The CCP is afraid of the Internet

你们好!
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Sitemate Kristen and I did not have a pleasant lunch this afternoon. The topic of conversation: YouTube.com and why, as of last night and all day today, it is blocked across China.
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I use YouTube in my classroom every week for a series of "Dramatic Dialogues" (more on this in future posts - as soon as [if] YouTube returns) ripped from popular American sitcoms, used in order to inject emotion to my students sometimes robotic oral English-language skills. It's been a raging success for the past 3 weeks and so today, I thought it might be interesting to videotape it for YOU. SUCCESS! However, you will have to hold your horses because (I guess) the Chinese Communist Party thinks Youtube is not good for its people. Again, "stability" (AKA government officials keeping their unelected jobs, black-tinted BMWs, and guanxi) dominates individual freedoms.
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But why in the last 48 hours and not last week or month?
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The Internet is a-buzzin' about why the Great Firewall of China suddenly stopped YouTube from passing. This is not the first time Youtube has been blocked during my service; last year at about this time, when Tibetan monks rioted for autonomy, many foreigners captured live footage (later and foolishly distorted by CNN, which I must say is NOT affiliated with the American government - a common mistake made by Chinese) and BOOM, YouTube blocked. One hypothesis is there is new footage of the PLA beating Tibetan monks, as reported from BBC:
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The site has been carrying a graphic video released by Tibetan exiles, which shows hundreds of uniformed Chinese troops swarming through a Tibetan monastery - a group of troops beat a man with batons.
In another scene a group of men, including a monk, are beaten, kicked and choked, while they lie on the ground. Some have their hands tied others appear to be unconscious.
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The date and locations of the footage cannot be confirmed. Beijing maintains that it dealt lawfully with last years protests in Tibet. On Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that China "is not afraid of the internet". However, he was unable to confirm if YouTube had been blocked.
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Another, and probably more plausible hypothesis is the posting of official US-Navy videos on Youtube showing real footage of an incident a week or so ago involving an American surveillance ship, USNS Impeccable, and its run-in (described as "harassment") with a few Chinese fishing boats. The fishing boats mooned the American ship and tried to "snag or cut the cable to its towed sonar array." Sadly, the Chinese fishing boats didn't have their cameras rolling when it was time to be accountable for their actions. I think the below images says a hell of a lot about each country's military might...

But the real issue is how China is not afraid of the Internet, but the powers that govern China are. Many Chinese are upset too; the message boards are full of Chinese citizens and bloggers who see these blocks as a sign of a nervous and confused government, giving the country of China (I disagree with Mr. Mao - China and the CCP are NOT interconnected and reliable on each other) the P.R. problem that trails them like a ball and chain as they take their first steps onto the world's stage.

So I guess you will have to wait to see how YouTube is used to bring China and the West together through education, language, pop culture, and creativity...

"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." ~ President Barack Obama 奥巴马, January 20, 2009

I love and miss you all,

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Phil

蓝麦飞