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<\/a>Xu Zhiyong appeared in the Chinese edition of Esquire in August 2009<\/a>, while he was being detained for alleged tax evasion.<\/p><\/div>\n
Rights defense lawyer Xu Zhiyong has continued his advocacy despite years of setbacks. The Open Constitution Initiative, a legal assistance NGO he and several other lawyers founded in 2003, was shut down in 2009<\/a> by Beijing officials, citing tax evasion. After writing a blog post about the New Citizens\u2019 Movement<\/a> last May, Xu was detained overnight. In the run-up to the National People’s Congress<\/a> this February, Xu was one of 100 signatories to an open letter to the Chinese government calling for the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights<\/a>. Xu was put under house arrest during the Congress.<\/strong><\/a> He lectures at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, but has been barred from teaching because of his activism.<\/p>\n
\nOn April 12, I was on my way to Hong Kong to participate in the \u201cSymposium on the 10th Anniversay of the Sun Zhigang<\/a> Case\u201d at the invitation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Teng Biao<\/a>. I went through border control waited for my flight. \u201cSee you this afternoon,\u201d I told Teng.<\/p>\n
The Party secretary told me that my college salary had been suspended as of March. I said I understood and would consider writing a resignation letter. My teaching credentials were revoked in 2009, but I was willing to stay because I hoped that I would still have the opportunity to teach. However, this system<\/a> cannot tolerate a true idealist. The salary suspension was a result of direct pressure from the Ministry of Education. The excuse was that I hadn\u2019t been going to work for some time. That was when my freedom was illegally restricted and I could not leave my house.<\/p>\n
\nQ: What are you going to do about black jails<\/a>?<\/p>\n
A: As long as there are illegal detentions, like what you did today, I will continue to surround and watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Q: What are you going to do about financial disclosure<\/a>?<\/p>\n
Q: Will the citizens\u2019 city-wide dinner parties continue?<\/p>\n
A: Yes. We will be citizens with pride and dignity.<\/p>\n
Q: How many people attend your dinners?<\/p>\n
After 10 p.m., Captain C came in. We\u2019ve had many conversations before.<\/p>\n
\nC: In the past, you worked on individual cases to protect people\u2019s rights. Wasn\u2019t that pretty good? For example, you helped appeal the Chengde case<\/a>. But now, this New Citizens\u2019 Movement. In the past ten years, especially the last year, the there have been dinners everywhere. The nature of the movement is changing.<\/p>\n
C: Where does your theory of \u201cnew citizens\u201d come from?<\/p>\n
Me: Inspiration from above. Specifically, inspiration came to me around May last year while I was reading at home. I believe that all inspiration that drives the work of human beings comes from above.<\/a><\/p>\n
C: Do you know the theory of the \u201csmall circle\u201d? Do you know Li Yiping<\/a>?<\/p>\n
C: What\u2019s the purpose of New Citizens\u2019 Movement and the dinners?<\/p>\n
C: Does democracy imply overthrowing the Communist Party?<\/a><\/p>\n
Me: There are no such concepts as \u201coverthrow,\u201d \u201cknock down,\u201d or \u201cenemies\u201d in our system of thought or our discourse. Democracy implies people having the right to directly cast votes and elect officials and legislators at all levels of government. This has nothing to do with overthrowing anyone. If the Communist Party is capable of transforming itself like the Kuomintang<\/a> and winning an election, we will definitely support that. What we pursue is true democracy, China\u2019s peaceful transition to constitutional government. Whether the Communist Party can transform itself and win elections is your own business. We don\u2019t entertain any fantasies about that. But we harbor good will towards every Chinese person.<\/p>\n
C: You and I have known each other for years. I believe that you are a pure idealist. This is the reason we have been relatively polite to you. But do other people in your group, like Zhao Changqing<\/a> and Ding Jiaxi<\/a>, think the way you do? How do you control other people?<\/p>\n
C: Some among you are extreme. Are you able to control them? We have solid evidence that those four people<\/a> advocating financial disclosure gathered illegally. How could you possibly say you are not responsible for that?<\/p>\n
Citizen Xu Zhiyong, April 12, 2013<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nCitizen Self-Encouragement–Service, Duty, Letting Go<\/p>\n
In an autocratic society, the path of striving to be a good citizen is a long one. I have come to some understanding in recent years of what this path entails–service, duty, and letting go. I write this to encourage myself as well as my friends. Service means serving society, helping those who need help the most through actions. Every place has its own social problems: domineering, corrupt officials; chengguan<\/a> <\/em>who beat people; a polluted environment; injustice; land grabs<\/a>; and arbitrary fines and illegal charges, to name a few. We need to cast our attention downwards, sincerely care about the underprivileged, and help them protect their rights and interests. Citizen groups should do things that offer genuine help to the people. Only if we help many, many people can we take root in society and gain broad support, so that we can promote the development of a democratic and constitutional government in China. Politics should serve the public. At present, there are a lot of opportunities to serve the people in China. We need to look for them carefully and invest in them with devotion. Tomorrow\u2019s democratic politicians are today\u2019s pro bono representatives.<\/p>\n
Politics is not empty talk. Politics is not opposition for its own sake. Politics is a noble career that serves the interest of the public. Politics is in our daily life. Our fundamental strength is not measured by how politically calculating we are, but how many things we have done and how many people we have helped. Demanding financial disclosure of officials, pushing the Standing Committee of National People\u2019s Congress to pass the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, surrounding and watching Attorney Wang Quanzhang<\/a>\u2019s detention and other public incidents, all serve society. Reposting the truth about events online and spreading the ideals of democracy and rule of law also serve society. While paying attention to the general direction of our country, we ought not to neglect the people and events around us. Citizen groups should work hard to be recognized as good people by the public in their communities and cities. There are many things to do in this time of change. Fierce action has its value, but it is neither possible nor necessary to have everyone at the vanguard. More people should serve society in down-to-earth and practical ways. In all, we should do work and thrive through our actions.<\/p>\n
Duty means courageously taking on responsibility. In the pursuit of freedom, righteousness, and love, in the transformation from subject to citizen, you might \u201cdrink tea<\/a>,\u201d be harassed, have your freedoms illegally restricted, be fired from work, or even be beaten and punished as a criminal. But there have to be people who pay the price for the progress of society. Many of our predecessors have shouldered enormous responsibility. Some of them spent decades in prison, and others, like Lin Zhao<\/a>, sacrificed their lives. Today, we still need to make sacrifices to push forward social progress. Although we have generous hearts; although we pursue a noble career of freedom, righteousness, and love; although our actions are temperate and reasonable, the move from subject to citizen is, by nature, dangerous.<\/p>\n
Citizen Xu Zhiyong, April 23, 2013<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Via CDT Chinese<\/a>. Translation by Mengyu Dong.<\/a><\/p>\n
Li Yiping, an activist living in the U.S., theorizes that the pro-democracy movement in China can organize itself through interlocking “small circles” (\u5c0f\u5708\u5b50), building a social network that is “formless” and therefore difficult for the government to track.<\/a> Li has written about his “small circle” theory at Boxun<\/strong><\/a> [zh] and Beijing Spring<\/strong><\/a> [zh]. Back<\/a>.<\/p>\n
After losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communist army in 1949, the Kuomintang (KMT<\/a>) perpetuated the Republic of China and martial, one-party rule in Taiwan<\/strong><\/a>. The KMT began allowing new political parties to form in the 1980s, and by the 1990s competed among the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP<\/a>) and other parties in free and fair elections. Back<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"