MCLC: red apples, rotten inside

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: red apples, rotten inside
***********************************************************

Source: The Guardian (12/27/11):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/27/heed-rights-protests-zhu-minggu
o

Heed rights protests, senior Communist party secretary tells Chinese
officials
Zhu Mingguo condemns local party officials as 'red apples, rotten inside'
in wake of Wukan protests over confiscated farmland
By Reuters

A senior Chinese official who helped defuse a standoff with protesting
villagers has told colleagues to get used to citizens who are increasingly
assertive about their rights, and likened erring local governments to red
apples with rotten cores.

Zhu Mingguo, a deputy Communist party secretary of southern Guangdong
province, helped broker a compromise between the government and residents
of Wukan village last week. Ten days of protests over confiscated farmland
and the death of a protest organiser drew widespread attention as a rebuff
to the government.

Guangzhou Daily, the official paper of the provincial capital, quoted Zhu
as telling officials that Wukan and other protests were not isolated
flare-ups. "In terms of society, the public's awareness of democracy,
equality and rights is constantly strengthening, and their corresponding
demands are growing," Zhu told a meeting on Monday about preserving social
stability, the paper said.

"Public consciousness of rights defence is growing, and the means used to
defend rights are increasingly intense," said Zhu. "Their channels for
voicing grievances are diverse and there is a tendency for conflicts to
become more intense."

Zhu cited protests by migrant factory workers who complained about
ill-treatment. These areas where unrest erupted had previously won praise
as "advanced units" ­ showcases of growth and harmony, noted Zhu.

"In these areas there were many problems that were not swiftly identified,
and when they erupted the consequences were even more serious," said Zhu,
referring to the response by local officials. "Like apples, their hearts
were rotten even if their skins were red, and when the skins broke there
was a real mess."

Red is the colour of the ruling Communist party, and Zhu's comments
reflected debate within it about warding off risks of unrest from an
increasingly unequal and diverse society.

In recent days Chinese courts have jailed two dissidents ­ one for nine
years, the other for 10 ­ underscoring the government's determination to
silence critics who it fears will channel discontent into organised
opposition to one-party rule.

That concern is magnified by preparations for a party congress in late
2012, when the central leadership will retire and make way for a new
generation.

Zhu put much of the blame for the recent unrest on local administrators.
In Wukan, he said, officials had sold off more than two-thirds of the
village land without providing for residents' welfare. "Now, where are the
state cadres who remember that farmers don't have land for their food?"
Zhu told the meeting. "When do they think of the hardships of ordinary
people?

"If these complaints had been dealt with sooner, would they have ever
caused such a big ruckus?"

The protests in Wukan ended after officials made concessions over the
seized farmland and the death of a village leader, Xue Jinbo, whose family
suspects he was beaten in custody.

Villagers denounced local officials as corrupt and heartless throughout
their months-long dispute, which erupted in rioting in September. But they
ended up welcoming province officials led by Zhu as brokers who finally
stepped in to forge compromise.

The officials agreed to release three men held over the land protest in
September, when a government office was trashed, and to re-examine the
cause of Xue's death, protest organisers said.