The fate of the Worker's Website

[redgrass]

Published on the Internet of IMT(In Defence of Marxism)

———— 2006.4.6.redgrass.note.

(4.3.received Rob's E-mail)

the author of articles is XiaoHai comrades at NanJing in China——He is my friend.
———— 2006.4.20.redgrass.P.S.

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The voice of 10 million yuan and the fate of the Worker's Website

By In Defence of Marxism
Friday, 31 March 2006
Here we publish a statement of one of the administrators of the China Workers' Website on the recent closing of their site.

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First I'd like to tell a truth. It was on February 22nd, 2006 that the China Workers' Website (www.zggr.org ), which was founded in Beijing only one year ago, was ordered shut down by the Department of Management of Internet Propaganda of the Beijing News Office. The so-called law of Regulation of Internet News and Information Service , which was published at the end of 2005, was used to shut down the Workers' Website, which had been legally registered (Beijing ICP No.05004935).

Let's not to talk about what the Department of Management of Internet Propaganda of Beijing News Office is, and whether it has the right to order the Workers' Net to do anything. The shutting down of the site is absurd, and what is even more, annoying.

The Regulation of Internet News and Information services says that websites such as The Chinese Workers' Net are only allowed to operate when they have 10 million yuan ($1.2 million) in registered capital. In other words, you have to buy your voice with 10 million yuan!

Long ago, we learned from books that the democracy of the United States was narrow and hypocritical, while Chinese democracy was true and broad.

US style democracy is narrow because it is only a democracy for the minority, the democracy for the handful of the rich. I still remember the explanations of how the millionaires control Congress like a puppet. The best example of the hypocrisy of US democracy is when someone wants to be a representative – you must first register your fortune, and demonstrate that it is large enough to support your political future.

Our homemade democracy is great! It is true. It is broad! It is true because state law guarantees the political rights of citizens! It is true because the constitution of our state confirms the protection of the right to free speech and the freedom of the citizens to publish. Our democracy is broad, because our state embodies the people, and our people have the right to take part on the politics of the state.

These are the things we learned in books. But what do these things look like in reality? The right to buy your voice at 10 million yuan, is this the democracy of the People's Republic? Is this right the truth of our democracy? Is this the embodiment of the spirit of the constitution in lawmaking and the execution of law? Is this the broadness of our democracy? May I ask: workers who want to speak, who want to write, who want to curse when they are suffering, how many of them have 10 million yuan? How many of them, who have so little money – money which was used to buy their length of service – have 10 million yuan? How many of them will have 10 million yuan to purchase the right to publish and speak out when they only make several hundred yuan a month – the minimum amount required to guarantee the basic necessities of life? And who could possibly save 10 million yaun when faced with the high cost of education, housing, and the even higher costs of medicine and health care?

The name of the regulation is regulation – it does not regulate but in essence it juggles and restricts the voice of the people, neglecting the civil rights to free speech and to publish, which are guaranteed by the constitution. The regulation cruelly closes off the throat of the working class, silencing the last voice capable of groaning.

The Workers' Net has been shut down in this action of brutal administration – but what will tomorrow bring? Will the violence done to the constitution be tolerated in this way?

What jumped out this time is a management department named Office of News. I doubt whether this department has the right to deal with things that have to do with the Internet. It is neither a cultural department, nor a police department. With the excuse that it was in violation of the regulation, it ordered the shutting down of the Workers' Net – does this department now have the right to execute the law as well? The surprise this caused goes beyond words.

[redgrass]

本文的英文版是广州的poplar同志译作的
这是本文的中文原版，记录在晓海同志的MSN上：


1000万的发言权与工人网的命运



十月论坛 晓海 文



先陈述一个事实，就在2006 年2月22 日，在北京创办的仅一年的中国工人网（http://www.zggr.org) 被北京市新闻办公室网络宣传管理处，勒令关停了。而关停工人网——这样一个通过合法手段进行了登记的（京I CP 备05004935号）的合法网站，其"法律"依据竟然是2005 年末颁布的一个所谓《互连网新闻信息服务管理办法》的法规。



这个跳将出来的北京市新闻办网宣处是个什么东西，是否有权勒令工人网做什么，暂且不说。光就关停网站的说辞 ，就很让人莫名其妙，更让人烦恼。



《管理办法》中规定：凡像中国工人网这样的网站，必须注册资本达到人民币1000 万元，方可合法运营，这等于是说——花1000万买一个发言权罢了！



在很早的时候，我们就在书本上学过，说美国的民主是狭隘的和虚伪的，中国的民主是真实的和广泛 的。



美式民主的狭隘在于其只是少数人的民主，是少数富人的民主，那幅大财阀像操纵木偶般操纵国会的漫画还让我记 忆尤新；而其虚伪的最佳的例子，便是竞选议员竟然要先登记财产，证明自己有巨大财富作为自己政治前途的支撑 。



国产的民主是伟大的，它真实、它广泛！真实在有国家的法律保证公民的政治权利！真实在我们国家的宪法确定了 保护公民的言论自由和出版自由，而其广泛性体现在我们是人民群众当家做主的国家，我们的人民有权利参与国家 政治。



这些，当然都是书本灌输给我们的知识，但现实又是如何的呢？1000 万买一个发言权，这难道就是我们中华人民共和国的民主吗？就是我们民主的真实性吗？这是宪法精神在立法和执 法中的体现吗？！而广泛性呢，恐怕更是丢到了九霄云外了！试问，要说话要伸冤要在吃苦受难的时候骂几句娘的 工人，有几个有1000 万？？有几个能用买断工龄的几个小钱凑1000万；有几个能用最低生活保障的每月几百元钱聚成 1000 万；又有谁能在读书贵、买房贵、看病吃药更贵的生活中节省下1000 万？？？



《管理办法》名为管理，实为扼杀和禁锢人们的发言权，将公民的言论自由和出版自由之宪法赋予之权利弃之不顾 ，残忍地堵塞工人群众的喉咙，湮没掉最后的那一点呻吟的声音！



就在这次野蛮的行政行为中，工人网被暂时封杀了……它的明天将是怎样？践踏宪法的行为难道就这 样被容忍吗？



这次跳将出来的，是个名为新闻办公室下的管理处，我质疑，这样一个部门，是否有处理互连网事物的权力？它既 不是文化部门，更不是公安部门，其以违反《管理办法》的借口，勒令关停了工人网，难道它也具备执法权不成？ ？另人莫名惊诧！

[Janus]

Redgrass, are you accessing this site from China?

这是坏但中国检察的一共同的部份。

[redgrass]

这个网站在北京注册，创办于2005年5月1日。创办者是中国的一群志愿者，都是社会主义者。网站刊登过国 内托派分子的不少尖锐的时政评论，还刊登大量官方不敢披露的工人底层斗争报道。所以香港有的媒体还曾说这个 网站带有“一些马克思主义的原教旨”。

[RedStarOverChina]

晓海也来过这个网站。

对了，redgrass你认不认识山东青岛的同志？

我马上就要回国了 希望能跟青岛的同志联系上。

[redgrass]

可惜我不认识。

[Fidelbrand]

熱烈歡迎 redgrass 同志

[Janus]

这是非常好
有仍然是许多根本共产主义者在中国吗?