對伊紮特和French 兩位先生的分析略做評論。

伊紮特先生的文章幾乎近於「言不及義」。他也完全不了解魯迅「拿來主義」的本義。身為「駐中國記者」，他對中國的了解應該比我更清楚，但從這篇文章顯然看不出來他在中國住過。不過，他下面這段話的確值得我們深思：

「家家有本難念的經，每個國家的歷史發展不同，民族性情不同，社會的各階層的生存狀況，面臨的挑戰和關心的問題也有所不同。在面臨不盡相同的社會矛盾和社會現實時，用照搬別人的解決方法無疑是不切實際的，也是違背了解決問題所需要的實事求是的態度。」

French先生對中國政府頗有敵意。但他的評論指出兩個不可忽視的重點：

 “At the simplest level, it is hard to understand how a call to protest can be declared a failure if it virtually causes a nation's entire security apparatus to come out in force and to take extraordinary measures of one kind after another, as has happened in China.

…

By their actions, they have all but declared this Jasmine moment to be of tremendous importance.”

以及

 “China has achieved extraordinary things over the last three decades, but the events of the last three weeks have revealed its system to be brittle and perhaps even endowed with clay feet.  … In its spooked response to Jasmine, the Party-State, still scared of words, of anniversaries, and finally of flowers, may have reminded the world that it hasn't traveled quite the distance many have assumed.”

Don't Dismiss a Jasmine Moment in China

Howard W. French

The Chinese government is taking the possibility of pro-democracy protests seriously -- and that's what activists want

Over the last three momentous weeks or so of North African and Middle Eastern uprisings, the Western media based in China has largely stuck to a static message.

It can be summarized quickly as "China is not Egypt," which on reflection is not so helpful. The follow-on thoughts unfortunately don't go much further.

Typically, they hold that people would never rise up against their rulers in today's China, because of a long record of growth, because of what begins to sound like a cultural disinterest in politics, and because of the great efficiency of policing, among other reasons.

Lastly, and most problematically of all, there has been near unanimity in describing the response to the mysterious calls for Chinese people to emulate the peoples of the Middle East and protest in demand for change as a "failure."

Very often, these three sets of observations or claims have come as a trifecta of conventional wisdom.

In quick response, one might caution that few had predicted the Arab world's sudden convulsions, either. As China's own leaders seem to appreciate very well, authoritarian states are subject to change via brusque disequilibria. As someone has noted, things are stable yesterday, they are stable today, and then suddenly tomorrow, with little forewarning, they are not stable.

I would add that cultural claims that Chinese people and hence the society are fundamentally different from people elsewhere often veer into essentialism and are at best unreliable. David Brooks's recent column about Samuel Huntington is insightful in this regard.

To be clear, the argument here is not that China is flirting with a revolutionary moment. But this does not mean that this is not an unusually important moment, and a deeply revealing one as well.

At the simplest level, it is hard to understand how a call to protest can be declared a failure if it virtually causes a nation's entire security apparatus to come out in force and to take extraordinary measures of one kind after another, as has happened in China.

Ever the great builder of walls, China responded to last week's call for protesters to gather at a McDonalds in central Beijing by erecting barriers around the fast food establishment and deploying sanitation workers to hose down the streets to shoo people away. Watching over the scene were large numbers of policemen, both uniformed and plain-clothed, who didn't hesitate to use muscle to bundle away suspected foreign correspondents, many of whom were then subjected to interrogations on camera.

In the week since, during the run up to the third successive weekend where the word "Jasmine" has been used as a call to protest in China, dozens of foreign correspondents have received phone calls or visits from state security agents who have warned them about reporting on such sensitive matters and made dark hints about visa renewals down the road should they fail to take the advice.

The extraordinary measures continued last weekend, with an even bigger deployment of police in central Beijing who cordoned off areas of the city, stopped suspicious looking foreigners (which basically meant adult, non-Asian foreigners) for questioning and to turn them away, and interrupted subways service to a part of the city where students are heavily concentrated, for fear that they might congregate or protest.

And finally, according to the Associate Press, foreign journalists were told that new rules now apply to the exercise of their profession. Special prior permission is now needed for them to conduct any newsgathering in central Beijing.

There have been any number of other special policing measures, many of them involving increasingly radical intervention by censors on the Internet, rendering it slow or difficult to access a multitude of websites, especially foreign ones, reportedly interfering with Gmail, and of course blocking access to any number of words deemed dangerous, beginning of course with Jasmine. Someone wrote me from Shanghai on Sunday to say that talking about the speed and censorship of the Internet has become as regular a feature of daily chitchat there, and presumably elsewhere in China, as the weather.

On reflection, this might be a good time to take the Chinese authorities at face value. By their actions, they have all but declared this Jasmine moment to be of tremendous importance. By the same token, this is a good time to reconsider the hasty verdict of failure that many attached to this phantom movement.

A baseline objective of peaceful protesters everywhere is to call out their oppressors, to cause them to show their true colors, and to induce overreaction. By these standards at very little cost, whoever is behind the calls for Chinese to "stroll" in designated areas in cities around the country every weekend in silent protest has registered a rousing asymmetric success.

Seen from this perspective, the oft-cited metric of low to no turnout of identifiable demonstrators is beside the point. In a society where information is so tightly controlled, creating a spectacle, whether of huge numbers of security forces deployed in popular shopping zones on weekends, or of foreigners being stopped and interrogated, or even the virtual spectacle of sudden, large-scale Internet dysfunction, will get a lot of Chinese people asking the question: what in the world is going on here? This amounts, in other words, to spreading the word.

Dutifully turning out to rubberneck weekend strollers has diminishing returns. But one of the most interesting questions a reporter in China today could ask has been asked by surprisingly few in the press corps: what do ordinary people, not the "experts" or the privileged groups such as college students, make of all this? More specifically, what do they think the Party-State is so afraid of, and what does this fear tell us about their nation?

China has achieved extraordinary things over the last three decades, but the events of the last three weeks have revealed its system to be brittle and perhaps even endowed with clay feet. An unstoppable incipient superpower narrative has taken hold in many quarters outside of the country (a narrative interestingly often disclaimed by ordinary Chinese, who know their society's weaknesses first hand). In its spooked response to Jasmine, the Party-State, still scared of words, of anniversaries, and finally of flowers, may have reminded the world that it hasn't traveled quite the distance many have assumed.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/03/dont-dismiss-a-jasmine-moment-in-china/72103/

作者: 伊紮特，03/02/11

近一段時間以來，原本象徵著潔白純真的愛情的茉莉花被賦予了更多的意義，它讓一部分人緊張，一部分人消失在公眾的視野中，還有一部分人感到莫名其妙。

作為一個阿拉伯人，我同樣能夠深刻理解茉莉花在中國所具有的特殊意義。在小學生的音樂教材上，在中國政府舉辦的各種晚會和國際賽事上，茉莉花這首歌曲被一次又一次地提起或奏響。在胡錦濤訪問肯雅首都奈洛比的孔子學院時，當地學員集體為他演唱《茉莉花》，主席先生微笑應和，並對演唱的學生大加讚賞。儘管中國的搜尋引擎已將部分帶有茉莉花的搜索結果依照法規進行了過濾，在百度搜索包含茉莉花的條目仍然達到了19,700,000個，而作為中國國花的牡丹只有12,500,000個。

在我的祖國，和幾乎所有阿拉伯國家，茉莉花都是美好的化身，深受當地人的喜愛。我想世界上應該沒有任何一個地方的居民，對這種散發著芬香的植物具有天生的厭惡。 這些事例無非想引出我個人的一些拙見，因為我看到了茉莉花被賦予了太多政治上的含義。海協會會長陳雲林在上個月訪台途中，多次被當地民眾以茉莉花相迎，由於現在不是茉莉花產季，民眾用塑膠茉莉花投向這位大陸官員。在中國的大多數地方，Google搜索“茉莉花”一詞的結果是“該頁無法顯示”，在一些網路社區上傳茉莉花的照片也會立即被刪除。

這些做法在外人看來多少有些杞人憂天，小題大做。這樣一個找不出源頭的消息很難在中國產生影響。中國有一個典故叫做“橘生淮南則為橘，生於淮北則為枳”，它的根源在於“水土異也”。每當提到這個故事，我常常想起阿拉伯世界的一些古訓。

在我童年的時候，爺爺對我說，以後不管你去什麼地方，你都要和當地人一樣吃那裡的洋蔥。兒時的我並不能完全聽懂老人的話，後來慢慢才懂得洋蔥有殺菌的功效，而不同地域種植的洋蔥所殺的病菌也不盡相同。後來我來中國學醫，逐漸懂得了更多的道理。老人們雖然沒有上過學，但從他們口中說出的這些流傳了數千年的古訓並不是毫無根據的。爺爺活到一百多歲，現在想想，這些老話或許就是他長壽的秘訣。

任何事物都要結合實際，因地制宜。孤立的消息無疑是空穴來風，然而卻被一些人認真了。當然，把北非“綻放”的茉莉花移植到中國的想法，在讓人貽笑大方之餘，也無奈於中國人中庸無為的傳統思想。革命複製的“創意”無非是魯迅筆下的“拿來主義”的一種表現，但革命不是商品，不是像手機一樣用別人的機器模仿著做出一個就能投入市場。革命因國而異，需要結合階級矛盾的狀況和當地的社會經濟環境。中國人喜歡模仿國外的高端手機，但模仿的同時，也損害了智慧財產權人的合法權益。在這一點上，“拿來主義”、“山寨文化”的盛行也不利於實現從“中國製造”到“中國創造”的飛躍。尊重別人的智慧財產權，不僅是每一個人的責任，更是一個社會、一個國家的責任。

有的時候，對於“拿來主義”使用不當也會對別人造成傷害，比如中國為了紀念南京大屠殺遇難者而修建的“哭牆”。南京的夢魘觸痛所有中國人的神經，但哭牆也同樣觸痛了所有阿拉伯人的神經，中國人的災難應該用自己的方式紀念，別人的牆不能代表自己的歷史。中國正在努力提升自己的軟實力，一個為世界貢獻出四大發明的國家能夠做到這一點。

言歸正傳。革命輸出這種不切實際的構想註定失敗，伊朗的歷史足以佐證，而在今天這也不過是某些人的一廂情願罷了。我們可以注意到，在突尼斯等阿拉伯國家爆發革命初期，西方媒體並沒有表現出太大的興趣，而對於中國的所謂民主化運動，大部分西方媒體比中國民眾表現得還要積極。某個國家最高級別的外交官的突然出現，更讓我們擔心原本不會引起波瀾的一起事件成為被西方政客利用的工具。在這場鮮少有民眾參與的“革命”中，王府井成了員警和媒體的戰場，也成為了外國政客爭取選票的工具。

另外我們還要注意到的一點，無論是格魯吉亞的玫瑰革命(Rose Revolution)，烏克蘭的橙色革命(Orange Revolution)，伊拉克的紫色革命(Purple Revolution)，吉爾吉斯斯坦的鬱金香革命(Tulip Revolution)，還是黎巴嫩的雪杉革命（Cedar Revolution），這些都只是西方媒體對於非西方陣營國家社會變革的叫法，當能夠用來形容革命的顏色被用完之後，植物成為了革命的外衣。革命是矛盾不可調和的產物，是自然的無規律的，沒有必要提前把名字起好，這就如同嬰兒要等分娩之後再根據性別起名字，革命也要根據特點、過程和結果來確定名稱和其在歷史上的地位。然而，通過上面提到的這些具有一定共同點的革命我們發現，在你還沒有意識到應該為自己的行動取名字的時候，一些別有用心的活動家或媒體，已經為你的革命處理好了革命的全部後勤工作，包括起名字。

一個鮮為人知的事實是，阿拉伯人從來沒有，也十分反感把突尼斯人民的革命稱為“茉莉花革命”，因為本·阿裡在1987年發動的推翻前總統哈比卜·布林吉巴的不流血政變就被稱為“茉莉花革命”，對於現時的突尼斯人來說，那次政變是一個諷刺，更是一種恥辱，他們更願意將自己的行動稱為“尊嚴革命”(Dignity Revolution)。

家家有本難念的經，每個國家的歷史發展不同，民族性情不同，社會的各階層的生存狀況，面臨的挑戰和關心的問題也有所不同。在面臨不盡相同的社會矛盾和社會現實時，用照搬別人的解決方法無疑是不切實際的，也是違背了解決問題所需要的實事求是的態度。

911事件之後我曾聯合另外兩家中東媒體的記者前往韓國，對時任韓國總統的盧武鉉進行過一次專訪。那天早上，總統從藍宮出來，和我們一一握手寒暄，他談了對我們三家媒體的感受，並對伊朗記者說，“我下來之前剛剛吃過一顆伊朗的石榴。”伊朗的記者英語稍遜，當時沒明白總統的意思，倒是後來在飛機上又提起這件事，問我總統說吃了伊朗的什麼，我告訴他是石榴。然而莎士比亞的語言很玄妙，手榴彈和石榴有著近乎相同的發音，我說罷便引來了周圍乘客驚恐的目光，他們緊張地看著我和我身邊留著一撮小鬍子的伊朗記者，露出慌張而又無助的表情。我能想到他們當時的心理狀態，我不希望類似的誤解發生在中國，不希望有一天在中國的航班上，當我向乘務員提出需要一杯茉莉花茶的時候，被旁人投來異樣的目光。花朵就是花朵，不要讓政治的氣息蓋住她們原有的芳香。 

原載: http://yizhate.blshe.com/post/534/652547

作者為半島電臺駐中國記者。此電視臺人才濟濟，報導公正，視野寬闊，頗享聲譽，但這兩年卻有讓美國滲透、顛覆跡象。

據奧地利《標準報》今天報導，利比亞東部班加西地區的叛軍沮喪地認為，其力量不敵卡達菲政府軍與其支持者，因此籲請西方對卡達菲軍進行轟炸。同一報導提及，希拉蕊在國會表示，利比亞政權並無更迭跡象，可能陷入長期內戰，唯美國的強而有力的戰略反應可起決定性作用（大意）。 -- 俞力工

本文於 修改第 1 次

防茉莉再開花 北京如臨大敵

【中央社】 ，02/26/11

中國網民發起第2輪「中國茉莉花革命」，號召民眾明天在全國23個城市集會，要求政治改革、爭取自由。據報導，為防止再一次的茉莉花行動，北京如臨大敵，甚至出動防暴部隊。 

自由亞洲電台報導，集會前夕，北京王府井加強保安。有上訪民眾說街道上突然增多了戴紅袖標的監視人員。還有消息表示，官方已從各地增調通訊監聽人員增援北京，周邊的防暴部隊已進入北京。 

位在王府井大街的麥當勞餐廳外仍然是這次聚會地點，快餐店外今天架起大型圍欄，並貼上「城市新發展」宣傳海報。多輛公安車在附近駐守，大批便衣警員及首都治安義工巡邏，民眾只要拍照，就被警員叫住問話。 

報導說，隨著網民發起的第二輪「茉莉花革命」的日期臨近，以及參與城市增至23個，當局也在緊鑼密鼓地「調兵遣將」。以往只有在「兩會（全國人大與政協每年例會）」和北京奧運會出現的北京「紅袖章」，再次上街協助「維穩」。 

北京等多個大陸城市20日上演中國版的「茉莉花革命」，博訊網臨時網站日前再次出現訊息，號召大陸民眾明天參與茉莉花革命集會，並以「兩會」作為代號。1000226

http://news.chinatimes.com/mainland/50506396/132011022601265.html

本文於 修改第 1 次

China tries to stamp out 'Jasmine Revolution'

Anita Chang, Associated Press

BEIJING – Authorities rounded up dozens of dissidents and cracked down on calls for a "Jasmine Revolution," which urged demonstrations in more than a dozen Chinese cities Sunday apparently modeled after the wave of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Middle East.

The source of the call was not known and many activists seemed not to know what to make of it, even as they spread the word. They said they were unaware of any known group being involved in the request for citizens to gather in 13 cities and shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness."

The authoritarian government, always on guard to squelch dissent, appeared to be taking the threat of protests seriously and moved to stamp out the spread of the message that first appeared on U.S.-based Chinese-language website Boxun.com.

More than 100 activists in cities across China were taken away by police, confined to their homes or were missing, the Hong Kong-based group Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several dissidents, and some activists said they were warned not to participate Sunday.

Police pulled Beijing lawyer Jiang Tianyong into a car and drove away, said his wife, Jin Bianling. She told The Associated Press by phone Saturday night that she was still waiting for more information.

On Sunday, searches for "jasmine" were blocked on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and status updates with the word on popular Chinese social networking site Renren.com were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."

Mass text messaging service was unavailable in Beijing due to "technical issues," according to a customer service operator for leading provider China Mobile. In the past, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas to prevent organizing.

On Beijing's busy Wangfujing pedestrian mall, where protesters were told to rally in front of a McDonald's restaurant, there was a heavier-than-normal police presence amid the crowds of shoppers. Along with uniformed police and "public security volunteers" wearing red armbands, plainclothes officers monitored the crowd with video and still cameras. A police surveillance van was parked across the street from the restaurant.

Boxun.com said its website was attacked by hackers Saturday after it posted the call to protest. A temporary site, on which users were reporting heavy police presence in several cities, was up and running Sunday.

China's authoritarian government has appeared unnerved by recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It has limited media reports, stressing the instability caused by protests in Egypt, and restricted Internet searches to keep people uninformed.

The call for a Jasmine Revolution came as President Hu Jintao gave a speech to top leaders Saturday, asking them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society." Hu told the senior politicians and officials to provide better social services to people and improve management of information on the Internet "to guide public opinion," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The ruling Communist Party is dogged by the threat of social unrest over rising food and housing prices and other issues.

In the latest price increase, the National Development and Reform Commission announced Saturday that gasoline and diesel prices would be raised by 350 yuan ($53) per ton.

Tensions were already high in recent days after a video secretly made under house arrest by one of China's best-known activist lawyers, Chen Guangcheng, was made public. Chen and his wife reportedly were beaten in response, and some of Chen's supporters reported being detained or beaten by authorities after meeting to discuss his case.

Associated Press writer Charles Hutzler contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110220/ap_on_re_as/as_china_jasmine_revolution

Arrests after China web users call for protests

BEIJING (AFP) – Several top Chinese rights activists have disappeared into police custody as a web campaign urged angry citizens to mark the Middle East's "Jasmine Revolution" with protests, campaigners said Sunday.

Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday, campaigners said, while the Chinese government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations.

"We welcome... laid off workers and victims of forced evictions to participate in demonstrations, shout slogans and seek freedom, democracy and political reform to end 'one party rule'," one Internet posting said.

The postings, many of which appeared to have originated on overseas websites run by exiled Chinese political activists, called for protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and 10 other major Chinese cities.

Protesters were urged to shout slogans including "We want food to eat", "We want work", "We want housing", "We want justice", "Long live freedom", and "Long live democracy".

As the word spread on the demonstrations, numerous political dissidents and rights lawyers were placed in police custody, activists said.

"Many rights defenders have disappeared (into police custody) in recent days, others are under house arrest and their mobile phones are blocked," rights attorney Ni Yulan told AFP.

"The police detachment outside my door has increased. They follow us if we go out," Ni said of the surveillance on her and her husband.

Telephone calls to prominent rights lawyers including Teng Biao, Xu Zhiyong and Jiang Tianyong went unanswered Sunday. Friends and other activists said they had been detained by police.

Chinese authorities have sought to restrict media reports on the recent political turmoil that began in Tunisia as the "Jasmine Revolution" and spread to Egypt and across the Middle East.

Unemployment and rising prices have been key factors linked to the unrest that has also spread to Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya.

Searches Sunday for "jasmine" on China's Twitter-like micro-blog Weibo produced no results, while messages on the popular Baidu search engine said that due to laws and regulations such results were unavailable.

Some Chinese Internet search pages listed "jasmine" postings but links to them were blocked.

The Chinese government has expended tremendous resources to police the Internet and block anti-government postings and other politically sensitive material with a system known as the "Great Firewall of China."

In a speech given Saturday, Chinese President Hu Jintao acknowledged growing social unrest and urged the ruling Communist Party to better safeguard stability while also ordering strengthened controls over "virtual society" or the Internet.

"It is necessary to strengthen and improve a mechanism for safeguarding the rights and interests of the people," Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying.

A key to achieve the goal was to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society... safeguard people's rights and interests, promote social justice, and sustain sound social order," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110220/tc_afp/chinarightsunrestinternet

News of Chinese Jasmine Revolution Spreads Online

Netizens in China announced 13 major locations for the "Chinese Jasmine Revolution" on Saturday (Feb. 19) and said that the event will be carried out at 2pm on Sunday (Feb. 20), China time.

Messages regarding the demonstrations began to be spread through major social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook since few days ago. Boxun News reported the event but its Chinese website was disabled by anonymous hackers on Saturday. Boxun said that the organization is staying neutral of the event but anonymous hackers disabled its Chinese website anyway, while its English website remains functioning as of press time.

Boxun is an overseas Chinese community website based in the United States. It often carries news of human rights abuses in China.

According to report on the site, the "Chinese Jasmine Revolution" will be carried out simultaneously in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tienjin, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Changsha, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin and Wuhan. The report also urged the public to pack the major plazas in their own cities if they are not located in any of these 13 cities.

Reportedly, the post appeals to people who dream of a better China to go to the appointed places in the thirteen cities on Feb. 20.

The post said that it welcome people from all parties, professions, religions and classes to come out to join the event.

"Whether you are the parents of kidney stone babies, relocated households, retired soldiers, private teachers, buy-out offer employees, laid-off workers, petitioners... we are all Chinese. You and I still have a dream about China's future. We should be responsible for the future of our own and children," the post said.

Following the hacking attack on Boxun, the site said, "We believe that the cyber attack was related to our reports about the demonstration."

A Chinese website that posted the message, peacehall.com, has also been blocked.

Despite the government's swift move to block news of the call discussion among netizens still spread on other websites.

"We have been all prepared to join the demonstration but only wait for the coming of the day," one netizen posted.

"Hong Kong people should also join the call. Gathering Place: Victoria Park," one post wrote, which has urged a further spread of the information on the internet.

"It's time to stop the Communist Party of China from continuing their mischief," another netizen said.

A netizen on Twitter said he had heard China's armed forces are on alert over the rumors of unrest.

Slogans prepared for the demonstrations called for food, housing and jobs as well as political and judicial reforms and an end to censorship of the press.

Tung Li-wen, a professor of public security at Taiwan's Central Police University, said the success of a revolution initiated over the internet is unlikley given the Chinese government's sophisticated censorship of the internet. Any message challenging the Communist Party's authority will be taken down swiftly, he said.

"Democratic or human rights activists are already under intense censorship," Tung said.

However, Tung said an uprising triggered by an incident is possible. For example, when the offices of China Network Television caught fire in February 2009, as many as 100,000 people gathered around the building. "If some people called for democracy or political reform within a mass of people, turmoil or even revolution could occur," Tung said.

Reference:

Tung Li-wen 董立文

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110219000148&cid=1101

*  Want China Times is the English news website of the Taiwan based China Times News Group.