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Grassroots Environmental Activism, with Chinese Characteristics
In a somewhat rare state-sponsored rally, over 8,000 students gathered in Beijing’s Olympic Park last Saturday to show their commitment to environmental protection. The event launched the newest phase of the “Green Long March,” an ongoing effort to bring youth together and initiate a grassroots-esque environmental conservation movement nationwide.

Working with the Communist Youth League’s All China Youth Federation, US-based NGO Future Generations has gathered college-aged volunteers for the past two years to take part in educational campaigns throughout China, both to learn more in the field about China’s current state of environmental degradation and protection, and to teach others what they know. According to the Green Long March website, student activists have covered issues ranging from water quality, green agricultural practices, and the polluting effects of plastic.

At last week’s rally, GLM student leaders and well known environmentalists, such as Beijing-based WWF Director of Global Climate Change Solutions, Yang Fuqiang, spoke about the larger goals for China’s environmentalist movement, as well as what the GLM hopes to achieve in the near future.

In 2009, GLM hopes to mobilize more youth and communities to reduce their carbon footprint; conduct local training programs of student GLM volunteers on key energy issues; and strengthen information sharing between universities.

The rally was part of a 4-day conference and training, held on the campus of Beijing Forestry University, a co-organizer of the GLM. The bulk of the students’ 2009 field activities will take place this summer.

News of the rally especially resonated with me. That’s because I recently had the chance to see the first public New York screening of The Road Ahead: China’s First Green Long March, an award-winning film that chronicles the start of the journey of some 2,000 hope-filled, passionate youth endeavoring to “[ignite] a movement” in China.

A discussion with Bill McKibben and the film’s Producer, Michael Raisler, was part of the Asia Society-sponsored screening.

The name – Long Green March – is a deliberate reference to the 1934 trek by China’s Communist forces to remote corners of China in an effort to avoid Nationalist (Kuomingtang) forces. Participants in the Long March would later be seen as the Communist Party’s “true revolutionaries.”

The film echoed some features of the Long March: including a pioneering cast of idealists who, holding firm in their beliefs and cause, spread out to some of the most remote corners of China (their ten course trek covered 22 provinces).

However, to some who are familiar with the LGM and have seen the film, it seemed more reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution. Director of the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations and Chinese historian John Delury, who moderated the event, said “it seemed more like the period later in the Maoist era of the ‘sent down youth.’”

Speaking about aspects of the film which make it unclear whether the efforts are truly bottom-up or more top-down, Delury found the beginning of the film suffused with a “thick language of officialdom” evident in the “first line talking about harmonious society.” While Delury accedes that this gradually gives way to a much subtler understanding of what’s going on politically, both with the government trying to do things and with being the impediment to getting things done his allusions to the state-orchestrated tinge of the movement constitutes a relevant aspect of its robustness and greater significance, both now and in the future.

At times, the voyage of the bright-eyed students, a product of over 20 years of incredible growth that has afforded them a dramatically better standard of living and relative comfort, into the homes of ethnic minorities marginalized by Beijing-enacted policies and cultural discrimination, appears less like a “harmonious” effort to save the environment, and more a campaign to enlist youth in spreading centrist propaganda.

In fact, the students may not have done as good a job of that as hoped. A small footnote in the film’s program explains “difficulties” the film encountered while preparing for the film’s production. In the words of the film’s Production company, Cinereach:

The communist party officials involved in sanctioning the march became anxious about the presence of a foreign camera crew, and Cinereach was forced to scale back…and maintain a low profile. Footage from the student cameras was intercepted “for review”…. Only a small portion of the footage was ever returned and Cinereach was unable to incorporate the students’ footage as planned.

Nevertheless, the film’s producer, Michael Raisler, favored the positive aspects of the process and brave honesty of the students, saying these student leaders are “starting to become, really, as committed to environmental issues as any of our greatest leaders.”

So there you have it. While these students, operating within the limits of state-sanctioned activism, may not be as “revolutionary” as some environmental activists might prefer, they nevertheless represent growing environmental awareness in China.

Luminaries like Bill McKibben underscored the importance of this “incredibly unique” movement, and said progress in this area “lies with people whose interests are as much in the future as they are in the present.” Such comments cast the Green Long March in both a meaningful and inspiring light, especially when you stop to consider how truly long the road ahead is.
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mmmmmoooooorrrrreeeeeeee????

China jails environment activist, cuts dissident's term
BEIJING, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A Chinese environmental activist, once hailed a hero for protecting China's third-largest lake, has been sentenced to three years in prison for fraud and extortion, but his wife said she was convinced the charges were trumped up.

Separately, a Chinese court reduced the jail sentence on a dissident by 17 months and he could be paroled before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a rights group said.

A Beijing worker was released after serving 18 years for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, another group said.

China's human rights record has come under fire from international press and rights watchdogs this month in the run-up to the one-year countdown for the Olympics.

Environment activist Wu Lihong, 39, a candidate in a 2005 national campaign to name 10 people who "moved China" with their service to society, pleaded not guilty to fraud and extortion and will appeal against the verdict meted out by the Yixing People's Court on Friday.

"The court did not summon any witnesses and ignored the defence's argument," his wife Xu Jiehua told Reuters on Saturday.

Wu was accused of extorting 15,000 yuan ($1,900) from a businesswoman, but he argued the money was a commission for selling anti-pollution facilities to factories, his wife said.

Wu was arrested in April after reporting worsening pollution at Taihu lake, which has an area of 2,420 square km (934 square miles) and a shoreline of 400 km (250 miles). It straddles the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and is home to more than 60 kinds of fish.

In late May and early June, the lake was covered in a thick foul-smelling canopy of green algae that left tap water undrinkable for more than 2.3 million residents of Wuxi city in Jiangsu province and prompted a run on bottled water for days.

Tap water in Wuxi has been back to normal after the government took out 6,000 tonnes of algae, closed some chemical factories and diverted water from the Yangtze river, but experts said it did not solve key problems.

The court put off Wu's trial in June to investigate accusations interrogators tortured him to extract a confession.

"Wu Lihong told the court he was physically tormented for five days and five nights... He showed scars from cigarette burns on his hands," his wife said.

But the court ruled there was no evidence of torture.

Wu's wife has sued the cabinet's State Environmental Protection Administration for naming Yixing a model city, but the court refused to take up the case.
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:run:

Jiro is attempted to bury this thread through massive turnover of evidence!!!

:run:
 
Hu Jia - Chinese environmentalist & human rights activist who was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Hu Jia jailed for three and a half years
Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia has been convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to three and a half years inprison.

After months under house arrest, Hu Jia was detained on 27 December 2007. He was formally charged on 28 January 2008 and went on trial on18 March at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court.

"This verdict is punishment for Hu Jia’s public critiques of human rights violations in China and a warning to any other activists in China who dare to raise human rights concerns publicly,” said Amnesty International.

“It also makes a mockery of promises made by Chinese officials that human rights would improve in the run-up to the Olympics.”

Prior to his formal detention, Hu Jia had publicly expressed concerns over human rights abuses by police in Beijing, including the arrest of activists without the necessary legal procedures. This included the case of land rights activist Yang Chunlin and human rights defender Lu Gengsong, both also detained on subversion charges.

While detained, Hu has been subjected to 47 lengthy and repeated interrogations. He was denied access to his lawyer, members of his family and medical treatment, including necessary daily medication for liver disease resulting from a Hepatitis B infection. His wife, Zeng Jinyan, is still under house arrest with their newborn baby.

Amnesty International considers Hu Jia a prisoner of conscience and has demanded his immediate and unconditional release. The organization urges the International Olympic Committee and world leaders with a stake in the Olympics to publicly express their concern about his plight - and that of numerous other peaceful activists in China who have been silenced in the run-up to the Games. A failure to speak out would be a "conspiracy of silence" that will be perceived by the authorities as a tacit endorsement of such repression.

Hu started his activism as an AIDS activist in 2001. He is the co-founder of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and of Loving Source, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping children from AIDS families.

Due to his activities and outspokenness, Hu Jia was repeatedly harassed and beaten by police. According to his wife Zeng Jinyan: “Not counting one time in 2002, when Hu was detained by police while interviewing AIDS village inhabitants, he will have been under various forms of imprisonment for exactly four years on 3 April 2008.”

Hu’s focus broadened and he began reporting on wider human rights violations and giving interviews to foreign media. In November 2007, he participated via webcam in a European Union parliamentary hearing in Brussels in which he stated that China had failed to fulfill its promises to improve human rights in the run-up to the Olympics.

In an article on his blog dated 10 September 2007, Hu Jia says: "Everyone should know that the country that is about to host the Olympics is one without democratic elections, freedom of religion, independent courts or independent unions. It prohibits protests and labor strikes. It is a state that carries out widespread torture, discrimination, and employs a large secret police system. It is a nation that violates human rights standards and human dignity, and is not ready to fulfil its international obligations."

In a joint press conference with UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband in Beijing on 28 February 2008, China's foreign minister Yang Jiechi said: "No one will get arrested because he said that human rights are more important than the Olympics. This is impossible."

Take ActionAmnesty International believes this verdict makes a mockery of the notion that Chinese citizens are free to hold opinions and to speak their mind without retribution from the authorities, and serves as a warning to other activists in China who might dare raise human rights concerns publicly.
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hence.... my post #37
local grassroots organizations? in China? lolololol good luck. Remember Gao Zhisheng? Chen Guangcheng? and thousands more....

It was possible here to change things because we have something called Democracy and Constitution. I don't think those 2 concepts are somewhere in a communist country.
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as Alex said.... here's a platform to speak about environment

gallows.jpg
 
<------------- thinks that Kokonut should spend two years in China and be an ardent environmental activist.
 
kokonut said:
Haven't you noticed? Protests still occur and even on a large scale in China. They already know about the risk on getting arrested, jailed or even tortured. Still, they're willing to risk it.
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Time for you to leave USA and move to China.

In communist China, there's no freedom, period.
 
I guess you folks simply don't understand then. Environmental activism in China is happening. Certainly, not to the level, scale and freedom as those in the United States of which we take for granted But it is happening. Slowly but surely. And no, I don't want to move. The USA is #1!


HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters in southern China donned masks to protest a planned incinerator plant, the latest grassroots initiative to target polluting projects in the region.

Mobilized by phone and over the Internet, about 400 protesters from Foshan municipality showed up in surgical masks to urge local authorities to scrap the proposed construction of a Jiangnan sludge incinerator in Nanhai district, west of Shenzhen, the Guangzhou Daily newspaper reported on Monday.

"Defend our homeland, oppose pollution," the protesters chanted, according to the paper, while a large number of police officers monitored them.

In recent months, authorities in southern Guangdong province have faced increasingly assertive protests by residents opposed to potentially high-polluting projects including plans for a waste incinerator in Guangzhou's Panyu district that was eventually put off by authorities.

Pan Zhiwen, a former mayor of Gaoming, a nearby town, was quoted as saying by the newspaper that should the Nanhai sludge incinerator fail an environmental impact assessment, his local government would be "firmly opposed to the project."

Guangdong province has experienced serious environmental degradation after nearly three decades of break-neck development. Environmental activism, however, has grown in recent years as the city's burgeoning middle class pursue a higher quality of life.

In a recent case, a proposed multi-billion dollar oil refinery in the ecologically rich Nansha district just downstream from Guangzhou along the Pearl River, was relocated to a less populated area in western Guangdong after a major public uproar.
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Hundreds protest S.China project over pollution worries | Green Business | Reuters
 
kokonut said:
I guess you folks simply don't understand then. Environmental activism in China is happening. Certainly, not to the level, scale and freedom as those in the United States of which we take for granted But it is happening. Slowly but surely. And no, I don't want to move. The USA is #1!




Hundreds protest S.China project over pollution worries | Green Business | Reuters
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You ALWAYS to label us as not understand so you don't understand about China, period so I'm speaking my views about against on China and knock it off when you label us as not understand.

China will NEVER change, even will not unless there's revolution to rid of communist government, also communist government in China is well strengthening and they wouldn't change until anyone cause their country goes unstable like revolution. I cannot believe that you are just make positive about their authoritarian government so we know that you don't care about democracy so that's stupid for me to see like that.

I'm pro-Taiwan, not goddamn communist government in mainland China.
 
Foxrac said:
You ALWAYS to label us as not understand so you don't understand about China, period so I'm speaking my views about against on China and knock it off when you label us as not understand.

China will NEVER change, even will not unless there's revolution to rid of communist government, also communist government in China is well strengthening and they wouldn't change until anyone cause their country goes unstable like revolution. I cannot believe that you are just make positive about their authoritarian government so we know that you don't care about democracy so that's stupid for me to see like that.

I'm pro-Taiwan, not goddamn communist government in mainland China.
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Label? Not sure what you're getting at.

China has changed, and is changing. They accept capitalism. And when that happens, it means more people will want more of that which leads to wanting more freedom going from a communist to a socialist govt and then hopefully to a more democratic type of govt and people with more freedom than their great grandparents had.

It's happening. It'll take some time but it's happening. Do a little reading and researching next time.
 
Environmental activism, however, has grown in recent years as the city's burgeoning middle class pursue a higher quality of life.
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yes..... the rich city..... that's all. China is a very very large country and you're talking about like 1% of China who is very concerned about their surrounding environment.... because they're $$$$$ and they can complain.
 
kokonut said:
Label? Not sure what you're getting at.

China has changed, and is changing. They accept capitalism. And when that happens, it means more people will want more of that which leads to wanting more freedom going from a communist to a socialist govt and then hopefully to a more democratic type of govt and people with more freedom than their great grandparents had.

It's happening. It'll take some time but it's happening. Do a little reading and researching next time.
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You LABELED me, other members as not understand, you said I'm not understand about China so you are trying to make much knowledge than us does.

China is capitalism country WITHOUT personal freedom, I'm seriously doubtfully that Chinese government would give a personal freedom or democracy until revolution occur, even China is still big government, of course.

I think you are against on big government so stop being praise on communist China.
 
 
Foxrac said:
You LABELED me, other members as not understand, you said I'm not understand about China so you are trying to make much knowledge than us does.

China is capitalism country WITHOUT personal freedom, I'm seriously doubtfully that Chinese government would give a personal freedom or democracy until revolution occur, even China is still big government, of course.

I think you are against on big government so stop being praise on communist China.
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Labeled? Oh, please.

Revolution is occuring, although rather slow as capitalism, access to the internet and better standard of living improves among the millions. This is a recipe for citizens of China to want more and more freedom.

I'm not praising communism in China. Rather I'm against it. I'm simply showing you that capitalism is growing in China and that increase the chance of introducing more ideas on freedom and free speech....
 
kokonut said:
Labeled? Oh, please.

Revolution is occuring, although rather slow as capitalism, access to the internet and better standard of living improves among the millions. This is a recipe for citizens of China to want more and more freedom.

I'm not praising communism in China. Rather I'm against it. I'm simply showing you that capitalism is growing in China and that increase the chance of introducing more ideas on freedom and free speech....
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You did labeled us as not understand, look at your quote.
kokonut said:
I guess you folks simply don't understand then. Environmental activism in China is happening. Certainly, not to the level, scale and freedom as those in the United States of which we take for granted But it is happening. Slowly but surely. And no, I don't want to move. The USA is #1!




Hundreds protest S.China project over pollution worries | Green Business | Reuters
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There's words for you, have democracy or personal freedom will be VERY HARD in China so go believe whatever you wat but you wouldn't get credit about China.

China has been capitalism in economy since 1978, nothing is new.
 
 
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