Wikileaks, microblogs reconfigure the Internet landscape
- By Xu Peixi
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China.org.cn, June 22, 2011
After last year's row with the U.S. over Internet governance, two grassroots events deserve our respect and reflection. One is the Wikileaks release of classified US documents and its continued popularity may have ushered in a new era of democratic governance. The other is the Yihuang self-immolation incident in Yihuang, Jiangxi, in September, which after being covered up by the government, made headlines when the victims' family members began to text reporters about their troubles, proving the power of microblogging in defending the rights of the disadvantaged.
Wikileaks shows the new leverage individuals have gained over governments and big commercial institutions. Its founder, Julian Assange, is the town crier in a new era. Two thousand years ago, when the spread of information depended on word of mouth, town criers would shout the news in the town square to the illiterate listeners. Now, Assange relays US diplomatic cables through five print media partners. The difference is that old town criers served their emperors while Assange serves the people.
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Xu Peixi |
To borrow the words of Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist who founded the peace and conflict discipline, the ideal role of the media is as the fourth pillar (along with the state, capital and civil society). No longer should state and capital sit above people. Now, the chances are open for the people to gain more leverage. Assange expressed the dissatisfaction of grassroots actors about how big decisions affecting the world political economy are made when there are new possibilities for a more democratic way of governance.
The Chinese event was more internally oriented. When "China Internet Report" was released last June, its English version mistranslated the word "microblogs" (Weibo) as "Twitter". One year after the report, the chance of confusing microblogs with a foreign website has been considerably reduced due to the popularity of Chinese microblogging platforms represented by Sina and Tencent. The total number of microbloggers rose to 63 million, representing a quarter of the global number. Last year was deemed the "first year of the microblogging era" (Weibo Yuan Nian). The Yihuang self-immolation incident marked the rising influence of microblogs. Three members of the Zhong family set fire to themselves on September 10 when the demolition team of the local administration threatened to pull their house down. One was killed, the other two seriously burned.
The nation's attention turned to the case on September 16, when, on their way to Beijing to be interviewed by Phoenix television, two members of the family, Zhong Rujiu and Zhong Rucui, were trapped in the women's bathroom at Nanchang Airport by a group of police headed by the Party secretary of Yihuang County. The two girls phoned Deng Fei, a reporter at Phoenix Weekly, and their experience was broadcasted live through the reporter's microblog. The local official newspaper Jiangxi Daily did not mention the incident (instead, more than 40 percent of its September pages focused on the economic rise of central China). Nevertheless, this did not prevent the event from escalating into a media spectacle garnering national attention, which then led to a complete overhaul of the local leadership of Yihuang County.
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When the U.S. repeatedly turned domestic democratic appeals from its citizens into a world military and economic crusade and made the fundamental human right of freedom of expression a diplomatic weapon, and when China has yet to acknowledge that economic growth is simply one of the means to bring well-being to its people and not an end, it is our duty to bring the governments back on track. Wikileaks event and the Yihuang self-immolation incident are two thundering examples from last year in that direction.
The author is an associate professor with the Communication University of China. He can be reached at xupeixi@gmail.com.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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