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My feelings are mixed
December 15th, 2003
NOTE! - for those who can’t read the article on geocities, i posted it now on my blurty. please read it if you know chinese and help to spread the word. Thanks!
Politics are so depressing. As I slowly diving into Chinese politics, I start to feel the dilemma. Yesterday I spent much time reading chinalaborunion.org. It provides some of the most heartbreaking stories about chinese citizens. When you see these photos, you will want to jump and say GOSH, CHINA HAS TO CHANGE! Then i read an article that is a letter written to the central government pleading for an investigation in a village in northern china. The article is posted on 2003-12-8 so I assumed it’s written recently. Let me summarize what the letter is about.
A company in the village had poluted the only source of drinking water. Since 1998, the villagers had complained to the local government to make the company produce standard waste into the river so the water won’t be poluted. The government never responded. Earlier this year some villagers had been poisoned for drinking the water. The villagers could no longer stand the irresponsibility and protested against the government. Instead of getting something positive, the company’s manager hired someone to drive a truck through the villager’s work unit. four villagers were killed and six wounded. The villagers found out this because they captured the driver and questioned him. Later the police department sent a team to investigate. despite of the outcries by the villagers, the police department concluded the killing as a simple traffic accident. it’s clear then that the corruption was so deep rooted that there’s very little the villagers could do to protect their lives and to seek justice for those who were killed. so a respresentative sent this letter to the central government hoping they will be some response. since the local government also tightly controlled the media (so no reports of the incident were on TV), the author also posted this article online and wish more can hear about what happened.
I tried to post the link on some mainlanders’ bloggers’ site so they can help deliver the message. But I found the chinese government had completely blocked chinalaborunion.org. I really do believe the article should be heard so I moved the article to my geocities site. When I posted the new link from my geocities site and briefly explained what it was for again to the mainlander bloggers, i didn’t get any response. I don’t know whether it’s just because they didn’t have time to respond or don’t want to visit stuff on a site that’s blocked by the chinese government. it greatly saddens me. there’s another article on the chinalaborunion.org saying how cold hearted chinese people can be. they are much more concerned about their own good than helping others (partly caused by the corruption as well). there are many cases where people will not respond if someone’s being raped in the public or chased by killers even when they heard the screams for help. i partly believe the article and the lack of response from those bloggers reinforced my belief. this morning when i found i got no responses, i just wanted to cry. then i read this interview.. David basically argued what is being brought up in this article: “Asian values can be taken as a code word for a temporary repression of human rights in favor of economic development.” And I know many city people share his belief. Perhaps China will become a democratic country someday. Maybe someday Chinese government will no longer blocking chinalaborunion.org, but what about all the people who suffered so much from the totalitarian government before then?! they are just meant to be scarficed as necessary stepping stones? how much more suffering chinese farmers (and we are still talking about the majority of the population) have to endure? from 1850 to now….. and to when?
side note: chinese government blocked chinalaborunion.org because it’s sponsored by Wei Jingsheng Foundation - Wei is a political prisoner who promoted democracy since Deng’s Four Modernization (calling fifth modernization - democracy)
