rejon.org is Jon Phillips.

Whoa, there has been quite a stir on the web about the comments made by a Chinese official that China does not block the Internet:

I don’t think we should be using different standards to judge China. In China, we don’t have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that’s a different problem. I know that some colleagues listen to the BBC in their offices from the Webcast. And I’ve heard people say that the BBC is not available in China or that it’s blocked. I’m sure I don’t know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all.

This is not an uncommon statement as I have heard many different Chinese academics and business make similar claims about how they have the “largest offices,” the “best beer in the world,” and can say “whatever they want.” These are obviously interesting statements, which I can’t deny outright, but more anchor my own response in trying to understand the mindsight of the people who make these statements.

Also, Patrick is posting about his dilemma with getting his employer, Beijing University, to pay him for teaching (even though he has been doing so for the past month). He is writing his dissertation in part about this type of power-struggle in China.

I will make a blanket assertion, as I often do, that this power struggle comes from the myth of trying to maintain a socialist nation in the face of the dominant global democratic capitalist economy. As anyone who has been to China knows, the distance between the really poor and the really rich is pretty huge. Where’s that middle class for stability?

Thanks to the blog post on Creative Commons weblog about the 3.1 ccHost release. Check it out and jump into development.

Also, we are going to start doing monthly releases now with 0.1+ increments to keep on top of cleaning up features, development, etc.

This is going to be a major event! Eric has done really great programming this one along with Melissa who is launching the CC Fundraising Campaign:

Please join us for CC Salon / Creative Commons Fundraising Campaign Launch Party on Wednesday, October 11, from 6-9pm (don’t worry if you’re late; there will be stuff happening all night) at Shine , (1337 Mission Street between 9th and 10th Streets). Shine has free wi-fi and a super cool Flickr photo booth. Note: Since Shine is a bar, CC Salon is only open to people who are 21 and older.

October’s line-up:

• David Pescovitz of MAKE and Boing Boing.
  David is MAKE’s editor-at-large and co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing. He is also a research affiliate with the Institute for the Future and writer-in-residence at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering. Pescovitz is co-author of the book Reality Check, based on his long-running technology forecasting column in Wired where he is still a frequent contributor. His writing also has appeared in Scientific American, Salon, the New York Times, Popular Science, and IEEE Spectrum, among other publications.

• Micki Krimmel of Revver.
  Micki is the Director of Community at Revver, an online video-sharing platform that rewards content-creators by giving them a stake in the profits. It’s her job to keep the Revver community happy and to spread the open media message. Micki used to work at Participant Productions, a film company with a mission to effect social change. She led the company in building an online activist community at participate.net, where film-lovers and activists can come together to make a difference. Micki is also nearing her one year anniversary as a contributor to Worldchanging.com, where she writes about global film, new tools for production and distribution and the democratization of the filmmaking process.
• Ryan Junell of Webzine, Sagan, SLOMO Video, and more.
  Ryan has created music videos for bands such as Spoon, The Soft Pink Truth, The Natural History, Lesser, and Sagan. He directed a short documentary about John Kerry on the campaign trail in 2003. In 2004, he created an experimental documentary video installation about the Republican National Convention in New York. Ryan is founder and curator of the SLOMO Video Festival, featuring 100 one minute slow motion short films by 85 filmmakers and video artists. Ryan is also an organizer of Webzine, an event celebrating the art of independent online publishing. Ryan is currently at work on his third animation for Creative Commons.

• CC Fundraising Campaign
  Also, this CC Salon marks the beginning of Creative Commons’ annual fundraising campaign, so don’t hesitate to bring your checkbook (or PayPal login info — we’ll have laptops on hand) to show your support for the work we do. This is your chance to donate a few bucks and be the first person on your block to get the brand new CC t-shirt design (which is super awesome). Donating to CC helps support the development of tools that help enable a participatory culture.

About CC Salon:
CC Salon is a free, casual monthly get-together focused on conversation, presentations, and performances from people or groups who are developing projects that relate to open content and/or software. Please invite your friends, colleagues, and anyone you know who might be interested in drinks and discussion. There are now CC Salons happening in San Francisco, Toronto, Berlin, Beijing, Warsaw, Seoul, Johannesburg, and coming soon in New York.

Track this event on Upcoming.org