Outcome of Jasmine Protests Unsatisfying

[mistersandman]

If organizers planned big protests in China to echo those in the Mideast and North Africa, they failed.

On Saturday microbloggers passed around tweets calling for protests at 2 p.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday in a dozen major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. But no specific place was cited until several hours beforehand.

In Beijing, the place was supposed to be in Wangfujing, a typically busy shopping street less than a kilometer from Tiananmen Square.

Wangfujing may have been a perfect place to trigger a mass action. The four-lane street is a designated pedestrian street, with thousands of people walking there at any given business hour; no cars and buses are allowed. For decades it has been a favorite shopping district, especially for out-of-town Chinese and foreign tourists. (Locals prefer to shop elsewhere.)

( Read more... )

 

Twitter, Facebook and You Tube are regularly blocked in China, even though savvier internet users could overcome the firewall with a VPN, or virtual private network. The popular Sina Weibo microblogging service is erratic, with retweeting and the posting of photos blocked.

-----
Source


Success or no, in the wake of the protests, the Chinese government blocked the word "jasmine" from all search engines.  I'd say that's definitely a Pyrrhic victory at the very least.  The next protest should be the Harmonious Society Protest.  That would really throw the government for a loop!  :D