[Jasmine] Revolution Interrupted, Hoax, or Trap

This is a follow-up to Nasos’ earlier post on China’s response to the Egyptian Lotus Revolution.  As has already been discussed, China used it’s elaborate 30-50,000 man strong  internet shield, known as the Golden Shield (金盾工程: jīndùn gōngchéng) to censor references to the recent social upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa from the 400+ million Chinese internet users.  China is also a nation that already has approximately 90,000 “mass incidents” (protests, mini-riots) per year, something that has become so worrisome to the government that it stopped keeping official statistics on these events some years ago.

It is obvious that Beijing perceived an anonymous internet  call for street protest in a dozen Chinese cities to  protest at 2 p.m  (0600 GMT) 20 Feb. as a clear and present danger” to the CCP’s political hegemony.  Named the ‘Jasmine Revolution” by some, it was aborted before it really came into fruition.   It is believed the initial call for protests originated from at the U.S.-based Chinese-language news website Boxun.com.  An anonymous poster asked potential Chinese protesters to chant “We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness”. No places to meet were posted until a few hours before people were supposed to meet, which probably added to low turn out and confusion.

From CNN:

Wangfujing may have been a perfect place to trigger a mass action. The four-lane street is a designated pedestrian street, with thousands of people walking there at any given business hour; no cars and buses are allowed. For decades it has been a favorite shopping district, especially for out-of-town Chinese and foreign tourists. (Locals prefer to shop elsewhere.)

Boxun.com is blocked in China, just as  Twitter and Facebook, the latter two having been instrumental in the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.  It is possible for more tech savvy Chinese to circumvent the censors using proxies.  Boxun.com has claimed that it’s site was attacked by hackers after the protest post.  Attacks by Chinese based hackers are not unusual, but it is unclear if these attacks were  in fact launched by Chinese ultra-nationalist or the Chinese government.

As a result, Beijing has ordered security forces to make a display of force on the streets of 13 China cities  last Sunday (20 Feb 2011). Further, authorities detained known activists, and disconnected some cell phone texting services.

The day before, Chinese President Hu Jintao ordered national and provincial officials to “solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society.”

The Beijing meeting place for protesters was in front of a McDonald’s in Wangfujing, a well known shopping district about a kilometer from Tiananmen Square.  An unusual number of people were recorded to have gathered near the site, but ushered away by security force within an hour.  At least two people, who tried to place Jasmine Flowers at the location were arrested or had their cell phones taken.  Some older citizens publicly complained, saying they wanted greater democracy, but were left alone by authorities.

At the same time, in the more liberal enclave of Hong Kong,   30 demonstrators showed up  outside the gates of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government.  Leung Kwok Hung, a lawmaker and a well known “Professional Protester“,  nicknamed “Long Hair, lead the demonstration.  He said it was in support of the “Jasmine Revolution”.  Long Hair is self-labeled Marxist, but one who is against the government in Beijing.

Although the protests do not appear to have been successful, this could have been a “dry run” for future protests. I’m sure pro-democracy activist in China were paying attention (if they were not detained).   Keeping in mind China’s history (1, 2), specifically how Mao Zedong and Qin Emporer Shi Huangdi created elaborate rouses to entrap intellectual critics, all of  this could have been an excuse by the government to arrest potential trouble makers and gauge the potential for mass national demonstrations.