(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the dismissal of Beijing University journalism lecturer Jiao Guobiao and called on the government to restore him to his post and stop restricting Internet discussion forums. During the week of 21 March 2005, Jiao received a letter from the university authorities demanding that he “voluntarily resign”. A few weeks earlier, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the dismissal of Beijing University journalism lecturer Jiao Guobiao and called on the government to restore him to his post and stop restricting Internet discussion forums.
During the week of 21 March 2005, Jiao received a letter from the university authorities demanding that he “voluntarily resign”. A few weeks earlier, non-students were banned from online discussion forums at several universities.
“The crackdown on pro-democracy intellectuals has now spread to the country’s universities, and we deplore such reprisals,” RSF said.
Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2004 RSF-Fondation de France Prize for defending press freedom, responded to the recent moves with an open letter to Education Minister Zhou Ji, condemning the “crazy and alarming” moves against free expression.
“Prime Minister Wen Jiabao recently described the Internet as a new place to present political decisions and express his opinions,” Liu wrote. “Many Internet users appreciated his words. But now even he is not allowed to access university websites to find out what young people think, because he is not a student.”
Jiao’s removal is the culmination of a long campaign of harassment against the journalism and communications lecturer. It follows his criticism of what the government now calls its Publicity Department (formerly known as the Propaganda Department) in a pamphlet accusing the ruling Communist Party of “obstructing the civilised growth of Chinese society” through its censorship policies.
A journalism course given by Jiao was shut down in September 2004 and he was subsequently barred from supervising doctoral students.
In November, the Publicity Department ordered official media to stop publishing articles by six pro-reform political commentators, including Jiao, but his writings continued to feature prominently online and in university circles.
Jiao was banned from working at the Journalism and Communications Faculty in late 2004, and the authorities tried to stop him from leaving the country. He told Radio Free Asia that he was being “seriously persecuted.” The university offered him a job in the Archives Department instead, which he declined.
On 16 March, the Education Ministry ordered university-run online discussion forums to exclude non-students. The measure was implemented at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, which runs the largest university forum, http://www.shuimu.com, and at universities in Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xian, Hangzhou, Jilin, Wuhan and Guangzhou. Students were also ordered to use their real names when posting messages.
The discussion forums, moderated by university officials, enabled students and outside Internet users to tackle sensitive political topics not allowed in normal discussion forums.
On 18 March, demonstrators at Tsinghua and Nanjing universities protested the restrictions. About 100 demonstrators at Tsinghua University held up pieces of papers saying, “Bless and Protect Shuimu”, “Peace” and “Freedom”.
The protests were the first by students against the regime since the Tiananmen demonstrations and massacre in 1989.
The authorities also censored a university online discussion group in September 2004, shutting down Yi Ta Hu Tu, a forum run by Beijing University students.
