The Egyptian Message Censored

Egypt and the people's protests is the biggest story in the world right now. This is especially true on the heels of Tunisia, and Iran. This story dwarfs anything happening in Washington, including assessments over Washington's reaction to what is happening (though, I was quite impressed with SOS Clinton on the morning shows yesterday). I cannot tell you what, exactly I think the importance of these events are; I just have an inchoate sense that we'll look back on these times as momentous. But it's not simply momentous for an American audience, rather, its importance is largely in the example it sets throughout the world; in the opportunity it has to reach out and grab those other peoples feeling the urge of democracy. This is why, especially following Hu Jintao's trip to Washington recently, it is so disappointing to read this story regarding Chinese efforts to suppress the pro-democracy message from Egypt:

The filtering of search result and the blocking of search term “Egypt” in social media websites is to prevent certain interpretation of the political situation in Egypt. The scenes of Tanks moving into the city center, the confrontation between the people and the soldiers are very likely to recall Chinese people's memory of the June 4 incident back in 1989 and the criticism of the authoritarian government in Egypt can easily turn into a political allegory in China. The propaganda department certainly has to issue censorship alert to web-portal and social media websites, where opinions can spread rapidly and become mainstream public discourses in a few hour time.