The World's Youngest Political Prisoner
Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 10:30:55 AM PDT
Take a look at Hu Qianci, the Chinese girl who is being called the world’s youngest political prisoner.
From Global Voices Online (some odd grammar--maybe from translation?)
Hu Jia’s family become human ‘state secrets’
And likely very skinny ones at this point, having been locked away from journalists and lawyers and bringers of milk formula for over a month now.
Since AIDS activist-turned house arrested blogger Hu Jia's arrest, he's been described as a one-man human rights organization, that bloggers like him are the kind The Party fears most, and that for every Hu Jia silenced, ten more bloggers like him will pop up to take his place; shame, say some, and smooth move others. With Hu's wife Zeng Jinyan and their 2-month-old daughter Hu Qianci having been under house arrest for over a month now and in effect having been made state secrets of themselves, even more are saying now is the crucial time to be blogging about them.
I don’t have a blog (maybe one day), so I’ll post about them.
You might wonder what these enemies of the state been up to? Well, among other things, they plant trees! Yes, they plant trees to stop the encroachment of the Gobi Desert. Also? Helping to save the endangered Tibetan antelope! What else? Oh, they like to help sick people and orphans! The horror!
What's more Zeng Jinyan is a social worker. That’s almost like being a terrorist, isn’t it?
Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan are exactly the type of benign, kind hearted activists that scare the bejeezus out of totalitarian regimes like the Chinese government. They are vegetarian Buddhist pacifists who help AIDS victims, work for environmental causes, care about human rights and have the nerve to blog about it.
Last year, Zeng Jinyan was recognized by TIME as one of the Top 100 most influential people in the world. There is a fascinating interview with her here.
I won’t overload you with links in this post, but if you head here, there are several relevant links, including one to the fascinating video series "Prisoners in Freedom City" about the couple’s experience under house arrest in the ironically named BoBo Freedom City (never let it be said that Chinese officials don't have a sense of humor). Also, you’ll find a link to a petition demanding their release.
I, for one, will be contacting my elected officials to ask that they start making some noise.
But what else can we do? These are things that keep me awake at night. I feel helpless in the face of oppression around the world. Little Qianci isn’t the only infant imprisoned because of her parents political activities. Unfortunately, this happens elsewhere (North Korea, for example).
So MTers—I'm desperate for ideas--what MORE can we do?
