“Dissent without permission” may sound like Orwellian doublespeak, but for Chinese, Russians, Americans and others it’s a criminal offense. Will that backfire?

IN CHINA, “protesting” without a permit – which defines and limits where, when and how you are allowed to “protest” – is punishable by stiff fines and/or imprisonment for several years:

Rising Protests in China
tinyurl.com/84epz4j

Lack of Freedom of Speech and Censorship in China
tinyurl.com/74j9eln

China’s Ai Weiwei loses appeal against tax fine
tinyurl.com/73ups22

And that’s nothing compared to what you’ll find in this 2012 Human Rights Watch World Report for China, e.g. “…unnerved by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements and a scheduled Chinese leadership transition in October 2012, the government launched the largest crackdown on human rights lawyers, activists, and critics in a decade. The authorities also strengthened internet and press censorship, put the activities of many dissidents and critics under surveillance, restricted their activities, and took the unprecedented step of rounding up over 30 of the most outspoken critics and ‘disappearing’ them for weeks.”

www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-china

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IN RUSSIA, “protesting” without a permit – which defines and limits where, when and how you are allowed to “protest” – is punishable by stiff fines and/or imprisonment for several years:

New Russian Law Assesses Heavy Fines on Protesters
tinyurl.com/6vgzwvr

Post a Link, Go to Jail: Russia Tries To Silence Protest
tinyurl.com/84muc8d

And that’s nothing compared to what you’ll find in this 2012 Human Rights Watch World Report for Russia, e.g. “Harassment of human rights defenders continues and the working climate for civil society organizations and activists remains hostile… Human rights defenders are vulnerable to harassment and violent attack, and those working in the North Caucasus are especially at risk… The right to freedom of assembly remains problematic in Russia, where police frequently disperse public rallies held by civil society activists and the political opposition. Police use excessive force and arbitrarily detain peaceful protesters…”

www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-russia

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IN THE USA, “protesting” without a permit – which defines and limits where, when and how you are allowed to “protest” – is punishable by stiff fines and/or imprisonment for several years:

Outlawing Occupy: H.R. 347 Makes Free Speech A Felony
tinyurl.com/6mm6opp

Free Speech Zones at Political Conventions Violate First Amendment
tinyurl.com/7czwrhg

And that’s nothing compared to what you’ll find in this 2012 Human Rights Watch World Report for “Amerika”, e.g. “The US continued to have the world’s largest incarcerated population at 2.3 million, and the world’s highest per capita incarceration rate at 752 inmates per 100,000 residents… The federal government continues abusive counterterrorism policies, including detentions without charge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba… [NDAA 2012 expanded] US domestic authority to detain alleged terrorism suspects indefinitely without charge and to mandate military detention for a certain category of terrorism suspects [including American citizens on American soil].”

www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-united-states

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THERE ARE DIFFERENCES between the rights and privileges accorded to citizens of China, Russia and the USA, but those differences are rapidly dwindling in both number and degree. Thanks to institutional indoctrination and decades of sophisticated mental manipulation by an elite-controlled mainstream media – now reinforced by covert and overt pressures to conform with carefully-crafted norms programmed into social media for projection in real life – the American Sheeple can no longer distinguish the liberties of democracy from the favoritism of fascism. They’ve been fattened up with junk food and GMO, and had the fight bred right out of them. They don’t care anymore about freedom; they just want a comfortable cell. If that were not the case then the 99% – or at least the 46 million Americans who now live in poverty – would be asking questions like these:

• Are free speech zones most effective as soapboxes, or censorship?

• Is a demonstration in a free speech zone an effective protest?

• Does a demonstration with a parade permit create a disruption?

• Does a protest that creates no disruption get any attention?

• Does a protest that gets no attention make any difference?

I recently heard a talking head say police states allow a certain amount of open protest to serve as a pressure relief valve to avoid open rebellion, and that the Occupy Movement has been tolerated to the extent it has primarily for that purpose. But before being assassinated by the ‘magic bullet’ of ‘lone gunman’ Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, John F. Kennedy said “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

They can’t both be right…