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I am not on Facebook, period. I am sure a ton of people would say I am way behind the curve, not hip, or even old fashion. My main reason is security. Since China’s human rights is my main focus as a volunteer of AIUSA, I know far too well about the consequences of being an activist (or a dissident as the general Chinese community would call it). Dissidents in China are constantly harassed, detained, tortured and imprisoned everyday. Their friends and family members are harassed just the same. Take the case of Hu Jia and Chen Guangcheng. Zeng Jinyan (Hu’s wife) is under house arrest with their young daughter. When she leaves her apartment, the police follows her constantly. Yuan Weijing (Chen’s wife) is also under house arrest but she has police surrounding her home 24/7. She has been beaten several times for simply trying to leave her home for some errands, such as going to see a dentist. She has not been allowed to visit her husband in prison for a long time. Combined this type of harassment of family members with the technological advance in internet censorship in China, being on Facebook seems like a huge security risk to me.
My theory came true when Wired magazine published a story about a few Egyptian activists’ attempt to organize a protest backfired through Facebook. It became clear to me that my decision to stay away from the increasingly popular social network is the right decision. But I doubt myself from time to time. A lot of my family and friends are on Facebook. My friends have many times told me they haven’t heard from me for a long time while they chitchat on Facebook regularly. I feel really bad not being able to keep up with family and friends. Believe me, it is a very difficult choice. Recently, one of my uncles passed away. My mom who can barely send an email said my brother found out my uncle became ill through Facebooking with my cousins. Mom (who is not on Facebook) said if I wanted to be kept up to date, go to Facebook. In less than a month, my uncle passed away. I felt a bit guilty. Even my husband’s grandmother is on Facebook. She posts updates all the time.
The main issue of security for me is exposing my social graph that could land in the hands of any authorities. In the digital age, nothing is private. Earlier this week, NPR broadcast a series on online privacy. The Facebook episode highlighted the issue of third-party snooping in which even private Facebook accounts could be exposed. The concluding episode pointed out that if the content is on someone else server, users don’t have as much privacy protection as the physical documents sitting in our desk drawers under the Fourth Amendment. Email is just as vulnerable in this category because messages leave packets of information at every intersection they pass through. And in the case of Shi Tao, he landed a 10-year jail sentence due to an email he sent to a US-based website and Yahoo provided his user account information to the Chinese authorities that became one of the evidence in his conviction.
Putting the security issue aside, I’ve heard a lot of people speaking excitedly about organizing on Facebook. But most of them seem to come from folks who have not done their homework on Facebook activism. Recently, AIUSA held a meeting for a specific group of volunteers. Facebook was proposed as a way to recruit new people to our work on human rights. It is easy to set up a group or cause on Facebook and ask people to join. But after you get 1,000 or even a million clicks, then what? I am convinced on the attention-getting part of Facebook but in terms of turning the hyped attention into real activism (such as sending hard copy letters to foreign governments, calling our politicians about US domestic or foreign policies, etc), I doubt we will get real results. Washington Post calls this the “Click-through Activism”. There is also Ethan Zuckerman’s blog post on this topic reflecting on the short-lived Facebook movement that followed the “Saffron Revolution” in Burma in 2007. DigiActive published a handbook on Facebook activism last year which details what needs to be done after starting a Facebook group.
I had the fortune to attend a presentation by social media guru Beth Kanter a long time ago. She gave examples of nonprofits using social media but she warned that to be successful, an organization needs to assign a staff to spend 2-3 hours a day on this new medium. She quoted Micah Sifry of Personal Democracy Forum:
If you want your organization to become an online activism hub, it takes a deep level of engagement to build a successful socnet. Staff need to spend real-time cultivating people and need to be given real authority to speak on behalf of the organization.
This expert advice is contrary to the proposed strategy of using volunteers to recruit new members on Facebook for a cash-strapped membership organization. Volunteers are rarely given “real authority” to speak on behalf of an organization to begin with. Can we expect a volunteer to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week on Facebook solely for an organization? I am sure there are some die-hard Facebookers ready to do it but can they do it for a long time (a year or longer) without pay? Last year’s election was successful in this volunteer front but long-term membership engagement can’t be done by volunteers only, can it?
All these arguments might not be enough for me to resist Facebook. A recap of a recent event at UC Berkeley titled, “Social Networks Friend or Foe?” pointed out that social networking may one day become as essential as the telephone. New positive arguments for Facebook are showing up everyday. When a new urge or guilt comes to me, I will just remind myself about a TED video featuring writer Evgeny Morozov. In the video, Morozov explained how the internet helps the authoritarian regimes. Facebook might have been very useful for activists in the post-election protests in Iran but:
In the past it would take you weeks, if not months, to identify how Iranian activists connect to each other. Now you actually know how they connect to each other by looking at their Facebook page. I mean KGB, and not just KGB, used to torture in order to actually get this data. Now it’s all available online.
Human rights groups were outraged at Hillary Clinton for taking a backseat on raising human rights issues with China during her trip to Asia last week. AIUSA issued a scolding press release. Human Rights Watch expressed their disapproval on NPR. Was it really that bad? Let’s read the official transcript of her interaction with the press (search the words “human rights” to get to the problematic passage in the long transcript) and allow everyone else to be the judge.
I don’t agree with some folks saying Clinton has given up on speaking about human rights even before she landed in China. I think she made some smart decisions for her first official engagement with China as Secretary of State. She could speak more openly and freely as First Lady but it is no longer the case. There is a lot more at stake when she travels the world as the official representative of the US administration. Especially this is her first official meeting with many high ranking Chinese officials, it would be impolite to point out the shortcomings of the host before she was offered a cup of tea. There are going to be a few hand shakes and some warm ups to kick off a relationship.
Since the so-called downplay of human rights, Clinton had another interaction with the press after she met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Based on the transcript of this round, it sounds to me they have touched on human rights, probably not too specific and I don’t think it should be. Experts’ opinions were mixed.
By the way, Clinton was interviewed by Shanghai based Dragon TV. The AP video is a short clip of the interview. The full transcript is an entertaining read.
I checked the headlines of the BBC News this morning as usual and was shocked to hear Congressman Tom Lantos has passed away. He was the greatest ally in Washington for human rights organizations. AIUSA worked with him on numerous occasions. Whenever I was asked to spread the word about a Dear Colleague letter being circulated in Congress written on behalf of a prisoner of conscience, Lantos was always one of the two representatives who initiated the letter.
Most recently, he scolded Yahoo executives over their negligence of handling the company’s involvement in the imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao in China during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing last November. A few days after the hearing, Yahoo settled a lawsuit with the family members of Shi Tao and imprisoned pro-democracy writer Wang Xiaoning. There is no doubt in my mind that the hearing played a major role in the outcome of the lawsuit.
Although I only learned about Rep. Lantos through the media or emails circulated from AIUSA, my impression of him is a person who gets it when it comes down to human rights. Most of his colleagues would put other priorities in front of human rights but not Lantos. Losing a go-to person like him feels like losing the greatest captain in the worst storm at sea.
Related news and links:
- AIUSA press release: Amnesty International USA Mourns Loss of Rep. Tom Lantos, Longtime Champion for Human Rights
- Associated Press: Rep. Tom Lantos Dead at 80
- NPR: In Lantos, Congress Loses a Touchstone
- Voice of America: US Congress Loses Key Human Rights, Foreign Policy Voice
- San Jose Mercury News: Editorial: A tireless champion of human rights
- CNET: Recalling Rep. Lantos, who assailed Yahoo over China policies
A law suit filed in San Francisco against Yahoo! on behalf of Wang Xiaoning who was jailed in China for 10 years due to his online activities was made public recently. Wang’s case was first reported by Human Rights in China almost a year ago. Chinese court document included evidence provided by Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd identifying Wang’s Yahoo! email address and Yahoo! Group in which he distributed his political writings.
Wang’s wife, Yu Ling came to the US over a month ago to look for help filing the law suit. When I first heard about her trip, I was wondering anyone would step up to take it on. Fortunately in the land of law suits, the official filing came in less than two months after Yu’s first step into Washington, DC. Now that the suit is filed, Yu went back to China and she expected the worst because being outspoken never ends well in China.
Related news and links:
- HRIC: Prisoner Profile – Wang Xiaoning
- RFA – Mandarin Service (Simplified Chinese): Internet writer Wang Xiaoning’s wife arrived in US to sue Yahoo (Mandarin audio broadcast)
- Wired: ‘Yahoo Betrayed My Husband’
- NPR: All Things Considered – Group Targets Yahoo Inc. Over China Cases
- Washington Post: Advocates Sue Yahoo In Chinese Torture Case
- New York Times: Chinese Political Prisoner Sues in U.S. Court, Saying Yahoo Helped Identify Dissidents
- Wired blog – Threat Level: Chinese Cyber-Dissident and Wife Sue Yahoo (official court filing against Yahoo!)
Update (4-24-2007): Rebecca MacKinnon’s comments on the law suit in her blog compared the Chinese court document with the court filing in the US. Her other comments raised good arguments towards Yahoo’s response on the case and some great input on how Yahoo should honestly explain the way it treats its users’ privacy.
- RConversation: Victims’ lawsuit against Yahoo!
- RConversation: The Yahoo! lawsuit: picking through Chinese and English legal documents
Chinese New Year starts today and I have always encouraged fellow Amnesty members to take actions around this time of the year for China’s prisoners of conscience. This year, a special Chinese New Year action is posted on AIUSA website directing towards Shi Tao and the Chinese authorities. It is a holiday card action with 2 simple card designs. The graphics are not great but considering they were put together in less than a week, the focus is on the messages inside the cards offering mental support to Shi Tao and asking the authorities to release him.
If you want to look for some prettier designs, you can purchase new year cards from a local Asian market or for those who have color printers, there are a few sites offering some great art work:
- Canon: Chinese New Year greeting cards
- Hong Kong Tourism Board: Hui Chun (small messages or wishes people hang in and around their homes and offices)
- Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Festival & Parade: black and white graphics great for kids to color
Chinese New Year related news:
- Asia Times Online (Hong Kong): It may not be golden, but the Pig is here
- NPR: Asians Usher in the Year of the Pig
- BBC News: In pictures: Chinese New Year
- BBC News: Fiery launch for Chinese new year
- BBC News: Have Your Say – What does the year of the pig promise for China?
The news about China AIDS activist Gao Yaojie being placed under house arrest in order to keep her from leaving the country to receive an award in the US next month (see my last post for more details) have been plastered all over the net. The award is presented by Vital Voices which has Senator Hillary Clinton as one of the honorary chairs so the Senator was quick to press the Chinese officials in the matter.
Until this morning, the confinement of Gao was front page news in the New York Times. But by the end of the day, it has emerged that the authorities changed their stance possibly due to pressure from Senator Clinton. This latest development spread around in a matter of hours and Vital Voices immediately posted the good news on their site.
I am not ready to celebrate until Gao actually picks up the award and returns home successfully. My fear is that even though she is allowed to leave China, the authorities might not let her back in. As an 80-year-old woman, Gao has been making more noise than others much younger than her. I am sure the authorities have a few more tricks to silence her. On the other hand, I believe the news of her situation being widely distributed on the internet has something to do with the positive outcome for the time being.
Related news:
- Washington Post: China lets AIDS doctor collect U.S. rights prize
- New York Times: Detained AIDS Doctor Allowed to Visit U.S. Later, China Says
- Reuters: China AIDS activist says under house arrest
Update (2-21-2007):
- BBC News: China lets Aids activist visit US
- NPR – All Things Considered (radio broadcast and written summary): China Will Allow AIDS Activist to Get Award in U.S.
This year’s Human Rights Day passed by quietly. For this special day to fall on a Sunday is definitely a big disadvantage. There are still a few interesting reads to follow up:
- United Nations, Press Release: States and International Community have a Duty to Fight Poverty, High Commissioner for Human Rights says
- Voice of America, news: Human Rights Day Focuses On Poverty Eradication
- Asian Tribune: Human Rights Day and World Poverty, an essay by Professor Laksiri Fernando, University of Sydney
But the major news today is United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan making his final speech at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Missouri before he leaves office at the end of this year. Annan selected the Truman library as the location because he considered Truman as the champion for the United Nations during the organization’s early years. His speech was definitely critical of the US. And he intelligently quoted President Harry Truman several times to convey the main points of his speech:
On collective responsibility:
“If we should pay merely lip service to inspiring ideals, and later do violence to simple justice, we would draw down upon us the bitter wrath of generations yet unborn.”
On the rule of law:
“We all have to recognise, no matter how great our strength, that we must deny ourselves the licence to do always as we please.”
On multilateralism:
“The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world.”
But the best part of his speech was Annan’s own words: “My friends, our challenge today is not to save Western civilisation – or Eastern, for that matter. All civilisation is at stake, and we can save it only if all peoples join together in the task.” While many people do not think Annan is a strong leader for the United Nations, I feel that he was the right person for the job because the UN is not about being dominant, it is about working together for a better world. And I hope we would one day achieve what he said today.
Related news and links:
- BBC News: Kofi Annan’s final speech (full text in print and video)
- UN: Transcript of the Q&A following the speech
- BBC News: Annan chides US in final speech
- NPR, Day to Day: Kofi Annan Bids Farewell to United Nations
- United Press International: Analysis: U.N. appeal for U.S. leadership
China denied having the HIV/AIDS problems for years and activists have been taking on the fight alone. But fighting AIDS means exposing a problem of the country so the Chinese authorities often harass the activists. Even when the authorities are now opened about the number of people contracted the disease, activists continue to be the target of intimidation and arbitrary detention.
Late last month, the China’s Ministry of Health reported that 183,733 people contracted HIV and 12,464 people have died of AIDS by the end of October 2006. The Xinhua News Agency released the information along with much higher estimates from WHO and UNAIDS. The Xinhua article also described the specialized clinics set up in Beijing and the promotion of condom use in several provinces. It appears that the Chinese authorities are serious about fighting HIV/AIDS.
Looks is deceiving. Soon after the Xinhua article was published, Wan Yanhai, director of the Aizhixing Institute went missing 2 days before the Institute’s planned symposium. Wan called his workers by phone and instructed them to cancel the event. Three days later, the police released him. Why would the Chinese authorities put up a front about fighting AIDS and then detained an activist for no reason? It seems like the authorities would only recognize their own efforts of tackling the problem and then put up hurdles for those who take on the fight themselves.
Such is the case for Li Dan, a college student who gave up his studies to advocate for those affected by HIV/AIDS. His first major project was a documentary about a village in Henan that had a high rate of infection. The police detained him when they found out about the film. A few months later, the authorities offered to provide medical and financial assistance to the village featured in the film. Li then tried to set up a school for AIDS orphans. His efforts were recognized by the local media but the authorities closed his school anyway. It didn’t stop the rest of the world to pay attention. Li Dan was selected as one of four recipients of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award.
Related news and links:
- Amnesty International: AIDS activists at risk
- BBC News: Chinese police free Aids activist
- Reuters: China police ban haemophilia forum, hold activist-source
- BBC News: Chinese Aids activist ‘missing’
- Xinhua News Agency: China reports nearly 40,000 new HIV infections this year
- BBC News: China’s HIV/Aids cases jump 30%
- Reebok Human Rights Award: Li Dan
- NPR, All Things Considered, July 26, 2005: One Man Against AIDS in China
- Amnesty International, December 2004: Human rights defenders at risk
