I had the pleasure, Alongside Ido Kenan and Jonathan Silber, of interviewing John Perry Barlow on a hot august day in Tel Aviv. Barlow is an amazing theorist and an interesting interviewee. Whilst most the opinions he expressed in the interview stood alongside mine (or, rather, where I agreed with most of his thoughts), in onel moment i grasped that i cannot agree with Barlow. during the conversation we started to ask him to quickly answer, or actually, to associate words to what he thought of them. We asked him to associate privacy, Al Gore, Israel and then we got to “China”.

I was surprised to hear what Barlow had to say about China (Hebrew link here, including flash player to hear Barlow), Barlow regards China as a completely and extremely free state. In his words, he said that “I don’t think that there are many tragedies in China and there are no serious problems in china as long as you don’t fuck with the government“. well, fucking with the government has been the only way to get things done lately. From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, human rights, social change and even freedom of press. Take, for example Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 51 U.S. 1030, where the court explicitly stated that “Speech critical of the exercise of the State’s power lies at the very center of the First Amendment”.

Saying that a person has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do, as long as he does not fuck with the government is saying that terrorism works. Terror, as a regime, means that the free will of the people is always tempered. Take, for example,Lhadon Tethong, a freedom activist who went to china. Tethong was arrested for protesting against the occupation of Tibet. This is by no way related to the Internet, but just f**king with the government. Criticising China for ruling against the freedom of religion in Tibet and not allowing the Tibetans to elect their exile leader means more than just fucking with the government for f**k’s sake, it means that people are killed for the only irrational reason – keeping China’s control over people.

A mechanism that does not allow free speech does not allow any freedom at all. Not criticising the government means not criticising it even though you are the person who is being hurt by the government. As long as you’re a tiny little cog in the system that lives his everyday life and does nothing too subversive or intriguing you can go on with your life, but the moment you ask yourself “do i exist?” or “can i practice a different religion” or maybe “can i suffer the government’s terror much longer” you start being considered as one who fucks with the government.

One of the goals of the Chinese Government, as one can understand from their semi-efficient censorship means is to make one understand that he is constantly monitored, though constant monitoring is not always effective, it causes fear. This fear is the fear to study, the fear to learn and the fear of discovering the real world. The result is keeping China in the sixteen century and preventing it from entering the twenty-first. The fear from Freedom of Thought means that China is still a member of a great club, where other members are North Korea, Libya, Iran and Myanmar.

China is not a free country, China is a dictatorship which asks its subjects, and any other visitor, to be subjected to their harsh law and respect the mechanisms that work for maintaining the mechanisms, not more than that.

Take this article for example, I respect Barlow and admire his works, however, i do take time to criticise him since i think he is wrong. Am i fucking with him? is this considered subversive? And if this text is subversive, still, aren’t people allowed to express their opinions in a free world?

In One of my favourite Simpsons episodes, Homer buys a computer and opens a website; In the beginning he changes his name to Mr. X so no one could identify him. Then, he starts to spread malicious (but true) rumours. When some of those rumours, aimed at the Government, appear to be true, Homer is sent to a secluded Island and given an Identifying number.

China is actually like the Garden of Eden in some way; Adam was free to roam, eat and live a full life without any worries as long as he kept god’s two taboos; While tempted by Eve, Adam Fucked with the all seeing Government and had the same experience that most Chinese feel; As long as he doesn’t fuck with God’s will, then all is fine.

Homer can do whatever he may wish to do in this Island, as long as he doesn’t attempt escape. However, he attempts it. There’s no difference between this Island and China. No Freedom, No Privacy. Being a Freedom Fighter means more than most to be like Homer Simpson or Adam. It means that you Fight for being different, It means that you fight against those who oppose your right to oppose. It means you constantly have to fuck with your government.