting someone who has become a popular symbol against a form of abuse by public officials, a court acquitted Deng, ruling that she acted in self-defence. The article highlights other instances of official abuse that are brought into the public spotlight through exposure on the internet.
The article demonstrates the importance of the internet in supporting acts of resistance or in serving as acts of resistance in and of themselves where government censors may seek to silence exposure of government abuse.
Sources:
Michael Wines, ""Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online" The New York Times, June 16, 2009.
Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/asia/17china.html?ref=global-home
Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/asia/17china.html?ref=global-home
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