Original subtitles

-[theme music playing] -[crowd chanting]

[siren wailing]

[audience cheering]

Hello!

Thank you so much. Hello, how are you?

I'm Hasan Minhaj. This is our first episode of 2019!

How are you?

Thank you so much!

Wow!

Thank you.

Thank you so much.�Thank you.

You guys, this is Patriot Act, or as it's known in Saudi Arabia,

Error 404, not found. [laughs]

In case you don't know the full story,

back in October, we did an episode�about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

Mohammed bin Salman and his involvement in the killing

of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi,

and the Kingdom wasn't thrilled.

Well, Netflix under fire today after its decision to pull an episode

of a comedy show that was critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin�Salman.

[man] Patriot Act, with "Hasan Majan"--

-"Minhan"-- -[woman] Minhaj, yeah.

Netflix confirmed it removed the episode from streaming in Saudi Arabia

after the country's Communications and Information Technology Commission

made a request that it take it down.

A request?

Does MBS think Netflix is a wedding DJ?

I have a quick request.

Just take down that one episode that's criticizing me

and then just play Usher's Yeah.

A request is when a neighbor tells you to turn the music down.

A demand is when that neighbor is Conor McGregor

and you're in his parking spot.

I still can't believe it.

We got Saudi Arabia to issue its very own Muslim ban.

Netflix has received a request, a legal request actually from Saudi Arabia

to remove this episode.

Saudi Arabian officials cited article six of their anti-cybercrime law.

Cybercrime.

You're telling me, even in Saudi prison, I'll be associated with the IT department.

Okay, let's break down how I became an Internet bad boy.

According to article six of the Saudi Arabian anti-cybercrime law,

any content that impinges on public order,

religious values or public morals is prohibited.

Of all the Netflix Originals, the only show

that Saudi Arabia thinks violates "Muslim values"

is the one hosted by a Muslim.

Do you know what's still streaming in Saudi Arabia?

We got access to Netflix in Saudi Arabia through an online proxy,

which allows you to make it look like your IP address is from another country.

So, this is Netflix in Saudi Arabia.

These shows are still streaming. Sabrina, still up.

It has literal devil worship and a lot of premarital witch sex.

BoJack Horseman.

There's an alcoholic horse-man who snorts cocaine.

And let's not forget

those evil cooking shows.

Porky goodness! Vitamin P!

Fat from the hog, a la natural.

[woman] It must be like Christmas every time you break open a new pig.

This is Haram City.

Not eating pork is the one rule every Muslim agrees on.

I have a cousin who's atheist, and he'll be rolling a blunt, drinking,

and he'll still be like, "Hey, man, is there pepperoni on that pizza?"

Look, I don't know if there's a God but if there is one, he hates pepperoni.

You know the most bizarre thing about this entire censorship fiasco?

Saudi Arabia was our second episode, and you can see right here, it's missing.

Okay? But in our last episode in December, episode seven,

we had another segment criticizing MBS, and it was called "Saudi Arabia Update."

Yeah, our episode titles are super straight forward.

They're like an email from your parents.

The subject line tells you exactly what you're gonna get.

"Subject: Hasan, I have a question about the Roku.

Email: Hasan, I have a question about the Roku."

That episode�is still streaming on Netflix in�Saudi Arabia.

If you're going to crush all forms of dissent, don't half-ass it.

But that's what happens when you got a country

that's run by people who got their job just because of their dad.

Now, here's the irony.

By censoring our episode, Saudi Arabia made us go viral

Have they never heard of the Streisand Effect?

It was great for the show, I got 60 new IG�followers.

It was great.

This story...

got covered by everyone across the political spectrum.

For the first time in my life, I was a bipartisan icon. Yes!

[cheering]

Liberals and conservatives,

they both embraced me like I was money from Big Pharma.

Cory Booker just bear hugged me like... [roars]

"Get over here, buddy."

Even Breitbart defended me. Breitbart!

You know how hard it was for Breitbart?

They had to look at a picture of me and MBS and be like,

"Which one is browner?

Is there a third option to hate?"

So hard for them.

Let me be absolutely clear,

I'm not a victim here at all. I'm lucky, okay?

I have the freedom to call Saudi Arabia "The Boy Band Manager of 9/11."

I can criticize my own government without any fear of repercussions.

I can say Stephen Miller deported his own hair for being brown.

I can say those things...

but those freedoms don't exist in Saudi Arabia.

Dozens of activists�sit in Saudi jails, many without formal charges.

So while I can make a joke about being a "cyber-criminal,"

this is no joke for many Saudi activists.

According to Reprieve,

a human rights advocacy group, that vague cybercrime law

that we allegedly broke,

it is the very same law that is regularly cited in Saudi court

to justify death sentences, like in the case of Ali al-Nimr,

a teenager who was sentenced to death for protesting and using his BlackBerry

to spread information about protests.

This isn't about just censoring one episode of a TV show,

it's about the�precedent.

Because as tech companies keep expanding,

they're going to keep running into more vague censorship laws.

Laws that can allow governments to pull any content at any time.

Ultimately, Saudi doesn't care about "immoral content"

that impinges on "religious values."

They're mad that a Muslim is airing out their dirty laundry.

Now, look. I've already been banned in one country.

So I was thinking, "Look, you're not built for this beef.

Let's talk about something a little less controversial."

China.

Don't worry!

Netflix isn't in China.

The only thing they binge watch is their own people.

China, of course, has some of the toughest restrictions

on the Internet.

No Facebook.�No YouTube.

[man] The Chinese Communist Party enforces a draconian system of censorship,

dictating what Chinese can search, and they've done it for years.

If you go to sites like Twitter, Google and Facebook,

this is what you get.

If you can't see that screen, that's exactly the point.

China controlling its Internet is a remarkable accomplishment

that America never thought would be possible.

Now, there's no question�China has been...

trying to crack down on the Internet. [chuckles] Good luck.

That's sort of like�trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.

That is such a creepy clip to watch right now.

Not just because of how wrong he was about China.

But because we're all picturing him nailing Jell-O to the wall

in the same way, right?

With his penis? Okay, good.

For China's 1.4 billion citizens and 800 million Internet users,

censorship is just part of life.

China is so good at censorship, they gave themselves five stars.

In China, censorship is a complex ecosystem

of human beings, telecom and tech companies

and laws that all gives the Communist Party

and China's president Xi Jinping the ability to control

what can be seen on the Internet in real time.

It's something known as "'The Great Firewall,"

which I know sounds like a dessert at PF Chang's,

but there are whole pieces of Chinese history that the government

doesn't allow to be taught in schools.

And they've been scrubbed from the Internet.

The last major political protest in China was the spring of 1989.

Thousands of people gathered in Tiananmen Square

to protest for democratic reforms.

But on June 4, 1989, the Chinese Army open fire on the crowd, killing citizens.

And here are some Chinese millennials, today being asked about it.

Do you learn about�Tiananmen Square in history books?

Not mentioned.

-[woman] Yeah, not mentioned. -Not mentioned at all?

That's crazy. That's like asking a kid in high school, in America,

if 9/11 is in their history book and they're like, "9/11?

The day Jay-Z came out with The Blueprint?

You'd be like, "How is that in your history book?"

So, if you're Chinese and you're living in a world

where the government decides what you can and can't see,

that must be some sort of dystopian nightmare, right?

You're in China, the government can know everything about you.

The government already know everything about me.

It's just if I'm not committing a crime, I don't give a shit.

The bottom line is the Chinese in general are less concerned about data privacy

than the consumers out in the West.

There's some subtle rules in China, but if you follow it,

and respect it, you still have the freedom to experience it.

Remember, this is a rap battle organizer

telling you to follow the rules.

What a fucking nerd!

If NWA started in China, "Fuck the Police" would have been called,

"Sorry, officer. I'll try to be more careful next time."

Yes, websites like Google,�Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are all blocked,

but no one cares because they all have great Chinese doppelgangers

like Baidu, Weibo, Youku and WeChat,

which blows Facebook out of the water.

Life under censorship is pretty good.

If you're just taking selfies, being thick on Youku or shitposting on Weibo and...

To anyone over 35, I swear to God, most of those words were English.

However, if you're an activist, this is where things can get very scary.

Especially under China's president, Xi Jinping.

Since coming to power,

he has crushed all forms of dissent.

China is carrying out a broad crackdown on people accused

of spreading so-called rumors online.

Chung Ai-Ja, a former school counselor,

showed us the message she reposted on social media,

an apparent jab at China's President Xi Jinping.

Police showed up at her school to question her

and days later, she was fired.

Someone got fired for insulting the president online?

That's the only way to get a job in my industry right now.

How'd this all happen?

President Xi has clamped down on NGOs, locked up human rights lawyers

and issued sweeping new cybercrime laws, he even temporarily bans words

and phrases like, "I disagree," "I oppose" and "my Emperor."

Words that question his authority and for some reason,

he's also banned the words, "roll up sleeves"

and "I'm willing to be a vegetarian for the rest of my life."

I feel like the only explanation is that President Xi had his heart broken

by a stubborn vegetarian with beautiful forearms.

And he's like, "It is now illegal to remind me of her!

God, I miss Susan so much."

Xi isn't just censoring words and historic events,

he is censoring huge news stories in real-time.

The Communist Party in China is persecuting a Muslim minority group

called Uighurs.

But if you live in China, chances are you don't know any of this.

[woman] Across the Northwestern province of Xinjiang,

an estimated one million Chinese Muslims have vanished into a vast network

of detention enters for what China calls "re-education."

[man] After initially denying the existence of prison camps,

Beijing now says it is sending an unspecified number of people

for vocational training free of charge.

Vocational training free of charge.

Oh, I get it.

America never had Japanese internment camps.

Those were desert getaways for the Asian-American community.

North Korea doesn't have labor camps, they're WeWorks.

There's no Wi-Fi. Everyone is just really efficient.

There's one more.

You guys are like, "Is he gonna keep going?"

There's a third. Bangladesh doesn't have sweatshops.

Those are Bikram work spaces.

China doesn't want the world to know what's really happening

in the detention centers. Online people have to move fast

to get information before the government takes it down.

and this is probably how it's going to be for quite some time.

China's ruling Communist Party proposed Sunday to remove term limits

on the office of President.

That means Xi Jinping who heads the party and the military

may never have to leave office.

Xi Jinping will never retire.

It's the one thing he has in common with millennials.

Xi promotes a policy of cyber-sovereignty, which he defines

as the idea that China has the right to control information within its borders

and block whatever the CCP deems harmful.

It basically lets them take down anything they want, whenever they want.

Even if it's completely random.

Okay, so the British children's show Peppa Pig

is very popular with kids worldwide, but it's being banned in China

for an unexpected reason.

The sassy cartoon character has come to be associated with counterculture.

[woman] She allegedly promotes gangster attitudes.

Peppa Pig is a gangsta?

Is Thomas the Tank Engine transporting Special K?

What is going on? At some point, the ban on Peppa Pig was lifted

and that's why censorship is such a mind fuck in China.

The government is constantly changing what's allowed and what's not.

So activists and censors�are in a constant game of cat and mouse.

Activists are constantly having to find new ways to evade the censors

and then censors are always looking for new ways to silence the activists.

Take the case of Chen Guangcheng,

known as CGC or the Blind Lawyer.

[man] The Blind Lawyer became an icon of human rights abuses in China

after he exposed the way thousands of women had undergone forced abortions.

For seven years, he was held here under illegal house arrest.

He and his family beaten savagely, guarded round the clock.

Activists started the hashtag freeCGC on social media

and then censors immediately blocked all the hashtags.

To get around the censors, activists then asked supporters

to post selfies dressed up as the Blind Lawyer.

And they did, and the response was incredible.

Even though they all look like they're auditioning to play BBQ Becky.

But then something crazy happened.

Mr. Chen has spent the last 18 months under house arrest,

but last Sunday, he escaped.

A blind lawyer escaped house arrest?

Can you imagine

being the guard that let a blind lawyer slip away?

How could both of them not see anything?

As people started finding out Chen escaped, censors got to work,

taking down his initials and even the words "blind man."

To get around the censors, activists hit back

with an incredibly powerful weapon.

Memes.

Now, I know in America, memes are just used to humanize Squidward,

but in China, they're also a popular tool for dissent.

In the case of the blind lawyer, this meme went viral.

Yeah, that's the pig from Angry Birds,

staring at the tunnel in the Shawshank Redemption.

Shawshank memes became so popular,

the censors blocked any mention of The Shawshank Redemption.

By the way, for any people watching in China,

Tim Robbins escapes from prison.

You totally don't see it coming, kind of like the blind lawyer escaping.

Clearly, the CCP always has the upper hand when it comes to censoring content.

They have the resources, the infrastructure, the manpower,

all of which makes it really hard for any grassroots movement

to gain momentum.

However...

in the last year, there's been a new movement

that has started to take hold in China,

and it may be unlike anything that has ever come before it.

[woman] MeToo, in the US it's been championed by celebrities.

In China, it's a fledgling movement led mainly by university students.

China's MeToo movement has been called

one of the first coordinated student protest movements since Tiananmen Square.

The MeToo movement is a unique problem for the CCP

because the Communist Party is technically founded on egalitarian principles,

the same way America�is technically founded on the idea of democracy.

And Maroon 5 is technically founded on the idea of music.

Even from the CCP's early days, Mao famously said,

"Women hold up half the sky." The CCP's doctrine is equality for all.

But that hasn't stopped them from telling women

what to do with their bodies.

Once notorious for its strict one-child policy,

China now considering proposals to push women to have more babies.

Beijing is worried that having one of the lowest birth rates in the world

will undermine its efforts to stimulate the economy.

For years, they outlawed having more than one child.

Now, they're trying to shame single women into getting married

and having babies by calling them "leftover women."

Even Mike Pence wouldn't support this, he'd be like,

"Look, government isn't about forcing women to have babies.

it's about forcing women to keep them.

Keep your eye on the ball, Xi."

And he's like, "I'm sorry.

I can't stop thinking about Susan.

Maybe I should have compromised and been a vegetarian."

How insecure are you, CCP?

They're basically one step away from passing a law that says,

all Chinese men have girlfriends.

They just go to a different high school, okay?

But now that�MeToo has surfaced,

it's clear women have had enough.

They want the CCP to make good

on the founding values of the party, equality.

And they're speaking out online in a way they never have before.

Despite censorship, a huge part of why�MeToo has taken off

is because of social media. MeToo in China effectively started

on January 1, 2018, after Luo Xixi, a former PhD student

posted on social media claiming she'd been sexually assaulted

by her adviser in 2004, which he denied.

But the post blew up.

Since Luo Xixi first reported the abuse on Sina Weibo on January 1st,

her complaint has been viewed around five million times.

[woman's voice] I stepped up

simply because I don't want other people to get hurt.

But the discussion and the reactions on the Internet

and in Chinese society have really surprised me.

Censors eventually took down�a majority of the�MeToo posts

and the variations of the hashtag.

That's when the arms race began.

To dodge the sensors,�China's women started using Chinese words

that sounded similar to "Me Too."

So, in Chinese "mi" means "rice" and "t?" means "bunny,"

so China's MeToo activists became rice bunnies.

Which if you listen to it,

it kind of sounds like something Steve Harvey got fired for saying.

He's like, "Hey, what's up, you rice bunny?"

And they're like, "Steve!

Why are you saying that?" And he's like, "Think like a man."

Activists posted rotated photos of text, which makes messages unsearchable.

It even used blockchain to make a MeToo letter harder to delete,

and that totally makes sense because no one knows what the fuck blockchain is.

Bitcoin's at 3,000.

Since Luo Xixi's story hit Weibo,

thousands of students have petitioned their colleges

for anti-harassment policies. This is a big deal,

because in China, sexual harassment is rampant.

[woman] A survey of 7,000 students by NGO, the Guangzhou Gender Center,

found while almost 70% of respondents had been sexually harassed,

only 4% reported it to the authorities.

More than 50% of female commuters have been assaulted

while riding China's subways.

Dozens of women have come forward to accuse some pretty high-profile men.

Like TV host Zhu Jun.

He was accused by a woman named Zhou Xiaoxuan,

who claims he harassed her when she was a 20-year-old intern

and he was almost 50.

Zhu has denied the allegations,

but this was a huge deal because Zhu Jun is one of China's most famous TV anchors

known for hosting the state New Year's Gala.

[rooster crowing]

[singing in Chinese]

That was Zhu Jun with a bunch of spring chickens,

which also happens to be his ideal age range on Tinder.

Now, a big reason why so many women have had to turn to social media is

because if you're assaulted or harassed, there are very few good legal options.

China's legal system is poorly set up for dealing with assault allegations.

[man] There's no legal definition of sexual harassment here

and no standardized way of reporting�sexual assault.

China has very little recourse for victims of sexual assault,

and that's something�activists have been fighting to change

long before�MeToo. Activists like Liang Xiaowen.

She has organized protests and co-founded a grassroots feminist NGO,

which are risky things to do in China.

So I sat down with her to talk about her work

The world is kind of hostile to women who want things.

It scares people because women are standing up.

Tell me about the things that your family has had to go through

because of your activism.

Years ago,�I was trying to host a seminar about women's rights,

but then I received a call from my dad.

He told me that not only the local police

but also�his employer, his boss is at his home now.

So the police went to�friends and co-workers

-to talk to your dad? -Yes.

And the parents would go, "Please don't do this."

And that generally works because Asian parents can crush dreams.

Yeah.

You hear that?

That's the sigh of a thousand "A minuses."

No. President Xi doing this...

is some straight-up Naila Aunty bullshit.

Like, "I'm not gonna go to you directly.

I'll find the parents to crush their dreams."

And because of pressure from the police through the parents

and her family, Xiaowen came to the United States to study

and to continue to fight for women's rights in China.

What does the Chinese government

think about the work you're doing?

The Chinese government would consider us to be Western hostile forces

or being controlled by Western hostile forces.

What would they consider me?

Well, if you were that important,

then they would consider you as Western hostile forces--

-Are you saying I'm not important? -Not in China.

-I'm sorry. -Have they seen the show?

-I have seen your show. -No, but have they seen the show?

-What show? -The show you're on.

-This show. -I don't know.

But if I'm in it, I promise that, at least, some people will see it.

Have they seen�The Spy Who Dumped Me?

No, I don't know. I mean, I haven't.

Did they see MTV's Disaster Date season four?

Now you are just making things up.

No, I'm not!

Listen, Party Rock Anthem had come out that year,

and I thought Redfoo was going to be the next Justin Timberlake.

Okay, Xiaowen's credits are a bit more impressive than mine.

She has worked closely with a group called the Feminist Five,

who made international headlines�back in 2015.

[singing in Chinese]

[man] These women are singing on the Beijing Subway

to raise awareness against abuse and discrimination.

And here, dressing up is blood-stained brides

to encourage women to stand up against domestic violence,

but five of these women were detained recently

for what authorities called, "picking quarrels."

It is hilarious to me that men relegated women

to secretarial work for decades,

and now we turn around, and we're like,

"Where did these women learn to organize and plan meetings?

Who is responsible for this?

Why are they picking quarrels?"

The global backlash to the detention on the Feminist Five

was so intense, the CCP actually released the women

after 37 days.

I was going to be sentenced over five years.

They didn't beat me.

Yeah, they don't touch me and maybe due to the--

A lot of pressure from...

internal and external.

If they insulted my sexual orientation, it doesn't work,

That's it. 'Cause I'm a lesbian.

What's wrong?�What's up?

Yeah, the CCP thought Peppa Pig was gangsta?

Nah, this is gangsta.

Just a few months after the Five were released,

President Xi spoke at the UN Women's Conference

and said this...

[woman's voice] In many parts of the world however,

disparities remain in the level of women's development.

As we speak...

various forms of discrimination against women are still taking place.

Hmm... Interesting choice to use a female translator.

He's like see, "I give women a voice.

What's next?

Susan."

In the past year, MeToo has made some gains.

What is the biggest victory that you've seen,

at the government level, of your activism?

The first one happened last year,

the new civil code explicitly...

said that employers should not sexually harass employees.

And the second, now people can sue under sexual harassment

and gender discrimination.

-That's major. -It is.

The CCP has agreed to add a definition of sexual harassment

to China's civil code and the Supreme Court says,

you can now file a sexual harassment lawsuit

for the first time in China.

Remember creepy TV host Zhu Jun? Spring chickens? Remember him?

Yes. He actually sued his accuser, Zhou Xiaoxuan,

and then she counter-sued him and is now trying to make her case

a sexual harassment lawsuit, and if it is accepted by the court,

it would be the first-ever civil sexual harassment lawsuit

in Chinese history.

This is very different in the MeToo movement.

People just don't let it go away anymore.

People want these universities to say something, to do something,

to change the situation.

It's not what it's like before.

People have suffered enough, young women have suffered enough.

They want-- They demand changes.

The CCP and President Xi are doing everything they can

to consolidate power and silence anyone who speaks out.

China's MeToo movement is persisting in the face of censorship,

and it is inspiring, and we can only hope that these small victories

will lead to even larger ones.

[audience cheering]

Thank you guys so much. Appreciate it. Thank you!

[theme music playing]

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