Tweeting against oppression
I’m still relishing the vivid memories of Berlin last Nov. 9 when 100,000 of us stood out in a cold drizzle to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
There aren’t many experiences to match that, although one of the events during the month-long celebration, dubbed the Festival of Freedom, came close.
Fallen dominoes symbolize the Berlin Wall's downfall 20 years ago. This scene is from Nov. 9, 2009, in Berlin as 100,000 celebrated the landmark event for freedom. Twitter helped bring the message to the world. (AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski)
That was seeing how a bunch of creative Germans put together a website called Berlintwitterwall (www.berlintwitterwall.com) and invited people from around the world to tweet about other walls of oppression that must come down. You can still see a sample of the tweets by going to that site, and some are extremely moving.
The site had more than100 tweets posted in the first 24 hours. Then momentum really picked up and, before long, there were thousands. The site pictures the East Side Gallery, a famous stretch of the wall that still stands and is painted with murals. Against this wall, the messages appear as they stroll in a continuous stream from right to left.
Visitors can also click on photo icons to see pictures of pieces of the Domino Wall, about 1,000 pieces of 8-foot tall styrofoam painted with messages of peace by students, celebrities and politicians. The Domino Wall snaked nearly a mile along the old wall line and were toppled during the celebrations on Nov. 9.
China Bans Site
So popular was the site to people in countries with oppressive policies, that some of these governments — China’s in particular — wound up blocking its citizens from logging on to Berlintwitterwall. But not before many Chinese citizens risked a lot to post their protests against their own government
The twitterwall site was the brainchild of the Kulture Projekte Berlin, the non-profit arts organization that was called upon to add their creative minds to this Festival of Freedom, 20 years after the fall of the big wall.
“We got a lot of worldwide attention, so naturally the Chinese people have seen it as a way to voice their opinions about internet censorship in their own country,” Carsten Hein, the project coordinator, told German newspaper, The Local.
Particularly troublesome to Chinese authorities was the request by the Berlin Twitter Wall for users to describe, “which walls in the rest of the world should, in their opinion, now fall.”
Screenshot shows a website of worldwide communication network twitter.com. (AP Photo)
I’ve been a journalist for a lot of years, and I have never understood why anyone can still think that censorship does more good than harm. Doesn’t the very idea of censorship infer strongly that government leaders are insecure about their own program, and/or that they have something to hide, and/or they think the people are too stupid to figure it out for themselves?
So kudos to this application of the social media which allowed the world, in this case, to voice its opposition to oppression of all kinds.
A Sample of Tweets
Here are some of the actual tweets from the cyberwall at this site which is still up and running:
* “One day China will see their walls of oppression come tumbling down, just as the Berlin Wall did.”
*”Some people think that the U.S.-Mexican border is another wall of oppression.”
* “The Berlin Wall is a symbol of how far some societies will go in dividing themselves from tolerance.”
* “The Berlin Twitter Wall has been great-firewalled in China.”
*”The 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Wall shows the struggle that freedom of thought faces.”
* “Without the fall of the Wall, I would have never found my friend in the East.”
So a lot of pent-up frustrations by everyday Chinese citizens managaed to get out before the government clampdown. But China isn’t the only country attempting to restrict access to the Web.
A Dirty Dozen
In a report released last March, called “Enemies of the Internet”, the group listed 12 nations that it said have systematically restricted their populations from accessing online news and information deemed “undesirable.”
The nations cited were Burma, North Korea, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Tunisia, and China.
The report asserted these countries not only restrict access to Web sites, but also persecute some computer users for what they post online.
Despite these attempts at censorship, one of the great advantage of the Internet is that oppressive governments around the world find it harder to keep messages of freedom like these away from their people who are so hungry to read, hear, and see them.
Often, as in the case of China and Berlintwitterwall.com, some protests reach the rest of the world before the government is able to shut the door.
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Comments
Reading this makes me grateful for the freedom we have in America. Censorship is such a “touchy” topic because while it might exist to prevent or protect someone from something, it can be a violation of ones own rights. Many of these governing systems place so much control over their people. It would be so scary to be cut of and not have a clue with what is going on. It sad to think the power government can have over people and more times than not, the people have no clue. They are truly a victim.
This a very interesting article. I really had a great time reading this. Thank you very much for sharing this.
Reading this article makes me thankful for our founding fathers. They laid their lives out on the table so that we may live in a nation that is for the people and by the people. Too often we take our freedom for granted. We are consumed with the idea that it is normal to have so many abilities and opportunities theat generate from the freedoms we have. The freedom of speech and press are being taken away in other countries, we dont realize how precious those two freedoms are and the affect it would have on us if we are unable to have them. The government blocking what we are able to read and write about it is a scary concept. I feel a great way to release frustration and oppression is to write it down, it makes me sad to think that privilege is being taken away in other parts of the world, because some insecure government. I believe that the web site is a fantastic idea and something that should be avaliable to others for a long time.
Before reading this blog I had no idea there was this website. This truly makes me so thankful to have the little freedom that we do in America. Of course there is still much oppression here, you do not necessarily feel its pressure as harshly as you would in China. Even before China was mentioned as the first one to ban this site, I thought that “of course China probably will not let them use it “, coincidence? No, I believe that even though the site has been banned not only in China, but in other countries, apparently, that it is just a reminder of our American/Christian duty to help in any possible way, without making matters worse. After reading this blog and thinking about my own oppressions in my, they seem so small because they are heard/fixable, compared to overlooked and banned for others.
I had no idea that this website was banned in China or the fact that it even existed. Living in America, we take for granted, or rather I take for granted the freedoms that I have living in the US. In comparison to other counties where people live in fear and also people who live a life where aspects are censored or banned by the government. The fact that this web site was banned in China and other counties and not in the US exemplifies the freedom that we have in the US. When our freedom displayed when compared to countries that do not have as much freedom as we do. It is a crazy and foreign thought to think that the government could ban us from what we can read and what we can participate in, via the written word. The government should not hold the power to tell us what we can read and what we can write. I am thankful for the freedom of speech we have in the US.
I think moments like this are one’s that continue to inspire the rest of the world. It is movements like this that may inspire the rest of the world to make changes in their governmental system. I think moment like this will cause China to see how oppressive they really can be. It is really great to see people use art as a way to depict the reality that the people of Russia experienced. It’s moments like these were only the arts can express the pain and oppression a people can truly experience. It’s great how twitter was used as a medium to communicate the significance of this situation.
I found this post really interesting. I had this general idea that the government and the media meshed fairly well. I thought this because, although the media jumps the gun on many political endeavors, the government in return uses the media as a resource, i.e. communication, damage control, etc. This article actually depicted a different side to how governments can completely disregard the media. I agree that censorship truly does more harm than good. Upon oppression society tends to rebel and want to be heard more. Censorship not only takes away society’s freedom on speech but in my opinion it takes away their freedom to think. The media has broadened society’s ability to reach out on a global level leading to an heightened ability to cognitive thinking. Having access to global information has set us free in a sense, where in the past we were not able to “live” in such a global village.
I also agree with the idea that censorship poses the idea that “government leaders are insecure about their own program, and/or that they have something to hide.” The government should value its people opinions. Without the support for its people, a government is nothing. The media, particularly the Internet, has truly opened up many minds around world. Such an ability should be embraced NOT hindered.
I really enjoyed this blog entry as I had not heard about the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the twitter, twittering around the world caused. I found it fascinating that China let anyone respond before blocking it from their constituents. It is my understanding that many websites are blocked in order for their government to keep control over what their citizens hear and what they say out loud. I wonder what the leaders in China feel this proves? It seems that what it would say to its citizens is that either 1. We don’t trust you to support our decisions, or 2. Our decisions are so against the benefit of the people that we cannot share all the news with you. This week I have been reading about how government and media can work together or against each other. Media is usually the beginning of a revolution. It is my suspicion that the Chinese government is keeping their country under its thumb. I think that it can only be a limited amount of time this can work, but I could be wrong. It makes me very glad to live in a country where good or bad; we can write and read what we want.
I couldn’t agree more on the comment about leaders who support censorship are insecure. Having grown up in the US where our freedoms are part of who were are and it makes it difficult for an American to understand how a leader wouldn’t what true and honest discourse to take place in the media and allowing the population to determine what is best and what is right. This highlights the difference between and democracy and a dictatorship. Let us all hope that eventually democracy will win out worldwide and the (berlintwitterwall) is one vehicle that helps this to happen.
I am so glad that this website was established. People that are being oppressed are probably tired of the government deciding what is good for them to hear, read about etc. People are going to get these types of messages whether the government agrees or not. There is no way to block every type of message that they do not deem appropriate. There has to be a point where they allow people to decide for themselves if the website is worth their time or not.
Personally I would go crazy living in a situation like this. I want to be able to have the freedom to speak my mind and utilize any website that I want. I understand censorship for certain cases like security of the nation etc. But other than that people are the ones who should decide what book to read, what website to visit etc.
These various governments can try all they want to try to censor what people do, but people are going to try to hear the messages of freedom regardless.