China village democracy skin deep
By Tim Luard

China's tough handling of recent protests by villagers in Taishi,
southern Guangdong province, has thrown into fresh doubt its claims to
be introducing genuine democracy "from the bottom up".

Direct elections of local officials by almost a million villages
across the country have in recent years been widely welcomed as a
possible first step towards a multi-party state.

They were seen as the single most important political change in a
period when China has otherwise devoted itself almost entirely to
economic development.

But the arrest of dozens of villagers and their legal advisers since
the launch of a petition in July to dismiss the director of the Taishi
village committee have gained nationwide attention, with many
concluding that the government is no more serious about grassroots
democracy than any other sort of political reform.

A popular web forum was closed down after it provided coverage and
debate on the continuing confrontation between village residents - who
accused Chen Jingshen of corruption involving a huge land deal - and
regional officials and police who resisted their attempts to remove
him and hold new elections.

The lawyer who helped the villagers with their claim has reportedly
been arrested, and a political activist involved in the dispute
reportedly beaten up.

"The Government responded in a violent and reckless way," said Hou
Wenzhuo, director of the Empowerment and Rights Institute, a
non-governmental activists' group in Beijing.

"At first they reluctantly allowed the petition. But then up to 1,000
police raided the village and acted like gangsters, using water hoses
on the farmers and arresting 48 local inhabitants, including old
women."

Police also seized the village accounts book which the protesters
wanted to retain as evidence of embezzlement. Some of those held have
since been released, but only, it seems, after agreeing to withdraw
their demands for a fresh election, Ms Hou told the BBC News website.

The government had previously allowed 'election recalls' - the
replacement of unpopular village officials - in many other cases where
there were sufficient grounds for such a move and a suitable majority
in favour, she said.

"But ever since last year there has been a big move backwards. Lots of
non-Party members were being elected and the Communist Party felt
threatened," she said.

Ms Hou believes this has led to a major change of official policy,
with provincial governments now being told that non-Party members
should not be encouraged to participate in village elections, and that
Party committees should ultimately control the elected village
committees.

Grassroots democracy

The government began direct village elections in 1988, soon after the
dismantling of the collectivist commune system.

Every village in China - homes to some 600 million voters - is now
required to hold direct elections every three years for a new village
committee, with powers to decide on such vital issues as land and
property rights.

The immediate aim of this scheme was to relieve tensions and help
maintain social and political order at a time of unprecedented
economic reform.

That need has become more urgent than ever in the past few years, as
protests and other outbreaks of social unrest have been reported in
thousands of villages across China. Disputes over land grabs by
officials are the most common cause.

Village elections have been growing more competitive and the use of
the secret ballot is not uncommon, according to Robert Benewick, a
research professor at the University of Sussex University who has
studied the subject closely.

"Where villagers have suffered - or at least have perceived there to
be - abuses of power and mismanagement of resources, they have not
hesitated in voting established and Party leaders out of office," Mr
Benewick said.

But whether the elections are genuinely democratic, or are likely to
lead to a higher level of democracy, is open to debate.

Some say they are often rigged, with Communist Party officials tending
to retain real power at all levels, despite the trappings of
democratic safeguards.

The experience being gained, however, by China's government and most
of its people in organising and taking part in elections could be of
huge benefit, according to Yawei Liu, who has been involved in a
project by the Carter Centre in the United States to monitor China's
experiment with village democracy.

"This will become the single most valuable asset in China's quest for
democracy," Yawei Liu said.

Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was quoted in 1987 as saying there
would be national elections in 50 years - by 2037.

       Why, ask some more cynical observers, is China starting with its
poorest people, when its usual excuse for not introducing democracy is
that most Chinese are still too backward and uneducated for elections?

And just last month, the current Premier, Wen Jiabao, suggested to
visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the village elections
would be extended to the next level - township administrations - in
the next few years.

But few if, any countries, have succeeded in introducing meaningful
democracy from the bottom up.

And why, ask some more cynical observers, is China starting with its
poorest people, when its usual excuse for not introducing democracy is
that most Chinese are still too backward and uneducated for elections?

Others point out that it may not matter much anyway since villages are
becoming less important at a time when vast numbers of Chinese are
moving to the cities.

What China really needs is political reform at higher levels, in the
view of Ying Shang, a post-graduate researcher at Harvard University.

"Village officials striving for re-election can violate the law
without fear," he said.

"This means that the election procedure on its own is vulnerable, and
must be supported by new institutions - in particular, an independent
law enforcement system," he said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4319954.stm

Published: 2005/10/10 08:53:43 GMT

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