China: Jasmine Revolution, Week Two

A week after small protests took place in Beijing and Shanghai and failed to materialize in the other 11 cities mentioned in the anonymous blog post which sought to spark a Jasmine Revolution in China, a second round of protests are scheduled for today in 23 cities across China.


Chinese scholar, writer and blogger Ran Yunfei, now being held on charges of subversion of state authority. Photo by Flickr user RebeccaMacK.

Since last week, a growing number of arrests have been made, the venue of the Beijing protest has become a construction site, ramped-up Internet censorship targeting a growing list of words has had the unintended effect of leaving little but pro-Jasmine voices online, ‘China’ is suspected of having DDoSed Twitter, the 50 Cent Party has beleaguered itself with launching a saliva war against liberal Chinese Twitter users, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has abruptly announced a netizen chat session set for first thing Sunday morning.

Follow the GVO Team China Twitter account for English-language updates throughout Sunday aiming to represent the full extent of opinions regarding the struggling movement, unless they all resemble this February 26 post from an anonymous new blog devoted to the Jasmine Revolution cause:

民主的春天暖人心,让我们散步去

Democracy's spring warms the heart, let us go for a stroll

茉莉花革命来了,她的脚步是那样清晰,听起来虽然不大,但每个向往民主的中国人心中都能感受到她,她是那样亲切,那样让人振奋。五千来被专制和残暴奴役的大地又重新萌动起来,春一样的感觉……不,这就是春天,春天已经来到,只不过是初春,民主之芽已经破土而出,这是实实在在春的感觉,暖人心的感觉。

The Jasmine Revolution is here. While not loud, her footsteps are clear, and can be felt in the hearts of every Chinese yearning for democracy; her kindness inspires. After 5,000 years of autocratic rule and brutal enslavement, this great land has once again sprung up, as if Spring were…No, this is Spring, it has arrived. Although still early Spring, the buds of democracy have now sprung up from the earth, giving us the true feeling of Spring, that heartwarming feeling.

来吧,朋友们,不要再害怕冬的寒冷,它即将过去,让我们走出家门,走上广场,用我们心中的暖意呵护着民主之芽,只要我们坚持,总有一天她会茁壮成长。

记住那特殊的日子:2011年2月20日。

So come, friends, fear no longer the harsh Winter, its time has past. Let us move out from our homes, and onto the square. Let us use the warmth in our hears to embrace the budding of democracy; with our persistence, she will one day grow strong and sturdy.

Mark this special day: February 20, 2011.

明天,也就是2011年2月27日也即将成为另一个特殊的日子。让我们用我们双脚把今后的每个周日都变成这样一个个特殊的日子。坚持就是胜利。未来的变化还很难预测,但不管怎样,既然天意在冥冥之中让我们找到了这个可行的方法,我们就不该放弃。这个方法的好处是,一旦约定,就可以让分散的每个人单独实施,一次成不了事,就两次、三次……,多次之后,总有一次会汇聚成民主之河,冲刷掉一切腐朽专制强加在我们身上的枷锁。

Tomorrow, February 27, 2011, will be yet another special day. With both feet, let us make every Sunday henceforth just as special. Persistence will lead to victory. While what the future holds is hard to predict, worry not, since it is the will of heaven that we will find our way forward, and we should not give up. It benefits us to do so, for once the commitment is made, each and every one of us will be able to move forward on our own. While we might not succeed at first, or on the second attempt, or third, eventually there will come a time when our convergence sets forth the river of democracy, washing away all shackles that corrupt autocracy has forced upon us.

当然,专制独裁者不会轻易放弃,它会用暴力来恐吓和镇压我们,恐吓已经开始,看国内网站上已经在首要位置出现“埃及火烧警察”的图片,这就是恐吓,这是它们惯用的伎俩,六四时它们就用这些招数,它们是人类历史上最卑鄙的一群人。然而,现在已然不同,网络发展,民智已开,民主潮流滚滚而来,它们已经是黔驴技穷。

将来的任何变化,都不要为所动摇,人人做到从我做起,坚持散步,广为宣传,攻破专制堡垒的那一天一定能到来!

走,那我们散步去!

Of course, an autocratic dictatorship will not give up easily, and it will use violence to threaten and suppress us. Such intimidation has already begun, as can be seen in the headline photos on mainland websites of “Egyptian police burnt”. This is intimidation, these are their tactics. Numerous tactics like it were used in 1989; these are some of the most despicable people in human history. Yet, things are different today. The Internet has spread, people are wiser. And the wave of democracy is rolling in; their time has come.

Don't be shaken by any of the changes ahead. Together, we will overcome. We will persevere in stepping out, we will spread the word, and the day on which the autocratic stronghold is broken is guaranteed to come!

Now let's move, to the streets!

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