Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher.

In defense of civil liberties it was Voltaire, the French writer, essayist and philosopher, who wrote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Where is China’s Voltaire? How and when will he emerge?  Is he fighting to be heard or is he embodied somewhere within Chinese society today – in the form of emerging NGOs; in the developing moral consciousness sprung from the tragedy of the Sichuan earthquake; or among the chatter and the “on-line consciousness” burgeoning among the millions of netizens and net friends 网友? 

Online in chat rooms and on message boards, blogs and websites, more and more Chinese citizens are calling for change from the “bottom up.” There are over 250 million Internet users and over 70 million bloggers in China. It is the most wired country in the world, and Chinese netizens and net friends rely on the Internet for personal expression and interpersonal communication.

Ai Wei Wei, 艾未未, a leading Chinese artist, designer and architect.

One voice is indeed ringing out among the millions of net friends: Ai Wei Wei, an artist, designer and social commentator/advocate – who is on a campaign to collect all the names of the children who died in schools during the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.

Parents watched as schools were reduced to rubble in while other structures, some right next door, withstood the quake’s 7.9-magnitude force.

Recognizing that parental anger could be a political liability, the government has been doing what it can to suppress it. But over 5000 thousands parents have now given Ai Wei Wei their names – asking that he post them on his website. Each name is posted with a photograph of a burning candle.

“I want a government and a nation that bears responsibility. Without responsibility this nation goes nowhere,” Ai Wei Wei told The Toronto Star.

I e-mailed a student I know from Sichuan who was in his dorm at Sichuan University when the earthquake hit.

I asked him what he thought of Ai Wei Wei’s campaign to collect all the names of the children who died in the Sichuan earthquake.

He wrote to me: “I find my brother’s name in Ai Wei Wei’s list－his age, his school, his class.

I totally agree and appreciate what Ai Wei Wei is doing with his team.What
we need is not the number, but the name. For me, it is so important to know
their names. The name is the evidence to prove someone have ever lived in the world, as an individual, no matter how exalted or humble his life is. It is a symbol
of life. I think, it is the human right for everybody to know their names, so we can remember them, so we won’t forget.”