China: Another Failed Grassroots Election

Posted By Oiwan Lam On 17 May 2011 for Global Voices

A retired worker from Jiangxi province, China, Liu Ping, had decided to run an economic justice campaign in the grassroots level election for her local seat in China's People's Congress. In the process, she and her supporters have been harassed by local police and on May 13, 2011, she was forcibly detained.

(Update May 18: She was released from police detention at around 1am today.)

Below is a plea made by Liu's daughter using her Sina Weibo account on May 15 and 16:

“I seldom use Weibo. I speak now as someone's daughter. I hoped my mother would not engage in dangerous affairs, and I do not support her. However, as a Chinese citizen, I do hope to see thousands more people like my mother. All I want now, however, is to make sure my mother is safe.

People have accused me of lying and passing off a fake mobile number as my mother's. What would be the point? I don't want to defend or explain. All I want to say is that I don't have any information about my mother! What can I do? I tried my mother's phone again this afternoon. It has been shut off. For those who have detained my mother, don't you have any conscience? Why won't you let us know that she is safe? One day, you too will suffer from this kind of pain…”

Confession from the enemy forces

Internal documents from the Chinese Communist Party's Jiangxi city committee were leaked on May 14, stating that Liu Ping is supported by enemy forces and had to be investigated. In response to such political labeling, Professor Yu Jianrong wrote a confession in Sina Weibo to the CCP that he is one of those enemy forces:

“Confession statement. To the CCP Jiangxi Party Secretary for Xinyu City: sources say that you have ordered an investigation into the enemy forces which support Liu Ping (@196412). I hereby write to confess. My name is Yu Jianrong, Chinese citizen, non-party member. I love China and insist on following the constitution. I support Liu Ping, a female worker under the internal retirement scheme who exercised her right to participate in an election according to the constitution and election law. If you want to conduct a cross-province investigation, you can send the police officers from your city to the Beijing Song Zhuang Artist Village. Many of your fellow officers have attended my lectures.”

The message was posted on May 14. Within two days, there were more than 6,500 comments from other Weibo users, many of whom proffered confessions of their own.

Liu Ping was a worker in a state-owned steel corporation in Xinyu City, Jiangxi province, until she was forced to retire in December 2009. She then began organizing her co-workers to present their grievances to authorities, efforts which saw no concrete outcome.

In April 2011, Liu Ping decided to run as an advocate for economic justice in the local grassroots level election for a seat on China's National People's Congress. However, she found herself later removed from the election ballot. According to local mainstream media reports, the head of the election steering committee for Xinyu Steel Corporation, Yang Jianyun, stated that Liu was not listed because she did not get enough valid nomination signatures. In addition, he stressed that candidates for the People's Congress should be lawful citizens, whereas Liu made three attempts to petition to Beijing in 2010.

The best way to show the other side of the story is through Liu Ping's campaign dairy in her Weibo. Below is a selected translation of her Weibo updates from April 18 - May 13, 2011

Obtaining the nomination form (April 18 - April 26)

April 18: “I will compete for the People's Congress election for Xinyu city in Jiangxi. I hope you will support me! People's representatives should be elected by the people! People's representatives should be speaking for the people.
Now I am 47 years old and I have never before seen a ballot. I have been running around and petitioning for people on the frontline. I have many fans. However, after all these years, someone else still represents me. This election will be a long and difficult path.
I waited for the chief of the election office Yang Jianyun at the new steel plant office building to obtain a nomination form. I have been waiting for half of my life. I want the world to be concerned about China People's Congress elections. Long way to go… Add oil [12]! —Liu Ping
Finally Yang Jianyun finished his meeting and I asked for the form. Yang asked me to obtain the form from the neighborhood committee office. I replied that the chief of the city election committee Mr. Yi asked me to obtain the form from you! Yang said: we just had the meeting and decided that you should obtain your form from the neighborhood committee office. You can call me in the afternoon… let's see.”

Update from April 22: “I asked the head of the election office Mr. Yang to fulfill his promise and demanded that the secretary of the neighborhood office, Mr. Li, give me the form. The wicked Yang answered my call and said: “Who are you Liu Ping? How could you become a district People Congress representative?” I said that whoever I am is not important. The election law states that any person over the age of 18 has the right to vote and to be elected. Yang said: “You know who you are!” then hanged up the phone.”

Update from April 26: “On the afternoon of April 18, the chief of the city election committee, Mr. Yi, told me over the phone that I could only obtain the form if more than 10 people came with me to the election office. I said I would do so right away. However Mr Yi, secretary of the new steel plant corporattion, Mr. Shen, and secretary of the neighborhood committee, Mr. Li, all demanded I come to obtain the form the next day. They all said: “Get 10 people here and we will give you the form”. I understand that their demand alone violates the election law, but there is no other way out. So I have to wait until tomorrow.

At 8:30 am on the 19th, more than 20 people accompanied me to pick up the form. How could they fight against people! (Later, I found out that even more people had come that day, but they were barred off by the neighborhood committee.) Mr. Li, Secretary of the neighborhood committee, said he had to call a meeting and asked me to obtain the form from the residential committee of Xingang south village. In order to get an election nomination form, which is entitled to every citizen, I had to run from the city election committee to the neighborhood committee to the resident committee and back to Xingang headquarters.”

Nominees harassed (April 27 - 28)

Update from April 27: “I hope media will pay attention to this: Liu Ping - the first person in Jiangxi to obtain a nomination form in a People's Congress district election - had more than 10 signatures to support her on April 19. However, up till now, [the election office] still hasn't announced the candidate list.
Before he left the office, Secretary Shen said that “a couple has removed their names from your nomination form. They said they were cheated.” I tried to recall if a couple had signed my form, and remembered that they were street hawkers. I visited them at once and asked if they had been threatened by the authorities. They said that the team leader of residential committee visited them and told them that “the election hasn't started yet, why did you sign your name?”

Update from April 28: “I re-submitted another nomination form in the afternoon. There were more than 20 signatures on it. The residential committee asked me to leave the signatories' phone numbers so they could be contacted later. I answered that I only had my mother and a few others' contact numbers. Most of them were workers also under the forced retirement scheme and they live in the same community. They could get their contact information from the neighborhood committee.
At night a woman colleague told me that she got a call from the Miaopu resident committee asking her why she had supported me. If she knew what the consequences were of such act. They asked her to ‘leave the dirty water' and voluntarily delete her name from the residential committee. She was very worried that her support for me would affect her family, so she came and discussed it with me. I comforted her and asked her not to be scared. I told her: “if you are worried about your family, then delete your name, it doesn't matter”. It is so difficult to do things for people.
Later, two other female colleagues called and told me that the residential committee demanded they delete their names. They teased them and refused to do so. It is great to see that their awareness of citizen rights is increasing. The result of my participation in the district election for the People's Congress seat in Xinyu City, Jiangxi province is not important. The objective is in the process. It can raise the citizens' consciousness of their rights, which can monitor and counter corruptive forces. This would be the best outcome. I have to face all the challenges with a peaceful mind. Add oil! Liu Ping.”

Election campaign (May 3 - 10)

Update from May 3: “My name did not appear on the initial list of election candidate on April 30. I called up the head of the election office at Xingang corporation, Mr. Yang. He answered: “According to your earlier performance, you are not suitable to become a candidate for the People's Congress”. What kind of logic is this? According to the national election law, ‘All citizens aged 18 or above are eligible to vote and to be elected if their political rights have not been voided [by criminal offense]. I hope media will pay attention to the first People's Congress independent candidate in Xinyu city, Jiangxi province.”

Update from May 9: “I am not afraid of the powerful. I have been a rights defender all these years. Please have confidence in me. No matter if I get the seat, I will continue to speak for people. You endorse me and I will speak for you. I hope each and every one of you will participate in the People's Congress election. My slogan is: People's representatives represent people! People's representatives speak for people! Be the master of your rights! We should not be represented [without making our own decision]!”

Update from May 10: “I made a speech in the Mah Jong hall at lunch. I did not expect a strong reaction, but the Mah Jong friends were paying attention to my speech during their game. Since April 15, when the election office began accepting nomination of candidates, I have been making speeches during meal times and after work. Of course there were people who did not show any enthusiasm, but there were more people who expressed their anger [towards the current situation] and determination [to make change]. I got a call from a colleague after work: “Sister Liu, we will elect you in our district”.
At night I had another public speech in Miaopu district. I greeted everyone with a friendly smile and said: “Excuse me, I am Liu Ping who have launched a legal action against the forced internal retirement scheme. I would like to ask if you were satisfied with your income. How would you want to put forward your concerns?” Many people surrounded me, they said “So, you are the Liu Ping who helped us defer the forced retirement scheme for 3 years and increased our income? I have heard so much about you.” Within 10 minutes, people were talking louder than me.”

Home raid and forced disappearance (May 12 - 13)

Update from May 12: “The election takes place on May 15 and 16, but an exact election time has not been announced yet. Many units and districts have not distributed voter certificates. The public has no way to know the election time. I printed some postcards to inform people of the election arrangement. I also prepared a banner with the slogan: “People's representative should be elected by the people; Long live civic spirit!” to display during my public speech. At around 8 am, police came to my house and took my banner and election notices. They did not give me any official document for the raid.
The head of the police bureau said, “Your banner has violated the law. This is an election under the leadership of the CCP, you are not in the U.S. Your election campaign is against the law. You've been officially summoned”. As he was looking for the police car, I took the opportunity to go home. The police knocked at my door saying that they wanted to talk to me. I refused to open the door. They said: “So you won't go out tomorrow?” Later I found out that they had cut off my electricity.”

Liu Ping's last message in her blog on May 13, 2011, before her forced disappearance: “Thank you so much, Yu Jianrong, Li Huizhi, Liu Anjun, Lao K, Jiang Rongsheng, Teacher Zhou and other citizens around the country. I arrived back home at 2 am this morning. Although the electricity has been shut off, my home has been raided, and I am under police surveillance, I will continue to give public speeches until my throat hurts. I will participate in the election in the light of the day. I will not fear the darkness before me. I am not alone. There are millions of bright eyes behind me brightening up my election path.”

The implications of Liu Ping's participation in grassroots democracy

Many netizens have expressed their support of Liu Ping via forums and microblogs, and they have their own interpretation of the significance of Liu's tiny step:

Zhang Zhijian: Liu Ping has transformed from a petitioner to an election candidate. This is huge progress, like the historical event of the distribution of farmland in Xiaogang village. In the latter case, it was a struggle for economic rights. This now is a struggle for political rights. I wonder if we will see another Deng Xiaoping in contemporary China to support actions like Liu Ping's. This will lead to the greatest achievement after 30 years of economic reform. An achievement which could bring China out of the vicious circle of its dynastic history.

Democratic power 19900509: The reason why Liu Ping failed to become a candidate is not the result of voter choice. It was a decision made by a small number of leaders. In public opinion polls, more than 97% support Liu Ping's actions. It reflects that grassroots People Congress elections are not the least bit democratic. This election is fake. What's true is centralization of power. This is an era when lies can no longer be covered up.

Chang Meng: What happened to Lui Ping in Jiangxi is a setback to moderate reformers. It provides yet another vivid case for those who want to paint an ugly profile of China. You said you're moderate and just want to help them reform out of good will. You said you want to follow the constitution as a citizen and gradually reform the system. However, even though you act like a citizen and follow the constitution, it turns out all they really want are ass-kissers and lawless rule.

Fang_Han: I feel uneasy about intellectuals' reaction towards Liu Ping's actions. You support the sacrifice of an ordinary woman for her ideals, so why don't you stand up and fight for your election rights? That would be the greatest support!

Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org

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