Conflits sociaux : les experts tirent la sonnette d’alarme en Chine
Les experts chinois mettent en garde que la Chine est encore à un stade où elle risque de voir apparaître de nombreux conflits sociaux, et ils affirment que ces événements « se diversifient et se complexifient ».
Residents of Wukan rally over illegal land grabs.
D’après un rapport annuel de l’Académie chinoise des sciences sociales (ACSS) publié mardi, les expropriations et démolitions de logements, la pollution environnementale et les conflits de travail sont les trois causes principales de l’apparition d’incidents de masse depuis quelques années.
Les conflits concernant les expropriations et les démolitions d’habitations sont à l’origine de la moitié des incidents de masse, alors que trente pourcents de ces événements sont dus à la pollution environnementale et aux conflits de travail, selon ce même rapport.
Les conflits sociaux, c’est-à-dire des manifestations organisées par des groupes d’individus, présentent dorénavant de nouvelles caractéristiques, s’est exprimé Chen Guangjin, directeur adjoint du Centre de recherche sociologique de l’ACSS, lors d’une présentation du rapport à la presse mardi.
« La Chine connaissait auparavant bien plus d’incidents de ce genre dans les régions moins développées du centre et de l’ouest du territoire qu’à l’est. Pourtant, les régions à l’est de la Chine hébergent aujourd’hui davantage de ces manifestations que par le passé », explique Chen.
Et ce dernier d’ajouter que « nombre d’incidents de masse ont aujourd’hui tendance à durer plus longtemps que par le passé et à prendre de plus grandes proportions ».
Les conflits sur les salaires ont donné naissance à plus de 120 grèves, mobilisant à chaque fois non moins de 100 participants, durant les huit premiers mois de l’année en Chine, c’est ce que révèlent les chiffres de l’ ACFTU, la fédération nationale des syndicats chinois.
Leur presse (french.china.org.cn, 19 décembre 2012)
Land grabs are main cause of mainland protests, experts say
Confiscations and demolition of homes are the main cause of protests, experts say
Land seizures, pollution and labour disputes have been the three main causes of tens of thousands of mass protests in recent years, according to a top think-tank.
In its 2013 Social Development Blue Book, released on Tuesday, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the mainland was experiencing frequent social conflict because « social contradictions were diverse and complex ».
It said there had been more than 100,000 « mass incidents » — the central government’s term for large protests involving more than 100 people — every year in recent years.
Professor Chen Guangjing, editor of this year’s book, said that disputes over land grabs accounted for about half of « mass incidents », while pollution and labour disputes were responsible for 30 per cent. Other kinds of disputes accounted for the remaining 20 per cent.
« Of the tens of thousands of incidents of rural unrest that occur each year in China, the vast majority of them result from land confiscations and home demolitions for development, » Chen told a news conference in Beijing yesterday.
Late last year, about 1,000 villagers from Wukan, Guangdong, rioted and overthrew corrupt local leaders who had profited from illegal sales of village land.
Chen said environmental concerns were also becoming a main cause of social unrest, as evidenced by a series of grass-roots demonstrations over polluting projects.
More than 20,000 people rallied in Xiamen, Fujian province, in June 2007 to protest against plans to build a chemical plant in the city.
The project was subsequently relocated and the Xiamen backdown sparked similar protests in several mainland cities.
The major cause of labour disputes was salary arrears. There over 120 protests that involved more than 100 workers each in the first eight months of this year.
Chen said courts and labour arbitration tribunals had dealt with 479,000 back-pay cases in the first nine months of this year.
The book says 120 million mainlanders are living under the poverty line — with per capita annual disposable income of less than 2,300 yuan (HK$2,830). The government last year raised the poverty line from the previous level of 1,200 yuan, set in 2008.
Professor Li Peilin, the blue book’s editor-in-chief, said household income growth had lagged far behind gross domestic product growth over the past decade.
Leur presse (Cary Huang, SCMP.com, 20 décembre 2012)
Free speech fears on web curb call
A state-run think tank has called on the central government to strengthen the already stringent internet regulations in the mainland to curb the rise of social movements.
It warned that the experience in Hong Kong showed how effective the use of social media can be in organizing protests.
The latest Blue Book of China’s Society — released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences — refers to the recent protests against national education, where Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a secondary school student, mobilized tens of thousands of people through Facebook.
Wong, convener of the group Scholarism, responded to the commentary, saying he fears it could lead to curbs on Hong Kong’s freedom of speech.
« For the first time the central government’s think tank has defined the social movement as ‘extreme and can cause controversy and anxiety,’ suggesting that the central government rejects Hong Kong people’s opinion, » he wrote on Facebook.
Facebook and Twitter are blocked in the mainland, pushing online users to use homegrown social microblog Sina Weibo, which is heavily regulated.
The blue book also pointed to the publication of photos and news about Wukan village in Guangdong, where thousands protested against the local government selling rural land to developers.
It said the younger generation is good at using the internet to make their voices heard, but warned that some of their opinions are extreme and can cause controversy and anxiety.
« Some may spread irresponsible rumors on the internet, » the academy’s Institute of Sociology deputy director Chen Guangjin said.
« Strengthening internet regulations should be the trend of development. »
He stressed that regulation is not the same as suppression and that « anyone violating the law should be punished according to the law. »
The academy said Beijing should monitor public opinions on the web to reduce social resistance and to maintain stability.
But it admitted that controlling the use of the internet is not an easy task and that further regulation could deter people from reporting corruption.
The blue book pointed out that most group events induced by social conflicts are mainly due to land expropriation and house demolitions, environmental pollution and labor controversies. All these total around 100,000 cases.
It quoted a survey of 2,100 post-80s and post- 90s respondents in the mainland which showed that more than 60 percent are dissatisfied with the current social conditions, and only 30 percent agree that « most government officials have better morals. »
Leur presse (Kelly Ip, TheStandard.com.hk, 19 décembre 2012)