Charter 08 gains momentum
January 31, 2009 – 1:55 amHave You heard of Charter 08 (零八宪章 Língbā Xiànzhāng) before? I first heard about it when JustRecently wrote about it. Charter 08 is a document, which asks for more human rights, reliable law and general improvements in China, originally created and signed by intellectuals. If You are unfamiliar with the document, You can check out an English translation of Charter 08. Also check out Charter 08 in Chinese. Originally I wasn’t very impressed by the document. We have seen such kind of documents before and they disappeared in the darkness of history quite often, so I didn’t bother to write about it. This time matters seem to evolve differently.
Originally Charter 08 had only been signed by intellectuals. 300-something to be exact. But now more Chinese people seem to sign it. The Beijingduck reported yesterday, that Charta 08 received more than 8000 signatures and counting. It seems like more people in China are fed up with the government and their strange policies. I guess people would be happy with their government, if the government would start to make a difference. Last autumn, when the financial crisis was raging the Chinese goverment had nothing better to do than haggling with the Dalai Lama. Let me get this straight. In my opinion the Dalai Lama can’t be take serious. Tibet has been part of China for centuries, now he asks for independence. No-one in Europe is asking for the border of five-hundred years ago for a reason. These are outdated. However China does have problems like, intellectual property rights are still not taken serious in China, local governments remain corrupt and other issues are pressing on the peoples mind. Lots of issues that harm economic growth in China as well as personal well-being. Yet the Chinese government is more concerned with the Dalai Lama and neglects the real issues of China.
I also applaud the Chinese people. It seems they become more aware of political issues, although 8000 out of 1 Billion is still a small number. Let’s see how the story continues.
零八宪章 Língbā Xiànzhāng – Charta 08, A document by Chinese intellectuals asking for more human rights and general improvements in China.
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2 Responses to “Charter 08 gains momentum”
Hey,
seems I already can’t open the website here in China…
Nevertheless, in my experience, human rights and politics aren’t a major concern of the average Chinese – the general attitude towards the gov is more like: “I don’t mess with u, u don’t mess with me”.
I also think that human rights are good, but stability is more important.. thus I might even say that I support the policy of the communist partie’s liberal part which is introducing Human Rights and opening China up slowly but continously.
What seems far more important to me is that China’s dependence on the West, especially on America as a buyer, should become more mutual. Thus, Chinese people need to be given more money for consumption (therefore the yuan needs to be traded independently) and customs duties should be abolished.
Protectionism is a far more real threat than lack of freedom to me… but instead of opening up more in order to serve as a good model, the general reaction of western nations is protecionism, too (saving ur nation’s banks, saving ur nation’s xx industries).
Personally, I believe the whole money that govs throw into economies will in most cases harm more than it will help, especially if it’s not used for infrastructure…
By Aremonus on Jan 31, 2009
I guess accepting human rights will mostly benefit China. What makes me concerned that China not only ignores human rights, but also actively suppresses them.
I fully agree on the protectionism and bailout thing. Someone has to pay back these bailouts in the future.
By Hendrik on Feb 1, 2009