Disaster will come down to us: on Tan Zuoren being accused of inciting subversion of the state (1) (8/1/2009)

The day before yesterday, from Miss Wang—Tan’s wife—I got the indictment to Tan Zuoren by People’s Procuratorate at Chengdu. I have read it throuhg several times and found it logically messed up, unreasonable and ridiculous! I, therefore, plan to diagnose this indictment meticulously, comment on every sentence and, if possible, write a series of commentary. Welcome to comment on this indictment, especially those professional in the area of law.

At the same time, I will update the news about Tan everyday on my Twitter, you are welcome too; the address of my Twitter will be attached to this article. Besides, I have made up my mind to break the former routine of composing one article every day, I will write intensively to discuss the case of Tan instead. Everything I know with respect to Tan will be shared with anyone enquiring or interviewing me; I will try all my best to cooperate, thanks.

I welcome you to write for supporting Tan, and I will put them together for everybody to read. In addition, I will glean to the greatest extent the articles written by and about Tan, and gather them in a place where we could be informed, and where we could also exchange ideas with time saved. I will also reproduce the articles that I think are informative or profound in understanding Tan’s case on my blog, for the convenience of the readers.

In a country, one with continuous disasters occurring at an amazingly high rate, and one also terrifying, every one of us is Tan Zuoren. Don’t think you are lucky enough to avoid them; as long as the institutions are unchanged, you will be ultimately troubled. The amazedness of China, or say, this insane country, lies in the fact that disasters will knock at your door voluntarily. You don’t even have the freedom of escaping as the disasters will haunt around you like nightmares and badger with you like vipers. In a country resembling a huge prison, now most of the jails have become overcrowded; many of our friends—Liu Xiaobo, Xu Zhiyong, Huang Qi, Guo Feixiong, Shi Tao, Hu Jia, Tan Zuoren etc.—are in there. For those living relatively freer like us outside the real jails, we should try to do something within our reach to help them unfettered. Although freedom outside the jails is also limited, it is definitely better than inside.

In a country with little freedom, the moments of fortune have got less and less left for us. Freedom is the consequence of fighting, freedom never comes by charity. You think you could escape the disaster as long as you stay away, the disaster might respond: no way, to get you, bystander, is easiest of all. You think you need only protect yourself; the disaster might respond: killing people like you is the most enjoyable, just like drinking coolest beer in summer. You might think you could just be free-riding those leading the fight; the disaster might respond: it gets easier and smoother to take you away once the bellwethers have been eliminated. In any case, said John Donne, “send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee,” as every one of us is interconnected. My friend in Beijing reinterprets this saying in another way: send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it is you that fuck it sounding. This is a critique to those malfeasants.