the bravest folk in the world; the greatest journalism you will read this year...

the bravest folk in the world; the greatest journalism you will read this year...
I took this blog post from an excellent site, which has independent chinese bloggers writing. You will be so blown away by what these guys went through to get these stories -- they were beaten, and still refused to leave a secret prison where petitioners were being kept. They kept going back until they got her out. If this story does not inspire you to hit the streets and take some of the wealth back from the elite, as well as our shrinking human rights, then you are an enemy to my way of thinking (passively letting the black helicopters take your neighbors away is the american way... look at how we ignored what the Nazi's were doing to the jews... and remember they were being persecuted here quite a bit as well at the time; our high moral stance about helping the Jews is deserved, but came way too late.

I was encouraged to hear Obama say that he at least wants to send some troops into Darfur, even if we stretched too thin by the Iraq war.






China: Co-operation 2.0 on Beijing’s Black Jails
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Friday, October 17th, 2008 @ 10:38 UTC
by Meng Zhang
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Excerpt
In cooperation with citizen reporter Zhou Shuguang (Zola) and other two journalists Chen Er (Doubleaf) and Guo Jiannong, Xu Zhiyong, who firstly blogged Beijing’s black jails in the end of September, went to visit one of the unlawful prisons again on Monday, attacked by a group of thugs who were allegedly hired by the authorities.
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With the abolition of custody and repatriation (C&R) system in 2003, it seems the Chinese petitioners no longer have to worry about being detained as illegal residents when they leave for a strange city to petition a higher governmental institution. However, according to blogger Xu Zhiyong, a young professor of law and strong advocate for human rights, those supplicants are actually still being intercepted by the local officials from the way to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, the Supreme People’s Court or other departments, and forcedly taken to some makeshift house of detention, being lock up without any legal process. As the places which confined the petitioners are always hidden among the ordinary buildings, people call them “Black Jails”.

In cooperation with citizen reporter Zhou Shuguang (Zola) and other two journalists Chen Er (Doubleaf) and Guo Jiannong, Xu Zhiyong, who firstly blogged Beijing’s black jails in the end of September, went to visit one of the unlawful prisons again on Monday, attacked by a group of thugs who were allegedly hired by the authorities.

Xu introduced the background of the operation in his blog:

昨天接到一个短信，“我是河南马喜荣现在关在北京市虎坊路青年宾馆后院黑监狱里你能解救这里的二十多个人吗紧急求救”。我因为当时在上课，这两天又特别忙，就答应今天去。上午十一点多最后一次发短信确认她还在里面，决定下午四点过去。

和周曙光约好，四点在青年宾馆见面，他还约了另外两个媒体的朋友。四点一刻，我们三个来到黑监狱门口，周曙光在远处拍摄。马喜荣来到窗口要求出来，看守不让出，一边和当地驻京办联系。我们在窗外和她聊天，她说是走在王府井大街上被警察盘问，查出了上访材料被带到派出所，然后被关押到这里。越来越多的上访者聚集到窗前，这时马喜荣被看守推到里面，听到她对看守大声说，我是一个合法公民，你是什么身份，凭什么阻拦我在这里？
……

Yesterday I received an SMS, “This is Henan’s Ma Xirong, being confined with more than twenty people in the black jail behind the Youth Hotel on the Beijing Hufang road. Can you save us? Emergency!”. Because I was at class and tied up with my work at that moment, I promised to go there today. After the last SMS contact at about 11:00 am, making sure Ma was still there, I decided to start off at 4:00 pm.
.
I arranged with Zhou Shuguang and his two journalist friends to meet at the Youth Hotel. Three of us reached the door of black jail at 4:15 pm, leaving Zhou to shoot videos from a safe distance. Ma Xirong came to the window and asked to let her out, but the guard rejected her request while calling the Beijing Office of Henan Province. So she talked with us through the window, saying that she was questioned by the police while walking in Wangfujing Street. After finding her petition materials, the police arrested her and then locked her up in this place. When more and more petitioners assembled at the window, Ma Xirong was forced into the inner room by the guard and I could still hear she shouted, “I am a citizen. Who are you to stop me here?”
…

Doubleaf, a well-known blogger in China, from his unique angle promptly blogged the situation at that time :

许志永和郭建龙在黑监狱门口

Xu Zhiyong and Guo Jianlong at the gate of black jail

黑监狱所在巷子

The alley where the black jail is located

……
黑监狱实际上是一所名叫“温馨青年宾馆”的旅社，在天坛西面、陶然亭附近太平街一条很逼仄的巷子内，往来的人很少，只能容一辆车经过的地上积了许多落叶。从外面看，这座破旧的建筑和黑监狱没什么关系，但这里却关押了20多名被非法拘禁的访民，都是河南人。这座宾馆实际也是河南信访办租来，专门关押访民的地方。

到了黑监狱门口后，郭建龙和许志永二人负责与里面沟通，我在边上察看动静。经过一番口舌后，我们想要的人终于出来，与我们隔着一扇防盗门进行了简短的对话。我们今天要的人是一名五十多岁的妇女，据说还没有来得及上访就被关了进来。

后来，又有一位自称是家属、实际是截访人员的男子来到黑监狱门口敲门，但由于我们在的缘故，里面的人并没有立即给他开门。我们又与此人聊了一会，得知了一些情况。

该男子等了20多分钟才进去，我们后来又与要找的人进行了简单的对话，我不停听到她说“不就是说几句话嘛”，可以推断当时里面的人极力阻止我们的对话。

在此过程中，巷子的拐弯处、以及另外一头有3、4个彪形大汉远远张望，许志永说这就是黑监狱的打手。其中一名打手还抱着孩子经过。听zuola说，该打手称要“抱着孩子过来踹他们几脚”。然后，我们又与一名隔窗的女访民说了几句话，她自称是“自愿”到这里的。

就这样过了一个多小时，大概5点20左右，一辆牌号为京MG8490的面包车开进巷子，下来3、4个大汉，骂骂咧咧的揪住郭建龙问是干嘛的。郭说接人，一名大汉很不耐烦的说“接谁接谁”。没几句话之后，几名大汉开始动手打人，我们赶紧叫几十米外的zuola跑。这时，开始监视我们的打手也陆续过来了，一共在6、7人左右。开始在巷子另外一头监视我们的操北京口音的胖子打许志永最狠，一边打还一边骂脏话，说“你丫不是律师嘛”。也许是因为刚来的时候主要是郭建龙和许志永与他们沟通、我基本不说话的缘故，他们没有打我，而我也有点吓蒙了，既没有逃跑，也没有动手反击，做了可耻的看客，连暴喝一声“住手”的勇气也没有。

这帮打手边打边骂，还很嚣张的说，边上就是派出所，去报警啊。大约打了5分钟后，他们终于住手了，但我们并没有离开。这个时候，一名打手指着我说，他也是一起的。但是边上的几位打手并没有动手打我。

整个过程中，许志永和郭建龙没有进行任何的还手。

坚持了一会，大约17：45左右，我们要找的人终于在她家乡信访办官员的陪同下出来了。我赶紧和许志永、郭建龙一起往外走。在走到巷子拐弯处的时候，另外一名打人最狠的打手又冲出来，叫嚷着要开车把许志永撞死。许志永站在路中没动，我于是赶紧拉起他说人已经救出来了，我们快走吧。许志永对这帮打手说：我们还会再来的。
……

…
The black jail is actually a hostel named “Cozy Youth Hotel”, west to the Temple of Heaven, in a small alley on Taiping Street near Taoranting Park, where very few people pass by. The path fully covered by fallen leaves is so narrow that only one car can fit in. Looked from the outside, this dilapidated building has nothing to relate to the black jails, although more than 20 petitioners, all from Henan, are illegally imprisoned here. In fact, the hostel is rented by the Office for Letters and Calls of Henan Province, used especially to lock up the petitioners.
.
At the door of black jail, Guo Jianlong and Xu Zhiyong were responsible for communicating to the people inside while I was watching the outside circumstances. After a lengthy dispute, the person we wanted to meet finally came out, briefly talking with us behind a closed security door. The one we tried to save was a woman in her fifties, who was allegedly detained before getting a chance to petition.
.
Subsequently, an interception officer who pretended as a petitioner’s relative came to knock at the black jail’s door, but the guard inside didn’t let him in immediately because of our visit. We talked with him for a while, learning some information.
.
The man didn’t get in until 20 minutes later. Then we again had a short conversation with the person we wanted. I heard she was incessantly saying, “We are just talking”, which was assumed that someone inside was attempting to stop our dialog.
.
In the meantime, 3 or 4 strappers stared at us from the corner and the other side of the alley. Xu Zhiyong indicated they were the black jail’s thugs, one of which even passed us with a kid in his arms. According to Zola, that man had planned “holding the kid to kick them”. After that, we had a word with another female petitioner who professed to come here of “her own volition” through the window.
.
About one hour later, nearly 5:20 pm, a mini-bus with the license of “京 MG8490” drove into the alley, from which got off 3 or 4 big men. They abusively seized Guo Jianlong, asking why he was there. “To receive someone,” Guo replied. “Whom?! Whom?!” one of them impatiently shouted. Without surplus words, the big men started hitting us. We hastened to ask Zola staying tens of meters out run away. At the time, the thugs who watched us from the beginning came up one by one, about 6 or 7 in all. A fat guy of Beijing accent beat Xu Zhiyong the most brutally, while swearing, “You are the f*** lawyer, right?!” Maybe because it’s mainly Guo Jianlong and Xu Zhiyong that negotiated with them just now and I almost kept silent, they didn’t punch me. Even though, I was still a little scared. Without running off or fighting back, I acted as a shameful onlooker. I even got no courage to yell “stoppage”.
.
“Go to the police station. It’s very close,” those thugs provocatively said, while hitting and cursing. About 5 minutes later, they stopped, but we didn’t leave. “He is one of them,” one of the thugs pointed at me, though no one lifted hands against my face.
.
During the entire process, Xu Zhiyong and Guo Jianlong didn’t strike back in any way.
.
Around 17:45, the woman we expected finally came out of the jail, accompanied with the officer from the Office for Letters and Calls of her hometown. So Xu Yongzhi, Guo Jianlong and I quickly moved out of the alley. As we arrived at the corner, another brutal thug rushed into the way, threatening to bump Xu to death by car. Since Xu continued standing on the way, I hurried to draw him aside, saying, “The person has been saved. Let’s get out of here.” Xu Zhiyong then said to the thugs: “We will be back. “
…

Zola gave an outline of the whole thing and had more materials in his blog:

……
10月13号，我中午在twitter上发消息，找人一起去看黑监狱，doubleaf正好休假，21世纪经济报道的郭建龙正好也有空，于是约了四点在青年宾馆见面。见面后分工是，我在路口把风并记录，他们三个人去门口要人。

我于是在下图的B点的北京市六十二中学的门口远远地看着A点，他们三个人在A点交涉要人。

…
At noon of October 13，I published information in twitter, seeking for people who wanted to go to the black jail together. Doubleaf was on vacation and Guo Jianlong working at the Economy Report of 21 Century was also free, so we decided to meet before Youth Hotel at 4:00 pm. The plan was I watched and recorded at the intersection while the other three men went to the door to ask for the petitioner.
.
The following map shows our positions that I watch A where the other three men negotiate with the guards to ask for the petitioner from B where the gate of Beijing No. 62 High School is located.

从http://log.zuo.la/ 可以看到我的零碎记录，我们约是四点半开始，五点半结束。一个小时里，黑监狱的看守没有采取行动，到五点二十左右，京M G8790 的小面包车进来，下来四五个人，开始打人。打人的录音在这里，是郭建龙和许志永以挨打为代价换来的现场录音。欢迎下载收听.
……

You may check my short records from http://log.zuo.la/. We started at about 4:00 pm and finished at 5:30 pm. During the one-hour operation, the guards of the black jail didn’t take action until about 5:20 pm. Four or three men jumped out of a mini-bus with a number of “京MG8790”, and began to attack us. Here is the audio record which is at the great expense of Guo Jianlong and Xu Zhiyong. Welcome to download.
…

下图是当时打人的情况，我只拍到几秒种，隔得太远，不清晰。

The following shot was taken when the conflict occurred. I only got a video for seconds in the distance, so it’s not clear enough.

下图是刚到黑监狱的时候，郭建龙和陈二在打电话，许志永在敲门要人。

The following picture was taken as we just reached the black jail. Guo Jianlong and Chen Er are talking on cell phones while Xu Zhiyong is knocking at the door.

<

blockquote>我自拍，我的西面是六十二中学的校门，北面是许志永他们在要人，东面是青年宾馆的侧门，有几个打手在那里，我身后是南面，也有两个人站在那里，身份不明。
This is my self-shot. To my west is the gate of No. 62 High School, the north is Xu Zhiyong group, the east is the side door of the Youth Hotel, where several thugs are gathered, and to my south also stands two men, who are unidentified.

下图是朝东面拍的，三个男人里有一个是抱了小孩的，三个男人是打手，骑单车买来啤酒，喝酒后打人的那个没拍到，那个人是最凶的，还掐许志永的脖子，把许志永的衬衫钮扣都揪掉一个。

The following picture was taken from the east. The three men are thugs, one of which holds a kid. I didn’t catch the most brutal men who rode bike to buy bears and then got drunk. He ripped off a button from Xu Yongzhi’s shirt while throttled Xu’s neck.

下图的黑荚克曾对棕荚克说：“过去，踹上两脚”

In the following picture, the black jacket says to the brown jacket, “Go and kick their ass.”

下面是10月5号去黑监狱的照片，从这次打人来看，后面的京M G8790 是黑监狱的车.

The following picture was taken during the visit to black jail on October 5. According to the conflict this time, the car of “京 MG8970” behind must belong to the black jail.

Besides the four men’s admirable courage and omni-directional blogging afterwards, another stunning knockout of the black jail operation is Doubleaf and Zola’s live report on the event by Twitter, which, as Isaac Mao commented, “has showed the social media’s potential routes of transmission and power.”
Posted by Meng Zhang
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No Responses to
“China: Co-operation 2.0 on Beijing’s Black Jails”

1.
October 17th, 2008 at 17:58 pm
John Scott Ridgway:

Your comment is awaiting moderation: Please be patient, we moderate all comments by hand, so it may take some time.
1

I am honored to contact such courageous souls. You are very inspiriting. To be actually attacked by thugs, and continue your journalistic work makes me proud to be alive. Your inspiration is sorely needed here in the States, where our government’s passively ignoring the needs of the poor and disenfranchised and the veterans, while catering to the greed of the top few percent who hold 90 percent of The United States wealth, has driven us to the brink of falling apart. Americans have for way too long looked to China as an enemy, rather than an inspiration. I find much of your government to be the most logical form of government, and with youth like you I am sure your problems with human rights will be worked out.

If I can ever be assistance to any of you, I am a blogger, novelist, tv writer and a film-maker, as well as a radio show host… and a military intelligence major from a famous military family; the history of my families heriocs are recorded back to the early three hundreds… I am sure that one day, your ancestors, will look on all of you with the same pride I do my own; this is one writer who will never forget the lesson of this entry.

I am placing it on my well read blogs, along with an address to this site.

Thank you again; God bless.

John Scott Ridgway

johnnyapain@gmail

We live in the proud traditions of our forefathers, yet must bring the new knowledge of the sciences to the ruling classes, whereever they are.

general ridgway kept us out of nam for ten years... before they ousted him

Chief of Staff

In May 1952, Ridgway replaced General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). However, he upset other European military leaders by surrounding himself with American staff, and eventually returned to the U.S., where he replaced General Collins as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. After Eisenhower was elected President, he asked Ridgway for his assessment of US military involvement in Vietnam in conjunction with the French. In response, Ridgway prepared a comprehensive outline of the massive commitment that would be necessary for success, which dissuaded the President from intervening. However, the relationship between the two men, which had been so good during World War II, was sorely tested as a result of Ridgway's assessment because Eisenhower very much supported American intervention in Vietnam. Following that episode, Ridgway retired from the US Army in 1955, succeeded in the Chief of Staff post by his one time 82nd Airborne Division Chief of Staff Maxwell D. Taylor. In the opinion of a number of military historians, Ridgway's stand as Chief of Staff delayed US intervention in Vietnam for around ten years.[citation needed]

we're going to the velvet room tnight, in china town, to film my freind sarah belly dancing. We need the footage for the belly dancing around chicago video. It is always a joy to see her dance.

The debate... now I am just ready to see if Obama will give us more of the same, or if he really is about something new. I believe in him, and being from Chicago and knowing the streets he worked to save for all those years, I apreciate that he is a fighter.

McCain has become a traitor to himself. I have great respect for some of the things he has done in his life, mainly choosing not to go home from hotel hanoia, but that is not qualification to be a president. In fact, military men should not be the president. Seperate branches. And we all know, except when it comes to voting to fund veteren's hospitals, that McCain looks at himself as a soldier. The neo cons obviously bought him out.

Oh, well... the world is about to end anywys.

TOMMY SMOTHERS is dangerously IGNORANT

i AM STILL PISSED about that crackle headed idiot calling people who think they can war their war to peace ignorant. Of course he was talking to me. He needs to read a little history. i LOVE BEING CALLED AN IDIOT BY PEOPLE WHO I COULD ARGUE OUT OF EXISTENCE IN A HALF AN HOUR. I Went to college for at least ten years longer than he did(AT LEAST), and studied under people in the real world, didn't sit around listening to a bunch of stoned synchophents lapping sweat off my balls and calling me a legend because the gov knocked off my show.

He was funny once. Then a genocide came along and mocked his hippie rhetoric. Boo him at all costs, and squirt him with red kool aide so he can feel a little of the metaphorical blood those peaceniks are spilling in Darfur, afganistan and pakistan as we speak. You kill the terrorists, save the peaceful. He needs to read his history, because Peace is only bought with war. If he can show me one place where the opposite happened, I will let him lick my feet (after I walk in some dog shit... he likes that taste of shit in his mouth so well, obviously).