The Chinese Line of Globalisation

The Chinese Line of Globalisation

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - Fifty Two

Palash Biswas

(Students of Paris were influenced by Maoism.Jean-Luc Godard translated the influence very well in medium called film.Naxalbari uprise also was influenced by china and not enough, the Communist Party of India was divided in 1964 due to attack of China in 1962 and the capitalist party of India, CPIM was born. Our communists are well kown for looking umbrella wheneever it rained in Moscow or Beijing. Left front in West Bengal is following the evict peasant drive going in China and the line is well expressed in Singur and Nandigram. Only Vote bank equations have made Buddhadev and his front to hold on.

Get the picture of Rural India live from china.

Zhongshan , china.Thousands of residents of Sanijiao village are pressing ahead with their protest against the government’s seizure of their land despite violent clashes in recent days, in which police injured dozens of people. “The villagers will continue to protest until this issue is resolved,” a man surnamed Tan said by phone. “Farm land is important to farmers, they need their land.”

The problem lies in the lack of compensation for the lands the government seized from the farmers: one part will be used to build a highway and more than 200 hectares have been sold to a businessman in Hong Kong.The protest turned violent on the night of Saturday, 14 January when more than 2,000 policemen indiscriminately attacked around 20,000 residents ? including protesters and onlookers ? who were on the highway. Tan said between 30 and 50 people were seriously injured in this accident, and other witnesses claimed at least one person ? a 13-year-old girl ? was killed in the clashes.

The scenario repeated itself the following day, when between 5,000 and 6,000 people turned out to protest. According to Xinhua, the government press agency, the clashes took place but “between just over 100 protesters and the police, who used no tear gas or electronic batons or water cannon as people claimed they did.” The agency added: “No one died in the incident … and police used no weapons while dispersing the crowd? Some instigators of the attack were detained.”

The Zhongshan municipal authorities have ordered police and township officials to remain calm and avoid clashes with petitioners. The Mayor, Chen Genkai, further urged the township government to “consider the reasonable demands of the villagers and respond in a serious manner.” Guo Feixiong, a lawyer who represents the farmers said: “We call on the authorities to begin talks with farmers to reach a negotiated settlement.

China’s growing economy is fuelling increasing social tension. In recent months, a wave of frequent, serious incidents linked to the problem took place in the rich and developed province of Guangdong. In Dongzhou, police shot a group of protesters against land seizures in their village: 30 residents died as a result of the shooting. The government said there were only three deaths but admitted to using force.

Nandigram and Singur

Nandigram is practically a war zone with fierce gunbattle going on between activists of the land acquisition resistance committee and the CPIM cadres, who are now desperate to regain lost ground.Police under the leadership of Midnapore range are currently conducting massive search operation for the missing body and the culprits. Fourteen people have been arrested.
The law and order situation in the area is now thrown to the winds; the situation can go simply out of the control if the West Bengal Government fails to restore peace very soon.There’s tension again in Nandigram, as one policeman was killed and four injured in clashes with protesting farmers. CNBC-TV18 reports from Tamluk, where the injured policemen are admitted.

One policeman was killed and four others injured by political activists resisting land acquisitions in Nandigram. The Nandi-murdered body is yet to be recovered.

Bengal to uproot over 100,000 farmers to make way for industry
The Communist government of Kolkata wants to set up special economic zones with privileged conditions for foreign investors. But it decided to wipe out 38 villages without consulting the residents. This has led to an uprising and an attack on the local party office. Clashes on the streets left a policeman dead yesterday.

Street barricades have been set up and clashes between farmers and Communist Party officials have left six people dead and more than 50 wounded. The explosion of violent protest comes in response to a decision by the Communist government of West Bengal to uproot more than 100,000 farmers to make way for an industrial zone around 80km from Kolkata. Yesterday there were clashes with police: one police officer died and another three were wounded.

The government wants to create a Special Economic Zone with tax exemptions for foreign investors and a petrochemical plant on 19,000 acres of land in Nandigram. But 38 villages would need to be wiped out and more than 100,000 farmers shifted from the region between the Haldi and Hooghly rivers. The land there is fertile and has been cultivated for generations but the government launched the project without consulting the farmers, who responded with public rallies and blockades.

Most of them vote for the Communist Party that has been in power for 30 years. Shikh Hafrul Islam, a 28-year-old farmer, said: �They always told us ‘we are for the farmer, we will protect your land’, but now they are snatching our land and our food. But we won’t let them do it.” Roads have been barricaded with logs, rocks and bricks. The Party headquarters was attacked and destroyed. Police do not dare enter the area. But the government is not backing down.

Meanwhile,the Jamait Ulema-i-Hind, which spearheaded the Nandigram agitation, landed on the outskirts of Singur on Wednesday. Not to be left behind, Mamata Banerjee�s men dug up an insignificant village road. The split, only a couple of feet wide, provided the boys some long jump practice. In Kolkata, with the government deciding to ignore her demand to stop work at Singur, Mamata seems to be convinced that �peaceful means� would not work. That the escalation of violence is not a mere coincidence is borne out by the fact that the adoption of militant methods of protest had been discussed at a January 29 meeting of the Save Farmland Committee in Mamata�s house. The meeting decided that a �militant agitation� was the way to counter the government�s might and regular protests will be held in Singur to �keep the issue alive��.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today gave a fresh offer of talks to Trinamool Congress to resolve the raging row over farmland acquisition in Singur and Nandigram but the main opposition party set a pre-condition that notification for acquisition be withdrawn.

Bhattacharjee wrote to the Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee for a bilateral discussion on February 13 for a ‘peaceful and logical settlement’, without referring to escalating violence at Singur and Nandigram over acquisition of agricultural land for industry.

Urging Chatterjee to take a positive role as the leader of the opposition, Bhattacharjee said “if you have no problem, I would like to discuss with you the overall situation in the state at a meeting at my Writers’ Buildings chamber at 4.30 pm on February 13.”

Chatterjee, however, said “the state government must withdraw the land acquisition notice at Singur and also at Nandigram before dialogue can take place. This is the precondition for talks.”

The current situation involving land acquisition has arisen due to the policy of the state government, Chatterjee said.

This was the first invitation from the Chief Minister to Trinamool Congress since Mamata Banerjee called off her hunger strike on Singur issue following personal appeals by President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 28.

K’taka all-party meet inconclusive

New Delhi: The all-party meet convened by Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to discuss the verdict of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on Wednesday was inconclusive and another such meet is scheduled to be held in a week’s time.The state’s decision to hold an all-party meet came in wake of the widespread criticism of the Tribunal order � which allocated 270 tmc ft and directed Karnataka to release 192 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu � by the combined opposition.

Earlier in the day, over 50 pro-Kannada activists tried to block the Bangalore Airport in protest against the tribunal’s verdict. The security agencies immediately detained them to ensure normal functioning of the airport. Also, over 16,000 lawyers boycotted work and went on a strike under the banner of the Bangalore Advocate Association affecting proceedings at the high court.

06 February 2007
Napam MumbaiPress Release/Update

Villagers from Raigad dist. sit on indefinite dharna outside Pen Tehsil Office against wrongful issuance of Land Acquisition notices for Reliance SEZ.
Corrupt nexus of local official and Reliance exposed! Will anybody take action?
The residents of 24 villages of the Pen Tehsil have started an indefinite dharna from 5th Feb, outside the Pen Tehsil office opposing and condemning the still continuing Land Acquisition for the Maha Mumbai SEZ. It is ironical that even after the assurance of the Chief Minister Shri Vials Rao Deshmukhji, to the activists and the affected villagers during their meeting on 12th Dec 2006, this illegal process of serving notices is continuing.

The actions of the local authorities is also in the violation of the decision and order of the
Group of Empowered Ministers on SEZ on the non-acquisition of land for the non-notified SEZ. Till date the Maha Mumabi SEZ has not been notified and has only been issued In-Principle Approval, thus as per the SEZ Act and Rules 2006 the land cannot be acquired.

After the issuance of section 4 notices(under Land Acquisition Act) to the residents of these villages, the residents as well as Gram Panchayats had submitted objections to the competent authorities. While the hearings were going on, on these objections the latest move of the land acquisition is violation of the procedure to be followed for land acquisition clearly defined and spelt out in the Land Acquisition Act. Objections to the proposal of the SEZ have also been raised by the state Irrigation Department.

It is condemnable that with all these violations of the law and legal procedures not followed, changes have been made in the 7/12 documents of the affected land. Also the Green Zone Reservation still stands and has not been modified.
All these illegalities and violations point toward the corrupt nexus of the bureaucrats and the developer i.e Reliance who are all out to grab the land from the residing, self sufficient villagers including Dalits and women.

The affected people have decided to sit on indefinite dharna till their demand of following the established procedures and law is not accepted and the illegal notices issued are cancelled/withdrawn. Till then the struggle for their democratic and human rights will continue.

Ulka Mahajan Govardhan Patil
( 9869232478) (9422689597)

24 Villages SEZ Sangharsh Samiti
An appeal in human rights/conservation/Kerala Posted by: “Econetwork Kerala” Tue Feb 6, 2007
Dear friends,
Biodiversity is disappearing fast. In order to stem this rot what we need is people of commitment, sound science, and integrity in place. This is where we fail more often than not. The appointment of Chairman of the Kerala Biodiversity Board is the latest example in this respect.

A person with a history of spoiling the research career and even life of fellow scientist, who has little to claim as a practitioner of science and a master in scheming has been appointed to this position by the Kerala govt. The name of the person in question is Dr VS Vijayan, who had forced fellow scientist Dr Davis (originally a ZSI scientist), at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore to commit suicide. He also terminated or harassed the rest of the SACON scientists (except his wife who was also appointed there), for protesting against him on this count.

He had also gone to the extent of seeking to privatize the SACON (established by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, GoI); the Hon Minister Balu was kept in the dark about it and he got to know this only when some journalists asked him about this on the eve of the Annual General Body meeting of SACON, the minister was obviously upset and nipped the move in the bud. Dr Vijayan�s interest in privatizing it, with the aid of a business lobby of Coimbatore was simple, that he wanted to the life long director of the organization (he was then on the verge of retirement).

Dr Vijayan�s is a text book case of how some of our scientific institutions are destroyed. And having a person with a history as Vijayan�s will only destroy the Kerala Biodiversity Board, and the important mandate it is expected to undertake. A person who had no qualms to drive an eminent scientist to suicide should not be rehabilitated as chairman of this body, but instead legal action should be pressed against him.

A former scientist of SACON has written an appeal to the Kerala Chief Minister appealing him against the appointment. Pl find below a copy of the letter we have obtained. Dr Geevan had been an SFI stalwart in the JNU in the 1980s. May we urge you to write similar letters to the Chief Minister. Obviously he was mislead into making this decision by some power brokers, and your letters would help him to review the decision. Pl find below the addresses
Aravind C

Mr V S Achuthanandan
Government Secretariat, Trivandrum 1.
Kerala
Ph.0471- 2333812,
Fax. 0471-2333489
email: chiefminister@ kerala.gov.in

Pl send copies to:
Mr Oommen Chandy
Opposition Leader
Cantonment House
Trivandrum
Tel: 0471-2315625
Fax: 2318330
oommenputhuppally@ yahoo.co.in

Police clash with farmers over land seizures
Another protest is under way in the rich and developed province of Guangdong, which has seen the most violent clashes of recent months. Police attacked demonstrators who claim one person was killed and 50 were wounded.

AKG’s legacy

As for film maker Shaji, the docu-fiction is the best medium to help the younger generation understand the values AKG stood for.”Many of the younger generation understand Gandhi through cinema and visual support. Therefore this is an attempt to portray the human being who really made all elevate human feeling among common man,” said Karun.

Actor Sreekumar, who’s playing AKG in the documentary, says it’s been a great enriching experience, particularly spending several hours in jail - a place he’s never been in real life.And he’s amazed at the love and respect that AKG still commands among party workers.”People of Malabar area consider me as the real AKG, even here also. But in Malabar nobody sees me as Sreekumar but they see me as AKG and shower love and affection,” said Sreekumar.

The docu-fiction is being made at a time when the CPI(M) in Kerala is facing intense factionalism.Many party workers say that the present crisis in the party wouldn’t have taken place had the leaders followed AKG’s ideals of selfless service.While the film that releases on March 22 is expected to help people know AKG better, many party workers want the warring leaders to learn a lesson or two.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata made a 35-minute sortie on a F-16 combat jet at the Aero India show, becoming the one of the oldest Indians to fly a fighter.

Tata undertook the flight as co-pilot of a jet commanded by Paul Hattendorf, a test pilot of Lockheed Martin, the aircraft’s manufacturer which is believed to be eyeing a lucrative tie-up with the Indian business empire.

“I am really pleased to have done that. It is just an unbelievable experience,” said Tata after touching down.

“It is a terrific airplane…we did a few things, where the commander took over and did some rolls. All of it was very exciting,” said the trained pilot whose father J R D Tata started India’s first aviation company in the 1930s.

Unbelievable experience

Describing the sortie as more exciting than he had imagined, Tata said the F-16 “went down about 500 ft towards the deck” and seeing the topography from such a height was a moment to savour.

“You climb one hill and come down, turn over. It is just an unbelievable experience,” he gushed.

Tata, who was presented a model of the F-16 by Hattendorf, however, said he felt tired after the flight. “For someone who is not used to it, you end up feeling tired.”

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which is lobbying hard to bag an IAF contract for 126 jets, said it had approached the Indian industrial icon for the flight.

Tatas not to pull out of Singur deal

February 08, 2007 17:41 IST
Last Updated: February 08, 2007 18:43 IST

Tata Motors on Thursday clarified that it has no intention to back out of the Singur deal where it plans to set up a plant to manufacture the Rs100,000 car.

After Ratan Tata flew to Kolkata to meet Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya on Monday evening, there were rumours that the Tatas faced with fierce opposition from the Trinamool party and a section of Bengal intelligentsia, were mulling options to relocate the plant to some other state.

In a media briefing held late Monday evening, where Bhattacharya was also present, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group said that talks of pulling out were nothing but mere rumours, adding that the Tata project was well on steam and work on it will start on schedule.

Influence Of Mao

Beginning in the late 1960s, Maoism was the adopted religion of Jean-Luc Godard, who at that time was considered Europe’s greatest film director. (Maoism is revolutionary Chinese dictator Mao Zedong’s version of Marxist Communism. Maoism, which was known in China as Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung Thought, was the principle ideology enforced throughout China during and after the Communist uprising known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, or, more commonly, the Cultural Revolution.) Godard looked to Chairman Mao as a prophet of revolution, who had brought the world a new system whereby the world could be transformed for everyone. Godard actively read and promoted the Mao’s Little Red Book, the principle Maoist scriptural text. Godard was a devout Maoist and worked to advance Maoist political and ideological ideals throughout Europe and North America. At that time, Chinese as well as European Maoist missionaries actively proselyted in Europe.

Godard’s intensely Maoist period ended in 1980. After the 1970s, Godard appears to have come to an increased awareness of the true nature of Maoism in China and subsequently moderated his devotion specifically to Maoism. In 1981, the Communist Party of China, which was brought to power principally by Mao Zedong, officially repudiated the Cultural Revolution and placed responsibility for it on Mao. According to contemporary Chinese government estimates, approximately 30 million Chinese were killed by Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. But the majority of these deaths were caused by famine and starvation, with probably less than 10 million people directly executed by Maoists (principally, Mao’s Red Guards). By the late 1990s and early 21st Century, Godard appeared to have become a more generalized socialist or Marxist, whose activism and politics largely lacked the religious and specifically sectarian qualities exhibited in earlier decades. In the 21st Century, the Maoist belief system that Godard worked for so long to promote is largely extinct in Europe. Godard continued to be stridently anti-American, as the United States continued to reject his political and cinematic beliefs. He even turned down an award that the New York Film Critics’ Circle wanted to give him in 1995 on the grounds that New York is in America, and American cinema did not conform to his ideals.

Mamata Also Follows The Chinese Revolution

At Esplanade, Mamata said she wanted a united show of strength and was willing to take the backseat if �like-minded parties� joined the Save Farmland Committee.Mamata has told the Save Farmland leaders that all efforts should be made to prevent the administration from going ahead with its work in Singur.

At the meeting, the Trinamul Congress chief saw reason in the argument of some Naxalite leaders � that �announced and unannounced� protests will have to be staged to force the government to stop work on the Tata project.�We had requested chief minister Buddhadeb Bhatta- charjee to hold discussions with us but he didn�t. So, we have decided to resort to all forms of protest. Uprooting poles and setting them on fire is just the beginning of a long agitation,�� Naxalite leader Amitava Bhattacharya said. Trinamul insiders admitted that Mamata is increasingly finding appeal in �disruptive and violent�� forms of resistance.�If the land of the poor is taken away at random, will they sit back and relax? They have done the right thing by digging up roads,�� the Trinamul chief told a rally in Nandigram on Sunday.

Buddha`s Defence

Amidst pressure from his Left Front allies and rapid spread of farmers’ resistance struggle against his land acquisition drive, Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee staged a climb down on Thursday and said he would not set up any Special Economic Zone in the state “if the Left parties so desired.”With violence once again beginning to erupt in Singur after a lull of about three weeks, the chief minister also said during a Left Front meeting that he would call off his public meeting at Singur scheduled for February 15.”I will do nothing in violation of what our four Left parties decide on the SEZ. If necessary, I will step back,” Bhattacharjee told CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc leaders after they informed that their parties were against the very concept of SEZ as vehicles of growth. The coordination committee of the four Left parties in Delhi had earlier suggested sweeping amendments to the Centre’s formula of SEZ.But later, the central committees of the CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc separately adopted resolutions against the concept of SEZ.They would formally inform the CPI (M) of their decision in the next Left coordination committee meeting, the leaders said.During the Left Front meeting, the three allies of the CPI (M) also told the chief minister that they were opposed to his idea of relaxing land ceiling in the state for the purpose of industrialisation.

Though the chief minister and CPI (M)’s land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah argued that amendment to the West Bengal Land Reforms Act to relax the ceiling had become necessary, particularly for the Salim Group projects, the CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc bluntly told them they would under no circumstances accept the relaxation, which they felt, would bring back zamindari system.The stinging criticism of the three CPI (M) allies against the government’s handling of the Singur and Nandigram issues also forced the chief minister to admit that the local administration had goofed up particularly in Nandigram.

“Haldia Development Authority failed to understand the situation. They know nothing. Yet they issued a notification that 27 mouzas would be acquired in Nandigram.

Their mistake sparked off the trouble,” the chief minister said. “How can I acquire areas where there are temples, mosques and houses? What is the point in development if the people don’t support it? After all development is for the people,” he said.

Giving an indication that he was now planning to go slow on the land acquisition move, the chief minister said that his government would prepare a land bank and a land map of the state within two weeks.”Green colours in the map will indicate agricultural areas in the state. I will not acquire land in this zone. Red will mark the municipalities and towns.Only the grey zones will be earmarked for industries and infrastructure,” the chief minister explained.

Justifying his decision to re-impose section 144 in Singur since “Naxalites are creating trouble,” the chief minister, however, said that he would call off his public meeting there. “When I have not allowed the Opposition to hold rallies there, how can I hold a meeting myself?” he said.

The chief minister, however, said he would visit Khejuri on February 11 as scheduled to “distribute several thousand acres” of vest land to landless farmers. The land reforms minister, however, corrected him and said that he would have to distribute only 800 acres of land.

Double speak

The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) is as unhappy with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime it supports in New Delhi as it is with the Left Front governments it partners in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. But the RSP will not withdraw its support to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front, RSP parliamentary party leader Abani Roy said firmly.The party, which last week threatened to withdraw its support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, has differences with its Left comrades on the issue of special economic zones (SEZs) - while the issue is a prickly one, it has assumed serious proportions in West Bengal with protests over land acquisition for industrial projects galvanising huge crowds in Nandigram and Singur.Despite the conflict over SEZs and support to the Congress-led UPA regime, the party, which has three MPs, will not backtrack from the Left Front.

‘No, no, that question does not arise because it is we who have gone through a lot whenever the Left has been attacked. So we are doing everything to strengthen the Left Front,’ Roy told IANS.He strongly defended his party’s anti-Congress line, which is perceptibly stronger than his senior Left partners’. ‘There are some differences even between the Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI-M. We are totally opposed to the SEZ.

At a meeting in Esplanade Wednesday, a Save Farmland Committee leader congratulated Singur villagers for digging up a road, in Mamata�s presence.

Naxalite leader Asim Chatterjee said the government has forced Mamata to go for a confrontation and that militancy might turn out to be an effective weapon of protest. �Attacks on police may be part of a Naxalite tactic, but Mamata didn�t ask people to go to that extent.��

Caritas to tackle tragedy of suicides among farmers
The Indian Caritas will dedicate 2007 to addressing the tragedy of suicide among farmers in the country. The largest NGO of the Indian Bishops� Conference has drawn up a program “Save Farmers-Save India” with the aim of supporting the development of this category of workers who are often pushed to suicide because of excessive debts. The executive director of Caritas, Fr Varghese Mattamana, told AsiaNews about the program. Today he will launch three days of discussion in Mumbai about the matter. According to official statistics, nearly 4,000 farmers died over the past five years from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, but independent figures put the number of suicides as high as 18,000.

Fr Mattamana said the plan is aimed at the �development of the poorest farmers through the institution of micro-credit groups and the empowerment of their productive capacities through the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.� The program will implement on a national scale what has already been successfully realized in Wynad district in Kerala. Fr Mattamana said more than 2,000 farmers who participated in self-help groups (SHG) of Caritas did not commit suicide. �Over 250,000 SHGs have been established among the marginalized communities across India,� continued the priest.
As a first step, Caritas will expand the Wynad experience to the region of Vidharbha in Maharashtra, where the suicide rate is clearly on the rise: from June to October 2006, 962 farmers decided to end their life. Then the program will spread to Gujarat.

It Is Chinese Revolution

China: to stop rural protests, shares in exchange for land

Guangzhou (AsiaNews/SCMP) - Transport authorities in Guangdong have proposed offering shares in roads to peasants in return for their land in a bid to speed up road construction and minimise land disputes. But experts on rural issues doubt the feasibility of the idea.

The highway between Shaoguan and Ganzhou , and the Dongguan stretch of the highway between Dongguan and Huizhou have been chosen by the provincial Transportation Department to test the proposal. “It is not a good idea. I still feel the best way is to compensate peasants with the market value of their land,” a scholar specialising in rural studies said. “If the enterprise were to go bankrupt, what would happen to the peasants? We keep wanting cheap prices, but we are talking about scientific development”

Pearl River Delta expert Zheng Tianxiang agreed there was some risk in the plan, but said it was better than existing land deals. “Peasants are shortchanged and they get a one-off payment, so [land for shares] is an advanced idea because there is no need to go through the government. They can negotiate a better price for their land and receive income through the years,” Professor Zheng said.

A new land policy introduced in October allows investors to negotiate directly with villages, but such deals have to be approved by two thirds of adult villagers or two thirds of a village representatives’ meeting. The policy was formulated in response to growing numbers of protests by villagers who felt cheated by local officials.

However, disputes that have erupted since then have become more violent, with police shooting villagers in Dongzhou, Shanwei, and the alleged killing of a teenage girl in a confrontation between police and villagers in Zhongshan. Guangdong party boss Zhang Dejiang was reportedly censured by the Politburo for mishandling the disputes.

Reports said the Transportation Department planned to invest 36.2 billion yuan in road expansion during the province’s 11th Five-Year Programme, which starts this year. The department plans to expand the province’s road network by 25,000km to 140,500km in the next five years.
China, farmers defend human rights activist
Protests continue in the Chinese countryside, tension over local authority corruption increases. Every day Beijing registers between 120 and 230 social demonstrations.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Scmp) ? Rural protests in China show no sign of decreasing, despite government promises. Yesterday tensions in Shandong drew to an end, but the police paid heavily: protesters overturned trucks attempting to disperse the crowd, smashing all the windows.

The protest in Yinan county of Dongshigu villagers, was instigated after Chen Hua ? cousin and neighbour of the famous blind activist Chen Guangcheng ? was beaten by “unknown assailors” and later arrested by police for his continued committment to the civil rights movement.

Following the arrest, tensions flared when villagers demanded they be allowed to send Chen Hua’s grandmother to hospital after she fainted. A thug hurled stones at villager Du Dehai when he made the request, leaving him with a bleeding head wound.

The villagers reacted by pushing two government vehicles and a police car into a metre-deep ditch and smashing the windows. Out of a population of 480 villagers, 300 confronted the police and thugs

Last year China witnessed 87,000 incidents of “social unrest”. Over the previous year, this marks a 6.6 per cent increase in “disturbances to the public order”, a 13 per cent increase in incidents of “illegal interference in government business” and an 11.8 per cent increase in cases of “provocation and stirring up trouble”. Each day the central government registers between 120 and 230 protests

The increase in protests and their “agricultural” connotations are directly linked to the decentralization of the Chinese economy in the last 15 years from farming to industry.

Over forty million farmers lose their land every year while 2 million more people enter the job market, often undepaid or forced to migrate.

Land requisition is arbitrary, some farmers receive only 0.8 yuan per mu (0.06667 hectares) of land and are told to “move to the city”.