Wukan Village

[Susurrus]

What does Revleft make of this?

Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8954315/Inside-Wukan-the-Chinese-village-that-fought-back.html

The latest: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/world/asia/top-provincial-leaders-to-meet-with-protesting-chinese-villagers-in-wukan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[TheGodlessUtopian]

A event long in the making... I will be eager to see how this progresses.

[Prinskaj]

Hmm.. I can see this going in two different direction.
Either A) The government of China will let them be, and thus allowing the movement to spread peacefully.
Or B) The village will be suppressed by the army, and thereby creating either massive dissent or fear among the entire population.
I am not very familiar very the political climate of China, so i may be completely wrong.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Where's RevLeft's local "Maoists" (Dengists) on the forum? They are needed to remind everyone that these impoverished villagers are bourgeois reactionaries and the bureaucrats stealing their land and torturing the village representatives to death are proletarian warriors.

[The Douche]

Isn't The Vegan Marxist, the only dengist on here?

I can't see anything other than violent supression happening to this village, thats what bourgeois states do to radical movements...

[aty]

There were chants of "Down with corrupt officials!" and "Return the land!"
Many also chanted "Long Live the Communist Party!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16205654

Just a reminder that this is not the liberal west we are talking about where the only alternative for these villagers would be liberal western capitalism...

[The Vegan Marxist]

From the article published by Asia Times Online:


"Temporary village chairman Yang, addressing a rally on Monday, asked foreign media representatives not to use the term "uprising" to describe their protests as the villagers still trusted the Communist Party and the central government."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/ML21Cb01.html

Also, can foreign media representatives stop claiming that the protesters are being met with "fierce resistance" by the police, treating it like another Tiananmen Square-esque incident? I've looked at all the pictures coming in from Wukan, and the most I've seen that even remotely hints of "police brutality" is a slight bruise on the upper-left arm of a woman (picture was provided by the Wall Street Journal, btw):

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/12/15/world/jp-china2/jp-china2-popup.jpg

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/12/15/photos-wukan-villagers-in-open-revolt/

I, of course, could be wrong here and there could very well be pictures out showing clear signs of police brutality, and if anybody knows of any, please post them here, but until then, I call bullshit.

[The Vegan Marxist]

I'd also like to point out that this issue of illegal land seizure from local corrupted officials isn't exactly "suppressed news" in China by the CPC. The CPC have released several articles in which address this very issue, and have subsequently punished said local officials in doing so:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7436676.html

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7433276.html

So it's of no wonder why the people of Wukan are speaking out against only that of corrupted local officials in the Wukan govt., while subsequently supporting the CPC in the process.

Though, I'd like to make a certain argument here, in which I'd like others to try and answer.

The OP provides us two articles dealing with the Wukan protests. One from the British Telegraph and the other from the U.S. New York Times. As I've shown in my above posts, the media are clearly trying to distort the image of the protests and instead make it out as if this is some large "uprising" against the CPC. And I'm guessing that a large number of you are against the CPC and view as a "capitalist party" rather than a socialist one - same to that of the country itself as well.

So my question to all of you is this: why then would the foreign bourgeois press publish articles in which come into favor of this so-called "working class uprising"? Clearly any working class uprising outside of China - like in, say, Britain or the U.S. - the bourgeois press would either demonize said uprisings or would try and ignore them altogether and create a media blackout on them.

So what makes China different? If China was "bourgeois", then wouldn't the foreign bourgeois press align with them, rather than promote the so-called "uprising"? Have the foreign bourgeois press have a change of heart and all of a sudden taken on a proletarian-outlook? Hardly!

Remember folks. The revolution will not be televised.

[Susurrus]

I, of course, could be wrong here and there could very well be pictures out showing clear signs of police brutality, and if anybody knows of any, please post them here, but until then, I call bullshit.

http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-news-watch/article/Rioting-in-model-village-attests-to-graft-woes

Also Xue Jinbo, the dead leader killed by police.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16173768

[The Vegan Marxist]

http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-news-watch/article/Rioting-in-model-village-attests-to-graft-woes

Also Xue Jinbo, the dead leader killed by police.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16173768

This is what pretty much lit the flame in the first place though. I don't deny that someone got killed, and thus what ignited the protests. But my argument is in regards to that of the protests itself. Many bourgeois articles are claiming the police are being "fierce" with the protesters and reeking havoc. I've yet to see this claim validated.

[Susurrus]

This is what pretty much lit the flame in the first place though. I don't deny that someone got killed, and thus what ignited the protests. But my argument is in regards to that of the protests itself. Many bourgeois articles are claiming the police are being "fierce" with the protesters and reeking havoc. I've yet to see this claim validated.

Did you not read the first article?

But yes, currently the police are not attacking. They're starving them out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8955295/Rebel-Chinese-village-of-Wukan-has-food-for-ten-days.html

[The Vegan Marxist]

Did you not read the first article?

Skimmed it. But again, it doesn't validate anything. Any news press can give off a quoting without actually providing concrete evidence to back up said claims and/or quotes. I'm asking for that concrete evidence. And if no evidence can be provided, then I'm forced in seeing these as mere empty claims than an actual argument.


But yes, currently the police are not attacking. They're starving them out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8955295/Rebel-Chinese-village-of-Wukan-has-food-for-ten-days.html

That could be the matter, yes. If the charges of land seizure is true, then I wouldn't doubt these corrupted officials would try and starve them either. But, again, I'm forced to wonder of what interest the foreign bourgeois press have in releasing these stories other than something in which goes into favor of themselves that we're not seeing.

I'm skeptical, to say the least. Not denying the reports, but neither am I confirming them either until real hard evidence is provided.

[KR]

I'd also like to point out that this issue of illegal land seizure from local corrupted officials isn't exactly "suppressed news" in China by the CPC. The CPC have released several articles in which address this very issue, and have subsequently punished said local officials in doing so:



So it's of no wonder why the people of Wukan are speaking out against only that of corrupted local officials in the Wukan govt., while subsequently supporting the CPC in the process.

Though, I'd like to make a certain argument here, in which I'd like others to try and answer.

The OP provides us two articles dealing with the Wukan protests. One from the British Telegraph and the other from the U.S. New York Times. As I've shown in my above posts, the media are clearly trying to distort the image of the protests and instead make it out as if this is some large "uprising" against the CPC. And I'm guessing that a large number of you are against the CPC and view as a "capitalist party" rather than a socialist one - same to that of the country itself as well.

So my question to all of you is this: why then would the foreign bourgeois press publish articles in which come into favor of this so-called "working class uprising"? Clearly any working class uprising outside of China - like in, say, Britain or the U.S. - the bourgeois press would either demonize said uprisings or would try and ignore them altogether and create a media blackout on them.

So what makes China different? If China was "bourgeois", then wouldn't the foreign bourgeois press align with them, rather than promote the so-called "uprising"? Have the foreign bourgeois press have a change of heart and all of a sudden taken on a proletarian-outlook? Hardly!

Remember folks. The revolution will not be televised.
Because the bourgeois is not some mystical entity, it is made up of many layers competing and fighting each other while also suppresing the working class.

[Chambered Word]

^exactly, would you really think it would be the first time that a foreign bourgeoisie wanted to co-opt a struggle against oppression for their own purposes?

[The Vegan Marxist]

Because the bourgeois is not some mystical entity, it is made up of many layers competing and fighting each other while also suppresing the working class.

Exactly. Which is why I then question those who take these reports at face-value. Those who use these reports by the bourgeois press as a means of opposition to those whom both they and the bourgeois press oppose, one is only helping fuel imperialism through the propaganda it spreads.

You want to voice your opinion, then do so through the facts and truth. Not through bourgeois reports in which distort said facts and truth for their own interests. If one is to use the bourgeois press, it must be done so in discipline and with open eyes.

The Wukan protests are no different. The bourgeois press claim it to be a rebellion, in which is targeting the CPC. And yet, as the facts and truth point out to, the Wukan protests aren't a "rebellion" so much as it is a protest against corruption, and the target isn't the CPC (whom the protesters actually trust and support), and rather corrupted right-wing officials.

A new article is out that I believe holds great importance regarding this topic:


"Zhu Mingguo, a deputy Communist Party secretary of southern Guangdong province, last week helped broker a compromise between the government and residents of Wukan village.

[...]

"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."

[...]

"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?"

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-official-says-wukan-protest-shows-rights-demands-015959147.html