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James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Aug 20, 2008 01:43 PM
from the many-eyes-might-help dept.
from the many-eyes-might-help dept.
An anonymous reader writes "News from Free Tibet 2008 that internationally known artist, technologist and co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, James Powderly, was detained in Beijing early on August 19th while preparing to debut a new work and technology of protest, the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil. According to a Twitter message received yesterday by Students for a Free Tibet at approximately 5 pm Beijing Standard Time, Powderly had been detained by Chinese authorities at 3 am. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Powderly was the inventor of throwies." (Powderly's detention was also mentioned at Make Magazine's blog.)
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China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Websites 133 comments
krou sends in a Guardian (UK) article reporting that overnight talks with the International Olympic Committee have resulted in the Chinese government lifting a ban on websites such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the BBC Chinese language service "in Beijing, Shanghai and possibly further afield." Websites with information on the Falun Gong, Chinese dissidents, the Tibetan government in exile, and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests are still inaccessible. (We've been discussing Chinese Olympic censorship right along.) Quoting: "A spokesman for Amnesty International said: 'It's good news that our site has been unblocked in Olympic venues and perhaps elsewhere in Beijing, but it is still a long way from the "complete media freedom" promised. It seems public outrage has succeeded where the IOC's "quiet diplomacy" had failed.' Chinese engineers quoted in an article in the Atlantic Monthly said they had been told to prepare to unblock access for a list of specific internet protocol addresses to used by foreign visitors. But Andrew Lih, a new media author in Beijing, said it seemed the authorities might have simply decided it was easier to lift blocks for everyone. 'It's possible [to block individual locations] but would be very complicated,' he said."
[+]
Politics: YouTube Yanks Free Tibet Video After IOC Pressure 482 comments
RevWaldo writes "The International Olympic Committee filed a copyright infringement claim yesterday against YouTube for hosting video of a Free Tibet protest at the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan Thursday night. The video depicts demonstrators conducting a candlelight vigil and projecting a protest video onto the consulate building; the projection features recent footage of Tibetan monks being arrested and riffs on the Olympic logo of the five interlocking rings, turning them into handcuffs. YouTube dutifully yanked the video, but it can still be seen on Vimeo. (Be advised; there is some brief footage of bloody, injured monks.)"
[+]
YouTube Stands Up To IOC Over Free Tibet Video 187 comments
Ian Lamont writes "The International Olympic Committee has withdrawn a DCMA takedown notice that targeted a two-minute long YouTube video of a Students for a Free Tibet protest at the Chinese consulate in New York. The video shows protesters gathering outside the building at night and projecting images of the Olympic symbol, 'tank man,' Tibetan riot footage and clips of victims of the Chinese police crackdown in Tibet. After receiving the request, YouTube contacted the IOC and asked if it really planned to pursue a claim. The IOC retracted the notice and the video was reposted within hours. Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society praised YouTube for 'going out of its way to do more than it's required to do under the law to protect free expression.'"
Submission: James Powderly Detained by Anonymous Coward
[+]
Apple: China Blocks iTunes 325 comments
eldavojohn writes "If you like iTunes and you are one of the billion people residing in China, you may have noticed that you no longer have access to the eight million songs on it. An album, 'Songs for Tibet' was downloaded more than 40 times by Olympic athletes as a sign of solidarity for Tibet's cause. Ironically, this compilation had songs criticizing the 'Great Firewall of China,' and that is the very thing that prohibited these songs from reaching the Chinese public. Artists on the compilation include Alanis Morissette, Garbage, Imogen Heap, Moby, Sting, Suzanne Vega, Underworld and others."
Additional coverage is available at Computerworld. Earlier this year, China blocked Youtube and other video services for similar reasons. More recently, the Chinese government detained a technologist who planned a pro-Tibet demonstration.
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Whoops (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whoops (Score:4, Insightful)
from that article:
The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China "promotes human rights now," says Kang Zhongwen, who designed the Jinguan Automobile death van...
So they're starting to look at how people die? Me - I would have thought looking at how people live would have been a more useful step in promoting human rights. But then what do I know - I don't control the lives of over a billion people...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So, basically, it makes it easier to ignore the fact that you're killing someone.
I'm not against capital punishment, but I think that there should be a certain amount of raw reality involved in it. No coat of sugar.
Re:Whoops (Score:4, Interesting)
"I'm most proud of the bed. It's very humane, like an ambulance," Kang says. He points to the power-driven metal stretcher that glides out at an incline. "It's too brutal to haul a person aboard," he says. "This makes it convenient for the criminal and the guards."
So, basically, it makes it easier to ignore the fact that you're killing someone.
I'm not against capital punishment, but I think that there should be a certain amount of raw reality involved in it. No coat of sugar.
Whenever someone is exulting over inventing an instrument of punishment or death like this, I always wonder if they ever entertain the thought that they might have it used on them. I believe the story of Dr. Guillotine being serviced by his own device was a myth but this idea is a popular one, recurring throughout history. It just seems like poetic justice.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If it wasn't for the tragic story of Sir Henry Blunt-Instrument, myths like that would never have arisen...
(OK, so it's a Pratchett line. If you're gonna steal, steal from the masters! ;-)
Re:Whoops (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow, Death Vans. That's creepy as hell. I mean, I know that there's been state-sanctioned capital punishment since the beginning of civilization but it just seems creepy when combined with the mobile approach. I'm used to seeing mobile clinics, mobile libraries, mobile law offices, not mobile death chambers. It reminds me of all the creepy art from the christian apocalypse stuff at my church when I was a kid. Once the UN ushered in the New World Order and the Antichrist became the General Secretary, all people now professing to be Christians post-rapture would be put to death, always by guillotine. This was absolutely agreed upon, just the same as the Antichrist working through the UN. Jack Chick had creepy little moto-guillotines in his drawings where smartly-uniformed motorcycle cops would drive up in an open-cab vehicle that looks like a landscaping utility tractor, the guillotine in the flatbed. They would then line up the Christians for the day's executions and lop off their heads. This part really freaked me out because the public works dept. of the city I lived in used tractors of exactly the same design. I was convinced that they had mounting brackets for the guillotines and were just waiting for the order to install them. Yeesh. Freddy Krueger never did anything for me but my religion scared the shit out of me.
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Was? (Score:5, Funny)
Powderly was the inventor of throwies."
Was? You're writing him off already? Geez! And people say *I'm* a pessimist.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
I've never heard of most of these "activists" before the Olympics and I've got a feeling we won't be hearing much from them afterwards. If people have been involved with pro-Tibet, pro-Darfur, pro-democracy, pro-whatever stuff all along, then good for them. But most of these loudmouths getting press recently seem to only be interested in complaining when their neighbors are taking pleasure in something China-related.
It reminds me of all those goofs who are so indignantly outraged every Thanksgiving, but never lift a finger to help American Indians on the other 364 days a year. Or even on Thanksgiving, for that matter.
Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps this speaks more of the level of attention that the world pays to activists (during major events versus otherwise) than it does to the level of commitment of activists to causes.
Seriously, this guy been around a while. Your ignorance is not evidence that he's a mere opportunistic attention-grabber.
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Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Feel free to convince me otherwise. The Wikipedia page linked here certainly makes him sound like an opportunistic attention-grabber. As I said, I have all the respect in the world for serious activists on this front, but this guy sounds like a self-promoting jackass who assumes (correctly, probably) that his white skin and US passport are Get Out Of Jail Free cards.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You know... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes those do-nothing loudmouth liberal hiptards should just die in a fire. It's almost like they're doing nothing at all... what with all that thinking about this stuff.... and talking about it...
Since when did communication become a stoning offense? Bringing ideas to the fore without some kind of action attached to it isn't a crime.
And regarding those loudmouths who talk about the Native Americans on Thanksgiving, they are doing something. They are doing more than you sound like you're doing (which is simply whining about people who talk about what they feel strongly about).
Enjoy yourself a nice tall cup of STFU. On the house. With my compliments. You seem to be serving enough of it. Perhaps now would be a good time to have a drink yourself.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've never heard of most of these "activists" before the Olympics and I've got a feeling we won't be hearing much from them afterwards. If people have been involved with pro-Tibet, pro-Darfur, pro-democracy, pro-whatever stuff all along, then good for them. But most of these loudmouths getting press recently seem to only be interested in complaining when their neighbors are taking pleasure in something China-related.
I can just picture you, sitting on your ass and posting these comments on Slashdot, criticizing someone who did at least something, however little (and did indeed risk imprisonment by an oppressive regime), spewing your self-righteous shite.
And for this feces of yours, you get the highest reward you can expect - being "Modded Up" - but that's also all the reward cowards like you can expect. You'll go to sleep tonight without having achieved anything of interest in your squalid little existence, save for a p
Well then (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sure he knew what might happen when he decided to protest in China about Tibet. I commend him for that, it might get some attention to people around the world to his cause. I think he either had to have had some seriouse balls or have been a little nieve to think of what would happen if he was detained by athorities. I don't think hes a dumb man he knew what he was doing and he knew what would probably happen.
Hopefully they just ship him home after a couple days or weeks and this doesn't get too ugly for him.
On another note "I know hippies. I've hated them all my life. I've kept this town free of hippies on my own since I was five and a half. But I can't contain them on my own anymore. We have to do something, fast!" hehe China is Cartman
Is this a surprise? (Score:5, Insightful)
Going to foreign countries run by totalitarian governments to protest is a bit on the unwise side regardless of how just the cause.
Your rights online (Score:5, Interesting)
What does this have to do with my online rights? Shouldn't this be filed under politics?
Tibet rant, this needs to be said... (Score:5, Insightful)
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit. And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business. Heck, we'd probably even detain a couple of them.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit. And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business. Heck, we'd probably even detain a couple of them.
1) At Stanford they'd probably get a few hundred locals supporting their idea.
2) Some idiots would yell things at them about going back to China, some would defend them, and the government and 95% of the population would think of it as normal. People express dissent in the United States. It's no longer all that attention-grabbing.
Re:Tibet rant, this needs to be said... (Score:5, Insightful)
If California wanted to go back to Mexico, what right would we have to stop them?
Parent
You're funny. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tibetans don't think they've been part of China since 1792. They thought they were running Tibet. And they did, until they were invaded in 1959. You might not like it, but tough shit
And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business.
NONSENSE! We'd laugh. That's it. We'd laugh and laugh and laugh.
Parent
Re:Tibet rant, this needs to be said... (Score:4, Interesting)
Tibet has been part of China since 1792.
Tibet was ruled by Imperial China from 1642 to 1913. At which point the Tibetan Dali Lama, with support for Western backers, declared independence from China due to China's demands for greater political control of Tibet (basically eliminating the Lamas). From 1914 to 1950 Tibet was a completely independent kingdom.
Communist China, not being a representative government and not being a legitimate successor of the Ch'ing Dynasty, has no legitimate claims on Tibet, just as they had no legitimate claims on Korea. The invasion was just another communist power grab.
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What the hell is "China"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Strictly speaking, if you're talking about continuity of government, the "Chinese Government" is a robust democracy in Taiwan - they are the heirs to the traditional Chinese government. The murderous thugs ruling mainland China don't have a pedigree going back past 1949.
I've always wondered if there would have been a war in 1997 if England had said, "Ok...our 100 year lease on Hong Kong is up. Time to give Hong Kong back to China...here you go, TAIWAN!"\
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Why don't Americans mind their own business? (Score:3, Insightful)
GWB goes over there and raises a stink about "human rights", now this clown, too. You're not going to change anyone's mind over there. They're doing this on purpose, economic freedoms are given to the Chinese people first, political will follow. Compared to 4 year cycle of US politics, they think in a span of 50 years or so - way too long an attention span for an average US politician to be able to muster.
It's not like there are no problems here at home, either. Infrastructure is crumbling, economy is in the toilet, military budget is astronomical, high schools put out idiots who need remedial courses to even be able to study further, space program is lagging behind, middle class is being raped with taxes, etc, etc.
It sure as heck is much easier to just bash foreign governments for their perceived shortcomings. Fixing problems here would actually require a brain and quite a bit of work.
Ugly (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rosa Parks was given a speedy trial, fined $14, and on appeal wreaked havoc on the laws that were the foundation of racial segregation in the United States.
Since this guy is a US citizen, the Chinese government will probably let him live. A Chinese citizen probably wouldn't be so lucky.
Hopefully this event teaches him, and and others in his home country to appreciate the freedom that they have when they're spewing their typical "baby out with the bathwater" rants about how fascist the US government is.
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:5, Informative)
"Hopefully this event teaches him, and and others in his home country to appreciate the freedom that they have when they're spewing their typical 'baby out with the bathwater' rants about how fascist the US government is."
By your logic, practically nobody in the world is in a position to complain about their situation, for you'll nearly always be able to find somebody who is worse off than you are. Keeping quiet about abuses at home because other, worse abuses are taking place elsewhere is hardly a reasonable thing to demand of another. Please keep your jingoism to yourself.
Parent
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:4, Insightful)
It is not necessary for things to be as bad as they can possibly be before one has the right to complain about things that are wrong. The U.S. has in many ways grown greatly more totalitarian over the past eight years. Saying "It's not as bad as China, so the problems don't matter" is the height of idiocy. That's like saying "Linux doesn't crash as much as Windows, so it must be perfect.
Indeed, it is precisely because people do appreciate those freedoms that they rant about signs of growing fascism in the U.S. government. They who have never seen the light cannot know that they live in darkness, and so do not complain. Therefore, I would contend that the people who do not rant are the ones who do not fully appreciate those freedoms.
Parent
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:5, Interesting)
Powderly regularly protests all kinds of oppression, both at home and abroad.
When he protests in the US, people say that there are much worse things going on elsewhere (usually citing China). When he protests in China, the same people say he should to mind his own business.
At least he's doing something, and his sudden disappearance for throwing up a banner with a few lights on it certainly highlights the oppression that we all know exists in China.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Powderly regularly protests all kinds of oppression, both at home and abroad.
Oh wait...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rosa Parks
Are you really going to compare graffiti -- a nuisance of a chosen action -- to a civil rights struggle? Based on the color of a person's skin?
People like Rosa Parks were heroes to all, especially to racists and passive people who needed to have their eyes open. I'm not sure who James Powderly thought he was representing but going to a foreign country and committing what is a crime in that country just makes a bunch of people uneasy.
Oh, and non-destructive graffiti is pretty damned cool.
Light is still a form of polution. Though non-destructive, it is mo
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:5, Insightful)
People like Rosa Parks were heroes to all, especially to racists and passive people who needed to have their eyes open.
People like Rosa Parks were carefully chosen by lawyers to become sympathetic test cases before the Judiciary and the court of public opinion.
You think Rosa Parks was the only black woman who got arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus? Even Rosa Parks wikipedia page can't help but mention a pregnant 15 yr old girl named Claudette Colvin [wikipedia.org].
Light is still a form of polution. Though non-destructive, it is most likely still annoying. While I agree with the cause this man was "fighting" for, I am indifferent to his ineffective methods.
It shouldn't really matter how James Powderly chose to protest, in much the same way that it shouldn't have mattered that Claudette Colvin was unwed and pregnant by a much older man.
I'm sure when the right kind of protestor gets arrested, you and others with your mindset will take notice.
Parent
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:4, Insightful)
How do you know? Isn't it a tad/i hasty to be making assumptions? And hasn't he actually achieved at least something? When was the last time anything you did got mentioned on the front page of Slashdot?
What does the fact that he isn't Tibetan or a Chinese citizen have to do with anything? What I'm getting out of your post is, "people should mind their own business and not rock the boat." Is that the impression you meant to convey?
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
What does the fact that he isn't Tibetan or a Chinese citizen have to do with anything?
People of any country have an exclusive right to demand changes from their government. Only then they are free. This guy makes Chinese and Tibetans less free because he infringes on their rights, and on top of that his example justifies more oppression from the government.
As a bad analogy, you are free to move furniture in your house, and only your family's wishes may constrain you. However what will you say if I, a
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:5, Insightful)
We are all free to express our desires to anyone. We are free to demonstrate and protest that which we find morally objectionable, and no arbitrary borders or citizenship should stop us. I find your stance morally reprehensible, as it seeks to divide people into arbitrary groups who are not allowed to support each other in seeking redress for wrongs. You advocate a particularly sick form of authoritarianism.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We are all free to express our desires to anyone.
No, you are not free to tell me how I should conduct my business. If you try to tell me things on my own land you are trespassing, please leave.
We are free to demonstrate and protest that which we find morally objectionable,
Absolutely, as long as you do it on your own territory, or on a public land.
and no arbitrary borders or citizenship should stop us.
Sorry, the property line is here and you may not cross without my permission.
I find your stance
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The positioning of your deks hurts nobody. But if you turn your back on the suffering of another human being then it makes you complicit in their plight. We are a social species and part of a society is caring for those who are hurt - otherwise we
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:5, Insightful)
He went over there to get publicity for a cause, and he got publicity for a cause. You could argue he achieved less than he might have, but to say he achieved nothing is idiotic.
Parent
One doesn't need to be a member of the oppressed (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Rosa Parks (Score:4, Interesting)
So what? Are you suggesting that only those directly affected by human rights abuses can protest them, and everyone else should just mind their own business? In the Rosa Parks example given above, groups like the Congress of Racial Equality, which included white college students from northern states, took part in protests during the Montgomery bus boycott. Should they have just minded their own business?
That's debatable. The actions of any one person may be equivalent to "the movement of butterfly wings," as you stated below, but to quote Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Parent
Re:idiot (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:idiot (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, they were "were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic" according to Boston.com, and the charges were later dropped. Which is still a stupid overreaction, but not the same as charging them with "terrorism".
Parent
Re:idiot (Score:4, Interesting)
In NYC on Aug 10th, some protesters projected a film onto the Chinese Consulate in NYC. [nytimes.com]
Here's video on YouTube [youtube.com] [Warning, there are some graphic scenes].
Not a laser, but interesting trick nonetheless.
Parent
Re:So many ways to make a point (Score:5, Funny)
Disrespecting the athletes by marring the games with these protests is no better than what happened in Munich in 1972.
His laser wasn't that powerful.
Parent
Re:So many ways to make a point (Score:4, Insightful)
I like to think that going over and killing twelve people is slightly worse than mildly pissing a few people off with an unsolicited light show, but then i'm a bit weird like that.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:but they make ipods (Score:4, Interesting)
Amen! Don't you love the way capitalism lets you profit without worrying about the moral standards of the companies you invest in? I mean, I can invest in a company that will do awful things I would never do personally, and I never even have to hear about it, let alone lose sleep over it. And even if I do hear about it, well, I'm just a little investor, I didn't make that decision, it's not my fault! I love diffusion of responsibility. [wikipedia.org]
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Re:Current whereabouts? (Score:5, Informative)
He's an American citizen being detained during the Olympic Games. He's not going to disappear. They'll question him for several hours, probably including sleep deprivation and a lot of yelling, and then kick him out of the country. There was another guy earlier on in the Olympics that got detained for trying to protest, and that's pretty much what happened to him.
The Chinese are trying to look good in front of the world, "disappearing" a foreign national, especially an American, during the Olympics would not be in line with that goal.
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Re:What is a L.A.S.E.R Stencil?? (Score:5, Informative)
From TFA:
The work, "The Green Chinese Lantern," uses a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser with micro-stencils to beam simple messages and images up to three stories high on surfaces such as billboards, buildings, and bridges. The Laser Stencil technology was developed in conjunction with Students for a Free Tibet.
[...] For more information and high-resolution photos of the work, please visit http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?p=161 [graffitiresearchlab.com]
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