Just take a look at the carnage on Notepad++'s GitHub: 'Free Uyghur' release sparks spam tsunami by pro-Chinese On Tuesday, Don Ho, the developer of Notepad++, a free GPL source code editor and notepad application for Microsoft Windows, released version 7.8.1, prompting a social media firestorm and a distributed denial of service attack. Notepad++ v7.8.1 was designated "the Free Uyghur edition," in reference to the predominantly Muslim …
Give that man an enthusiastic pat on the back & a double thumbs up. The only thing evil needs to succeed is for good folks to do nothing. Kudos for him standing up to decry an oppressive government that is obviously trying to troll flood him out of existence.
Dear China. Winnie the Pooh is happily giving you TheFinger in Streisand Effect inspired glee.
This is not the Chinese government trying to suppress this. They are more sophisticated than that. This is the Chinese people who have been brainwashed into thinking that Westerners have been brainwashed. The thing is, there's lots of them.
" this kind of haphazard spamming only serves to bring attention to initiatives like Notepad’s."
Indeed. And now I know about these particular human rights abuses, which I didn't until today.
Upvoted as you may be correct, but with China's social monitoring app, I forget what it's called, the Chinese gov can tell who's doing what. Extra credit for those who spam the western doubters. So, whether it's the Chinese gov sponsoring this or not it may be worthwhile for Chinese citizens to do things like this just to build a better social profile with their gov. That kind of makes this or any other spamming from China in support of their government sponsored by their gov.
The Social Credit System.
Its not about building a positive score, but rather avoiding scrutiny. The rules of the SCS are extremely broad to the point where even a basic look into the life of the average person will result in them being denied access to a lot of necessities. The point of the system is that they don't have to create a blatantly draconian law to hang their detractors, instead they let people weave their own nooses one antisocial fiber at a time until the state decides to hoist their self-made noose. Even a lifetime of supporting the state won't add up to enough points to avoid the gallows.
China lacks the personnel and technology to actively monitor their entire population, but they don't need to. They punish the most noticeable on their radar, which convinces most people to avoid doing things that would cause them to be noticed. Things like being part of the minority not parroting state propaganda.
Don't delude yourself, this SCS is slowly and creepily building up in North-America too. While you're keeping an eye (and rifles within reach) on your government, the tech giants are silently building the surveillance capitalism and the equivalent of the SCS.
Oh, I am very much aware that its showing up in the western world. I suspect China was inspired by us when they created their system. I also very much believe that the Orwell estate should sue Amazon and Google for plagiarizing 1984 so blatantly.
"they let people weave their own nooses one antisocial fiber at a time until the state decides to hoist their self-made noose."
AKA: If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him (Cardinal Richilieu)
It's an ancient and honourable tradition.
I don't really mean to look like being on the other side of the fence (by the way, I'm not Chinese) but you should add a third category, that of genuinely proud Chinese citizens. Perhaps they are a minority but at that scale they're still in the tens of millions. Just consider where China was 50 years ago compared to the Western world and check where it is now. Unfortunately for a lot of people including you and me, this has been achieved by a communist regime. I can't see how a democracy could achieve so much in such a short time. Maybe this is what fans the strong anti-Chinese sentiment, they failed to fail. They were supposed to be something like Cuba, a failed experiment but they're not. Not even with the mighty push of the President of the USoA.
There are plenty of countries that have been ravaged by 2nd WW, had to rebuild from scratch and are not totalitarian shitholes.
The only reason why China is so big on international scene is because it is a frikkin huge country with a lot of people. If you look at per capita statistics, it's hardly impressive, it's GPD is on the level of Iraq or Brazil.
“ but you should add a third category, that of genuinely proud Chinese citizens.”
There are a lot of those. The idea that they’re all brainwashed is a poor narrative - many have quite a nuanced view of their country but are careful what they say and to who (Tigger’s bestie sees and hears all). I would also note the relationship they have with their government is hardly one way - never underestimate the Power of Peppa.
"And now I know about these particular human rights abuses, which I didn't until today."
Then you must have been living under a rock for the last few years.
Look it's been 30 years since Tiananmen Square and things have not got any better since then. The Chinese Communist Party has control of what goes in and out of China via the internet and if these comments and actions did not meet the government's approval then they would not have happened. There is a thing called plausible deniability, trouble is, as far as the Chinese government is concerned their actions speak louder than words and any protestation by them that they had nothing to do with all this fuss will be treated with scorn.
Then you must have been living under a rock for the last few years
As even the British, Brexit-obsessed media has managed to cover this story occasionally oved the last couple of years, I'd be very interested to know which news outlets Steve Button has been getting his information from so that I can actively avoid them...
M.
Quite appropriate that I read the name as Steve Bannon in a post related to news sites to avoid.
"This is the Chinese people who have been brainwashed into thinking that Westerners have been brainwashed"
It's a fair bet it's really party insiders who are brainwashERS, and not brainwashEES. You know, like certain "non profit" organization employees that are paid to troll teh intarwebs with their socialism sewage (and target howler monkey sock-puppet responses to people like me, naturally).
I hadn't thought about Notepad++ before, being NOT a windows power user since the early noughties. My respect for this program and its developer has been greatly increased.
I do recall a sample application called 'multipad' that I built from an early windows SDK, and used as a sub for notepad a couple o' decades ago. MS should've done that on their own.
Retaliation from Communists against the Notepad++ dev is a LOT like me getting downvoted by the Howler Monkey faction of my fan club, only better. It's a badge of HONOR for doing the RIGHT THING!
Now we need him to mention something about Hong Kong and watch THOSE fireworks with popcorn and beer!
Back when Visual Studio was at peak brokenness as a development environment, most experienced developers in my company switched to Notepad++. In a nod to this, we renamed the executable to Visual Studio++ to reduce the risk of management discovering and forcing us to switch back.
@bombastic bob - Bob, dear - socialism and communism are NOT the same thing, do try to keep up! If you bother to check, you would note that some of the nations rated as the happiest in the world are some form of socialist, are rated highly for their high per capita GDP, social care systems, freedom from corruption and long life expectancy - and are democracies.
If you're going to use the word "sewage" whilst talking politics, lets have a look at USA, where aside from there being no effective public health care system, organised suppression and castigation of minorities in the name of "religious freedom", you can't even be sure that water coming out of domestic taps is fit to drink, and there is currently legislation being promulgated by the White House to further endanger the health of the nation's waterways and drinking water - in order to let mining companies do what the heck they like with little oversight. Hmmn, reminds me of some reports I've heard of regarding how things are in China, does that...
The bulk of the "sewage" in politics is that put out by close-minded folk or the power-hungry seeking to try to make politics look as black and white and as simple as possible in order to try to hoodwink folk into following them. And usually involves some form of scape-goating. Politics isn't that simple because humanity isn't that simple. C'mon Bob, stop letting yourself down! Doesn't bother me that you're at a different point in the political spectrum to me - happy to debate, but childish mud-slinging helps nobody.
I’m wondering whether a "free Hawaii" Notepad++-edition would get as much coverage?
Nah, I’m not actually wondering. It’s easy to spot the ongoing propaganda we’re getting carpet bombed with.
In the meantime, innocent people (the majority is) are being tortured in Guantanamo, which is still being occupied illegally. The US has put the entire Middle East at war, killing millions, just to get ahold of more oil; now even stealing the oil openly. Julian Assange is undergoing a "weird" treatment, which breaks every law in Europe and the UK, without anybody "from above" (including most of the media) giving a damn.
I know for a fact that the media in China and Russia (and other countries for that) is far more critical than the media in the Western World. This is not because of Chinese or Russian media becoming more critical, but because of "our" media having dropped way beyond McCarthy once again...
Guantanamo, which is still being occupied illegally
The US rents Guantanamo Bay from Cuba, completely above board. The deal might have originally been negotiated with the pre-communist government, but the current regime's cashed at least one check sent under the deal, so they've effectively agreed to it.
Julian Assange is undergoing a "weird" treatment, which breaks every law in Europe and the UK
What's weird about his treatment? There's nothing unusual about holding someone in pre-trial detention if they've skipped bail in the past.
I’m wondering whether a "free Hawaii" Notepad++-edition would get as much coverage?
Bemusement over Johnny Foreigner endorsing a secessionist movement(of which there are many) rates a different kind of coverage.
Don HO is a true man of freedom, he supports Assange. Unlike you, you are just a pro-Western powers.
https://twitter.com/Notepad_plus/status/1159594670084804609
One with sane mind would clearly know that Assange is a target for against powers.
UN: Assange exposed to "psychological torture" – UN official
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_GSitdMe1A
"I know for a fact that the media in China and Russia (and other countries for that) is far more critical than the media in the Western World"
That is clearly untrue, the 'Lock him up' chants to Trump were covered in multiple papers and TV segments. You think this would happen with Xi? Putin?
Forgotten the Snowden revelations all over the Guardian? you know of any leaks on Chinese Surveillance in the Chinese press?
That said outlets like the Guardian have clearly got closer to the government on security matters post Snowden but if they had a juicy blockbuster story, i'd say they would run it.
Yes, Snowden documents were published by the Guardian, but then the remained data was destroyed (it's reported, try to search Google), and then its editors "resigned", the Guardian becomes bootlicker, Assange's betrayal. If you never heard of 'Integrity Initiative', an organization to "fight fake news", to coordinate "suppose to be independent journalists" to against propaganda, you must know that the Guardian journos are part of it.
If you follow Snowden twitter, he vocally critics Putin, and if you follow some BBC reporters (such as Steve Rosenberg), who publish Russian news papers that critics Putin: "see the Russian people are tired of Putin, revolution is near." or something similar.
and another huge Andre the Giant sized thumbs up from me . . . .
Reaffirms my faith in people a bit. I've been cutting off my nose to spite my face forever (so some people are oh so fond of telling me). I call it integrity.
My late father was fond of saying "You shoot yourself in the foot and then shout "CHARGE", which I prefer.
Nice to see someone doing it with class.
"thumbs up are cheap and the only effect is a momentary hit that you did something good, when in fact, your clicks mean absolutely nothing"
Its about recognising that someone else has done something good, not that by giving a thumbs up that we are doing something good. Although you seem to reference the endorhpin function of the brain I would suggest that this is misplaced in this context.
Your post isn't patronising but I think it's a little bit dumb. I don't think anyone thinks their click will oust Xi Jinping or better the treatment of Chinese Muslims but it's nice to recognise someone elses effort on the forum.
"Its about recognising that someone else has done something good,"
Have they? They've done good PR for their product, for sure. But do you sincerely believe that the world is now a better place because of it? That the plight of Uyghurs has been reduced in any way?
I'm sure all those online thumbuppers must all feel warm and fuzzy inside, but have they actually *done* something?
For example, thrashing and boycotting all made in China stuff? That'd be a real statement, and one that could have an impact if enough people do it.
But also, they'd not be able to use a computer or phone and go thumbupping and feel warm and fuzzy inside. So, I guess, not.
Downvotes, upvotes. At the end of the day, it's not real.
"Have they? They've done good PR for their product, for sure"
Ok I can accept that (whether thats the primary goal is down to your own opinion) but they have also highlighted the plight of the Chinese Muslims, and at least one reg reader was unaware of this so it IS spreading awareness. The guys a coder and this is what he chose to do at potential expense to his business. Fair play I say.
We choose our own battles and Chinese Muslims are 000s of miles from me but I have a basic grasp of the situation to the point I have allowed myself the luxury of an opinion. Practically theres very little I can do but maybe some ideas (like your idea of boycotting chinese made products - a little impractical maybe but the right idea) may gain traction to the point it may faciltate change further down the line.
"Downvotes, upvotes. At the end of the day, it's not real"
Your right, its not. Its just a mechanism to show agreement/disagreement with others in the group. I believe this guy did a good thing so I vote to show my agreement with others and they are free to let me know what they think of my opinion either by upvoting/downvoting or replying to my post.
I did not think for one second I had done anything to help their plight but I was aware of what was going on out there. My personal feeling is that this guy is just trying to spread awareness and thats where I landed with this story (and I'm pretty cynical).
Well I think that not buying new Chinese items is a more practical and high impact tactic that destroying whatever Chinese made products you already own since China already has your money for those purchases.
The modern economy operates on tiny margins, and a boycott of a product or country hits harder as a result. Maybe take advantage of that.
I've used notepad++ for years, and never felt minded to try to donate anything to the author until now. His page doesn't seem to have a 'donate' link, so here's a beverage instead.
Does look from the download page as if he might have capitulated, as the latest release just seems to have a number?
must contain honey
Swiftly followed by a replacement keyboard. Honey is pretty impossible to wash out of one once it has dried..
(Is it just me that's amused by 'Best before' dates on jars of honey? That stuff lasts *forever*. They've even rehydrated honey found in jars in ancient Egyptian tombs and found it was still good!)
As I was informed by my local Sainsbury's a week ago when I queried the situation regarding selling produce marked Best Before February 2019.
Seems their latest trick is to flood their stores with old stock with discount pricing and hope no one notices.
What concerns me is that, it may be legal to sell it, but how is anyone meant to know if it is safe until after they have opened it or eaten it.
"What concerns me is that, it may be legal to sell it, but how is anyone meant to know if it is safe until after they have opened it or eaten it."
For the vast majority of foods, it's quite easy to tell whether or not its safe to eat by smelling, tasting, or looking at it. If you've purchased something and later find out its' spoiled, I'll bet the store will let you return it (when this has happened to me, the store has refunded my money 100% of the time).
Those "best by" dates are almost totally worthless in terms of determining food safety. Those dates are set far, far shorter than when the food would actually spoil -- as in, less than half of the expected shelf life. Those dates aren't even intended for consumers, they're to tell the store when to rotate stock and are essentially a sales tool.
Bizarrely, nobody in the Western world seems to care about this issue. Canada for example has been discreetly refusing for months to grant a visitor visa to the exiled Catalan leader and nobody in the government has found 5 minutes of spare time to issue a statement either in favor or against the Catalan people's fight for freedom.
Kate originated as a Linux editor, but a Windows version exists. Always keen to emulate my intellectual superiors here at El Reg, I installed 64-bit Kate on a Windows 7 laptop. I tried two ways of changing the display from black text on white background. But nothing would change. So I tried to uninstall, and was told that the uninstall did not have permission to access the program files directory. These could be different facets of the same bug. Kate, my eternal companion.
For day-to-day text editing, I use ConTEXT v 0.98.3. A later version 0.98.6 was never stable on my machines. The editor seems to have been abandoned. But it works great. My secondary editor (for those times when you want two editor icons active on the task bar) was plain old Notepad. I guess it's time to free the Uyghurs. Let the downvotes resume!
3/4 OT, I wonder what the Scots will be branded by the UK officials, if they (the Scots, not the officials) vote for independence. Surely, the language will go way past "splitters"? I suppose, "terrorists" will find a new, creative usage, particularly when combined with Faslane...
They'll be called "Scots".
The Scots have already had one independence referendum, with the full participation and blessing of the UK government. It's hard to imagine what would stop them from having another, once the dust from Brexit has settled. Comparison with Catalonia is silly.
Thankin' you Veti! I disagree slightly that there is no comparison. Catalonia is one of the wealthiest areas of Spain, Scotland is one of the poorer in the UK - would be as rich as Norway though if we'd invested our oil though. Scotland always was a nation with an independent legal system, et cetera, Catalonia not so much.
I have Catalan neighbours in Edinburgh who hung their flags out their windows. They don't do that now, scared of European Arrest Warrants.
I love most English people, really lovely neighbours, just terrible landlords. Centuries ago it used to be a fight to the death, now it's a civil dispute with the emphasis on civil. Spain should grow the muck up and realise democracy is more than just a majority, it's also about checks and balances.
Life long pro-independence Scot, anti-war protester, arrested at Faslane, harassed on fake terrorism charges, and I've posted about all that here before plus the journalists here can question me.
You smell fake to me. You smell foul. You smell like cheap vodka.
Different AC here...
'..You smell fake to me. You smell foul. You smell like cheap vodka.'
'Vodka'? sorry, but isn't accusing the poster of being a member of the 77th Brigade the current favourite tactic for dealing with shit you don't want to read online about Scotland?
In case you haven't noticed, the English are about to put into governance of the UK a very hostile right wing Tory regime, and Mr Johnson and his cohorts aren't exactly fond of us Scots..
In case you haven't noticed, the SNPs anti-Brexit meddling has been used to further stoke up anti-Scottish sentiments (thwarting the will of the English people etc. etc.) in the great unwashed of our southern neighbour.
As someone who has been '..arrested at Faslane, harassed on fake terrorism charges ' then you must be aware that the UK state security services have long regarded the Scottish nationalists as 'internal enemies' for as long as there have been Scottish nationalists (and I'm not just talking about the SNP here, though they've been infiltrated by spooks of one sort or another, provably from the 1950s, but probably a lot earlier.)
There's a number of us think that the next English Tory government (acting, of course, as the UK Government) will be unleashing an epic shitstorm of 'extreme unpleasantness' in our specific direction once they're safely ensconced in power (cf. Johnson's recent jibe about taking control back of NHS Scotland, that's a shot across the bows right there..).
The original AC, no matter how badly he worded it, has a valid point, it doesn't matter what people actually are, it's what the controlling state labels them as which is important for propaganda purposes, so expect all sorts of dirty tricks and false flag shit from now on, also expect that good old standby, the sectarian pot to be well and truly shit-stirred...divide and rule is an old game, it's always useful for a state to have 'enemies', even if it has to go to the expense of manufacturing them..
I can't personally beat your Faslane experience, but my father was a Scottish Communist, as such, we grew up through the 60's and 70's used to the idea that we were spied upon by the UK state as a family, and they weren't subtle about it.
TL:DR, in online matters Scottish, UK state sponsored trolls are more likely than furry hat and vodka wearing ones..(though, as always, it's a game anyone can play...)
I'm Danny 2 here. Two isn't my actual name, so why the anon cow. I'm not SNP, I am an anarchist. Pro independence, not anti English. Anti nuclear, aye.
"In case you haven't noticed" there are a fair few fake posters flooding decent websites with foreign propaganda designed to rile us up and cause violent divisions where there were just disagreements.
Post under a name so you can be held accountable for your comments. You are not a whistle-blower here so your "The original AC, no matter how badly he worded it, has a valid point" is laughable. How can I know you from "the original AC"?
"The problem is, if we don’t deal with politics, politics will deal with us. We can choose to not act when people are being oppressed, but when it's our turn to be oppressed, it will be too late and there will be no one for us. You don't need to be Uyghur or a Muslim to act, you need only to be a human and have empathy for our fellow humans."
■
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me
— and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller
Not sure what the downvotes are for, everything in that post is roughly true.
In 1920, the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers Party) changed their name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party) purely because socialism was popular, not because they held socialist views.
(So they changed the name to fit in with the local politics of the time, but almost certainly with no view to the future in eighty years)
Because it is the quickest way to wind up the left wing & the socialists, is to point out when they use the word "nazi" against non-socialists, they are actually saying they are socialists which is rather ironic....
I use it all the time... and they really really don't like it...
After all, the US never abolished slavery completely, as it is still legal for those in jail.
For those wondering why this is a problem, imagine a world where you want to enslave a certain section of the population (or as many of them as possible). You create laws that will affect them disproportionately and direct law enforcement to monitor them disproportionately. The prison population swells with members of the targetted population, who can then legally be forced to work - slavery. If such a thing were to happen in the US, it would be a stain on the country's reputation and a terrible shame.
the reason that many businesses try to avoid politics and ESPECIALLY "politically incorrect" politics is basically for business reasons.
1. not all of your customers are political
2. those that ARE political are more likely to boycott you from the position of the left
3. Organizations like 'moveon.org' and 'media matters' who pay people to troll the internet basically looking for opportunities to BULLY a right-leaning or conservative business position into capitulating and moving as far left as possible (including WHO THEY ADVERTISE WITH)
4. getting people *FIRED* over political things, like the former CEO of Mozilla whose name was on a list of donators to a proposition in california that FAILED - but because THE LEFT did not LIKE him even DONATING to getting the thing passed, he was **FIRED**.
5. bullying, in general, from the left. They have history of this kind of thing from Unions, too.
So way too many businesses make the "business decision" that THE NAIL THAT STICKS UP GETS THE HAMMER, and they either do NOT stick up, or they remove the nail entirely.
And those businesses that are DEFINITIVELY "on the left" (Google and Microsoft, for example) get a FREE PASS for partisan politics in hiring, contributions, news media, filtering our searches, and using our data AGAINST US to MANIPULATE.
That pretty much says it all I think
I'm not going to comment on your opinions, You're perfectly entitled to them. But this:
"getting people *FIRED* over political things, like the former CEO of Mozilla"
is factually incorrect. Brendan Eich was not fired, he resigned in order to get heat off of Mozilla.
It makes sense that boycotts are a preferred weapon of the left. To make a boycott effective takes collective action - a large group of people acting together, rather than one person taking a stand. The right-wing equivalent would be lawsuits.
Harassment campaigns, however - such as this story is about - those come from both sides. Organisations like 'moveon' and 'media matters' are merely the left-wing equivalents of Breitbart or the Daily Caller. The thing about "the left" is that it needs to mobilise large numbers of people to do anything. "The right" can generally get the same result just by spending money.
As for "bullied by the left", the choice of words there is telling. "Bullying" is what the strong do to the weak. If you feel your team is "bullied by the left", that means you feel your side to be weaker than them. Why do you think that is? And if it is true, then why isn't Donald Trump in jail yet?
Difficult one. Sometimes you have to support your enemy until it is only you and they who remain. For that reason you should support the Chinese on preventing the spread of this vile and dangerous doctrine (Islam). But make no mistake, when it is only we and they left standing, we will fight to the death.
Aye, right, or should I say Alt Right. We are British, across the political spectrum but still polite and rational to each other, and we maintain our pseudonym's integrity.
I can see no utility or credibility in posting an inflammatory, accusatory comment under Anon Cow. Playground stuff, and please cease and desist.
And if you think you'll be the winner, you're dead wrong.
China can not only raise a 10 million-strong army, it can also afford to lose it and raise another one.
The US lost a mere 50441 men (no disrepect intended) in Vietnam and the US government almost imploded.
If you intend to fight China to the death, you may as well dig your own grave.
The NP++ GitHub comments section is outstanding. Some of my faith in humanity has been restored... by a code editor...
But seriously, I warms my heart to see so many people standing up and applauding Mr. Ho's stance against revisionist history and tyranny and I'm pleased the response was clear-cut and not another typical 48%/52% that seems to be de rigueur these days.
Lest we Forget!
....is that all too often the result is often anything but.
China has a lot of ethnic groups and they've lived in relative peace and harmony for many years (the country's the size of Europe, give or take). The Uyghurs have the misfortune to live in a part of the country that's adjacent to countries that are known to tolerate terrorist movements, movements based on extremist interpretations of Islam. The idea of 'freeing' this area, a landlocked part of China, so it could become a fundamentalist Islamic state, is ludicrous, its only in the fevered imagination of Western neocons that such an idea would be regarded as anything other than fantasy. (....and that's because we really like to Balkanize large, potentially competitive countries).
...and no,I'm not Chinese. Or even Chinese-something. I'm American originally from England. I know quite a bit about 'freedom and democracy', partly because of where I live and partly because my taxes help support it -- globally. We have a beef with China in the US because we're not sure how to manage the level of competition (the fact that we encouraged it is immaterial) so now its all "free this and free that". We don't hear very much from countries who are on 'our' side -- for example, something pretty awful happened in Spain recently where people were given stuff jail sentences for holding an election (which they managed despite the attempts of central government to physically disrupt it). So I'd suggest everyone chooses their battles carefully.
One thing that MANY of these commenters do not see or understand is the terrorist attacks in China..
China is also fighting an internal war against Muslim terrorist groups, just they don't publish it.
That's what may westerners don't understand when I say it is dangerous to go to china... they seem to think they are immune from buses being blown up, and don't understand why EVERY railway , MTR & buss station in China has multiple x-ray machines.........
Just go to Shenzhen & use the MTR.. .those machines are there for a very good reason.......
“something pretty awful happened in Spain recently where people were given stuff jail sentences for holding an election“
Way to take something out of context. First, it wasn’t an election, it was a referendum. And second, what would you expect from the US of A if a state decided to illegally (as in “forbidden by law”) hold a referendum to succeed? Or Sussex decided it wanted to single-handedly abandon England?
England isn't a nation state, it's a nation within the UK. Sussex would have to try to leave the UK, and Scotland showed the way. First devolution, then a Scottish government recommending independence, then a referendum. I personally wanted Scottish independence from the UK, but I admire the British government, the UK state, for providing a peaceful legitimate vote on the issue.
There were no arrests of politicians here, no street violence to speak of, we conducted ourselves civilly. That's not the case in Spain and Catalonia today, and I think the most obvious reason for the difference is Spain has only been a democracy since 1975 and many fascists are still in power.
You could post under your actual username here and I'd treat you more seriously, but you smack of propaganda tonight.
Hi there, mr Danny 2, under my actual username.
No matter how bad I select my examples, the facts remain: what was done in Catalonia was illegal per Spanish Law.
There is a legal way to pursue what they want: take it to the Parliament, Senate and popular vote. In that particular order.
They chose not to follow it.
Don't look too much into the examples, the important bit is the one that sparked my response: an illegal referendum in Catalonia.
And remember: it was legal for Scotland to do what it did. It never was for Catalonia to try what they tried.
"Although we may not always agree with those laws, we may need to block content if we receive a valid request from a government official so that our users in that jurisdiction may continue to have access to GitHub to collaborate and build software," the tech giant said in a statement to the media.
Who checks?
Random "government official" claims a law is broken. No "innocent until proven guilty". No discussion in court.
Has it ever occurred to you that all your information is from western media, which is known to be extremely hostile to China? So it is one side of the truth, to say the best.
Since the 1990s, some Uyghurs have committed dozens of terror attacks and killed hundreds of people, both Uyhurs and Han Chinese.
Islam isn't exactly known for its tolerance towards e.g. the LGBT communities. Nor has that religion promoted equal rights to any noticeable degree. It is my impression that muslim dominated territories are quite oppressive and generally just bad places to live.
My impression of the Middle East is that we have pushed out some nasty dictators only to have them replaced by religious zealots who are ten times worse.
So, by fighting the Chinese authorities, are we doing anyone a favor?
I found a blog entry that seems to be a bit on the fence (https://www.soas.ac.uk/blogs/study/queer-uyghur-china/):
"Reyhan’s research highlights this “minority stress” faced by queer Uyghur individuals, who feel discriminated against by Han Chinese and oppressive state policies, as well as a frustration at the closed-mindedness of their “heterosexual” Uyghur communities."
So before cheering for these antics, I'd like to know a little bit more about this particular minority and what to expect in case other countries decides to help them.
<- beer because that is probably another thing that they cannot allow in their society. Along with bacon.
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