Paul Volker, in WSJ this morning notes the rumblings of a movement in China that is awesome to behold, that underlines the power of the web, and that calls out for a response from tens of millions of bloggers all over the free world.

"China's democracy movement has moved in fits and starts since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. But a manifesto issued this week marks a brave new chapter in the fight for political freedom.

More than 400 Chinese citizens living inside China published "Charter 08" on the Internet. The document calls for a new constitution to establish multiparty democracy and includes a scathing account of Communist rule. It describes its ambition for a political system in which the military, courts, schools and churches are accountable to the constitution rather than to a political party."

You know, I can come to this site,  and say just about anything that comes into my parochial mind.  I KNOW that when I criticize the President or the Governor or the head of our secret police, that there will be no knock at my door. No recriminations. I read articles and opinions posted on scores of sites attacking our government every day.  These are posted without risk.

Government employes might be fired from their positions from time to time and the matter ends up in court. But even under the current Administration, I do not see anyone facing criminal charges unless they are giving away government secrets. We do not have a perfect system, but the issue is always: Compared to what?

Volker continues:

"In a year that has seen a crackdown on political dissent, especially during the Olympics and March Tibet protests, this is a bold step, and the authors don't mince words: "Our political system continues to produce human rights disasters and social crises." It continues: "[A]s the ruling elite continues with impunity to crush and to strip away the rights of citizens to freedom, to property, and to the pursuit of happiness, we see the powerless in our society . . . becoming more militant and raising the possibility of a violent conflict of disastrous proportions. The decline of the current system has reached the point where change is no longer optional."

These brave 400 Chinese can be arrested at any time for merely expressing a view.  But they are taking on a one party system, in fact their entire government.  In solidarity.

These people could be thrown into some hole, or some hold, never to be heard from again. For doing something I take for granted every day.

PV continues:

"An introduction to the charter by American Sinologist Perry Link -- who translated it into English -- likens it to Charter 77, the document signed by Vaclav Havel and other Czechoslovakian dissidents in 1977. Like those dissidents, two signers of Charter 08 were detained by police this week and about a dozen have been questioned, according to Amnesty International.

The Czech dissidents waited 13 years to realize their democratic dream. In China, the reality of self-government also seems far off and Charter 08 won't produce immediate change. But the boldness and bravery of its statement suggest that the democrats' day will come."

I wrote a comment to blog written by an American in China just a couple days ago.  I just wonder if 400,000 or even 4,000,000 bloggers using the net around the Free World could chime in.