Lan Zhixue
Encyclopedia
Lan Zhixue is a Chinese
human rights lawyer and activist who co-founded the Institute of Democratic Society
, a non-profit organization whose website proclaims "fair, reasonable and legal; dare to think, speak and act.". Lan Zhixue has been involved in advocacy for several controversial issues and part of a growing trend of lawyers publicly challenging (and being challenged by) the government. 2009 he explained, "We don't care about ourselves, our liberty or death," Lan said. "We want to do something for the ordinary people. There are more public interest lawyers like us now, though not as many as we would like." Lan has been vocal about his view of the irrepressibility of activism through technology: "There's an invisible hand trying to castrate the internet; maybe it's the last tactic they can apply if they can't cut off the internet or abolish the Constitution...But it's like drinking poison to quench your thirst. The flow of history won't go backwards, or move according to their will."
Notable involvement
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
human rights lawyer and activist who co-founded the Institute of Democratic Society
Institute of Democratic Society
The Institute of Democratic Society is a Ukraine human rights advocacy non-profit started in 2000 by Serhiy Shakhov and other lawyers.-External links:*...
, a non-profit organization whose website proclaims "fair, reasonable and legal; dare to think, speak and act.". Lan Zhixue has been involved in advocacy for several controversial issues and part of a growing trend of lawyers publicly challenging (and being challenged by) the government. 2009 he explained, "We don't care about ourselves, our liberty or death," Lan said. "We want to do something for the ordinary people. There are more public interest lawyers like us now, though not as many as we would like." Lan has been vocal about his view of the irrepressibility of activism through technology: "There's an invisible hand trying to castrate the internet; maybe it's the last tactic they can apply if they can't cut off the internet or abolish the Constitution...But it's like drinking poison to quench your thirst. The flow of history won't go backwards, or move according to their will."
Notable involvement
- Cheng JianpingCheng JianpingCheng Jianping also known as Wang Yi is a 46-year old Chinese political dissident and human rights activist who was sentenced in November 2010 to a year of re-education through labor after she posted comments to her Twitter account saying, "Charge, angry youth!"The remarks were made while China and...
(also known as Wang Yi) Twitter posts - Since 2010 Lan Zhixue has been representing Cheng in a case involving Twitter comments said by her to be sarcastic but seen by the government as disrupting public order. Lan said, "This is ridiculous and a typical case of censorship jail... People should not be put in jail due to their sarcastic words." He appealed Cheng's case to the HenanHenanHenan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
Provincial Department of Justice and People's Court, asking for medical parole, since Cheng has high blood pressure, and asking that she be removed from the labor camp.
- Song Shaoyang AIDS contamination - Representing plaintiffs in cases where individuals were alleged to be infected with HIV through blood transfusions. Lan criticized, "The hospitals that caused the problem have no legal responsibility, and the victims receive no compensation."
- Tiananmen SquareTiananmen SquareTiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
20th anniversary protests - Human rights lawyers including Lan Zhixue were reportedly being followed and harassed by local police in the period before the anniversary.
- Charter 08Charter 08Charter 08 is a manifesto initially signed by over 350 Chinese intellectuals and human rights activists. It was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopting name and style from the anti-Soviet Charter 77 issued by dissidents in...
- A 2008 petition signed by 300 prominent Chinese citizens including Lan Zhixue. It was a manifesto calling for democracy and the rule of law to replace China's often criticized, one-party system.
- Deng YujiaoDeng Yujiao incidentThe Deng Yujiao incident occurred on 10 May 2009 at a hotel located in Badong County, Hubei province, in the People's Republic of China. Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old female pedicure worker, tried to rebuff the advances of Deng Guida , director of the local township business promotions office, who...
- A 21-year-old Chinese waitress who stabbed to death a local official who tried to rape her. She was sentenced to murder but the sentence was effectively suspended after a public outcry in which tens of thousands of internet users protested her case.
External links
- China: Breaking the law: Crackdown on human rights lawyers and legal activists in China, an Amnesty International paper (summary and link to pdf)