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Xu Zhiyong is a very important actor in the Chinese rights defense movement.
He is like many other rights defense lawyers who
hope to promote rule of law and human rights from within the legal framework.
Starting with the Sun Zhigang incident to the founding of the Open Constitution Initiative,
and to initiating the New Citizens Movement—
all of this has followed this principle.
But what the authorities cannot tolerate is the whole rights defense movement,
which is increasingly becoming organized and taking to the streets.
Of course all this is still within the legal framework:
whether the actions are citizen dinner gatherings, these types of informal coming together,
or voicing opinions in the street, or protest.
All of them, of course, are not illegal.
But the authorities, under the ideology of stability maintenance,
consider this kind of organization and “street-ification” of citizen rights defense activities
to be a very big threat to the system.
I think this is one reason why the authorities sentenced Xu Zhiyong to four years in prison
and are suppressing the citizens’ rights movements.
We can look at China’s political situation in two different aspects.
One is the higher level: that is,
Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping, and the relationships among them.
But, in my view,
the more important elements, those who are truly able to lead China’s transformation,
are at the bottom:
the citizen reporters, lawyers, petitioners, and ordinary netizens.
From these people
their appeal for rights and interests and the call for freedom are becoming more and more intense.
If the authorities don't want to give up this kind of system,
and don’t want to give up their privileges and benefits,
then they have very limited choices—
and thus, most naturally, they think of suppression.
The New Citizens Movement can be seen as one part of China’s rights defense movement.
The New Citizens Movement is not quite the same as the original political opposition.
Originally, especially before the rise of the Internet,
the popular opposition, that is, [the activists] who organized underground parties,
were, of course, very, very brave.
They greatly promoted China’s democratization and paid a heavy price.
But since the advent of the Internet, the uniting of citizens has become easier and easier.
The New Citizens Movement is not a tight organization.
In fact, it doesn’t have leaders, a program, set members, or a charter.
All it has are many centers.
So, even if they lock up Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and other activists,
they still have no way to stop the entire New Citizens Movement.
As far as I know,
after Xu Zhiyong, *** Gongquang, and all the others were arrested,
the citizen dinner gatherings in many places did not stop.
Although the scale may be a bit smaller, or even a bit more low key,
these activities have not stopped.
So, I feel if the Chinese people will not abandon their demands for rights and freedom,
the New Citizens Movement will also not stop.
The entire Chinese rights defense movement will,
despite this serious repressive environment,
continue to develop and mature.