February 20, 2011 08:06 AM UTC

Watching Revolution Bubble In China via Twitter

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• by: nancycronk

I’m watching world news with special interest. I was on facebook chatting with a friend who is on business in Shanghai, and she asked me if I had heard anything about a “Jasmine Revolution”. She was having trouble translating what she was hearing around her.

I quickly googled “Jasmine Revolution” and found a link to a breaking story on twitter about Egypt-inspired protesters being arrested in advance of an internet rumour of revolution on 2/20. My friend was messaging me regularly, with apologies for lapses. She said she had to keep changing her VPN number (is that like an IP?) every fifteen minutes to get around the Chinese firewall.

I was able to follow it in English through the UK press via twitter, and then give her the information back through facebook. She said there is a news blackout there.  Here’s the story from twitter.

But is the Jasmine Revolution breaking news? According to my research, it has been happening annually for twenty years. Clearly, democracy protesters are bent on succeeding one of these years.

Is anything different in 2011? Yes and No. There is the increasing use of the internet via cell phones, and despite attempts to squash political opinions on facebook and twitter, savvy Chinese politicos can get around those attempts relatively easily.

What is not different? The Chinese government continues to arrest people anytime they want, for pretty much whatever they want.

China is rumoured to be brutal to anyone even thinking about revolution. My friend told me not long ago, there are vans that drive around the city and arrest people. They are allowed to perform executions on the spot if there is trouble.

So, when fake neighborhood newspaper publishers in Denver get your goat, just remember there is bigger news out there. I for one, am thrilled we have the right to bitch and complain so publicly. Long live the free (and sometimes mean-spirited, petty neighborhood) press!