Twitter and Facebook are banned in China, because these social tools are deemed sensitive by China government. To be honest, Chinese people do not want Twitter and Facebook are banned in China, because, they want to know the world, furthermore, these social tools can bring other countries people truly know about China.
Firstly, there are only four countries in the world cannot use Facebook: Cuba, Iran, North Korea and China. China has the largest population and the third large acreage country in the world, so why does China ban these social tools? Is China having a problem with these social tools? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. At the beginning, in China people could log into Facebook before 2008, but after 2008, something happened, let’s look back at what happened in 2008.
“A-28- year old construction engineer, Maher heads the April 6 youth movement, which began as a Facebook group in spring 2008 to support a workers’ strike in a northern industrial town in Egypt. This youth opposition coalition was the main organizing force behind last week’s demonstration. Their demands included the departure of the interior minister, an end to the restrictive emergency law, and a rise in the minimum wage. The member, who include many young well-educated Egyptians, have shown a greater willingness than others to risk arrest and start public protests. The group uses popular social websites to alert its networks about police activity and organize demonstration.”(Branch of the China Daily)
Since the 2008 incident Facebook, Twitter and other websites are banned by China government so far. So, Facebook, Twitter and several websites lead to another problem, this problem should be political issues. The reason behind the political issue is because China and America have a totally different political systems and institutions. China is a socialist country, after the end of the Second World War, the communist party established the new China, China is the third largest country in the world, so China has a lot of different political systems and institutions before the Second World War.
Today in the 21st century, China communist party orders to reinforce the communist system, China communist party starts with the internet, education and entertainment to control citizen. Because so far in China has a lot of separatists want to separate China, for example: Tibetan separatists, Taiwan separatists and Xinjiang separatists, they are still trying to agitate China citizens to help them to separate China.
The article named “spring awakening” wrote by Jose Vargas describes the impact of social media in converting the mentality of young Egyptian generations into bold and defend their inalienable rights as a citizen. This article justifies how social media can mobilize a tremendous number of people to stand up for their rights. The reasons that inspire my emotion is emerging of “Wael Ghonim” as a legendary vocal figure of action for change, revelation of social media as earthquake for change, and fundamental soci-political change.
For many outsiders, it might be easy to assume that all Chinese value communism, or that communism is the only thing to define Chinese politics by. However, when we watched “Born Under the Red Flag”, we could see that the Chinese views on communism are less black and white, and a little more complicated than one might think. Communism has played a big role as the main political system of China throughout its history, but not all Chinese have liked communism, just as not all have been against it. In the documentary “Born Under the Red Flag”, we can really see the reception of Communism in China, and how many have been split between those who oppose it and those who fight for it. During the rule of Chairman Mao Zedong, many of the youth became part of the infamous Red Guards, who used very violent and aggressive means to impose the teachings of Mao Zedong and communism on any person who was against it. These youth were so dedicated to Chairman Mao that they would go very far in enforcing his rule. Years later great numbers of youth in China were taking a different stance on communism, and marched in Tiananmen Square during the protests of 1989, wanting democracy instead of communism. Unfortunately this became a massacre, as the government would not give into the demands of the youth. Communism is certainly something one can come to associate China with, but even with that it can be hard to make assumptions that apply to all. To think that communism was a horrible oppressive system that did nothing but hurt the Chinese people is not completely accurate, as many loved the teachings of Communism and thought highly of Mao Zedong. But it is also not accurate to say that all Chinese people embraced communism, as it is clear that many opposed it. So the true thoughts of the Chinese on Communism, largely could depend on which Chinese person you ask, as many throughout the years
It is interesting to note that some of the new Internet regulations contradict International Laws signed by the Chinese government. China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1998 that states that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print…or through any other media of his choice”.
...) and bring China under uniform thought as well. Thus, in his attempt to accomplish his goals he placed less emphasis on freedom and more on developing a sturdy political backbone. Deng, on the other hand, wanted to thrust China in the global community for economic fortune at the expense of everything Mao had established. In the process, he brought a freedom and wave of democracy to the People's Republic, endowing the Chinese citizens with dreams of wealth and prosperity that were never even considered in the time of Mao. As China, progresses further into the twenty first century, its role seems quite unclear. A return to Post-revolutionary authoritarian communism seems unlikely, as does the institution of a true democracy but perhaps a new form of stability will arise to grant greater liberty to individuals or possibly even another Tiannenmen lurking in the future.
Deva, Surya. “Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China: Who Cares for the Global Compact or the Global Online Freedom Act?” The George Washington International Law Review. Washington, DC: The George Washington Intl Law Review. 2007. Web. 31 Jan., 2011.
While many people throughout the world see social media as a trendy new application in the service of personal amusement, the political upheavals in the Arab world have shown how it can change the dynamics of modern day activism. The Arab Spring Uprising interlaced social unrest with a technological revolution. Blogs, news websites, twitter feeds, and political list servers became avenues for communication, information flow and solidarity. Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored information through social media sites has contributed to the success of many Arab Spring activists. Social media played a role in facilitating the events of the Arab Spring, but the main issues are rooted in a broader set of economic, political, and social factors. This paper will examine how social media impacted the Arab Spring Uprising. Specifically, I will look at how social media introduced a novel resource that helped to created internet activist communities, changed the dynamics of social mobilization and revolutionized interactions between protesters and the rest of the world.
Even if every household had a telephone and everyone had a computer, free speech could still be blocked. Because the Internet backbones in these countries are controlled by the Communist Parties, it is quite easy for them to block sites. As the Net's secret police put on more and more filters, Net-literate dissidents find more and more ways to work around them. But as all this goes on, it gets harder and harder for less Net-literate people to play the game.
China today – powerful and ever-growing – wasn’t always like this. One major event in history around the mid 1800s that we all seem to have forgotten was the Opium Wars. What really caused the opium war was when China wanted to halt all trade in opium with the British. The geography of China is something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world.
The provocative messages in his feed support his campaign for a free and civilized Chinese society. In China, Weiwei has spent time in jail, and was not allowed by the government to leave Beijing for a year. He now cannot travel without official permission; however, Weiwei is able to use the Internet to a certain degree to circumvent authorities. As a result, he has become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in China. He uses any medium – sculpture, ready-mades, photography, performance, architecture, blogs, and especially tweets – to deliver his message. He utilizes the Internet to open up the doors to his audiences. Weiwei tweets messages in regards to the brutal treatment enforced by Chinese officers. His tweets prompt his following activists to engage in this revolutionary dialogue. These followers pledge their allegiance to the cultural movement via Twitter. Such massive feedback turned into a social media flood, causing the controversy over Chinese law officials to become viral. In this context, entertainment can serve as a unifying force to pull together social media users around a particular issue or ideal. Moreover, the identity work involved in social media activity can incentivize associations with positive political causes.
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …” as stated by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution[1]. Most subsequent democracies have adopted this view as well, believing that it is a fundamental part of what makes a democratic system effective. For example, Canada has given their citizens the right to freedom of speech; but like the United States, they have placed certain limitations which restrict its usage. The limitations were put in place because the right to free speech had been abused, especially when considering its use in cyberspace. Freedom of speech in cyberspace is inherently a global issue because the Internet is so pervasive, so Canada and the United States are being extremely cautious by using preventative techniques. After looking at the ethical issues involved, I believe that speech in cyberspace should not be completely “free” and should be regulated by increasing the security measures placed on Internet websites.
China is a communist country, whose citizens face many difficult situations while trying to fight for their human rights. According to the “Freedom Rankings” from the database CountryWatch, China is not a free country. Specifically, the Political Rights and Civil Liberties are in their maximum numbers; this means that these rights are confiscated from the people. Therefore, freedoms of press, expression, speech, religion, and movement are all severely limited in China. The government has also kept a close watch on art in China.
As of the year 2010, Google battle with the Chinese government over Internet censorship has drawn increased international attention to media system in the country. The conflict between Google and Chinese government is mainly because of the different media systems that serve in the United States and China. Basically, the media system consists of different types of communications media, such as television, Newspapers, Internet, books and other new media (Ipad, smartphones). Chinese media system differs from that of the United States is up to the very different regimes and social conditions that can be analyzed in four aspects: Ownership and national culture of media, laws and regulations, attitude towards foreign media.
From the beginning of their establishment, the bilateral relations between the United States of America and China have changed throughout the time. The bilateral relations of the two countries emerged from 1970’s with the ‘Ping-Pong’ diplomacy and there have been many pauses in their mutual relations. The US and China enjoyed cooperation in economic and military spheres and the mutual relations grew massively during until the end of 1990’s. The heads of the two states began visiting each other’s countries and the economic ties were tightening year by year. However, the issues of human rights and free speech declined mutual Sino-American relations. The American principle of democracy promotion and human rights protection minimized the Sino- American relations after the Tiananmen Square events in 1989, the US Presidents-George Bush and Bill Clinton- playing a key role in determining the further American foreign policy towards China.
This world as we know is heading towards a more virtual era, where everything we need to know is under the palm of our hands. We have many devices such as smart phones, tablets, computers, which gives us access to an infinite amount of information. This virtual life style we are becoming accustomed to introduced us to social media. An increase amount of interaction is being built between known and unknown users from all around the world. Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, twitter, and even tumbler have become an everyday routine of our daily lives. In this modern society, all these social media websites have brought about a significant amount of impact in many of us. It has really influenced its users on how to conduct their lives.
On social media, each individual has the power to be influential and important. There is a freedom of expression on social media that we are allowed to express. A user on Facebook can post anything they want or anything they want for free.... ... middle of paper ... ...