[WikiEN-l] Tearing down the Chinese Firewall

Sun May 14 18:08:10 UTC 2006

The U.S was not the only country to gain Independence through war-most
nations did choose that method. The point is that the Indian leaders
overthrew the British Crown solely through protests and passive
resistance with a minimum of bloodshed (except for the few thousand
freedom-fighters the English murdered-or as was the case at
Jallianwallah Bagh-massacred). But considering that 25% of the world's
population is concentrated in the Indian subcontinent, the human toll
would have been far higher if a violent struggle had been waged. The
path of agressive resistance / rebellion is, in most cases, less
effective than a reasonable, calm approach. The destination in both
cases is the same, the journey is however much different. Perhaps a
compromise can be worked out with the Chinese government that would be
acceptable to all the concerned parties. Perhaps, as Mr.Wales
suggested the government could agree to filter out certain pages
whilst leaving the others uncensored. That, in my opinion would be a
much more reasonable solution than for the "resistance" to carry out
subversive activities. As a side-note, I ask you which of the two is
more courageous and indicative of a firmer desire to topple the
government-1) To fight back and deal your opponent blow for blow or 2)
To patiently bear every everything he hits you with till a point comes
where he himself realises the futility of his trying to beat you into
submission and concedes defeat (which, essentially was what Britain
realised with regard to India after decades of baton-charges,machine
gun firings,deportations and executions, to name a few).

PS-I suggest Sean that you rent a DVD of the Richard Attenborough
movie "Gandhi". You will find that very often a soft-spoken, elderly
"half-naked fakir" has more courage and willpower than the most
decorated military commander. You will also learn that though the
Indian freedom-fighters may not have retaliated even in the face of
brutal British suppression, the fact that they stood by their beliefs
inspite of the sheer physical and mental agony they were put through
demonstrates how far they were willing to go to bring about the
downfall of an oppressive Empire, a display of valour equal to and
perhaps (in some cases) more than that shown by the American troops
when the latter nation was fighting for it's independence.