Recent news stories of Western journalists being denied visas are only a small part of the government’s initiatives to control the narratives both within China and without. Of the three countries profiled, China is arguably the most well known for its government’s use of censorship. Despite these shortcomings, Now I Know Who My Comrades Are is an accessible and highly interesting look into the world of censorship and activists who are using digital tools to fight against state repression.
The assignments do not seem arbitrary, but an examination of other cases or official policies would have greatly strengthened her choices.
Furthermore, she fails to provide a framework beyond the stories presented in this book for why she assigned each country its category. She makes few references to outside works or studies done by other researchers and organizations. The weakness of Parker’s approach is that she leaves out information that would give the reader a greater understanding of censorship policies in general and how the activists she features play into the larger ecosystem of political dissidents. Despite her focus on personal stories, the reader is able to glean a large amount of information about the mechanisms of internet censorship and what can be done to promote freedoms in an otherwise closed society. It also makes the book easily digestible. This is expected given Parker’s past career in journalism. In each case, rather than discuss the broader systemic issues of censorship, she focuses on the stories of a small number of activists. Through these narratives, Parker shares the challenges that activists face in authoritarian and corrupt countries. Throughout she combines interviews with prominent activists and journalists with her own personal experience to demonstrate that culture and business interests can be just as persuasive as politics and state surveillance. To each she assigns a broad category-respectively, isolation, fear and apathy-that she considers explicative of why citizens are unwilling or unable to communicate freely. She focuses on three countries: China, Cuba and Russia. Author Emily Parker organizes the book into three case studies, each with its own chapter. Now I Know Who My Comrades Are uses storytelling to illustrate the various ways in which states control political discourse within their borders. Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground
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