Boston Globe Editorial 波士頓環球報社論

GLOBE EDITORIAL
Beijing’s wages of intolerance
July 11, 2009

IF CHINESE leaders want to blame someone for inter-communal riots pitting Uighur Muslims against Han Chinese in the western province of Xinjiang, they need only look in the mirror. The mayhem that caused China’s president, Hu Jintao, to quit a G-8 summit in Italy and fly home to impose order was the inevitable consequence of rigid, repressive government policies.

In Xinjiang as in Tibet, the labels Beijing applies to its treatment of non-Chinese peoples bear no resemblance to the reality. Official propaganda pretends that the People’s Republic of China has nothing but respect for Tibetan Buddhists or the Uighurs of Xinjiang. Party myth has it that all China’s minorities enjoy complete equality with the Han majority that makes up 92 percent of the country’s population. And the government has long promised to endow so-called autonomous regions with economic development that will make the “backward’’ or “feudal’’ minorities happy to shed their traditional ways.

Like the Tibetans, the Uighurs have seen their region swamped by Han Chinese migrants. After the 1949 seizure of power by the Communists, the first colonizing waves were due to governmental population transfers. After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976 and the economic reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping were underway, Han migrants were drawn to the oil-rich land of the Uighurs by economic incentives. After 60 years, the Han portion of Xinjiang’s population has gone from 6 percent to 40 percent.

This submerging wave of Han immigrants might have been tolerable if the Communist authorities had not also acted to restrict and suppress the Uighurs’ practice of Islam, and to force grade schools to teach Chinese and stop teaching the local Turkic language. To add insult to injury, Uighurs who dare protest this Chinese chauvinist attempt to efface their culture are denounced as “splittists,’’ a transgression akin to treason.

What’s more, the economic opportunities that were supposed to accompany the Han migration to Xinjiang have been mostly for the migrants. In part, this is because the local party and government bosses are Chinese, and in a system tilted toward those with connections to officialdom, Uighurs have been at a great disadvantage.

If Hu Jintao and his party comrades want to achieve harmony and stability in Xinjiang, it is not enough to fill the streets with security forces and hand out death sentences to Uighur rioters. The bosses in Beijing will need to grant religious freedom to the Uighurs - and the rest of China. They will have to allow the Uighurs to perpetuate their language and their culture. And they will have to ensure equal opportunity for all. In other words, the Chinese Communist leopard must change its spots.

© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

The Xinjiang Riots 新疆騷動

新疆警方驱散示威游行汉人
新疆首府乌鲁木齐骚乱两天后再次出现混乱场面，数百汉人手持棍棒上街，警方发射催泪弹驱散人群。

美联社记者报道说，数百手持棍棒的汉族人星期二（7月7日）下午在乌鲁木齐街道游行，路上他们推翻了穆斯林商贩开设的食品摊。

报道说，警方用扩音器播放信息要求他们停止，不过约300人仍坚持向乌鲁木齐市中心人民广场附近，即7月5日骚乱开始的地方行进。

报道说，参加游行的汉人手持的武器包括木棒、铁管、铁锹和锄头等。当他们沿一条窄路向一座清真寺逼近时，警方向他们发射了催泪弹。

而路透社记者则报道说，汉人示威者星期二冲击了维吾尔人开办的商店，并投掷石块，警方用催泪弹驱散他们。

维吾尔人示威

当天上午，BBC记者夏昆汀目击了约200名维吾尔族人的示威，他们要求当局释放因骚乱被捕的1400多人。

夏昆汀说，示威者绝大多数是女性，她们挥动拳头，高呼“把自由还给我们”，“把我们的人还给我们”。


他说手持盾牌和棍棒的防暴警察与示威者对峙，用扩音器播放信息要求他们散开。
夏昆汀说看到有示威者向警察投掷鞋子，警方则威胁用高压水龙驱散人群。

他说，示威持续了约一个小时，随后示威人群在警察的警告和劝说下逐渐散去。

夏昆汀说，中国官方说当地局势已经得到控制，秩序恢复，但事实显然并非如此。

新华社此前报道说，新疆公安部门已经逮捕了1434名参与了星期日（7月5日）骚乱的人，其中包括55名女性。

据早前报道，新疆警方还在通缉约90名嫌疑人。

根据新疆官员公布的最新统计，7月5日的骚乱共造成156人，其中包括27人，另外还有1080人受伤。

据新疆维吾尔自治区宣传部长李屹周二（7月7日）公布的最新统计，乌鲁木齐骚乱共造成156人死亡，其中包括27名妇女，另外还有1080人受伤。

BBC中文网报道
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_8130000/newsid_8137600/8137646.stm

新疆自治區主席：分裂活動注定失敗
http://news.sina.com 2009年07月05日 21:53 澳洲日報

　　據中新網報道，新疆維吾爾自治區主席努爾·白克力6日凌晨發表電視講話指出，5日晚烏魯木齊發生的打砸搶燒嚴重暴力犯罪事件，是一起典型的境外指揮、境內行動，有預謀、有組織的打砸搶事件。在各民族團結堅如盤石的情況下，三股勢力的煽動襲擊一定會遭到各族人民的唾棄，敵人的分裂破壞活動注定要徹底失敗。

　　6月26日廣東省韶關市一家玩具廠部分新疆籍員工與該廠其它員工發生衝突，數百人參與鬥毆，致120人受傷，其中新疆籍員工89人，兩名新疆籍員工經搶救無效死亡。事件發生後，境外三股勢力大肆炒作，藉機對中國進行攻擊，煽動上街進行遊行示威，境內敵對勢力與其遙相呼應。

　　7月5日20時左右，新疆烏魯木齊市發生打砸搶燒嚴重暴力犯罪事件。截止到23時30分，已有多名無辜群衆和一名武警被殺害，多人受傷。自治區及時作出部署，並採取措施處理和平息事態。

　　努爾·白克力説，「6·26」事件是一起典型的社會治安案件，但境內外三股勢力卻大肆炒作、惡意攻擊中國黨和政府，千方百計煽動不明真相的群衆，進行示威遊行，嚴重破壞民族團結，破壞和諧穩定的局面。

　　他説，歷史無數次證明，穩定是福，動亂是禍。凡是民族團結搞得好的時期，新疆經濟社會發展就快，各族人民得到的實惠就多；反之，凡是民族團結遭到破壞的時期，就會導致社會動蕩，發展停滯，各族人民遭殃。各民族人民大團結和社會和諧穩定是包括新疆2100多萬各族群衆在內的中華民族的最高利益所在。

　　白克力説，在新疆，沒有穩定一切無從談起。多年來我們旗幟鮮明地反對民族分離主義和非法宗教活動。今天的新疆各項事業欣欣向榮，各民族群衆和睦團結、安居樂業，這一大好局面來之不易，我們應該倍加維護各民族共同團結奮鬥、共同繁榮發展的大好局面，倍加珍惜和諧穩定的社會政治局面。

Young Bus Drivers 年青巴士司機

Bus drivers, company caught in labor battle
Chinatown firm’s owner files suit to defend name
By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Correspondent | July 5, 2009

A controversy that has captured the attention of the Chinese community is pitting a group of bus drivers against a well-known Hong Kong-born businesswoman.

The 10 drivers say they were forced to work longer hours than the government allows for Sunshine Travel Services and then let go after protesting pay cuts. But Lorraine Tse, owner and founder of the Chinatown company, has denied the allegations, with the labor feud escalating in recent months to dueling news conferences and a lawsuit - all played out in Chinese-language newspapers.

One of the drivers caught up in the dispute, Wen Wei Zhou, says he feels lost.

“We do not know what else to do from here,’’ he said in an interview. “What can we do?’’

Drivers’ pay was reduced from $100 a day to $90 or $95, depending on experience. With the assistance of the Chinese Progressive Association, Wen and eight drivers began waging a campaign against Sunshine Travel in April, by holding a series of demonstrations.

In a letter submitted on their behalf by the Chinese advocacy group to the office of state Attorney General Martha Coakley, drivers contended the company was skirting minimum wage and overtime laws by cutting pay and pushing them to work 12 to 18 hours a day. A round trip to Washington, D.C., for example, would take about 17 hours, including time spent cleaning and repairing the bus, drivers said.

A bus driver can be on the road only for a maximum of 14 hours a shift and must have 10 hours off afterward before driving again, according to American Public Transportation Association standards.

“You always had to stay with the bus,’’ said Zhan T. Huang, who worked for Sunshine bus carriers for two years. “If some thing happens to that bus, it comes out of your pocket.’’

Drivers said they could not use their log books to prove their assertions because supervisors had told them to change their hours to abide by state safety inspections.

“If you want a job, you have to keep doing what they want,’’ Zhou said.

Most of the former drivers are originally from China and had worked for Sunshine for two or three years. They stayed because they needed the job and spoke limited English, making it difficult to get help, they said.

Tse vigorously defends Sunshine Travel, best known for its inexpensive $15 to $17 trips to Mohegan Sun Casino.

“I have worked too long and too hard to keep my reputation here, that is why I have to stand up for me and my company,’’ said Tse, whose office shelves are lined with framed photographs of her with Greater Boston politicians, Chinese political leaders, and Hong Kong movie stars.

“These relationships do not take a day to build,’’ she said, pointing to the photos. “They have taken years.’’

Tse also said Sunshine Travel should not be targeted because it does not directly employ the drivers. Zhou and the other eight drivers were hired by Morning Sun Bus Co., Coach America LLC, and New England Coach Express LLC.

But Tse owns Morning Sun and is a resident agent for Coach America, according to state records.

In the lawsuit, Tse and Sunshine Travel accuse the Chinese Progressive Association of defamation, libel, slander, and infringement of Sunshine’s logo for leaflets the group has passed out, according to the documents.

A Superior Court judge found that the leaflet violated copyright laws, court documents show. The Chinese association has filed a counterclaim, and the case is expected to go to trial after the summer.

Tse’s attorney, Donald Bumiller, said the case was filed to stop the personal attacks against his client. But Cyndi Mark, an attorney from Greater Boston Legal Services representing the association and the bus drivers, said she believes it was only meant to undercut the drivers’ efforts to claim their rights.

Amy Leung, a community organizer with the Chinese Progressive Association, saved ads that she said Tse has bought in Chinese-language newspapers to rally the Chinese small-business community against the association and the workers. The ads refer to the former drivers as “poison-hearted’’ and “red guards,’’ Leung said.

Still, in recent years, more immigrant workers are learning about their rights, said Chau-Ming Lee, executive director for the Asian American Civic Association. No matter the outcome of the case, he said, the drivers will have been exposed to the empowerment process.

And that is a positive step, Lee said.

© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

7.1 清場 Sit-In Protest

Asia-Pacific News
Police forcibly remove 130 pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong
By DPA
Jul 2, 2009, 5:58 GMT



Hong Kong - Police forcibly removed a group of 130 pro-democracy protestors early Thursday who staged a sit-in outside Hong Kong's government offices.

The demonstrators, including radical legislator Leung Kwok-heung, staged the sit-in after an annual anti-government march through central Hong Kong on July 1 joined by tens of thousands.

Singing songs and chanting slogans, the group staged their sit-in at the point where the march ended and refused to leave until they met Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed leader Donald Tsang.

Police stood by until 1:30 am when they forcibly removed the group, picking some from the ground and carrying them out of the government headquarters compound.

The operation lasted for over an hour and police district commander Winnie Chiu said afterwards there had been no arrests and that most protesters cooperated with officers.

The incident came at the end of a day of protests in Hong Kong to mark the 12th anniversary of the city's return to Chinese sovereignty after 156 years as a British colony.

Organizers of Wednesday's main pro-democracy march had hoped for 100,000 participants but estimated the turnout at 76,000 while police said the turnout was just 28,000.

A rival pro-China rally attended by Donald Tsang held Wednesday morning attracted between 39,000 and 40,000 people according to estimates by organizers and police.

July 1 Rally 香港 7。1大遊行

港“七一”遊行批評特首施政失誤
葉靖斯
BBC中文網記者　發自香港

視頻：香港“七一”遊行 香港政權移交12周年紀念日，民主派再次發起遊行要求實行普選，並同時抨擊曾蔭權政府施政失誤。

一如以往，今年的“七一”遊行再次成為不同訴求的大熔爐。除了民主派的示威者，也有爭取檢討薪酬制度的公務員、不滿舊區重建拆遷賠償的民眾，還有同性戀者關注團體走上街頭。

發起遊行的民間人權陣線在遊行隊伍到達終點政府總部後表示，他們估計今年有7.6萬人參加了遊行，比去年多了8000人﹔警方則估計有2.8萬人參加。

由於在此前“六四”20周年燭光紀念晚會等泛民主派舉行的大型公眾集會當中，主辦單位和警方公布的估計參與人數都被質疑不准確，因此由大學進行的估算也備受關注。

結果，香港大學民意研究計劃公布的估計人數為介乎2.9萬至3.3萬之間。

今年較為特別的是，在民陣以外還有另外兩個團體發起遊行，向特區政府表達不滿。其中，雷曼兄弟金融產品投資者──雷曼苦主──發起的遊行據稱也有2.5萬人參加﹔警方稱有4000人﹔香港大學稱有2300至2700人。

抗議曾政府

遊行中有些民眾高喊“曾蔭權下台”的口號，也有人穿上寫有“曾蔭權不代表我”字樣的上衣，相信是諷刺他此前在立法會會議上有關“六四”事件20周年的言論。

香港前政務司司長陳方安生今年再次參加了“七一”遊行。她對記者說，港府近年推出新政策時經常“朝令夕改”，她認為這顯然是因為沒有深思熟慮。

陳方安生還說，在這炎熱天氣下仍有不少香港市民走上街頭，反映市民有許多不滿。

因為公開表態支持流亡藏人而廣為認識的香港大學碩士生陳巧文接受BBC中文網採訪時說，為香港爭取普選仍然是重要議題，因為普通民眾不是選民時，任何一位執政者都不會聆聽民眾的聲音。

港府一名發言人傍晚時分重申，政府尊重市民遊行及發表意見的權利，並重視所表達的訴求。政府將“虛心聆聽及考慮”。