News

Robert J. Sawyer grovels to China

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China fandom science fiction on by

Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer has been the least controversial of the Chengdu Worldcon’s three Guests of Honor. He’s Canadian and isn’t under the same pressures or motivations as Chinese author Cixin Liu and Russian Sergei Lukianenko. However, he’s shown that just a guest spot and airfare are enough to buy off any principles he might have had.

I’m not expecting him to denounce the treatment of the Uyghurs or censorship in Hong Kong while he’s there. That would be stupid. But he didn’t have to say the things he said.
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The slow Worldcon train wreck

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We’re down to the month of the Chengdu Worldcon, and things aren’t shaping up well. At this point, it’s pointless for me to urge people not to go. Either you’ve made firm plans or you aren’t going. All I can do is advise you to be careful if you are going.

The much-hyped, still under construction convention center isn’t big enough to accommodate the biggest events. At least for Chinese attendees, admission to the opening, closing, and Hugo ceremonies will be by lottery. Hugo nominees and GoHs will be allowed in, as will people from far away if they’ve jumped through the right hoops.
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Will the real Chengdu con chair please stand up?

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A recent announcement from the Chengdu Worldcon adds to the abnormal level of hype over the slogan and the mascot’s name for the con. But I’ve already written about that. Something else is very weird.

Yao Haijun, the full-time chairman of the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon and president of the Chengdu Science Fiction Association…

Liang Xiaolan, the full-time chairman of the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon and the vice president of the Chengdu Science Fiction Association…

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#WritersSupportUyghurs campaign to answer Chengdu Worldcon

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The World Uyghur Congress has announced an online panel discussion on October 17, 2023. This date was chosen as the day before the 2023 Worldcon opens in Chengdu.

The press release quotes science fiction writer Andrew Gillsmith as saying:

The Chinese government wants to use Worldcon as a sort of Potemkin Village in order to showcase how futuristic and technologically advanced the country has become. Meanwhile, they are interning people in concentration camps, forcibly separating children from their families, conscripting Uyghurs into slave labour schemes, and implementing the most comprehensive and technologically sophisticated surveillance regime in history. Science fiction writers and fans have a longstanding tradition of standing for human rights. This is in the spirit of that tradition.

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China Worldcon is selling “tickets” and merchandising mascot

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There isn’t much news I can find about the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, which is the site of next month’s Worldcon. The Zaha Hadid Architects website describes it as “under construction” and shows only drawings of it. However, my search turned up information on how memberships and related merchandise are being sold. I refer you to this article by Steve Davidson on the Amazing Stories website. It links to a File 770 article which I’d overlooked.

The news is that the Chengdu Worldcon is selling “tickets” through what is described as “a Ticketmaster-style service.” As Davidson notes, fan-run conventions don’t sell tickets; they sell memberships. The difference is that members have the opportunity to participate in large and small ways. Most aren’t listed on the program, but they can help with setup and breakdown, ask questions at panels, talk with pros at kaffeeklatsches, join discussions in the con suite, sing in the filksings, etc. That’s different from conventions such as the big comic cons, where the emphasis is more on hearing speakers in large halls, buying merchandise, getting photos and autographs, and so on. Both are legitimate activities, but trying to mix the models always turns out badly.
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Outrageous raid in Marion, Kansas

This entry was posted in Censorship News and tagged Kansas law liberty on by

I wish I had the time to write a proper article about the outrageous police raid on the offices of the Marion County Record and the home of its owner, Eric Meyer. Currently, though, I’m putting all my efforts into getting the revised edition of Tomorrow’s Songs Today ready for final review. Just as I thought it was ready to go, I discovered some omissions that had me sending out emails yesterday, and I got the first reply this morning.

So I’ll settle for links and short comments.

AP News. The official justification for the raid has not been made public. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has said it was asked to assist in “allegations of illegal access and dissemination of confidential criminal justice information.” This could be justification for such a raid in some cases, such as breaking into law enforcement databases, but at present there’s no indication any such thing was involved. Most of the news articles I’ve seen follow the theory that the motivation was the Record‘s reporting on a local restaurant owner.

New York Post. The Post reports that Meyer’s mother, aged 98, died shortly after the raid on his home, and Meyer attributes her death to the stress of the raid. It says that the search warrant (which has not been publicly disclosed) “seems to violate federal law” and that normal procedure under the law is to subpoena materials.

Washington Post. The other Post mentions that “the Record had been actively investigating Police Chief Gideon Cody at the time of the raid after receiving tips that he had left his previous job in Kansas City, Mo., to avoid repercussions for alleged sexual misconduct charges.”

Read the articles. Find additional information for yourself. Comment if you think I’m missing something important.

S. B. Divya declines Hugo nomination

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In early July, author S. B. Divya explained on her website why she declined a nomination for a Hugo Award and asked to be removed from the list of people nominated for another. I don’t know anything else about her beyond what I’ve read on her website, but what she’s said is exactly right.

Along with many other writers, I signed a petition last year against hosting the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention (AKA “WorldCon”) in Chengdu, China. The reason was to protest the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang province. I believe that mass human rights violations and possible genocide have occurred in the region.

Read the whole statement here.

US State Department travel advisory for China

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The US State Department currently has China at a Level 3 (reconsider travel) advisory level.

Summary: Reconsider travel to Mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.

While there would be a certain “I told you so” satisfaction if anyone going to the Chengdu Worldcon lands in trouble, I’d rather forego the pleasure. If you have to go because of fannish obligations, keep your head down and concentrate on making it through.

In other news, the Chengdu Worldcon released a Hugo ballot to the Internet then pulled it.

(Un)banning the Bible in Utah

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The Davis school district in Utah has reversed an earlier decision removing the Bible from middle and elementary schools. Few people thought it should be banned; the challenge to it was supposed to be a reductio ad absurdum of the policies that led to the removal of other books. Unfortunately, the appeal committee and the district officials missed the point. They said that “the Bible has significant, serious value for minors which outweighs the violent or vulgar content it contains.” Of course it does. The point is, so do many other books. Violence and vulgarity, even outright immorality, aren’t a sufficient reason to exclude books from school libraries.

The Bible is a horrible book. The Old Testament presents a sadistic, murderous God who drowns nearly the entire world population, firebombs cities, orders the extermination of every man, woman, and child in other cities, and decrees death penalties for many kinds of actions. In the New Testament, this sadist comes to us, not to beg for forgiveness for his crimes, but to say that he’ll forgive us, on the condition that we believe he turned himself into a human in order to be executed. People who don’t believe that claim will be tortured forever.
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Chengdu Worldcon GoH gets Putin appointment

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Congratulations to Sergei Lukianenko on being (probably) the first person ever to be both a guest of honor at a Worldcon and an appointee of Vladimir Putin. Putin appointed the loyal advocate of the war of aggression against Ukraine to Russia’s Civic Chamber. He’s also a guest of honor at the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon.

In an interview for the occasion he recommended “the establishment of some kind of federal structure that would publish books that are niche, but useful, educating the reader in the right values and the ability to think.” In other words, a government bureau to publish propaganda books. I’m sure he’d be glad to write some of them.