Julian Assagne: Saviour or anti-Christ?
As I write this, I am sitting in Starbucks in Shekou, a satellite city of Shenzhen in southern China, near Hong Kong. Shenzhen is one of the biggest cities in the world. This is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, if you are not in China, nor a China watcher, you may have never have of Shenzhen. Shenzhen is actually the richest city in China, which is now effectively the centre of the world’s economy. Think about that: a city as big as London and New York combined, yet few westerners have ever heard of it. The world is changing, and fast.
Yet I am sitting in an American outpost, am I not? Starbucks is the epitome of American economic and cultural influence (some might say hegemony). The décor is that same laid back style as Starbucks everywhere, and there is some unidentifiable old-style jazz playing through the sound system. The Chinese staff can speak English, albeit rather basic. You can even get that great leveler of worlds and arguably worldviews here - the Internet. With a click I am online and am able to surf the net. But there is something slightly discomforting. My own blog (this blog) will not open. The Chinese government doesn’t like blogs. They don’t like free thought, it must be said. For example, I can’t access much information about the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony (yesterday) awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo – although some stuff does show up. For those not in the know, the Chinese government has also generously granted Liu 11 years of free higher education – state funded re-education, that is – for suggesting that accountability might make a nice change around here.
I have no problem though, accessing information on the WikiLeaks saga, and there are certain eerie parallels between the way China has handled Liu Xiaobo, and the way Julian Assagne is being treated in the west. Both dissidents are currently detained by the authorities. Just how free are we really?
What are we to make of the Wikileaks saga? What does it mean for the future? What does it mean for those of us who have a commitment to a more conscious or spiritual path in life? (and many of you reading my blog have such a worldview).
Predictably, governments have been deeply disturbed by the breaches in security. Obama has called Assagne’s actions “deplorable.” Sarah Palin has called them “un-American” – which is one of her more factually accurate statements, given that Assagne is actually Australian.
Others see Assagne as a disciple of free speech, a neo-Neo (pardon the pun), a super-cool geek refusing to swallow the blue pill and be inserted back into the Matrix...
