Sam Ward, who regularly accuses me of Communism and other heinous offences against the free market, reports: “Hi Rob, just letting you know your website is banned in China.”
Sam Ward’s touring Asia at the moment, which is, I suppose, how he worked it out. But there is a tool around somewhere that runs addresses through a proxy in China to see if your site is banned. Aah, here it is — but it’s down at the moment.
I use SKYPE a bit to talk to my brother for FREE in Scotland and a few other people who might normally be on STD in OZ. One of the things I noticed when I place Skype on “Open for talk to all” (or what ever the setting is) I get lots of youngish Chinese women (allegedly 25 -30) wishing to chat and practice their english. [you also get the skype equivelant of porno spam]. The few I have spoken to, for short periods only, seem genuine and are guides or english teachers or some such and are curious about australia. [and their english is much much better than they think].
One thing I did notice though was that any talk of politics, duck flu or demonstrations against Japanese of Falun Gong, or Taiwan were met with silence, or confusion. [ I have a family member living in Taiwan and have visited there so am interested in discussion]. Suggestions to visit certain web sites via the instant message thingo, were met with ” Can’t be found”. It seems to me that all Blogspot is banned, as is all access to newspapers from outside and particulalry Taiwan. Ocassionally I have been met with an extended rant on Taiwan and how dangerous Taiwan is etc – the usual response is for them to politely hang up.
I don’t open Skype up to this sort of chat now but for a few weeks I did just to gauge if my hunches were correct. Try it sometime – you’ll be surprised.
The People’s Republic of China is no communist state, it is a right-wing dictatorship under the guise of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” without even a modicum of social conscience.
While I am not going to emulate Sophie Panopoulos by selling out migrants or my country, I DO think that one can be proud about one’s ethnic heritage without necessarily agreeing with the ruling political regime there. If I was living in China during the forties I would be supporting the Communists because they were a much less evil and more equitable regime than the quasi-fascist Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek.
It is a great shame on mainland China that Chiang’s son moved to allow the democratization of Taiwan while the billion plus souls in the great Middle Kingdom continue to languish under the yoke of a repressive tyranny, where a few hundred thousand businesspeople play on their PDAs on the monorails and subways of the east coast while half a billion peasants languish in perennial poverty in the dust bowls of the western states, and where psychiatrists use electric shocks to “treat” those arrested by the police for “disturbing public order” in Shanghai’s ironically-named Rainbow district and where young people in tears, tear up their university offers in the name of poverty for a life on the drought-ridden fields of the Yellow River.
And no, I am not bagging my country of birth. I’m sure the Burmese can love their country without loving the junta and the Iraqis can do the same without loving Saddam Hussein. I just have the right (and the pride) to despise those in power over there, just as I hate the Howard Government.
The thinking Laborite would as lief be found in bed with a cobra as in a committee room armed with "arguments" from the Tory press." Truth, Perth, 19 June 1915.
Don’t worry Rob. Your website is banned here at work – in Sydney. Of course, I have nefarious I.T. skillz, so I can get around that.
Pin that one on the cheast with pride then.
Congratulations, Sir.
Capitalist running blog.
Punk rock!
How does one find out about that, anyway?
Sam Ward’s touring Asia at the moment, which is, I suppose, how he worked it out. But there is a tool around somewhere that runs addresses through a proxy in China to see if your site is banned. Aah, here it is — but it’s down at the moment.
I use SKYPE a bit to talk to my brother for FREE in Scotland and a few other people who might normally be on STD in OZ. One of the things I noticed when I place Skype on “Open for talk to all” (or what ever the setting is) I get lots of youngish Chinese women (allegedly 25 -30) wishing to chat and practice their english. [you also get the skype equivelant of porno spam]. The few I have spoken to, for short periods only, seem genuine and are guides or english teachers or some such and are curious about australia. [and their english is much much better than they think].
One thing I did notice though was that any talk of politics, duck flu or demonstrations against Japanese of Falun Gong, or Taiwan were met with silence, or confusion. [ I have a family member living in Taiwan and have visited there so am interested in discussion]. Suggestions to visit certain web sites via the instant message thingo, were met with ” Can’t be found”. It seems to me that all Blogspot is banned, as is all access to newspapers from outside and particulalry Taiwan. Ocassionally I have been met with an extended rant on Taiwan and how dangerous Taiwan is etc – the usual response is for them to politely hang up.
I don’t open Skype up to this sort of chat now but for a few weeks I did just to gauge if my hunches were correct. Try it sometime – you’ll be surprised.
The People’s Republic of China is no communist state, it is a right-wing dictatorship under the guise of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” without even a modicum of social conscience.
While I am not going to emulate Sophie Panopoulos by selling out migrants or my country, I DO think that one can be proud about one’s ethnic heritage without necessarily agreeing with the ruling political regime there. If I was living in China during the forties I would be supporting the Communists because they were a much less evil and more equitable regime than the quasi-fascist Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek.
It is a great shame on mainland China that Chiang’s son moved to allow the democratization of Taiwan while the billion plus souls in the great Middle Kingdom continue to languish under the yoke of a repressive tyranny, where a few hundred thousand businesspeople play on their PDAs on the monorails and subways of the east coast while half a billion peasants languish in perennial poverty in the dust bowls of the western states, and where psychiatrists use electric shocks to “treat” those arrested by the police for “disturbing public order” in Shanghai’s ironically-named Rainbow district and where young people in tears, tear up their university offers in the name of poverty for a life on the drought-ridden fields of the Yellow River.
And no, I am not bagging my country of birth. I’m sure the Burmese can love their country without loving the junta and the Iraqis can do the same without loving Saddam Hussein. I just have the right (and the pride) to despise those in power over there, just as I hate the Howard Government.
Well said Max!