One of the things that soothed people about China prior to the Olympics was that the government was going to specially designate three “protest zones” inside Beijing, reasonably close to the Olympic venues. Folks who wished to protest the presence of the Games, or the Chinese government’s policies, could apply for a permit and protest freely, without harassment. Honest. That’s what the Chinese government said and world media outlets swallowed the story without much criticism.

As it turns out, these zones have been a great success…for the Chinese government. Not a single protest has occurred in any one of them. What’s actually happened is that the permit application process has lured would-be malcontents in so the public service bureau could snap them up and stongarm them. The likelihood of arrest, which could include real torture as opposed to being kept awake by Christina Aguilera music in a cell with too much air conditioning, has frightened off anyone who would dare protest the touchiest issues of Tibet and Falun Gong. Witness the year-long sentences given to Wu Dianyuan (age 79) and Wang Xiuying (age 77) who were sentenced, without trial, to “re-education through labor” just for applying for a protest permit. They remain under house arrest, but if they so much as make a peep, they’ll be spending a year in a hard-labor camp. Want to lay odds on whether they’ll make it out alive or not?

Meanwhile, the government censors have been doing a bang-up job squelching any story that might reflect poorly on the tyrants in Beijing. They’ve been greatly assisted by the fawning television coverage of the country by NBC.

Still, there are people trying to protest even while they are arrested and harassed by the Chinese government. Would that some professional journalists had their guts. The ChiComs can’t arrest every journalist, though I would darly love to see them try.