Sunday, August 26, 2018

News from China #1

Workers’ Protest of Jasic Technology in Shenzhen: Epilogue -Police Assault, Site Cleared -55 Arrested, 

Workers Accused of Being Betrayers of the Nation

“They said somebody sang, but they dare not to say what songs were sung; they said somebody held portraits and banners, but dare not to say it was whose portraits they were or what the banners said.”

Xinhua News Agency, the official mouthpiece of Chinese Government, had released a newsletter, with the title of “Behind the incident of ‘safeguarding rights’ of workers in Shenzhen Jasic company”. In this newsletter, Xinhua News Agency, or we can straightly call it as “Chinese Government”, tried its best to asseverate the innocence of Jasic Technology and the Public Security Bureau (PSB in short, the police department of China) of Shenzhen. This newsletter declared that the workers’ protest and legal rights maintenance are supported by “Foreign Power” which was named “Laodongli” – means Labour in Chinese – by Chinese Government.

According to this full-of-holes and confused right and wrong newsletter, this protest and rights maintenance was financially supported by “a foreign power”, “the Western NGO”. If the reader has read some political news about China, he or she must know that in Chinese Political News, if somebody is accused of being supported by “A foreign power” or “the Western NGO”, it is equated to be called that this person is a betrayer of the nation.

Just like in the former Soviet Union, the Chinese Government nowadays tries its best to rise the nationalism mood to against any western influence. Therefore, “being supported by a foreign power” is a characteristic of becoming an object of hatred.

On 5 o’clock a.m., August 24th, 2018, police from the PSB Shenzhen carried out the site-cleaning, banished 55 workers and students who supported workers’ rights maintenance struggle. Many supporters were dispersed, while some activists and leading workers were arrested, including Yue Xin, Lan Zhiwei, and Yu Kailong.

Before this shocking operation, the well-known Chinese labour activist Shen Mengyu got disappeared, while most of the left-wing activists believe that she was arrested by PSB Shenzhen or be caught by the local gangs.

On July 27th, Yanziling Police Substation, which was under the command of PSB Shenzhen arrested 29 protestors in front of its door, for these worker protestors felt angry about the police’s savage act of taking workers into custody. In these 29 arrested protestors, there is a college student from Xi’an, which led to the nationwide college students’ support expression.

During the whole event, the Chinese Government keeps blocking message. The Chinese Government even use street gangs, which was always called as “Hei Shehui”, to suppress workers and supporting students, even these supporters’ parents.

Gangs even dressed up as some of these college students’ family and tried to kidnap them. Though no obvious evidence, there is no more proper reason to doubt the Government hired them to be the strike breaker.

In the newsletter mentioned above, Jasic Technology had set up a trade union on August 20th. There is no doubt that it is a completely yellow trade union.

All above are the News from China this time.

Marcus Popilius Capito, 
Somewhere in China
August 26th, 2018

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