China’s Black Jails.

China has a multiplicity of mini Gitmos scattered around the country, more commonly known as “black jails”.

These black jails are outside the judicial system, where ordinary people who are perceived as troublesome are locked up for weeks or months at a stretch, Reuters explains:

“So why are petitioners being treated this way? Black jails emerged in 2003 after the Chinese government abolished laws permitting the arbitrary detention of any “undesirables.” But that progress was undercut by the introduction at the local level of guidelines that limit local officials’ prospects for promotions or raises if petitioners from their areas carried on their efforts to find justice in larger cities.

What might have been intended as an incentive to make local officials deal with local grievances became an incentive for those officials to keep petitioners off the streets and invest considerable resources in achieving that goal. Plainclothes thugs commonly known as retrievers, or jiefang renyuan, locate and abduct petitioners in Beijing and other cities for bounties as high as $250 per person. Operators of black jail facilities reap daily cash payments from local governments of up to $29 per detainee, helping to perpetuate black jail abuses.

Rather than crack down on these facilities, the central Chinese government denies that they even exist. In an April 2009 Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference, a MOFA official responded to a foreign correspondent’s query about black jails by insisting, “Things like this do not exist in China.”

In June 2009, the Chinese government asserted in the Outcome Report of the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission’s Universal Periodic Review of China’s human rights record that, “There are no black jails in the country.”

Such denials make a mockery of the commitment in the first-ever National Human Rights Action Plan that, “The Chinese government unswervingly pushes forward the cause of human rights in China.” The Chinese government’s credibility would be considerably enhanced by acknowledging that black jails do indeed exist, shutting them down, liberating detainees, and bringing the perpetrators to justice.”

Update 1: HRW reports:

“Inside China’s black jails, detainees are denied access to legal counsel and in most cases contact with family and friends. Detainees are kept under constant surveillance, and subject to often arbitrary physical and psychological abuse including beatings, sexual violence, threats, and intimidation. In some black jail facilities, guards deprive detainees of food and sleep as mechanisms to punish, control, or elicit information from detainees. Black jail conditions are uniformly harsh. Detainees endure crowded sleeping quarters, unsanitary conditions, poor quality food in insufficient quantities, and violent reprisals for complaints about such conditions.

The guards at black jails routinely deny detainees access to needed medical care, even in cases of injuries from beatings. One former black jail detainee resorted to a three-day hunger strike to compel her captors to allow her access to a doctor. Former black jail detainees report that guards often steal detainees’ personal belongings, including petitioning documents, demand payment for food or lodging at the black jail facilities, and demand large lump sum payments as high as 15,000 yuan (US$2,205) as a condition of release.”

Protest Against China, Get Executed.

No free media, a massive state security apparatus and diktats direct from Beijing make Tibet an inhospitable place for the Tibetans, and the craven behaviour of the British FCO doesn’t make it any easier, the Guardian reports on the latest executions by the Chinese’s dictatorship:

“A foreign ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, said two men had been put to death, and declined to provide further details. Overseas Tibetan groups have identified the dead as Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak.

Lobsang Gyaltsen was sentenced to death this year for an arson attack that killed a shop owner in Lhasa, according to a report at the time by Xinhua news agency. Loyak was handed the same penalty for starting a blaze at a motorcycle shop that killed five people, the agency said.

The US-funded Radio Free Asia said Lobsang Gyaltsen was allowed a visit by his mother before he was executed. “I have nothing to say, except please take good care of my child and send him to school,” he was quoted as telling her.

There has been no confirmation of two other executions reported last Thursday by the campaign group Free Tibet.

The British Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis condemned the executions. “We respect China’s right to bring those responsible for the violence in Tibet last year to justice.

“But the UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, and we have consistently raised our concerns about lack of due process in these cases in particular,” he said.”

Around The World.

There were a few stories that caught my attention, particularly what’s going on in Peru.

We are often told that the Amazon is the lungs of the Earth, a precious resource to care for and not to recklessly exploit, yet the actions of Alan Garcia’s government in Lima gives lie to that notion, the Times reports:

“These men are part of a growing resistance movement crystallising deep in the jungles of Peru. For the first time isolated indigenous groups are uniting to fight the Government’s plans to auction off 75 per cent of the Amazon — which accounts for nearly two thirds of the country’s territory — to oil, gas and mining companies.

They oppose 11 decrees issued by President García, under special legislative powers granted to him by the Peruvian Congress, to enact a free trade agreement with the US. These would allow companies to bypass indigenous communities to obtain permits for exploration and extraction of natural resources, logging and the building of hydroelectric dams.

Indigenous leaders say that the laws will affect more than 50 Amazonian nations representing hundreds of thousands of Indians.

One by one the men step forward and deliver angry, defiant messages. “If an oil company tries to come here, we will block its path and block the rivers. We will not let them in and we will take strong action,” Jempe Wasum Kukush, a local leader, said. Another, Tayajin Shuwi Peas, warns: “We are not scared and we will fight to the death over this.”

On the other side of the world, in related news Rwandan government suppresses Greens (thanks to Jim for spotting this), Green Party Watch has more:

“Kigali: They moved hundreds of kilometers – some for the first time to the capital. Others braved the trouble of having to move with babies. Some abandoned their jobs to be in Kigali for the event that did not happen. Up to 900 supposed delegates of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) found themselves at the center of an unexpected controversy, RNA reports.

The newly formed party was on Friday told it could not hold a scheduled delegates’ conference. Interim party officials had booked St. Famille CANA hall – owned by the Kigali catholic diocese. The large number of delegates meant some had to stand outside anxiously waiting for the grand event to start.

These delegates had come all the way to give their nomination signatures to the new party. It is these signatures which party officials hoped would form part of the registration dossier with the Ministry of Local Government.”

Elsewhere in Africa the quest for raw materials goes on as China is about to sign an agreement with the dictatorship in Guinea. Readers will remember the recent massacre by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara’s forces. The Times discusses China’s role in Africa:

“China is preparing to throw the junta in Guinea a lifeline in the form of a multibillion-pound oil and mineral deal, financed largely by soft loans. Such policies have already served China well with rogue and discredited regimes from Angola to Sudan. The move comes as the European Union, spurred on by France, the former colonial power, and the African Union are considering sanctions against Guinea if its young military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, continues to renege on a deal to stand down in favour of free elections.

The massacre occurred after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets when Captain Camara — who seized power in December after the death of the long-time dictator Lansana Conte — announced that he would stand in the poll. Thousands stayed at home yesterday and riot police patrolled empty streets as the opposition called two days of mourning for the dead.

Beijing, meanwhile, was reported to be close to agreeing a deal, financed by its China International Fund, of about £4.4 billion covering a range of projects. Guinea, the world’s largest exporter of bauxite, also has huge deposits of uranium, iron ore, diamonds and a host of other minerals. It is also believed to have significant off-shore oil reserves.
..
There is only one condition: any money provided must be used to pay Chinese companies and buy Chinese goods that flood the continent’s bustling street markets. Stalls now overflow with cheap plastic sandals, underwear, artificial flowers and cut-price motorbikes and tools.

Ordinary Africans are far less enthusiastic than the governing elites. Rights activists accuse the Chinese of cutting corners, exploiting corrupt local officials and ignoring health, safety and environmental concerns.”

I just wonder what will happen, if and when, China’s source of precious materials becomes blocked by locals agitated at their exploitation, will China’s dictatorship be tempted to move some of their troops into the region?

Dictatorship Learn From Each Other.

The ruling elite in Tehran have been quick to follow China’s example of locking up human right’s lawyers, the LA Times reports:

“According to his colleagues, Dadkhah has been under heavy pressure to publicly confess to being involved in a nefarious plot against the Islamic Republic

Specifically, his interrogators wanted him to betray the the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, the small nonprofit organization he runs with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, and to state that Ebadi was a traitor.

According to fellow lawyers who got a chance to meet with him, he was severely abused during the first days of his imprisonment in solitary confinement in early July.

For two days, he was deprived of food. Then he was blindfolded and thrown down a spiral stairwell. For a few days, he was barred from using the bathroom.

He was told that his teenage daughter was also under arrest, only to find out later it was a lie.

Still, he refused to budge.

After a while, the interrogators gave up. They allowed him to leave solitary and stay in a ward with other prisoners. “

Monks And Lawyers in China.

It doesn’t pay to be a human rights lawyer in China, as the Times relates:

“Last month, government officials closed Gongmeng, also known as the Open Constitution Initiative, a legal aid and research group of which Mr Xu was a leading member. The group worked on public interest law, addressing issues such as death penalty cases and the existence of unofficial “black jails”. Most recently, Gongmeng lawyers represented parents whose children fell ill last year after drinking milk contaminated with the chemical melamine. The tainted milk was blamed for the deaths of six babies and made nearly 300,000 other children ill.

The centre’s closure came after the tax authorities said the group faced a fine of 1.4 million yuan (£140,000) for failing to pay taxes. Mr Xu was scheduled to meet tax officials on July 30, the day after he was detained. Colleagues say formal notification of the unpaid taxes has yet to be issued, meaning that his arrest is a violation of due process

Representatives of Gongmeng have paid back about 700,000 yuan. Under Chinese law, if the taxes are repaid a defendant can face only civil and not criminal charges.

Mr Xu’s work has clearly angered the authorities.”

Elsewhere under the boot of China’s rule:

“The head prefect and the chant master of a monastery were among eight Tibetans sentenced to prison terms for taking part in one of the biggest protests against Chinese rule since last year’s riots in Lhasa.

The court in a remote county of western Qinghai province sentenced six monks and two members of the public for attacking a local police station in March. They had been enraged after a lama from the Ragya monastery escaped from police custody and apparently leapt to his death in a fast-flowing river that passes through the hillside town.

Palden Gyatso, head prefect or disciplinarian at Ragya, received the heaviest sentence, of seven years, on charges of inciting the attack, said the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, a group based in the Indian town of Dharamsala that has been home to the Dalai Lama since he fled into exile 50 years ago.

The other monks were sentenced to between one and four years in prison. The two other Tibetans were jailed for six months and one year respectively.”

“No Uighurs Need Apply”

Thanks to Laban for pointing me towards a very conspicuous example of racism in China.

"No Uighurs Need Apply"

Read the rest at the Atlantic.

Update: James Fallows has a lot more on this topic:

More on “No Uighurs”
The Uighur issue in perspective
Weekend Xinjiang / Uighur / 愤青 update, #1
Weekend Xinjiang / Uighur / 愤青 update, #2

Forbidden From Forming Independent Trade Unions.

Reuters has more:

“BEIJING (Reuters) – Workers in China have become more aware of their rights and willing to go to court to fight for them, but are still hampered by an official ban on independent unions, a labour activist said on Thursday.

Publicity over the 2008 Labour Contract Law, which was opposed by some private business owners and foreign investors, is partly responsible for increased awareness, said Geoffrey Crothall, editor of China Labour Bulletin (CLB), which on Thursday released a survey of labour disputes in China.

Local governments are also becoming somewhat more accommodating of workers’ claims, although in some industries, particularly coal mining, they collude with bosses to stamp out worker action, he said..

“In general, the Chinese government is more conciliatory towards Chinese workers, but that’s not to say that everything in the garden is rosy,” Crothall told reporters.

“Workers are still harassed and detained, although they are less likely to receive long prison sentences.

Collectively, Chinese workers still lack a mechanism to resolve disputes stemming from unpaid wages and poor working conditions, particularly after an economic downturn last year and made economic growth China’s main priority, he said.

The state-backed All China Federation of Trade Unions is unlikely to fight for workers against owners, since its branches are often dominated by management and local party officials.

The union, which collects dues from members’ wages, last year made a strong push to expand into foreign multinationals’ operations in China.

Chinese workers are forbidden from forming independent trade unions.”

Update: Read the report at China Labour Bulletin.

Tibetans and Uighurs.

Australia’s Green Left had an article last year which provides some background to the recent conflicts in Xinjiang:

“Meanwhile, on March 23 and 24 more 1000 people from the Uighur nationality demonstrated in the city of Khotan in the south of the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. The protests were sparked by the killing in police custody of Uighur businessperson Mutallip Hajim and restrictions on women wearing Islamic headscarves.

The Uighurs, along with most of the non-Han nationalities in Xinjiang, are Muslim. More than 500 Uighurs have been detained by Chinese authorities who blamed the Khotan protests on the “three evil forces” of seperatism, terrorism and religious extremism.

The grievances fuelling both Tibetan and Uighur opposition to Chinese rule are broadly similar. In both cases, while incorporation into the People’s Republic of China in the decade following the 1949 revolution brought economic development and the elimination of oppressive pre-capitalist class relations, this was offset by cultural and religious persecution and discrimination vis-a-vis Han Chinese, reflected in significantly lower indicators in education, health and employment.

In both Tibet and Xinjiang, the market-driven economic reforms of the 1980s and ’90s that lead to the integration of China into the global capitalist economy increased national tensions. The boom in Chinese manufacturing has been largely concentrated in the coastal provinces of the east, with Xinjiang and Tibet confined to being sources of raw materials.

Furthermore, the sparsely populated autonomous regions have become destinations for Han Chinese transmigration. The discrimination and educational disadvantage faced by the local population has meant that, in both Xinjiang and Tibet, the rapidly growing modern sector of the economy and the work force is dominated by transmigrants.”

Another Internet Blackout.

Iran’s repressive rulers shutdown communication and restricted parts of the Internet around the recent Presidential election to suppress the exchange of information and try to limit dissent, well, it has happened again.

The Beijing dictatorship are doing the same, RWB reports:

“Reporters Without Borders condemns the Chinese government’s filtering of online information about the rioting in the Urumqi, the capital of the western province of Xinjiang, in which hundreds of people have been killed or injured. More than 50 Uyghur-language Internet forums were closed yesterday and communications were cut in the city.

“Urumqi is currently cut off from the rest of the world,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Once again, the Chinese government has chosen to cut communications in order to prevent the free flow of information. We firmly condemn this behaviour, which is serious violation of Uyghur freedom of expression and an unacceptable act of discrimination.”

The microblogging website Twitter has been inaccessible since yesterday afternoon. Uyghur PEN Centre general secretary Kasser said: “All the leading media are controlled by the state but only independent and privately-owned news sources are inaccessible. We have not been able to access any forum since this morning. It has so far been very difficult to confirm the reports we have been getting.”

Troops Poured In.

The Times reports:

“Thousands of Chinese troops poured into the restive city of Urumqi early today in a massive show of force, as President Hu Jintao cut short a visit to Italy for the G8 summit to deal with the outbreak of ethnic violence.

Along one road ringing the capital of the western region of Xianjiang where 156 people died in riots on Sunday, The Times counted more than 30 paramilitary trucks, each followed by about two dozen men, many in black body armour, and most carrying riot shields, batons and fire arms.

The convoys included several white armoured personnel carriers accompanied by tear gas vans, all with paramilitaries standing ready to open fire if necessary. They were preceded by land cruisers, their sirens wailing as they moved almost at a walking pace through the town. “

Reuters has more analysis:

“SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao abandoned plans to attend a G8 summit in Italy on Wednesday, returning home early to deal with ethnic violence that has left at least 156 dead in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.

More than 1,000 people have been injured and 1,434 arrested in unrest between Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs since Sunday in Urumqi, capital of the energy-rich region which borders Central Asia and Pakistan.

Here are some scenarios at how current tensions may play out: “

Update: AVPS has more information:

“Racist clash at Guangdong factory

The protest was held to demand answers from officialdom over an incident in Guangdong, southern China, on 26 June. A horrendous communal (ethnic) clash between Han Chinese and Uighur migrant workers at a toy factory in the city of Shaoguan resulted in two Uighurs being killed (although there are reports the number could be higher) and 118 injured from both ethnic groups. The incident was started by a Han Chinese worker who had lost his job at Early Light, a private company, that until recently employed over 50,000 workers in southern China. Rather than blaming the boss – Hong Kong’s ‘toy billionaire’ Francis Choi – this worker vented his anger on the 600 Uighur workers brought to the province as cheap labour (even cheaper than Han). This worker, who has since been arrested, circulated a false story on the internet claiming six Uighur men had raped two Han women at the factory. Gangs of Han workers attacked the Uighur dormitories with knives and metal bars and the Uighurs defended themselves with the same means – a bloodbath ensued.

This incident is highly symptomatic of processes in China, as tensions reach breaking point over unemployment (at a post-1949 record), pay cuts (200m migrants have been pitched into a new ‘race to the bottom’ competing for fewer and fewer factory jobs) and official corruption that penetrates almost every sphere of human activity. With all protest channels closed down and workers’ self-organisation outlawed, anger against the state is rising but so too is racism, crime, drug abuse, suicide, and other expressions of hopelessness. As a footnote on the Shaoguan incident, Choi, the billionaire toymaker, is officially worth US$1 billion and boasts a mansion with over 30 sports cars in its car park. The minimum wage set by Shaoguan’s government, which is the norm for most migrant workers, is just 500 yuan a month (approximately US$73). Such are the extremes of the ‘two Chinas’ today: A migrant worker would have to work for 261 years, not spending one fen (cent) of his wage, in order to buy one of Mr Choi’s Ferraris; yet such abysmally low wages are being fought over sometimes with tragic and bloody consequences.

The outbreak of street fighting in Ürümqi represents a ‘feedback loop’ from the clashes in Guangdong. Reports have circulated that police also took part in attacking the Uighur workers in Shaoguan, that several Uighurs despite being victims were among those arrested, and there are rumours that the mobile phones of Uighurs in Shaoguan had been confiscated to prevent them speaking out. Angered by these reports, and suspicious of another official cover up, a crowd of Uighurs went to the streets of Ürümqi to demand answers and protest against what is obvious discriminatory treatment.”

Green Thursday And Other Things.

As the events in China show, the people are revolting. So it is with Iran, and although in both countries massive state repression has been implemented the people still keep revolting.

Now is your chance to share in those revolts:

“Here is something you can do about it. An anniversary demonstration at the Iranian embassy in London is scheduled for this Thursday, starting at 6 PM. Please wear green and come along to 16 Prince’s Gate, SW7. The nearest Tube station is South Kensington.”

Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog has more coverage of Honduras (thanks to Flesh is Grass). I am still looking for decent local information on events.

Darran at Red Star has a deceptively clever original essay which seeks to answer the question: why has marxism had only limited influence in Britain?

Recommended.

Over at Tulip there’s a piece about the Israeli journalists’ union being expelled from the International Federation of Journalists.

Mick Hartley has provided excellent background to events in and around Xinjiang for many years, read on: Razing Kashgar, A Force for Good, Hizb ut-Tahrir in Xinjiang, China’s Empire and China and Xinjiang.

Update: See Left Luggage for Where now for anti-fascism?

Update 2: Hates Crimes at Racismreview.com.

Harry Barnes In Memory Of My Father.

Eric Reeves Sudan Elections and Southern Self-Determination: At Growing Risk.

At the El Nuevo Pantano Peronism: A Brief History.

China’s People Are Revolting.

Repressive regimes will use any measure against their own people to stay in power.

The State induced violence in Iran showed that, and another example is the revolt in Xinjiang. Jim at the Daily (Maybe) has more.

AP has more:

“BEIJING (AP) — Witnesses say an ethnic protest has spread to a second city in China’s western Xinjiang province after riots rocked the region’s capital, killing at least 140 and injuring more than 800.

A Uighur man in Kashgar city said he was among more than 300 protesters who demonstrated outside the Id Kah Mosque in the late afternoon. He said they police surrounded them. “We were yelling at each other, but there were no clashes, no physical contact,” said the man, who gave his name as Yagupu.

Maimaiti, a man who said he worked at the mosque, said he could hear could hear the protesters and police shouting outside.

A protest in the provincial capital, Urumqi, on Sunday night turned into the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit Xinjiang region in decades.”

Please bear in mind that all media in China is censored and the State maintains a firm grip on what news is published and by whom. It also seriously restricts the movement of journalists in the country. So anything reported might well understate the seriousness of the situation.

Update: From entdinglichung:

“Groups of ethnic Han Chinese have marched through the city of Urumqi carrying clubs and machetes, as tension grows between ethnic groups and police.

Security forces imposed a curfew and fired tear gas to disperse the crowds, who said they were angry at violence carried out by ethnic Muslim Uighurs.

Earlier, Uighur women had rallied against the arrest of more than 1,400 people over deadly clashes on Sunday.

The two sides blame each other for the outbreak of violence. “

and:

“Most recent reports indicate that the violent conflicts between the Han Chinese majority and the Uighur ethnic minority in the city of Urumqi are not yet under control. The city is now under the tight supervision of Chinese police and paramilitaries. But while foreign journalists were being given a tour of the city to see the results of rioting, a group of several hundred Uighur women demonstrated nearby, demanding to know where their arrested husbands and sons had been taken. Also seen on the streets of Urumqi have been groups of angry Han Chinese carrying clubs and home made weapons — so far, most of the dead appear to have been Han Chinese.”