Hu Jintao’s “harmonious society” is a cruel joke

By S.P.SETH

The recent spate of killings in China, mostly of young children, raises several questions.
The frequency of it---eight assaults in 10 weeks---cannot just be explained away as the work of mentally deranged killers or copycat incidents, though some of them might be.
The Chinese authorities have sought to limit media coverage on the ground that it simply encourages copycat killings. While one sympathizes with China’s ordeal in the wake of such horrible killings---the latest involving the use of a kitchen cleaver to kill seven children and two adults at a kindergarten--- limiting or censoring its exposure by the media is hardly the right approach.
It is only through media exposure and open investigation that a clear picture of such human tragedy is likely to emerge. And on this will depend the desired course of action to deal with such incidents.
But, as with any other disaster, the first response of the Chinese authorities is to clamp down on public information.
Even in the absence any substantive information about the killing of children, there are some plausible explanations.
It so happens that when some people start acting out their murderous impulses to wreak vengeance on society, particularly children, it is most likely that their dramatic action is intended to invite attention in the absence of legitimate avenues to be heard.
They might nurse terrible agony that has remained bottled up, needing psychological counseling/treatment, as well as social interaction.
According to a study conducted last year by Dr. Michael Phillips, a mental health expert at Tongji University, Shanghai, 173 million Chinese suffered from mental problems ranging from schizophrenia to alcohol abuse. Of these, 91 per cent had never been treated.
China’s rapid economic growth, and consequent social disruption, has created a serious disconnect between its rulers and the people.
True, China’s ruling oligarchy has created a new social base in urban middle class. But they too, like most other people, feel frustrated with the growing income gap between them and the rich business class.
Not only this. The new business class and the Party apparatchik work in cahoots; with the princelings of the top Party leadership at the top of the pyramid. Therefore, wherever one looks, corruption and nepotism are the order of the day.
In the midst of such venality, China’s rulers have the gumption to talk about creating a “harmonious society”. And to rally people around the flag by staging national extravaganzas like the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo jamborees.
At the same time when horrible killings of school children occur, Premier Wen Jiabao has platitudes aplenty to offer. Reacting to the killings, he reportedly said that besides taking “…vigorous safety measures, we also have to pay attention to addressing some deep-seated causes behind these problems, including dealing with some social conflicts and resolving disputes.”
And what has he in mind precisely? Not much except to urge that, “We must strengthen the role of mediation at the grassroots…” Which means nothing in real terms.
As Prime Minister presiding over the rising social contradictions and cleavages in his country, there should be a well thought out plan to deal with and resolve these issues that threaten the country’s social stability.
Of course, any well-thought out plan will require open debate and investigation into the “deep-seated causes behind these problems.”
But this is not what the government would want. They had squelched the persistent demands by the parents of the children buried alive under shoddy school buildings during 2008 Szechuan earthquake, as well as brushing aside the scandal about the poisoning of children with milk mixed with chemical melamine.
The first response to all these and other tragedies is to manage and censor the media as is being done with schoolyard killings.
In a recent media exposure of children’s deaths and illnesses from the use of unrefrigerated vaccines, the authorities removed Bao Yueyang, editor of the China Economic Times, which carried out the investigation.
The second method is to buy out the victims’ silence with money. And if that doesn’t work to threaten them with physical harm.
And in most cases it works when victims are arrayed against state authorities without any other recourse for redress to their grievances.
The third method is to frame them in some fake criminal case and throw them into jail. A variant of this is to throw some of them into mental institutions.
However, if some victims still persist in taking their cases to Beijing, they are waylaid on the way and thrown into “black jails”--dungeons operated by gangsters hired by local and regional authorities.
In other words, there are no legitimate avenues for Chinese citizens to seek justice.
The media are managed, manipulated and censored; courts work under state direction and politics of the country is the monopoly of the Party.
No wonder, there is so much repressed anger in the society, that tends to find outlet through outbursts like schoolyard killings.
The pursuit of greed at any cost has cost the country its anchors in community life and traditional beliefs as social props. China is increasingly becoming a dog-eat-dog society.
In the light of all this, Hu Jintao’s talk of bringing about a “harmonious society” is not only a contradiction in terms but also a cruel joke. China needs to ease up and open up.
And some of the Chinese academics are coming to this conclusion. Since they manage to say certain things without threatening the one-party system, they serve a useful role.
For instance, the Southern Weekend newspaper recently published extracts from a report by a group of sociologists, led by Professor Sun Liping of Tsinghua University.
The report, quoted in the press, said: “Without fundamental resolution of the question of mechanisms for social justice and balancing interests, blindly preventing the expression of legitimate interests in the name of stability will only accumulate contradictions and render society even more unstable.”
Still another academic, Professor Yu Jianrong at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has argued for opening up the system for people’s participation. He warns that if this is not done, “Great social upheaval may thus occur, and the existing social and political orders are likely to be destroyed.”
But China’s ruling party is drunk with power, and in no mood to listen.