Sunday, August 17, 2008

北京奥运期间游行示威申请指南

从连岳的博客上看到他引述的一个老外记者发表的在北京申请游行示威的文章,读来,很是有趣,能够看到如今我们党和政府是如何继续执行阳谋政策的.

其中谈到很有趣的一点,就是你必须把参加示威游行的每个人的信息提供给警方,包括身份证等.如此,就可以非常方便地让警方去抓人.该记者继续说到,看来,中国政府的确跟以前不一样了,已经开始学会如何守株待兔了.



申请被抓
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连岳 @ 2008-8-17 15:19:40 阅读(15022) 评论(142) 引用通告 分类: 转载

《纽约时报》记者体验北京申请游行的艰难过程。

有不少申请者直接从这儿被抓走。很多申请者也知道这个结果,他们仍然前往。这使记者得出结论,正如台湾韩国等地的文明进程一样,一切进步不是源于当权者的良心发现,而是普通民众的坚持。

这位记者还认为,北京不是一个民主政体,但也不再是一个标准意义上的极权国家——它可能介乎其中。有些人不再那么恐惧权力了。

这些观点,我认为都算公允。
上一篇: 发誓不爱 下一篇: 这才是造假的艺术

原文

Op-Ed Columnist

Malcontents Need Not Apply

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By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: August 16, 2008
BEIJING

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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Nicholas D. Kristof

On the Ground
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Nicholas Kristof addresses reader feedback and posts short takes from his travels.

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Related
Times Topics: Olympic Games (2008)To put a smiley face on its image during the Olympics, the Chinese government set aside three “protest zones” in Beijing. Officials explained that so long as protesters obtained approval in advance, demonstrations would be allowed.

So I decided to test the system.

Following government instructions, I showed up at an office of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, found Window 12 and declared to the officer, “I’m here to apply to hold a protest.”

What I didn’t realize is that Public Security has arrested at least a half-dozen people who have shown up to apply for protest permits. Public Security is pretty shrewd. In the old days it had to go out and catch protesters in the act. Now it saves itself the bother: would-be protesters show up at Public Security offices to apply for permits and are promptly detained. That’s cost-effective law enforcement for you.

Fortunately, the official at Window 12 didn’t peg me as a counterrevolutionary. He looked at me worriedly and asked for my passport and other ID papers. Discovering that I was a journalist, he asked hopefully, “Wouldn’t you rather conduct an interview about demonstrations?”

“No. I want to apply to hold one.”

His brow furrowed. “What do you want to protest?”

“I want to demonstrate in favor of preserving Beijing’s historic architecture.” It was the least controversial, most insipid topic I could concoct.

“Do you think the government is not doing a good job at this?” he asked sternly.

“There may be room for improvement,” I said delicately.

The official frowned and summoned two senior colleagues who, after a series of frantic phone calls, led me into the heart of the police building. I was accompanied by a Times videographer, and he and a police videographer busily videoed each other. Then the police explained that under the rules they could video us but we couldn’t video them.

The Public Security Bureau (a fancy name for a police station) gleams like much of the rest of Beijing. It is a lovely, spacious building, and the waiting room we were taken to was beautifully furnished; no folding metal chairs here. It’s a fine metaphor for China’s legal system: The hardware is impeccable, but the software is primitive.

After an hour of waiting, interrupted by periodic frowning examinations of our press credentials, we were ushered into an elegant conference room. I was solemnly directed to a chair marked “applicant.”

Three police officers sat across from me, and the police videographer continued to film us from every angle. The officers were all cordial and professional, although one seemed to be daydreaming about pulling out my fingernails.

Then they spent nearly an hour going over the myriad rules for demonstrations. These were detailed and complex, and, most daunting, I would have to submit a list of every single person attending my demonstration. The list had to include names and identity document numbers.

In addition, any Chinese on a name list would have to go first to the Public Security Bureau in person to be interviewed (arrested?).

“If I go through all this, then will my application at least be granted?” I asked.

“How can we tell?” a policeman responded. “That would prejudge the process.”

“Well, has any application ever been granted?” I asked.

“We can’t answer that, for that matter has no connection to this case.”

The policemen did say that if they approved, they would give me a “Demonstration Permission Document.” Without that, my demonstration would be illegal.

I surrendered. The rules were so monstrously bureaucratic that I couldn’t even apply for a demonstration. My Olympic dreams were dashed. The police asked me to sign their note-taker’s account of the meeting, and we politely said our goodbyes.

Yet even though the process is a charade, it still represents progress in China, in that the law implicitly acknowledges the legitimacy of protest. Moreover, a trickle of Chinese have applied to hold protests, even though they know that they are more likely to end up in jail than in a “protest zone.” Fear of the government is ebbing.

My hunch is that in the coming months, perhaps after the Olympics, we will see some approvals granted. China is changing: it is no democracy, but it’s also no longer a totalitarian state.

China today reminds me of Taiwan in the mid-1980s as a rising middle class demanded more freedom. Almost every country around China, from Mongolia to Indonesia, Thailand to South Korea, has become more open and less repressive — not because of the government’s kindness but because of the people’s insistence.

I feel that same process happening here, albeit agonizingly slowly. Someday China’s software will catch up with its hardware.

I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground, and join me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kristof.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

2008奥运会,一场压倒一切的“万寿盛典”(zt)

傅国涌,另一个NB的牛博博主,也是一个我所敬仰的斗士.看到他们,才会对中国有希望.



2008奥运会,一场压倒一切的“万寿盛典”
傅国涌 @ 2008-8-7 10:51:26 阅读(1888) 引用通告 分类: 文化评论

2008奥运会,一场压倒一切的“万寿盛典”



傅国涌





有人说,这是个盛世,有空前的物质繁荣,有消费不尽的人间奢靡,有骄傲的统计数据,有历代帝王都想象不到的好日子,推土机日夜不停,一切苦难的呻吟都被到处铺展在大地上的噪音遮掩了。对于权势者和正享受着依附权势所带来的好处的人来说,这确实是个最好的时代,所有的鲜花似乎都为他们而开,所有的阳光都为他们而洒,他们主宰着万物苍生,他们把肉体的享乐推到了极限,他们玩电子游戏一般玩弄着财富的数字,不在乎资源是否枯竭,不在乎死后是否洪水滔天,有权就有一切与有钱就有一切捆绑在一起,和谐双赢,所谓“中国崛起”、所谓“中国奇迹”,人们陶醉于这样的自吹自擂中,不容许别人打破这样的梦境,不容许别人质疑这样的神话。在自己精心编织的大话中自我感动,通过自己控制的新闻媒体日日夜夜的不断重复,不仅说服自己,而且说服许许多多的不明真相者。今天的民族主义,并不是在外敌压境、民族危机迫在眉睫的情况下产生出来的对这块土地的真实情感,而是在既得利益集团主导之下,通过垄断媒体的长期灌输,虚构出来的一种盲目的排外情绪,是一种虚幻的麻醉剂。随着2008年奥运会的日益迫近,虚妄的民族主义情绪似乎越来越高涨。



乍一看,这种民族主义的喧嚣似乎构成了继续专制的强大基础。这一现象足以令一切对中国的未来怀抱最后希望的人感到忧虑。如果真的如此,那将是中华民族的至深悲哀。我默默地观察多时,思考了多日之后,深感这种在爱国口号下轻率而浮躁的表演,既然一轰而起,也很快会一轰而散,表面上轰轰烈烈,实际上并无持久的力量,更谈不上构成专制的可持续基础。何况,心虚的专制统治对于鼓噪不安的民族主义声浪也并非一味纵容,因为担心这种声浪一旦失控,引火烧身,所以表现得既爱又惧,先是默许终容,后是收束警惕。即便是这样的民族主义,也找不到一个可以合法容身的场所,不可能赢得一个可以任意施展的舞台。说到底,衰微的专制惧怕所有不可控的自发表演,只相信自己可以完全操控的有组织的演出。

老实说,那些今天自称爱国,抵制家乐福最起劲的人,一旦真的要他们去牺牲,不要说赴汤蹈火、抛头颅、洒热血,他们不会去干,就是要他们牺牲一些个人利益,他们也未必会同意。从这一意义上说,民族主义从来都可以分为两种,一种是真正的民族主义,一种是盲目的民族主义。真正的民族主义者往往是深沉的爱国主义者,他们热爱脚下的土地,他们时刻怀着敬畏和谦卑之心,他们具备足够的自我反省能力,不会盲目地自大和无知地排外,他们对这块土地上的权力体制、一切强势者都保持着足够的清醒和不客气的批评,只有批评才是最深沉的爱国方式,爱国并不意味着顺从,爱国更不是按照统治者指定的方向和许可的方式,爱国是对自己生于斯、长于斯的土地、山川、河流以及世世代代形成的文化的认同,是对这片土地上和自己一样靠劳动吃饭的普通同胞的血肉联系,这样的爱国才是真爱国,但这种爱国常常不是以喊口号的方式体现出来的。这是正常的健全的民族主义,不以民族主义命名的民族主义。

弗洛姆的《逃避自由》中译本上世纪80年代曾风行一时,其中就有这样一番话:“民族主义是我们这个时代的乱伦形式,偶像崇拜和精神病症。‘爱国主义 ’正是它的崇拜对象。显然,我这里所讲的‘爱国主义’,是一种把自己民族凌驾于人性、真理和正义原则之上的态度……对自己民族国家的爱,如果不包括对人类的爱,就不是爱而是偶像崇拜。”说的就是盲目的民族主义,在中国,它只是民族自卑和“合群的自大”的产物,所以动不动就贴标签,口水横飞,搞道德绑架,凡是不与他们站在一起的,立马视作敌人,恨不得打倒在地,再踩上千万脚。这种容不得不同声音的民族主义是经不起考验的,它不是根植于土地深处,与自己的民族可以共忧患的民族主义,等到危机真的降临的时候,他们很可能消失得无影无踪。

我们不能否定,在呼喊爱国口号的人当中,也许不乏真心地认可专制统治,真心相信官方宣传的人,他们对西方、对美国充满敌视,对做稳了奴隶的地位很满足、很惬意。比如,在海外留学生中有许多人是因为家庭背景出去的,父辈或贪官或大款,身居既得利益的序列,掌握着优势的资源,他们真心地认可现状,希望保住他们的繁华梦。但是,对大多数人而言,民族主义不过是一个娱乐方式,抵制家乐福也好,反对CNN也好,都只是一个个奉旨爱国的娱乐项目。这些具有安全保障、不会给自己带来麻烦的娱乐,何乐而不为?如果有更有刺激、更好的娱乐项目,如果他们感到安全的话,一样会趋之若骛。说穿了,他们并不是因为内心深处认同了官方价值而呼喊口号,他们只是因为青春的激情无处释放,年轻的情绪无处发泄,需要寻找一个借口、一个理由,民族主义就提供了这样一种最安全、最可靠的渠道。归根到底,他们要的只是娱乐,里面没有多少价值判断的成分,更没有多少政治选择的成分。

2008年的奥运会本质上已不是一场简单的体育赛事,对统治者来说,就是试图通过举办压倒一切的奥运会,来打造一场万寿盛典,彰显盛世的无限风光,从而消解社会各个层面的矛盾,掩饰那些因为制度缺陷造成的人间不幸。以体育的名义,套上国家的花环,披上民族的华衮,人们就很难看透其中的把戏,更不要说发出清醒的质疑的声音。对许多中国人来说,奥运会则是一个超级的娱乐项目,借助这样一场超级的国家娱乐,他们可以尽情地陶醉其中,狂热地舞蹈、欢歌,自觉或不自觉地朝着统治者所希望的方向。人类天性中的娱乐性是很容易被引导、被操控的。1936年纳粹德国举办的奥运会就是这样一种巨大的国家娱乐,曾经令千万德国人如痴如狂,而不知道巨大的厄运正向他们悄悄迫近。

在今天这个泛娱乐化时代,任何爱国大话、排外表演,最终都免不了被娱乐化的命运。盲目的民族主义鼓噪不过是一个接一个的娱乐项目,我们不能被表面上甚嚣尘上的气焰迷住了双眼,我们不能被一时的狂热镜象所惑。既然是娱乐,其实就不必太当真。奥运会也是一样,娱乐总会过去,生活还将继续,一小部分人的盛世投下的阴影将越来越长,从现在开始,我们需要认真面对的是一个往何处去的“后奥运时代”。



2008年6月10日