Tear Down the CCP Internet Firewall, Says Global BanGFW Organizer

Chinese netizens posted signs saying "Ban GFW" in Chinese, English, or Russian to support the online movement to tear down the Great Firewall after the campaign was launched on March 8, 2023. (The Epoch Times)

BanGFW, or Ban Great Firewall, is an online global campaign to break down the cyber wall that hinders China’s residents from accessing information from the free world.

A group of Chinese non-IT activists, including lawyers and journalists, launched BanGFW on March 8.

The movement quickly drew the regime’s attention. The communist secret police initiated a special month-long battle against the movement, according to Qiao Xinxin, one of the organizers and a former journalist for Radio Free Asia.

Origin

Qiao says at least 95 percent of the online channels going to China are blocked because of the cyber wall.

“The majority of our potential readers are inside the wall,” he told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, “We’ve always found this wall to be quite abominable.”

China’s Great Firewall, or Golden Shield Project, set up in 1998, is managed by the regime’s Ministry of Public Security to monitor and censor what can and cannot be seen in China through an online network.

Qiao explained that BanGFW hopes to invite global citizens to help the Chinese bring down the wall, an effort that goes beyond the technical support of virtual private networks (VPN), and allow them to freely access the internet.

BanGFW Official explained, “The public opinion in the international circles of English, Japanese, Russian, and so on, is what frightens and annoys the senior Communist Party officials.

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doesn’t care about the noise made by people inside the wall. What scares them is sanctions imposed on their overseas mistresses, banknotes, food, etc.”

Feasibility

The BanGFW organizers believe the only reliable way to tear down the Great Firewall is for the CCP to face a public trial for imposing it in the first place.

That becomes achievable when millions of people join the movement, global media report on the movement, and the world governments hold the CCP accountable.

It is easy to join the movement, according to Qiao, by simply displaying the BanGFW sign and posting it on the web.

To facilitate the effectiveness of the activities, the group published a “Handbook of Ban GFW Movement,” on  5 April.

“We want to amplify the voice,” says the Handbook, by bringing the activities to international circles, on a global scale.

“The GFW split the world by blocking information from 1.7 billion people (including 300 million people from Russia, Iran, Myanmar, and Cambodia) and forcing them to engage in a battle against 6.3 billion people.

“How can a normal society tolerate the massive population fighting against each other for no reason?”

Logos designed by BanGFW, an online movement to bring down the Great Firewall of China. (BanGFW/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Secret Police Mobilized

About two weeks after the movement launched, Beijing reacted by initiating a nationwide cyber police special operation, led by Chen Siyuan, the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, according to an insider’s notice to the BanGFW.

Qiao considered it great publicity for the movement. “We have reported this to the FBI, the Five Eyes Alliance, and countries such as Japan, South Korea, Europe, the United States, France, and Germany,” he said, and he’d like to invite people to visit the Chinese embassies and question them about the online censorship and the suppression of free speech.

Qiao emphasized that the Great Firewall is a crime that deserves 10,000 years of imprisonment.

The world, that is 8 billion people, should come together and tear down the wall. He said, “We don’t limit the effort to the technical circle. The specific implementation can be simply summarized in two means—writing posts and holding signs.”

Justice

The mission has one goal, “Bring the CCP to the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” said Qiao.

For example, he said, Fang Binxing, known as the “father of the Firewall,” is the person the BanGFW will sue.

He believes that the CCP will eventually be hit with a lawsuit. “With the publicity of BanGFW, it will detonate global awareness of this wall,” he said.

Qiao explained the main battlefield is outside China, with the Chinese circle as the first step, and quickly covering the English circle and the Russian circle, to connect all nationalities.

“The CCP does not just target Chinese. It exports violence, it also threatens the interests of global citizens,” he said.

If everyone is involved, it will scare the CCP, he said.

The movement has expanded quickly and says supporters require zero capital and zero technology. “Get yourself an account with the BanGFW, then you’re the real Monkey King who fights against the CCP,” he said.

Qiao said that many overseas Chinese have found it difficult to freely convey their thoughts to their parents, and the wall is the barrier causing this problem.

He appeals to everyone to stand up and join the effort. “It will tear down this wall, and destroy the CCP quickly,” he said.

Yuanming Li contributed to this report.