Deborah Gyapong: Chinese and Canadian censorship in synch says George Jonas

Chinese and Canadian censorship in synch says George Jonas

Sad but true. Read all about it in today's National Post in Jonas' aptly headlined: "Censors of the world unite--and wreck the Internet. An excerpt:


The Jan. 24 editorial in China's People's Daily is a censor's lament, a commissar's cri du coeur. It's a pained rejection of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's criticism of Beijing's interference with the Internet. China's editorial writers sound not only wounded but puzzled. Who, us, interfere? Number one, we don't. Number two, why pick on us? Everybody does.

Yeah, well, better take another look at this, fellas, because the second assertion somewhat reduces the value of the first. But never mind. What I want to know is where did I read this before?

Yogi Berra would call it "deja vu all over again." The editorial in my mailbox, courtesy of Neil Hrab, looks eerily familiar. "Most countries exert some sort of control over information," it says. Hmm. Not much of an argument to justify censorship, but I remember reading it recently somewhere else.

"As is widely recognized, freedom is always relative..." says the People's Daily. Well, yes; most municipalities prefer people to stop at red lights. While all freedoms are relative, some freedoms are more relative than others. Beijing's experts on the relativity of freedom can probably knock Einstein into a cocked hat.

"Freedom is always relative" rings another bell, though. Let's see. Of course! "Because no right is absolute." It's a Canadian source.

Look at the opening statement to the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies, delivered in the summer of 2009 by Chief Commissioner, Jennifer Lynch, Q.C. It fits perfectly. How can freedom be anything but relative, as the People's Daily asserts, when no right is absolute, as the Chief Commissioner of Canada's Human Rights confirms.

Deja vu solved. If Ottawa is here, can Beijing be far behind? Censors of the world, unite. The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the People's Daily are in synch.

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