Authorities continuing ‘intimidation’ including separating children from their parents, despite pledge to end collective punishment
China continues to unlawfully target the families of activists and dissidents, despite a pledge to end the practice of collective punishment, a Chinese human rights group has said in a report.
The persecution, which includes intimidation and harassment, forced evictions, travel bans, criminal proceedings against family members and preventing children from attending school, has affected people across China and the diaspora community for decades, the report by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) group said.
Acts of collective punishment are prohibited in international human rights law.
Winston Smith’s job was doing exactly that at the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984.
And the internet made this practice so much easier than Orwell could‘ve imagined. You, the regime, can will things out of and even into existence with a few clicks. No need to rush into homes and search for old newspapers. You are already inside everyone‘s 4 walls at all times.
Sort of. It’s not like this information doesn’t make its way into China and it’s also not like the millions of people who remember him existing all died. So it’s more like you can prevent people talking about it in public.
Plenty of Chinese people still talk about the Tiananmen Square Massacre. They’re just not allowed to do so. They do it anyway.
So they can hide it from public discussion, but they can’t hide it.