Ai Weiwei is the most prominent of those recently detained by the Chinese government during the current crackdown (termed by the New Yorker's Evan Osnos "The Big Chill").
Authors including Hanif Kureishi, Blake Morrison, Yann Martel, and Ali Smith are among those who have put their names to an open letter drafted by the organization English PEN, which expresses "extreme concern about the current crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey".
From this point of view, the current crackdown on the Internet and bloggers can backfire by undermining, not enhancing, the legitimacy of the governing narrative.
Despite the current crackdown, money is tight.
But he has given no indication that he disagrees with the current crackdown.
Analysts offered a number of possible reasons for the current crackdown.
Compared with 1982, the current crackdown has produced far fewer casualties.
In this sense, the current crackdown is more than the routine weeding out of critics; it is an effort to redefine the limits of permissible expression and roll back the advances made by Chinese civil society over the past decade.
At least 54 people have been detained in the current crackdown on progressive thought and speech in China, according to a statement released Thursday by China Human Rights Defenders, an advocacy group.
