• Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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      9 months ago

      I am not a fan of the Guardian, but according to the subject of the article (they call him Li), he is a dissident and was under active investigation. I don’t think they would have just let him leave

        • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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          9 months ago

          Just because one state is also shitty to dissenters does not mean another state isn’t. They don’t cancel each other out.

          Dissident is pretty vague, probably on purpose. As much as I dislike the US government, I can say the government here is shit and not get hauled to jail for the most part. The same is not necessarily true in China

            • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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              9 months ago

              I think you 100% missed the point. No matter how the US treats people, China can also treat people terribly. They are not mutually exclusive.

                • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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                  9 months ago

                  I did imply the US is better, and I probably should not have. And even in that I did not mean the government doesn’t do horrific things. Probably should not have made the comparison TBH. That doesn’t mean China doesn’t also do horrific shit, even if the way they do it is different

        • SLfgb@feddit.nl
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          9 months ago

          yes.

          The US tortures its dissidents. Just look at how they treated War on Terror whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Even the UN special rapporteur on torture spoke up about her treatment. She was driven to attempt suicide in prison multiple times. Including when she refused to cooperate with the secret Grand Jury investigating WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

          Julian Assange is about to be buried in a US prison and get a taste of that same medicine. Where are the Guardian outrage-articles on that? Oh, wait, that’s right. They threw him under the bus as soon as he’d given them access to the best scoops of the century (US diplomatic cables). The Guardian journos divulged the pass phrase to the unredacted cables in their book giving anyone who could locate the files online access. Cryptome published the unredacted cables before WL did while Assange called the State Department trying to warn them of the bad news. The Guardian then tried to make out like WL had acted irresponsibly in publishing the unredacted cables, when in reality the cat was already out of the bag and WL was doing harm-minimization. The Guardian’s blame-shifting makes my blood boil.

          The ‘Guardian’ has no ethics and can’t be trusted on anything political imo.

    • tardigrada@beehaw.orgOP
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      9 months ago

      @umbrella

      There is ample evidence that China is suppressing its own people, including prohibiting emigration. One good source among many is the Safeguard Defenders, an NGO focusing on China.

      You’ll find many good sources, including here on Lemmy. The situation has even been getting worse in recent years.

      • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        Geez that’s one of the most openly state-backed NGOs I’ve seen in a long time. They don’t even hide their direct US backing.

        • tardigrada@beehaw.orgOP
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          9 months ago

          @Bartsbigbugbag What’s a good source on that issue in your opinion? I know a lot more, but would like to learn new ones if possible. Would be great if you posted a link.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      China is pretty egregious about taking away passports/not letting its own nationals leave its borders. Sometimes because they are political dissidents, sometimes because they are being retaliated against in some way, etc.