National Guard Families Seek Compensation

The families of 58 national guards plan to lobby the central Chinese government in Beijing for greater compensation after their relatives were killed in a May earthquake, RFA’s Cantonese service reports.

China: Petitioner belief prompts pre-Olympic rush on capital

There is a saying among petitioners that if your problem cannot be solved before the Olympics, it will be even harder after the Games.

– Petitioner Liu Feiyue

The strength of this belief reminds me of the mythologies and stories told by other groups in a state of severe disempowerment, like street children. These stories are used like maps in a hostile terrain in which recognisable, ‘normal’ human meaning systems  (eg: children will be cared for; the judicial system will mostly apply the law) have completely broken down. I suppose I think this because from where I’m sitting, petitioners look equally unlikely to get what they are looking for on either side of the Olympics. The following is a digest of recent reporting on petitioners and blogger activists by RFA’s Mandarin service, translated by Chen Ping:

China: Petitioner’s leg broken in beating by authorities

In Beijing, a female petitioner has been detained and another beaten so severely that her leg was broken. Wang Guiying was detained by security personnel after she was found begging on Tiananmen Square. She had fallen on hard times after an official complaint was taking longer than expected, and she was a long way from her hometown in the northeastern city of Dandong. As they took her away from the scene, the officers began shouting at her and cursing her for damaging China’s image by begging at such a landmark of China’s national identity. They set upon her with fists and feet, and Wang ended up with a broken leg.