Instability in China

[vaneigem]

This gets very little coverage in the media, but there's a load of resentment and anger bubbling up to breaking point in China. "Mass incidents"-what the Chinese government calls riots, protests, wildcat (non-union led) strikes involving at least 100 people have been increasing since the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident, where students protested against corruption and for further reforms while workers and farmers protested against corruption and against privatisation, not just in Beijing but all over China with perhaps 10million people involved. In 1993 there were 8,700 "mass incidents," and these have been increasing every consecutive year-in 2005 the number had increased tenfold 87,000, and in 2006 it was over 90,000, and some local incidents involved over 100,000 people.

[url]http://zonaeuropa.com/20061115_01.jpg[/url]
[url]http://opposedsystemsdesign.blogsome.com/2008/09/20/chinese-mass-incidents-increase-again/[/url]

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has chosen not to release the number for 2007, so it's safe to assume it rose a lot.

And in 2008, we don't know how many such incidents there have been so far but thousands of factories have closed down as a consequence of the global economic crisis, 53% of all toy exporting businesses have closed down throwing unknown numbers into unemployment, and the CCP is openly afraid of the unrest that is going to follow. And news of some major incidents has made it through to the outside world;

23rd november, up to 50,000 workers tackled several hundred riot police with axes, metal chains, and iron bars in Gansu province after a relatively small protest against the abandonment of development plans was met with police brutality. They virtually destroyed the local government building, and even hijacked a fire truck to smash through heavily armed police lines and 60 government officials were seriously injured. Background to this is unemployed workers returning to rural poverty from the cities.

8th november, hundred of workers in Shenzhen battled police following the death of an innocent motorcyclist at a police checkpoint. Resentment and hatred of police is widespread amongst the working and peasant classes in China, as demonstrated by how Yang Jia, who entered a police station with a knife and killed 6 policeman after being tortured is regarded by many as a hero.

4th september, 100,000 people battled police in Jishou, Ningbo, and Shenqiu over land privatisation and the corruption involved, a 14 year old falling into a coma through overwork in a textiles sweatshop, and the privatisation of a school sports ground respectively.

28th June, 30,000 torch police headquarters and attack government offices after the whitewashing of the police chief's son who raped and murdered a 15 year old. This is largely an expression of anger at the snobbery and contempt for ordinary people shown by the communist party elite, which has largely merged with the commercial elite and urban middle class.

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Those events are typical and hundreds of similar incidents are happening every day that we don't hear about. Where do you think China is heading? As the recession deepens and consumption continues to fall in the west, China is going to have more and more of these problems as factories close. Add to it the demographic problem of having too many men and not enough women, you have a lot of angry young bachelors with nothing to lose.

I think this will be interesting, but certainly not pretty....

[ecojeanne]

Privatization is the road to ruin for any country that starts doing it. It’s the people that really suffer in the end. The police seem to have too much freedom over there by the sounds of it. Are the private corporations who are buying up everything and unfairly working people to death- are they the ones controlling the police? I would think so. So it all comes down to lining some government officials pocket? Human selfishness never changes, it stays the same. And corporations of course will never change their attitude towards humans (they know how to tap into that human selfishness….if one gov official won’t agree then another will) – corporations are machines and people who work for them are just cogs in the machine. Easily disposed of. Easily replaceable

[vaneigem]

Are the private corporations who are buying up everything and unfairly working people to death- are they the ones controlling the police? I would think so. So it all comes down to lining some government officials pocket?

Basically, yeah. The corporations don't own the police; there isn't an overarching conspiracy; but the CCP is increasingly full of well-to-do business families who've joined for extra prestige and power, and the "old guard" have too got involved in business; equally police chiefs and high officials have overlapping interests or family ties with the business elite and the political elite.

This isn't a setup unique to China though, a very similar overlap of commercial interests with politics and the media lies behind state (and class) power in western countries also.

[Lipp]

Any countries with massive population numbers are unruly.

[boobaa]

The big police US should invade China and stop the horror.

Sarcasm.


Anyway, What about those riots in Thai? India?
What about horrid food suffering in Haiti? SAR?

[DoesntMatter]

Boobaa, are you still mad Estonia is shit poor and the US isn't?

I don't blame you. It's nice being able to afford things over here and actually make money

[bluesummer]

I think China needs a revolution. A big one.

[DoesntMatter]

The more kids from China I get to know, the more I like them and China. They have pretty much the exact opposite mindset of people that I argue here on LF. I like them

[boobaa]

DM, You would be a good dictator ^^

[Lipp]

I think China needs a revolution. A big one.

Thing about that is that most likely it will split the country into several states, there's almost no way to get enough people to follow a single route (unlike having a bunch of different groups doing similar things), and you'd need millions to join as well for it to work.

To be honest the chinese government has to be doing a pretty damn good job to keep all of those people under control.

[Mish]

I think if China ditches Communism and becomes more efficient then it just might become a new superpower. Not sure if that's something to look forward to though.

[Junket]

Revolution!

I LOVE IT!

[DoesntMatter]

Too bad this article wasn't on the US. Otherwise boobaa, eco, and half the Australians and Canadians on here would have already thanked it and been going hog wild with such wonderful news

I understand you all want to see America crumble, but isn't China at least second or third best to see hurting in some way?

[Mish]

I understand you all want to see America crumble

I don't want to see America crumble, Americans are friends. It's okay to bust each other's balls from time to time, but it doesn't change the fact that we're all friends in the end.

[doppelgaenger]

Too bad this article wasn't on the US. Otherwise boobaa, eco, and half the Australians and Canadians on here would have already thanked it and been going hog wild with such wonderful news

I understand you all want to see America crumble, but isn't China at least second or third best to see hurting in some way?

Come on DM, nobody hates America.

Anyway, I am not sure what to think of China right now.