18 votes

How one man on a bridge marred Xi Jinping's big moment

3 comments

  1. bhrgunatha
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    I can't fathom the unbelievable bravery of this man. His life is effectively over. That's not to say there aren't others equally brave or whose actions won't get punished to the same extent. There...

    I can't fathom the unbelievable bravery of this man. His life is effectively over.

    That's not to say there aren't others equally brave or whose actions won't get punished to the same extent. There are plenty of those unsung heroes.

    The timing and blatancy of this protest in particular is so stark as to be notable.

    14 votes
  2. skybrian
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    From the article: […] […]

    From the article:

    Wearing an orange worksuit and a yellow hard hat, he easily passed off as a construction worker.
    But then, he unfurled two massive white banners covered in slogans written in red paint. He set the tyres on fire. As plumes of black smoke swirled around him, he picked up a loudhailer and repeatedly chanted:
    "Go on strike at school and work, remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping! We want to eat, we want freedom, we want to vote!"

    […]

    This has led to an ongoing cat-and-mouse game with citizens, who have turned to AirDrop and file transfer services to share pictures, or come up with oblique terms such as "I saw it" to discuss the incident.
    "This is really the strictest crackdown I have seen in years, in terms of the sheer breadth of things they are taking down. It's overkill," said censorship analyst Eric Liu with China Digital Times.

    […]

    Activist groups have reproduced his political slogans online in posters and memes. Protest signs and graffiti have proliferated in universities, public walls, bridges, and even bathroom stalls in China and elsewhere around the world.

    Many have also launched an online hunt for the mystery protester, zeroing in on a physicist and academic who appears to have left a digital trail of breadcrumbs for people to find. It includes an online manifesto, which some have made copies of and circulated online.

    9 votes
  3. [2]
    Comment deleted by author
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    1. skybrian
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      Generally I agree, though I'd hedge a bit because making long-term predictions is hard. But the article isn't predicting anything much about China's future, and it quotes experts saying a mass...

      Generally I agree, though I'd hedge a bit because making long-term predictions is hard. But the article isn't predicting anything much about China's future, and it quotes experts saying a mass uprising is unlikely.

      6 votes