China: Cows, pigs and balls – John Kennedy

From Global Voices Online:

…My experience is that the objects of National Security (NS) work far exceed the Wikipedia definition. The cases of NS harassment and infringement of which I’m aware cover a very wide scope. Some social group workers, volunteers, lawyers, painters, photographers or independent documentarians, artists, freelancers, reporters, writers, poets, scholars, student society organizers, peasants with independent consciousness, AIDS sufferers, homeowner rights activists, the forcefully evicted, the religious devout, retired soldiers, petitioners, the handicapped, children

Rules of NS behavior are:

A. As secret police, they do not display I.D., do not make clear their identity; B. As a priviliged force above the law, they do not adhere to any legal procedures, in fact due to their behavior’s illegal nature, there are no legal procedures to follow; C. As members of a priviliged organization, they employ tactics of intimidation, verbal and physical abuse at will;… [Full Text]