Cyberplods

strong People’s Armed Police to put in the boot — is just what the backroom arguments are about. China’s leaders need no persuading that small sparks start big fires and, with protests and mass demonstrations officially admitted to have risen to 87,000 last year, the sparks are no longer small. Hu Jintao, China’s President, started by promising more democracy and open debate, but appears to have lost his nerve, pointedly praising North Korea’s party discipline and censorship in a 2004 speech.

Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister, has argued on “efficiency” grounds that “independent” thinking must be encouraged. He has recognised that a society of “yes” men cannot develop the innovative edge that drives the knowledge economy. But neither man dares risk the party’s neck. They understand Lenin’s dictum that knowledge is power, but not that it is slipping from their grasp, as Marx and Mao and Deng Xiaoping make way for King Blog.

But despite the best efforts of Yahoo, Google, etc., it’s a war the cyberplods will lose in the end:

The thousands of censors who patrol the internet in China must feel a little like King Canute. One Chinese expert described their task as showing the futility of trying to hold back the sea.

“Everyone knows where the controls are and that makes it pretty easy to get around them,” said one anonymous internet specialist. […]

[A] recent survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that the internet was already becoming an important political instrument. “The internet has become a prominent forum where the public can make its opinions known to the government,” the report said. “It is undeniable that the internet is building a bridge between the governing and the governed.”

The survey concludes that as the Internet becomes more popular so its impact on politics will become stronger.

Update: the ban on Freezing Point’s been lifted, but in the good old tradition of the Cultural Revolution, the editors have been instructed to “start its first edition on March 1 with a criticism of the essay that prompted the authorities to close the weekly in the first place”.