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China's white paper protest: Why 'zero COVID' activists are holding up blank sheets

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  gregtx  •  2 years ago  •  5 comments

China's white paper protest: Why 'zero COVID' activists are holding up blank sheets
In one of China's greatest displays of public discontent since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, an unconventional item has come to symbolize the new protests: a blank sheet of white paper.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



In one of China's greatest displays of public discontent since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, an unconventional item has come to symbolize the new protests: a blank sheet of white paper.

Protesters in major cities across China are holding up blank sheets of white paper to show their discontent with not only the government's strict "zero COVID" policies but with the authoritarian Chinese state in general. Due to the thorough and sophisticated nature of the Chinese Communist Party's ability to crack down on open dissent, displaying a blank sheet of paper has become a clever way for protesters to express discontent in a subtle way. Without anti-government slogans or calls to action, authorities are caught in a tough spot, trying to decide what crosses the line into dissent and what doesn't.

White has a double meaning of being a popular funeral color in China. Blank white paper is understood by many in the country to be a symbol of mourning for those lost due to the lockdowns, the New York Times reported. Specifically, the deaths of 10 residents of an apartment building in Xinjiang after it caught fire last week are being blamed by many on lockdown measures trapping the residents in the inferno.

PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN CHINA AGAINST COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS AFTER DEADLY FIRE KILLS 10

Hazel Liu, 29, a film producer who attended a vigil in Beijing on Sunday, described the meaning of the white papers to the outlet as meaning, "We are the voiceless, but we are also powerful."

"People have a common message," Xiao Qiang, an internet freedom researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, told the New York Times. "They know what they want to express, and authorities know too, so people don't need to say anything. If you hold a blank sheet, then everyone knows what you mean."

Others told the outlet that they took inspiration from a Soviet joke in which a dissident is caught by police handing out blank flyers, noting no words are needed because "everyone knows."

China's two main social media apps, WeChat and Weibo, have a sophisticated algorithm that suppresses any expressions of discontent or negativity while boosting positive messages, the Wall Street Journalreported. In a show of solidarity, users are spamming the apps with simple white rectangles, circumventing censors while letting their opposition be subtly known.

However, Chinese authorities have quickly caught on to the tactic, scrubbing pictures of protesters carrying blank paper off the internet. The Wall Street Journal had to search far and wide on the Chinese internet before stumbling across a message of dissent from a social media user. An hour-old picture of a piece of paper was captioned, "I heard this item was recently sold out. #A4 #white paper #coronavirus #freedom."


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GregTx
PhD Guide
1  seeder  GregTx    2 years ago
However, Chinese authorities have quickly caught on to the tactic, scrubbing pictures of protesters carrying blank paper off the internet
 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2  MonsterMash    2 years ago

[deleted]

[comments about other members are always off topic and no value]

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2.1  MonsterMash  replied to  MonsterMash @2    2 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
3  Sean Treacy    2 years ago

Let's hope this doesn't end in another Tiananmen Square style massacre.

 
 
 
GregTx
PhD Guide
4  seeder  GregTx    2 years ago

Absolutely. I wouldn't put anything past Xi.

 
 

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