MCLC: NYU booting Chen Guangcheng (4,5,6)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Rebecca Karl <rebecca.karl at nyu.edu>
Subject: NYU booting Chen Guangcheng (4)
***********************************************************

Yes, Chen was given notice at least as far back as early May, and probably
earlier, as Paul Mooney says.  The NY Post reporting is shoddy at best in
its 'facts'. Indeed, the whole piece is based solely on innuendo.

What remains shocking is that, no matter when he was given notice, if in
fact he has not yet provided for a next step -- those two marvelous offers
he's weighing (since early May at least), a claim that has been bandied
about by Jerry Cohen among others, haven't really come through, at least
not yet -- thus if he has nowhere to go, that NYU would nevertheless kick
him to the curb is rather disgraceful, to my mind.  They don't need that
particular apartment; we in fact know that there are more than 90 vacant
apartments in NYU housing complexes, and probably far more. So why the
urgency and speed now? Why not give the guy some leeway to actually set
himself up somewhere else?

It is said that Chen can afford to do anything as he's made a financial
killing off the advance to his memoirs.  It is alleged that he no longer
needs financial assistance. Perhaps Mr. Mooney would be better positioned
to confirm this, or not; but I know when I last spoke to Chen (in May), he
said that was not true and that the advance was rather modest. It is also
rumored that the Soros Foundation provided the money for the NYU stay, and
thus that NYU is not out one penny on this; that, I've no confirmation on,
but it has been a persistent rumor around NYU since Chen's arrival.

All told, then, this story is far more complicated than the Post
insinuation that the CPC is somehow pressuring NYU. It isn't that at all,
so far as anyone can tell; and indeed, it is just a more ordinarily sordid
and disgraceful story of an institution (NYU), which has gotten its PR
mileage out of a famous dissident and is now dumping him.  (Or, that is
how I've come to see it for now, until and unless more info comes to
light!) 

 
Rebecca

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From: ALVARO Joseph James <joseph.alvaro at my.cityu.edu.hk>
Subject: NYU booting Chen Guangcheng (5)

In May 2012, China Daily ran a series of commentaries on Chen Guangcheng
by Mo Nong, a senior staff writer. In one article entitled ‘One man show
just a distraction’,  he wrote the following: ‘After all, most of the
Chinese "dissidents" who have become Western heroes have rocketed to
prominence from oblivion, only to fall back into obscurity when they were
no longer of any use to the West’. I dismissed this as typical of China’s
neo- hubris, but after hearing about the Chen-NYU-Shanghai branch, perhaps
Mo got it right after all. With due respect to those who put forth the
argument that there is no connection between Chen’s case and NYU’s
initiative in China, knowing what I know, I think this is ingenuous.

 Not long ago MCLC referred to Christopher Ford’s article in New Paradigms
Forum (http://www.newparadigmsforum.com/NPFtestsite/?p=1498) which in
essence discussed China’s strategic goal of controlling all discourse
relating to China. Ford relates how ‘beneficial’ relationships with China
would be impossible unless the Other accepted China’s version of
historical events. He concluded by describing China's ambition as
'conceptual imperialism, [which] at least in aspiration, suggests that it
is a Chinese strategic objective to control the world's discourse about
China'.

Call me cynical, but I agree with Ford: There is an all-out attempt at
controlling discourse about China from China, which can be seen in its
demands for Western media to ban or restrict issues that are perceived as
damaging to China’s image. Calls from the Chinese government for control
of discourse, as cited by Ford, are documented in, for example: attempting
to regulate coverage and de-legitimize human rights prizes awarded to PRC
citizens who are recognized for views that are not those of the government
(e.g. Liu Xiaobo); angry protests at foreign politicians who show
recognition of Chinese dissidents, particularly the Dalai Lama; what Ford
describes as China's 'indignant reaction' to the '"lack of balance"' in a
recent Australian National University publication (see: China Sees Red
over Uni Paper 
<http://www.theage.com.au/national/china-sees-red-over-uni-paper-20120103-2
c78j.html#ixzz2GxH6oy7f>); boycotting the screening of films that portray
counter-narratives to China's official storyline such as attempting to
boycott the 2009 Melbourne Film Festival (see: Chinese Entries Boycott
Film Festival 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-21/chinese-entries-boycott-film-festiva
l/1362268>); stories in western media that expose the corruption in elite
government circles (see:Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese
Leader 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-hol
ds-a-hidden-fortune-in-china.html?pagewanted=all>); and even demanding
that a small-town wall mural in the U.S. expressing sympathy for Tibetan
and Taiwanese independence be removed (see: Mural Draws Fire from China
<http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/mural-draws-fire-from-china/article
_22529ace-f94a-11e1-bf2a-0019bb2963f4.html>).

Given the Chinese government’s extreme sensitivity to anything that
portrays the CCP in less than favorable light, I think there is a definite
connection between Chen’s situation and NYU’s China initiative. The
message seems chillingly clear.

 
Respectfully,

Joe Alvaro
Hong Kong

=========================================================

From: Magnus Fiskesjo <magnus.fiskesjo at cornell.edu>
Subject: NYU booting Chen Guangcheng (6)

Another press story with comments from Prof Cohen too.

Magnus

Source: BBC News (6/14/13):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22884786

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng to leave NYU

Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is to leave New York University,
where he is a visiting fellow, this summer.

New York University (NYU) says Mr Chen is likely to remain in the US, and
is currently in discussions with other US academic institutions.

Mr Chen, a prominent activist, caused a diplomatic flurry last year when
he escaped house arrest and took refuge in the US embassy in Beijing.

He was eventually allowed to go to the US to study.

"We were pleased to offer Mr Chen and his family a place to come and study
and support his transition to the US when he first left China," NYU
spokesman John Beckman said.

"But NYU and Mr Chen had discussions beginning last fall that NYU could
not support him indefinitely."

NYU dismissed a report by the New York Post that said Mr Chen had been
asked leave as NYU was building a satellite campus in Shanghai as
"fanciful and false".

Negotiations ongoing

Prof Jerome Cohen, a NYU law professor who had helped broker Mr Chen's
fellowship at the university, said that the arrangement had always been a
short-term one to help Mr Chen and his immediate family "get their feet on
the ground and transition to a more permanent position".

"No political refugee, even Albert Einstein, has received better treatment
by an American academic institution than that received by [Mr] Chen from
NYU," he said.

Mr Chen was currently choosing between "two attractive opportunities" at
other institutions, he added.

A spokesman for Fordham University, which is also in New York, confirmed
that the university's law school was "in negotiations" with Mr Chen,
although it was unclear what position was being discussed.

Mr Chen has not publicly commented on the issue.

The self-taught lawyer had campaigned against forced abortions under
China's one-child policy, but was jailed for four years in 2006 for
disrupting traffic and damaging property.

He was placed under house arrest after his release in 2010, until his
high-profile escape in April 2012.