The Freedom Of Speech

The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress

Our first amendment to the United States Constitution reads; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".

Their system of filtering and censorship is acknowledged as the most advanced and effective in the world. The Chinese internet system includes about thirty-thousand censors, as well as having web browsers, such as Google and Yahoo, censor their results.10 For an average citizen to publish their opinions without either an elite free speech patron or a willing government publishing house, the safest method is to publicize their thoughts through an internet bulletin board system run by the Chinese government.11 However, these electronic bulletin boards are required by the law to be licensed, the posts monitored constantly, and any posts which are found to be “inappropriate” are removed. Any forums that are free from government censorship are forbidden, since the Chinese authorities refuse to recognize the rights of the citizens to publish their uncensored opinions. Furthermore, if debates over political or other issues begin to take a life of their own, they are commonly silenced by Chinese authorities.12 The Chinese authorities only permit these monitored bulletin boards both for their own benefit and because they recognize that there must be outlets for the average person to express their dissatisfaction with the government.13 Allowing the citizens to speak their mind functions to lessen the political tension, by acting as a release for their discontentment. These boards also serve as an excuse to deflect criticism by other countries, who complain that people in China do not enjoy freedom of expression. Additionally, they allow government authorities to monitor the mood of their people and to find weaknesses, both in the government and in their support. Finally, the bulletin boards allow government authorities to track those who express discontent, keeping their expressions visible, so the authorities can trace these

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

When one uses the internet in China, the person must always understand… he or she is being watched. In China, over 100,000 government enforcers work to censor or block unwanted information from Chinese and foreign websites. Much of this information being shot down includes talk of democracy, the very opposite of the Chinese Communist Party’s ideas. Censorship of internet and media in China has been brought by its Communist government who have wanted to shield the Chinese people from undesired ideas, such as democracy, that could start a large revolt of citizens demanding government reforms. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China after he and his Communist supporters defeated the nationalists, beginning a new era for China of strict totalitarian rule. When Mao died in 1976, the country was left in ruins from Mao’s failed plans. A new leader, Deng Xiaoping, emerged and made reforms allowing open-market capitalism in the economy that changed China into a powerful country. Yet, Deng stayed with a totalitarian government that still had harsh crackdowns such as the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Massacre and today censorship law. Some may argue that it is necessary the Chinese government continue to censor foreign websites and information in order to ensure the public’s safety and trust. Although the Chinese government states that censorship is necessary to ensure citizens’ safety, it will threaten the country’s future success because it constricts

The United Kingdom’s constitution provided more protection because in China, the central governing party is the Communist Party and although power is given to the National People’s Congress to make decisions, most of those members belong to the founding Communist Party.

Ilham Tohti, Gao Yu, Yang Tongyan, Shi Tao, Xue Deyun, and Zhao Zhenkai: what do all these people have in common? They are a few among many that are either previous or current Chinese convicts, all guilty of a common crime. The crime in question? Writing to speak their minds. One from a country such as the US, whose enforced First Amendment to the US Constitution promises that “Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”, might question how writing could be considered a crime, and yet in China strict censorship of the media that restricts what can be said and what can be seen by the Chinese people continue into the modern age, where “even a single tweet can get a citizen detained”. As unbelievable as it might seem, expressing yourself in a way that the Chinese government finds threatening to its authority can land you behind bars for up to the rest of your life, as Ilham Tohti

Tiananmen has had very little effect on China in 2017, but in the years following 1989, China was in turmoil. As factions began to rise within the CCP and the thought of their lost loved ones are still fresh in people's minds, a threat of yet another movement was growing. Fueled by their fear of revolution, China’s government unifies its members under a single mission, to eliminate and destroy all information on Tiananmen. A purge begins of all documents and articles of Tiananmen. Over the decades, China has hidden and censored many articles, websites, media, etc about Tiananmen from its people and has killed many who dared to talk of the “June Fourth Incident” and anything else the CCP sees as undesirable. For example, in 1996 Falun Gong, a popular buddhist practice that embodies the ideals of peace, balance and harmony, grew extremely popular. Falun Gong was mainly practiced through meditation and involved peaceful practices, but the CCP feared that it would grow too popular and eventually turn into a political rival. To prevent being overthrown, the CCP punished anyone who dare to practice Falun Gong within the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by beating them and torturing them. The photos of the victims of this brutal persecution caused fear to spark in the country and as a result of this terror, not one person of the 1.381 billion people that inhabit Chinese soil talk about the protests or anything that the CCP dislikes as the sword of death is always hanging precariously above their

Censorship means controlling what information a person or group of people can access. Censorship in China is used as a tool to monitor any citizen wanting to discuss their communist party’s ideals. “In China there is a very genuine fear of an uncontrolled internet and social media being a really serious threat to Communist Party control over the country.” “China’s censors are well trained and are equipped to identify content that poses a potential challenge to the Chinese Communist Party’s social and ideological control.” China censors almost all the media its citizens have access to including television, news, magazines, books, and the largest source of information: the the internet. “Soon after China tip-toed onto the internet in the late

While a well-educated society is calling for social reforms and more liberties, the Chinese Communist Party is crushing every protest. Chinese prosecutors in a southern city indicted activist Liu Yuandong for leading free-speech demonstration outside a newspaper office in January that were sparked by a censorship dispute.[38] Liu Yuandong called for freedom of speech and wanted a more liberal and open government. There have been many cases just like this. The crackdown on public assembly underscores how nervous the Communist Party remains regarding an organized action, even a small protest. The Party believes in the domino theory, if one group gains a following, then a revolution can occur. While America and European countries have called

The United Nations declares that “human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear” and that “to rebel against tyranny and oppression…is protected by the rule of law.” We, as people of the free world, are guaranteed our inalienable rights and these fundamental rights can only be taken away by due process (The Universal Declaration…). As one of the world’s emerging superpowers, the People’s Republic of China holds a long history of impeding human rights for the “health of social stability” (Human Rights in…). China is recognized for having the world’s largest economy and becoming one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; Yet, it is also notorious for limiting free access to the Internet, rights for free press, religion, expression, formation of social organizations, and other seemingly basic freedoms found in other societies (Xu). China is currently in a socialist state that openly endorses communism. Run by the Communist Party, China constrains individual rights by implementing strict restrictions including extensive censorship, harsh enforcement, and intimidation resulting in a lack of human rights. In order to give citizens their fundamental privileges, China must make an effort to relax its constraints and allow for political and social reform (World Report 2014).

This censorship is a product of the Chinese government’s goal to control the flow of all content and information over the Internet, especially information that the government believes to be critical and damaging to the nation. AI accuses these companies of succumbing to the lure of an untapped, lucrative market and consequently, failing to uphold the fundamental human rights. In particular:

People outside of China cannot understand the feeling of being isolated from the rest of the world and their own country. Chinese residents cannot obtain information about the outside world and objective political opinions from the internet because the Chinese government blocked lots of foreign websites; it also censored all the websites and blogs that contained sensitive political opinions of Chinese politics. People were confused when the government implemented the censorship because they could not understand the purpose of it. The government explained that these sources violated personal rights and the law, but the government never said which parts of the law they violated. However, that explanation was not right. Some Chinese believe that technologies and ancient cultures may retrogress due to lack of communications with other countries. Also, it is incomprehensive that the Chinese government prohibited spiritual believes, violence, and anti-communist ideas in movies and TV. However, spiritual beliefs are embedded in Chinese culture; if people abandon their belief, what else do they retain? The Chinese Censorship slowed down the development of Chinese society because it excluded the country from the world outside, slowed the economic progress, and denied its own culture.

China is politically stable relative to other emerging economies as regards to public service delivery and economic expansion. But the country’s public and private sectors experience rampant corruption and poor governance. There is a lack of democracy and people do not freely exercise their bill of rights like freedom of speech. this is extended to musicians who cannot freely sing about their mind but must adhere to the culture and country’s constitution.