| 【Special Report and Commentary】 A Superficial Gesture |
Yu Jie |
| Has the dismissal of four officials involved in the Weng'an incident really lifted public morale? It is still not clear from media reports how much responsibility these officials actually bore in the case. The people lack a "right to know," and officials are not making the relevant information public. For this reason, we cannot yet claim a victory of people power. As for the new appointees, it could well be a case of "pushing the wolf out the front door while a tiger enters from the rear." |
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| 【Today's Focus】 Is 'Unruly People' a Phrase or a System? |
Shao Jian |
| Behind the phrase is a system. When a government official goes on about "unruly people" "not understanding the true situation," it not only reveals the deep-seated mentality of those in power, but also allows a glimpse of their system. The system decides the language; in a democratic system, what official would date to say, "the government must be firm in dealing with unruly people"? Without even going into who the unruly people are, this sentence provides a clear measure of power. |
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| 【Special Report and Commentary】 'Who Will Protect the Police?' -- What is CCTV Getting At? |
Mou Chuanheng |
| The media only report the number of police officers injured, but conceal the number of ordinary citizens injured, and then use this as supporting evidence for the need for a law to unilaterally protect the interests of police officers. How is this going to go over with the public? Why don't those experts and CCTV, with their emphatic insistance on the need for a crime of "assault against police," turn around and appeal for a law to protect the safety of ordinary citizens, and the formulation of a crime of "assault against citizens"? |
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| 【Dialogue】 Scholar-for-Hire Belittles Free Russia |
Tian Yuan |
| As it happens, I was living in the Soviet Union with my family during the final stage of communism, and personally experienced how Marxist-Leninism and communism deceived and tormented people in theory and in practice for half a century, so my words should mean something. I will give my own views of the irresponsible and untrue remarks of Ms. Han. |
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| 【Today's Focus】 The Emergence of 'Hero' Yang Jia and the Tragic Lack of Rule of Law |
Yang Kuanxing |
| When the authorities are too strong and the people are too weak, justice is sometimes impossible to obtain without taking irrational action. This causes Chinese who are unable to cast off the law of the jungle to resort to its main principle of violence. When news circulates of city managers beating hawkers to death, and gangsters beating householders to death in forced clearances, who can convince us that we can still rely on the law? Who will not begin feel a surge of love for violence in his heart? |
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| 【Book Series】 The Purgatory of the Ji County Stone Quarry |
Tang Peter |
| Although the police did not actually beat people, their means of handcuffing and tying people up were artfully devised to cause the maximum discomfort, and to render you all but crippled without any outward sign of injury. The Ji County police liked to use hemp cord in place of handcuffs, and had many ways of binding prisoners, each with its own special quality of pain. During those years in Ji County, right up to the height of struggle sessions, I passed each day under the shadow of terror. |
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| 【Today's Focus】 No Harmonious Society in a Black Box |
Qiu Liben |
| No one would believe that it is possible to find a harmonious society in a black box. This is the crisis faced by many local governments in China today. Whenever an internal conflict develops, their instinctive reaction seems to be to create an even bigger black box to cut off all sources of information and make routine news reporting difficult or even impossible. What they actually end up creating is even greater conflict and an even deeper crisis. |
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| 【The Anti-Rightist Campaign】 Painful Memories 50 Years After the Anti-Rightist Campaign |
Xu Pen |
| The significance of recalling the wounds of the Anti-Rightist Campaign is that it allows Chinese society an opportunity for personal cleansing while reviewing history. it can help more members of the public establish a feeling of moral responsibility. Reconstructing these memories is a process of self-education for society. It educates members of the public in how to recognize the existence and source of human suffering, how to shoulder some major responsiblity, and how to redefine their collective relationship with justice. |
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| 【Special Report and Commentary】 Muddleheaded Weng'an Dismissal Will Bring Even Greater Trouble |
Ni Zhen |
| The recent series of violent incidents clearly reveals the gushing forth of suppressed popular resentment. With the Beijing Olympics drawing near, apart from BOCOG's scrambling to mount intense publicity, the government is using its full public power to build bridges. There are many more such cases, but all the attractive packaging only serves to further suppress the public will and pack the explosive charge more tightly, so that the eventual explosion will be even more violent. |
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| 【Friday Editorial 】 The Olympics Hasn't Changed China |
Gu Yuan |
Hasn't China been going all around claiming, "One world, one dream"? Don't make the Chinese people chase after this unattainable dream -- just give them freedom of expression, freedom to use the Internet, and that will be much better than some pie-in-the-sky dream! |
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| 【Special Cases】 Girls Seeking Death |
Lao Humiao |
| The two thin, frail southern girls across from me set out the details of the injustice against them. Their calm faces were still capable of the smile of a normal person. I suddenly discovered that a bottle of sleeping pills had rolled out of their luxurious handbag, and I sternly demanded, "What are you up to?" |
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| 【Special Report and Commentary】 Yu Qiuyu's Diagnosis |
Sun Naixiu |
| Yu Qiuyu's "tearful admonition" is seen as a symptom of his Cultural Revolution mentality, writing and position. His character and position, putting his pen in the service of authority from Mao's time to the present, has remained unchanged for 40 years; he remains on the side of those in power, speaking and mediating on their behalf. |
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| 【Chinese Landscape】 Terrifying Professional Revolutionaries |
Ran Yunfei |
| Autocratic regimes rely on professional revolutionaries who not only disregard their loved ones, but even treat those closest to them as tools. After the revolution, the regime operates like some cruel "Mobius strip," and those who spout off endlessly about revolution today can vanish into thin air tomorrow. |
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| 【CIC News Express】 Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms is Dead |
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Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who became an icon to conservatives, died on July 4 at age 86, the Jesse Helms Center said. Helms once said his job was to derail the freight train of liberalism. He retired in 2003 after serving five terms in the Senate. |
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