Online protests against Chinese repression

An online protest against the Chinese government's repression of its people has taken the form of an international poem relay in support of a jailed journalist. As the Olympic Torch has passed from country to country, Shi Tao's poem "June" has been translated into local languages and posted to the Web in both text and spoken forms.

Today the torch begins its so-called "Journey of Harmony" across the Chinese mainland, so it's time to turn up the heat further on the government of China. The Chinese government has been trying to portray the protests as an insult to the Chinese people, rather than the defense they actually are. Using a bit of Chinese culture as a tool of protest helps to defeat that lie.

I'm not particularly impressed by the English version of the poem, which probably just hasn't survived the gap in cultures and languages. The Chinese language is strong on ambiguity, so there could be any number of layers of meaning that didn't make it into the English version. The German version, which I find more expressive, refers to "the sixth moon" rather than June, suggesting it means the sixth month of the Chinese calendar. However, June is consistent with the Chinese rulers' brutal actions surrounding the Tiananmen Square protests.

Other sites for the PEN Poem Relay:

• English PEN
• PEN American Center
• International Pen (UK)