On Wed, 25 Aug 1999, Stephen E Philion wrote:
>
> Natan,
>
> Yes, the crackdown has added to this kind of problem. But, it depends on
> the technique you employ to do research. My own experience was different.
> I think it also has to do with who you cooperate with, their understanding
> of the state of the working class in China. I would say that if your
> friend spent time in a city like Shenyang or other northeastern cities
> ,where the heart of state owned industry is located, it is not that
> difficult to find sources for interviews and the like. I mean, hell,
> if Business Week and LA Times can do it, then why can't researchers who
> supposedly have a much more sophisticated understanding of China?
>
> I would not disagree that the recent crackdown and the bombing of China's
> Belgrade embassy makes such efforts more complicated. But, then again, BW,
> NYT, LAT,...keep on publishing reports that indicate that they could do
> it...So, possibly your friend's research methodology is the problem (note
> the word "possibly", implying also "possibly not").
>
>
> Steve
>
>
> On Wed, 25 Aug 1999, Nathan Newman wrote:
>
> >
> > I am not sure why you think it is so easy to get info on labor conditions.
> > In Shanghai and South China near Hong Kong is is relatively easy to get some
> > info, but in the interior it is very hard to get any access whatsoever.
> >
> > A friend just spent a chunk of the summer in interior areas trying to get
> > any information about local factories and the conditions inside. He speaks
> > good Chinese, has studied the country for years, but couldn't get any one to
> > give him the time of day after spending a month-and-a-half there. The
> > crackdown on the Buddhist movement has just added to the regular paranoia
> > and everyone is apparently treating talking to foreigners like contracting
> > the Plague.
> >
> > --Nathan newman
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > > [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Stephen E Philion
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 1:15 PM
> > > To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu; lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > > Subject: Chinese Labor Activist Jailed for 10 yrs.
> > >
> > >
> > > this is really wierd. American professors go to China and pay professors
> > > to hire people to do all kinds of research all the time on labor related
> > > issues, including interviews with workers about worker related protests.
> > > Further, info on these issues is easily accessible from interviews with
> > > taxi drivers, workers on the street, at factories, hanging out outside
> > > factories...So, these charges are really quite odd, I doubt much in the
> > > way of any 'intelligence' was revealed to the American professors that
> > > they couldn't have gotten from the Workers' Daily...especially given the
> > > pathetically low price of $US 300 that was paid. Foreign intelligence
> > > agencies don't use piddly sums like $300 to buy off informants, they spend
> > > 10s or hundreds of thousands of dollars on officials or intellectuals and
> > > get them to collect the information they want.
> > > The case of a University of Hawaii professor-spook who had hundreds of
> > > thusands in money from the CIA to do very sensitive research on the
> > > prospects of ethnic conflict in Xinxiang and dissolution of China...tells
> > > us as much. Afterwards, the prof had a conflict with the CIA over the
> > > findings. The CIA was hoping he would produce findings that would
> > > demonstrate that China was going to fall apart from within as a result of
> > > ethnic conflicts in Xinjiang. He found otherwise and reported that in his
> > > findings. A while thereafter, in a 'leftist' Maoist publication in China,
> > > I found an article on this episode, but nothing in the way of a
> > > note or comment on how a CIA funded prof could so *easily* get officials
> > > and intellectuals to do such sensitive and intense intelligence gathering
> > > for them.
> > > In my research in China I occasionally ran into suspicion that I was
> > > part of some foreign organization...I was not unsympathetic with Chinese
> > > concerns with intelligence organizations' penetration of China, but I
> > > would still tell people that the state of research in China today is one
> > > that is far more beneficial to imperialists organizations with massive
> > > budgets to buy off officials and intellectuals than for poor grad students
> > > like myself who are independent Marxists just trying to get a dissertation
> > > done.
> > > That is to say, reform in China has ultimately made China much easier for
> > > real foreign intelligence operations to spend millions to gather real
> > > intelligence. And arresting a railway worker and putting him in jail for
> > > 10 years for taking 300 dollars from an American professor...when praytell
> > > will economists at Peking University's EconomiC Research Center be cracked
> > > down on for collusion with the Ford Foundation and the spread of
> > > neo-liberal ideology, collection of information for IMF, World Bank...and
> > > of course massive bribes, I mean donations...
> > >
> > > Steve
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > South China Morning Post - China
> > > August 25, 1999
> > >
> > > Labour activist jailed for 10 years
> > >
> > > ASSOCIATED PRESS
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > >
> > > Updated at 2.44pm:
> > > A court in central China has jailed a labour activist to 10 years for
> > > allegedly informing people overseas about workers' protests, a human
> > > rights group said on Wednesday.
> > >
> > > He Chaohui, a 38-year-old railway worker, was convicted on Tuesday of
> > > ''illegally providing intelligence to foreign organisations'' by the
> > > Intermediate People's Court in Hunan province's Chenzhou city, the
> > > Hong Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic
> > > Movement in China.
> > >
> > > He had earlier served a two years for having organised workers'
> > > protests and strikes in Chenzhou.
> > >
> > > Authorities detained He last October after finding a check for US$300
> > > to him from an American university professor, the group said. The
> > > check confirmed their suspicions that He provided overseas groups with
> > > information about workers' movements in Hunan, it said.
> > >
> > > The severe sentence is typical of those meted out to dissidents and
> > > labour activists as China tightens controls ahead of the 50th
> > > anniversary celebrations of October 1.
> > >
> > > Last December, another dissident, Zhang Shanguang, was sentenced to 10
> > > years after he gave an interview to US government-funded Radio Free
> > > Asia about farmers' protests and rural taxes.
> > >
> > > |
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