Local abuses main reason for mass incidents

• Source: Global Times
• [22:13 September 01 2009]
• Comments

Yu Jianrong

Editor's Note:

With China's social transformations, "mass incidents" – large-scale protests or riots – have become increasingly common. The following is an interview conducted by the Global Times (GT) reporter Wu Huaiting with Yu Jianrong (Yu), director of the Center for Social Issues, Institute of Rural Development, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on the rising frequency of mass incidents in China.

GT: How do we define mass incidents and what are the characteristics of such incidents in China?

Yu: Technically, "mass incident" is not an academic concept but a political term.

There are four criteria to determine a "mass incident." First, it should involve a certain number of people, according to our laws and regulations. For instance, the regulation on public petition says that people should choose no more than five representatives when they file petition on the same issue. If they have over five representatives, it is considered an incident.

Second, their actions are not specifically allowed by law, and some are even prohibited. Third, these people may not have the same purpose but behave in the same way.

Fourth, these incidents have some impact on civil order.

China's mass incidents mainly involve civil rights protection, which account for over 80 percent of all the mass incidents. There are also three other common characteristics.

The first is that most of these incidents are about economic interest, not political power. About 65 percent of the civil rights protests in rural areas involve land disputes, and taxation and autonomy issues are also at the root of many incidents.

Most of the disputes take place in relatively developed coastal areas, especially in the provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu and Guangdong. The conflicts mostly involve illegal or forceful acquisition of land, and the farmers mostly complain over municipal or county governments.

In Anhui, Henan and Heilongjiang provinces, the farmers mainly charge the township and village governments with violating their right for contract land.

Workers' rights issues mainly concern State-owned enterprise (SOE) reform, wage arrears, social insurance, working hours, bankruptcy allocation and so on. In cities, the incidents mainly involve demolition and relocation. And all these farmers, workers and urban citizens appeal for specific interests and don't have a clear political purpose.

Second, the protesters try to abide by the rules and are very sensitive to official signals. They follow the central government's regulations, formal or informal. They may ask to dismiss unpopular, low-level officials, but they rarely challenge the authority of the central government.

Third, these incidents are passive and responsive behaviors. Most of China's civil right protection incidents happened because the legal rights of the disadvantaged were harmed and they protested in response.

Besides, the protesters often act within the boundaries of law and restrain themselves with an expectation of a fair and timely response from the government.

However, due to the huge economic interests involved, sometimes the offenders don't back off easily and may even hire gangs and thugs to harass the protesters. Local governments and officials often side with the offenders and mobilize the police to crack down on the people, which results in violent incidents and severe social consequences.

GT: Why does it seem that many mass incidents target local government?

Yu: There are deep social and economic reasons behind these incidents. As the market economy develops, interest groups start to emerge.

Currently, local governments manage lots of political, economical and judicial resources, resulting in all kinds of conflicts of interests. Most of the civil rights violations now are from local governments that sometimes ruthlessly violate others' rights.