China’s ‘Blank-Page Revolution’ now gets global attention

Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) supporters holding white blank sheets stage a protest in solidarity with the ongoing white paper protests in China which started in late November, in New Delhi. Pic/ANI

Blank sheets of paper, held by Chinese protestors, have become a symbol of a mass uprising being witnessed against the strict zero-Covid policy of Communist-ruled China. A report said that white papers are metaphors for the countless critical posts, news articles, and outspoken social media accounts that were wiped from the internet. China's crackdown on anti-Covid protests has prompted calls from the global community to stand beside the protesters and take action against the Chinese authorities.

Columnists Jianli Yang and Bradley Thayer argued that the legacy of the blank-page revolution will be long. They also contended that its implications are multifaceted and likely to light the fuse of a larger revolution that will yield a free China. In a joint op-ed, Yang and Thayer said that Xi Jinping will do everything in his power to reignite fear in his comrades and in the people and to promote his image as that of an invincible great leader who knows best. "The international community should use all available means to support pro-democracy forces and to deter the Beijing regime from resorting to force, and especially to prevent another massacre on the scale of Tiananmen," they said.

Protesters hold up blank papers and chant slogans as they march in protest in Beijing against strict Covid restrictions in China. Pic/AP

Over the weekend, thousands of people in Shanghai, China's biggest city and financial centre, began publicly protesting the government's strict COVID-19 measures and denouncing the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian rule, according to Human Rights Watch.

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Videos of hundreds protesting in Shanghai started to appear on WeChat. Showing chants about removing COVID-19 restrictions and demanding freedom, the videos would stay up only a few minutes before being censored. The extraordinary outpouring of grievances highlights the cat-and-mouse game that goes on between millions of Chinese internet users and the country's gargantuan censorship machine.

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