Image: facebook account of sheng xue
It’s in Victor Hugo’s ‘Villemain’ that the following observation was made:
‘You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.’
That of course was written in a world sans the internet and social media, now such a call to integrity, endurance and resolve can be more sorely tested, for lurking in those caves are trolls, social misfits, individuals with an axe to grind. What a resource this technology is, it enables calumny, smears and character assassination to reach a global audience, almost instantly. Under such circumstances it takes a determined and courageous individual to tolerate personalized attacks on the internet, especially with the equipoise and grace suggested by Victor Hugo.
Allow us to introduce once such person, who despite being subjected to vicious and relentless insults and fabrications online has not been deflected from her work in challenging and exposing the atrocities, injustice and crimes of the Chinese regime. Sheng Xue has been justly described as ‘one of Canada’s leading democratic-rights advocates’, she has dedicated herself to standing against the grim excesses of the Chinese authorities. With a remarkable selflessness she has waged a campaign demanding democracy and freedom within China and has been a tireless champion for human rights and political prisoners.
Such dissent and truth comes with a price, especially when opposing a totalitarian regime like China’s, where propaganda, deception and disinformation infest and censor virtually every aspect of published and broadcast media in that suppressed land. As it cannot call upon foreign Editors or publications to channel its toxic distortions the only medium it can turn to is the internet, on which it directs an army of poorly paid unthinking drones whose task is to generate confusion, spread lies and peddle the official line of the Chinese regime. Sheng Xue has, like others who dare to criticize China’s government, been targeted by such political trolls and exposed to a barrage of abusive falsehoods and crude smear campaigns. Clearly her campaigning and critique have struck an acutely sensitive nerve, and unable to counter the facts or prevent her dissenting voice China’s psychotic leadership has ordered its attack-dogs to bark loudly and aggressively in the hope that the noise will silence her.
Clearly Beijing’s bullies grossly underestimate the commitment of those dedicated towards the realization of a free and democratic China, whatever twisted allegations and lurid deceit it spreads will not halt the telling of truth nor, despite the emotional strains such nasty fallacy exerts, shall truly remarkable individuals cease from exposing China’s corrupt and violent driven authorities.
For more details about recent online and other public attacks against against Sheng Xue see the following:
https://www.cpj.org/blog/2016/03/chinas-overseas-critics-under-pressure-from-smear-.php
Digital Activism Im Support Of Tibetan Independence 