Tiger, tiger, burning bright

• Source: Global Times
• [20:30 July 08 2009]
• Comments

“The system is bureaucratic,” he said. “Many officials don’t think themselves to be on an equal level with citizens, so they don’t bother to respond.”

Earlier this year, he was asked to provide legal assistance to more than 200 Dai people in Jinghong, the prefectural capital of the Xishuangbanna Dai minority autonomous prefecture, Yunnan Province. They had been living peacefully in a stockaded village surrounded by rainforest for generations until the local government decided to convert more than 1,646 acres of rainforest into a rubber plantation.

Li and his colleague raced to Yunnan in April to negotiate with officials, who responded by demanding a package of written documents including villagers’ requests and legal advice. The documents were sent on May 11. Nobody has replied.

“We’re like a chip for the villagers to bargain with,” he said. “If we didn’t help them, they would have no other choice but to pursue a strong and rigid confrontation with the local government. We want to put their conflict of interest on a legal track.”

The villagers have considered going as a group to petition government of higher levels or even going to Beijing, according to Li, but were persuaded to handle the case more mildly.
Li is now worried the villagers might get confrontational if neither negotiations nor lawsuit work out.

“Sometimes the legal scales of justice are a little bit tilted to the left or right. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s acceptable to both sides.

“But if the scales totally lose balance, some people will simply ignore them and try to resolve problems in their own way.”

During their interviews with the Global Times, those who contribute to the development of civil society all passionately believed they were helping the Chinese government to resolve social conflicts and maintain long-term stability.