Last week, Chinese feminist activists in nine cities around the world held rallies and displayed banners demanding the release of journalist and feminist activist Huang Xueqin and labor-rights activist Wang Jianbing, who were convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to prison for five years and three and a half years, respectively, by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on June 14. The prison terms were widely condemned by international rights groups and free speech advocates as a particularly harsh punishment for exercising freedom of speech and supporting the rights of women and workers. Both Huang and Wang have spent over 1000 days in detention thus far, and Huang Xueqin has informed the court that she plans to appeal. (For a full translation of the indictment against Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, see Fei Chang Dao’s translation by William Farris.)
CDT Chinese editors have compiled some photographs of the banners and rallies in New York, San Francisco, DC, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Tokyo, and Boston:
Middle: A banner displayed on a hill near San Francisco reads: “We Are Not Free Until Xueqin Is Free,” #MeToo, and “#Free Huang Xueqin”
Bottom: In Washington, D.C., a banner displayed near the Washington Monument obelisk reads: “We Are Not Free Until Xueqin Is free,” “#MeToo,” and “#Free Huang Xueqin”
Middle: A banner displayed on the steps of the entrance to the Vancouver Art Gallery reads: “We Are Not Free Until Xueqin Is Free,” “MeToo,” and “#Free Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing”
Bottom: A banner displayed in downtown Toronto (with Toronto’s CN Tower visible in the background) reads: “MeToo,” “Huang Xueqin,” “Free Xuebing [and] All Political Prisoners; Abolition Now.”
Middle: Demonstrators raise a banner in an intersection in Tokyo, Japan, that reads: “We Are Not Free Until Xueqin Is Free” and “#Free Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing”
Bottom: A banner displayed on a bridge in Boston proclaims: “We Are Not Free Until Xueqin Is Free” and “#Free Huang Xueqin” [Chinese]
