We live in a world where information access is the currency of the day, and we all use the internet and social media to keep in touch with friends and family, organise events and share information.
So you can imagine how important the online world is to the Chinese state; it’s a weapeon which could be used effectively against them, and that’s why China invests so much money, manpower and resources into doing the impossible; controlling the internet.
China has probably been more successful than any other country in the world at controlling the world wide web. It’s ‘Great Firewall of China’ blocks websites which are deemed to be ‘subversive’, including well known human rights sites like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and this site you’re reading right now. Information sharing sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are also banned for long periods or shut off altogether, while search engines like Google are subject to filtering and China also cuts off phone lines when it wants to hide what’s happening in territories it occupies from the outside world. Add to that the fact that the Chinese state often ban foreign and independent journalists from Tibet and other areas and you can see why there’s so much misinformation out there. You can also see just how petrified the Chinese state are about what will happen if people are able to share information and express their views; they may well express their rejection of the Chinese state.
A Google images search for ‘Tiananmen’ inside China (left) and outside (right)
On top of that, the Chinese state intimidates people; whether Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian or Chinese, into keeping quiet online by handing down harsh sentences to those who share information, such as the Tibetan NGO worker Wangdu, who received a life sentence in 2008 for sending e-mail to friends outside Tibet about the crackdowns which were taking place at the time. China is able to do this because of the intrusive monitoring it does on citizens, especially in restive areas like Tibet, where online traffic is closely watched by networks of state officials and where internet cafes must require customers to register before using the net to allow everything they access online to be viewed by the state. So even if Tibetans find dare to talk about the horrors of living under occupation online, they (and often their families and friends) may well face harsh consequences for doing so.
A Yahoo search for ‘Free Tibet’ inside China comes up wit zero results (left) and (right) what netizens in China and Tibet often get when trying to access YouTube.
But the Chinese Firewall isn’t a perfect system. It has cracks in it, and a growing number of people, including both Tibetan and Chinese free thinkers, are finding new ways around it. SFT is also at the forefront of this new media war, developing new apps, technologies and advice for people living under Chinese rule to access genuine news channels, exchange ideas and organise without being tracked. The Tibet Action Institute is an SFT project which utilises some of the most cutting edge minds in this sphere to break the firewall, while also giving Tibetans and activists in and outside Tibet tips on how to avoid being tracked, hacked or apprehended in China’s worldwide campaign to prevent free expression.
New media is developing at a phenomenal rate, and peer-to-peer communication and microblogging is the way of the future, whether the Chinese state likes it or not. In a military battle or an economic one, China would always have the upper hand, but when it comes to sharing information, that’s a battle we can win.
