As the start of the
Beijing Olympics draws nearer, the flames of controversy surrounding Chinese public
authorities? attitude to human rights are likely to be fanned afresh by an
imminent social media campaign set in motion by Amnesty International Australia.
The aim of this initiative is to foster and
publicise transborder solidarity between Australian social media users and
their Chinese counterparts who are effectively silenced by government measures restricting
their freedom of speech.
The campaign is to be
orchestrated under a contract by a specialist consortium team comprising Care
Network, Bendalls Group and dgmAustralia. Amnesty will encourage Australian bloggers to
join forces in expressing their feelings for the Chinese people affected by
such policy, their distaste for the authorities of the Chinese government censoring
the internet, and their disapproval of online media companies that collaborate
with them to ensure that it is enforced.
A variety of content pieces such as text
commentary, widgets and flag badges will be made available to help
participating bloggers to spread the message. Social networking platforms Facebook and
MySpace will be used for coordination purposes. The campaign is planned to reach its climax on
July 30, 2008, when a protest, aptly called ?Day of Protest? will be staged in
Martin Place, Sydney.
Amnesty International Australia campaign
coordinator, Sophie Peer expresses the importance of such a campaign, citing
the case of Shi Tao, ?who simply used his Yahoo! email account to pass on
censorship directives from the Chinese government and is now serving ten years
in prison.? She calls attention to the
fact that the practises concerned apply to both residents and visitors to China,
remarking that, ?our own Australian athletes and reporters could be inhibited
from expressing their own opinions online and using the Internet freely while
they are in Beijing.?
The spotlight will also
be turned on the cooperative behaviour of companies such as Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft who
comply with Chinese censorship laws designed to curb freedom of reporting and
expression over the Internet.
A related Australian Facebook Cause Group has
attracted 1,450 members the time of writing, indicating that the campaign is
still gathering momentum. Further
information is on offer at http://www.uncensor.com.au.