China protests
The photograph was dramatic. An official of the all-powerful Communist Party of China beseeching citizens to end a protest.
"Jiang Guohua, the Communist Party boss of Mianzhu, knelt Sunday to ask parents of earthquake victims to abandon their protest." He didn't want them to march to the provincial party headquarters. Photo by Shiho Fukada for the New York Times
There have been few Party leaders in such humiliating positions since the Cultural Revolution.
The circumstances are dramatically different, but these protests are a danger for the Party's legitimacy and power.
Parents’ Grief Turns to Rage at Chinese Officials
"Bereaved parents whose children were crushed to death in their classrooms during the earthquake in Sichuan Province have turned mourning ceremonies into protests in recent days, forcing officials to address growing political repercussions over shoddy construction of public schools.
"Parents of the estimated 10,000 children who lost their lives in the quake have grown so enraged about collapsed schools that they have overcome their usual caution about confronting Communist Party officials...
"On Tuesday, an informal gathering of parents at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan to commemorate their children gave way to unbridled fury...
"Sharp confrontations between protesters and officials began over the weekend in several towns in northern Sichuan. Hundreds of parents whose children died at the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in the city of Mianzhu staged an impromptu rally on Saturday. They surrounded an official who tried to assure them that their complaints were being taken seriously, screaming and yelling in her face until she fainted...
The parents who lost their children at Juyuan Middle School say they have yet to hear from Dujiangyan officials. A few said they had been approached by teachers and told that they would be well compensated for their loss — about $4,500 per child, several times the average annual income in this area — if they would stop their increasingly vociferous public campaign.
“'We don’t want their money,' said Mr. Luo, the farmer, as others nodded in agreement. 'We just want this corruption to end.'..."
Labels: China, legitimacy, politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:03 AM
4 Comments:
Chinese Parents Organize, Seeking Justice:
Many Ignore Pressure From Government to Move On After Quake
"Undaunted by new pressure from the Chinese government, grieving parents are beginning to mount organized efforts to seek redress for the collapse of schools during last month's earthquake...
"As Chinese begin to organize across schools and districts, their demands for a full accounting of why so many classrooms imploded are emerging as a potent challenge to the government. Officials have emphasized the need to rebuild and move on, but efforts to quiet parents by offering compensation for their lost children or by appealing to the need for social stability have so far not succeeded...
Chinese Parents Call Off Quake Memorial After Official Warning
"Parents who lost children in a particularly horrific school collapse during the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province scrapped their plan for a one-month mourning ceremony on Thursday after local officials warned them not to go through with it, two of the parents said.
"In telephone interviews, the two parents said the group’s members were told not to contact one another and not to stay in the town of Juyuan, the site of the collapse of a middle school that left hundreds of children crushed to death...
"In late May, parents from several schools began holding vigorous protests to denounce corruption and to call for investigations into the collapses. The protests spiraled into the biggest political challenge to the government in the aftermath of the earthquake.
"So starting last week, local officials and police officers began clamping down on the protests...
"Chinese journalists said the central government had ordered Chinese news organizations to stop reporting on the school collapses...
"The issue of school collapses continues to resonate with the Chinese public. Two well-known magazines here, Caijing and Chinese Newsweek, both ran cover stories this week on the issue. Yu Qiuyu, a prominent writer, put up a Web post this week telling parents not to protest so as not to feed anti-China sentiments among foreigners, but he was quickly denounced by hundreds of people online."
And the Chinese press agency, Xinhua reports on the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquakes this way:
Sichuan quake victims confident they can rebuild lives
"A majority of earthquake survivors in Sichuan province are confident they will be able to rebuild their lives within a few years, according to a recent survey.
"Residents expressed high confidence in the relief efforts of the central government, but were less satisfied with the response of local governments, the survey found.
"Eighty-eight percent said they are "very confident or confident" about their futures...
"Survivors praised the central government's relief and rescue work following the quake. On a scale of 1 to 4, the average mark given to the central government was 3.86.
"Local government earned lower marks, with an average score of 3.15..."
Seems like things are getting back to normal in China.
Voice Seeking Answers for Parents About a School Collapse Is Silenced
"Three weeks after the earthquake in Sichuan Province, five bereaved fathers whose children died in collapsed schools sought help from a local human rights activist named Huang Qi.
"The fathers visited Mr. Huang at the Tianwang Human Rights Center, an informal advocacy organization in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where he worked and lived. They told him how the four-story Dongqi Middle School had crumbled in an instant, burying their children alive.
"Mr. Huang soon posted an article on his center’s Web site, 64tianwang.com, describing their demands. They wanted compensation, an investigation into the schools’ construction and for those responsible for the building’s collapse to be held accountable — if there indeed was negligence.
"A week later, plainclothes officers intercepted Mr. Huang on the street outside his home and stuffed him into a car. The police have informed his wife and mother that they are holding him on suspicion of illegally possessing state secrets...
"Mr. Huang, who was detained on June 10, has not yet been formally charged with any crime...
"A conviction for the crime of possessing state secrets can carry up to three years in prison.
"It is unclear whether the pressure to arrest him came from central authorities in Beijing or from local officials, who regarded his criticism of the collapsed schools as threatening..."
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