A famous Chinese blogger is forced to shut down his magazine

CHINA: "PARTY" MAGAZINE CENSORED 

The first issue of « Party » was published in July and sold 1.5 million copies in China. But despite this success there will be no further issues available in shops for perhaps several years.

This literary magazine was created by Han Han, a successful author, professional race car driver and spokesperson for an entire generation in China, born just after the open economy and the adoption of the one child policy. Despite the censorship in China, he comments on current affairs with a certain provocative tone. 

His blog is one of the most popular in the world and in his latest post he announced his magazine would no longer be published. “I do not know who I could have offended” he explains, and mentions that his editors had been placed under pressure.

On his micro blog, the magazine’s editor in chief Ma Yimu declares « But we will be back » . Alongside the message is a photo of the bottle of wine that would have been opened to celebrate the publication’s second issue.

This web page is devoted to the magazine, the name signifies “chorus of solos” in Chinese, and web users can use it to unload their bitterness and share their hope that the magazine will soon be back in action.

Musician Zhang Zuofu thinks this episode reflects an impatient tendency among young people to want to shake up people’s mindsets. But he is asking his fans to seek inspiration from Han Han’s enthusiasm as he believes that one day his hard work will pay off.

CALLS TO SUPPORT BRADLEY MANNING

« Free Bradley Manning » this is the appeal launched by hacker group Anonymous in support of the American soldier. This army intelligence specialist has been detained since July in Quantico prison in the state of Virginia, and is accused of leaking sensitive military and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks.

The US regards this as an act of treason and Bradley Manning spent his 23^rd birthday on the 17^th of December in prison. For the occasion, his lawyer David Combs published the prisoner’s timetable on his blog. We learn that he is confined to his cell for 23 hours per day and has the right to watch television at certain periods during the day. 

Glenn Greenwald has condemned these conditions. The lawyer feels the imprisonment is inhumane and is likely to cause the prisoner long term psychological damage.

Others mention torture when describing the treatment of Manning. The site warisacrime.org is encouraging citizens to fill out a formal complaint for the United Nations. The UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak, did recently announce he would open up an enquiry into these allegations. 

The site bradleymanning.org meanwhile is asking web users to show the soldier their support by sending him a greeting card. Standwithbrad.org is collecting signatures for a petition demanding his freedom, and the site couragetoresist is organizing an online fundraising campaign to help pay for Bradley Manning’s legal fees.

WIKIRIVER.ORG  

The Wikileaks’ revelations generate a huge amount of publications on the Internet. To stay up to date with the latest news, the site wikiriver.org is grouping together  all the online articles and videos that mention the diplomatic cables divulged by the organization. This is a practical way to be updated on a daily basis on the latest Wikileaks revelations in the press. 

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL RAP

This video is for anyone who wants to find out more about the Photoshop software. Web users can learn the basics on retouching images in a rather fun way. From this rap you can learn how to make a text stand out from a photo, and also how to correct red eyes. You can see this clip for yourself on the site CollegeHumor.com 

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