(C-AL6-01852) South China Rights Protection Part

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 032369 SIPDIS C O N F I D E N T I A L SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/16 TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI CH SUBJECT: (C-AL6-01852) South China Rights Protection Part II: Long-term Strategies for Rights Education Ref: A) Guangzhou 36368; B) Secstate 182540; C) Guangzhou 29575; D) Guangzhou 31041 ; E) 05 Guangzhou 29647; F) 03 Guangzhou 17541 ¶1. (U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg. Reason 1.4 (d). ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Some South China Rights Protection Movement activists want to focus less on overt political activities that the government will view as opposition and more on information sharing and education, thereby broadening the general public's knowledge of rights and civil duties. They believe human rights primers (mentioned by three separate activists),civil society training centers, and independent documentaries could be effective. Such methods might be more sustainable and could potentially be funded by outsiders, although their results are less immediate. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) Part one of this series described how activists are trying to seek funding and become more organized. Nevertheless, their aggressive political activities and current disunity make outside funding difficult. At the same time, some activists, because of personal experiences of government pressure and a general crackdown on the Rights Protection Movement, are turning away from direct confrontation with the government to more indirect methods of reform. Citizen Magazine: Becoming More Mainstream -------------- ¶4. (C) In October, South China Normal University's Yao Yuanguang, a Falun Gong practioner and leader of Citizen magazine ("Shimin"),told Congenoff that additional members of Citizen magazine have been "blacklisted," including Zhuang Li, a professor at Guangzhou's Jinan University (ref D). The magazine's publisher, Guangxi Normal University Press, has also been investigated by the National Security Bureau (NSB). The NSB wanted to know why Citizen was allowed to be printed and where the money for its publishing came from. Yao said that the leaders of Citizen's parent organization, the Guangdong Humanistic Association (GHA),have good connections with some important former leaders of Guangdong (including a former Governor and Party Secretary),but that these connections do not extend to Guangxi and could not protect the publisher. In addition to pressure from the NSB, Yao said he faces a dilemma with his staff. Yao said the magazine's funds are limited and he has only enough money to publish a few more issues. Additonally, because of NSB pressure, Yao decided to hold back Citizen's next issue until sometime in ¶2007. Many staff writers, who have invested their personal savings in the magazine, have threatened to resign and withdraw their money if the magazine deviates from its political views or delays its publication. ¶5. (C) Although he may lose some writers and capital, Yao has decided to change the content of the magazine from strictly political to include entertainment and general interest articles, which could also earn advertisement revenue for the magazine. Besides Citizen, Yao said he also tries to promote the computer software "Freegate" - a Falun Gong invention - that allows users to avoid the Chinese internet firewall. Yao also said the GHA was in the process of acquiring a book number (which means the publisher condones the book's contents) for its human rights textbook. Previously, the GHA had "illegally" printed and distributed about 20,000 copies of the textbook, without a book number. Rights Textbooks, Training and "Making Friends" -------------- ¶6. (C) Two activists - Li Xiaolong, formerly of Beijing's Empowerment and Rights Institute (EARI) ("renjiquan") and Zhen Biaoxue, formerly based in Zhejiang province where he was working with his friend and China Democracy Party founder, Wang Youcai - have resettled in Nanning, Guangxi, and decided to pursue less sensitive political activities. Li maintains close ties with many Beijing lawyers such as Gao Zhisheng and Zhengfa university law professor, Teng Biao, who has visited him in Nanning. Li's change in tactics stems from the October 2005 government crackdown against the EARI, which shut down the organization and led GUANGZHOU 00032369 002 OF 003 to his being banned from travel outside of China. ¶7. (C) Li is trying to further rights protection through two methods: a human rights textbook and a civil society training center. In his 20 years of human rights work, Li considers human rights education the most important new field for the rights protection movement. He is trying to publish a textbook entitled "What is Civil Society?". The book describes the history of the United Nations Human Rights Charter, outlines the Charter's most basic principles, and gives examples for China. Thus far Li has been unable to find an official publishing office that would be willing to sell him a book number. In addition to the human rights textbook, Li is also trying to create a civil society training center with about six employees in Nanning. According to Li, the organization plans to advise local people on how to contact appropriate government authorities and media groups (such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America) to raise attention to human rights and environmental abuses. Li said this method - unlike the EARI, which found legal violations and personally forwarded them to international press - "follows the law" and protects his organization from accusations of direct involvement in village conflicts. Already Li has learned of many land compensation cases from Guangxi villagers in Nanning's "petitioners village" (similar to the one in Beijing); the villagers visited the capital in order to complain to the Autonomous Region's top officials. ¶8. (C) Zhen, a Wenzhou native, joined the democracy movement in China in the 1980s, after becoming friends with Wang Youcai, his classmate at Hangzhou University. From 1990-1991, Zhen was imprisoned because of his affiliation with Wang and since then has also been barred from travel outside of China. Zhen's goals are simpler than Li's. After his confrontations with the law, he believes the best strategy is to simply "make friends" and exchange opinions. He said that if he can find enough people with similar beliefs toward political reform, that over time an organization will form naturally. Digital Video: Media for the Masses -------------- ¶9. (C) Zhongshan University's Ai Xiaoming has been at the forefront of the Rights Protection movement since 2003, when she became one of the first activists to condemn the death of migrant worker, Sun Zhigang (ref F). Since 2004, Ai's political activities have been focused on independent documentaries, using digital video (DV),a technology that allows for low-cost filming and reproduction. Ai told Congenoff that film is a powerful tool because many rural Chinese are illiterate and are best persuaded through pictures. So far, Ai and her editor (Hu Jie) have produced 10 documentaries, with the majority of them focusing on gender issues, such as date rape (Note: Ai is also a leader on gender issues, being the first person to produce the "Vagina Monologues" in China and is the advisor of Zhongshan University's homosexual students club, the first of its kind in China. End note). Additionally, Ai has two significant political documentaries: "Taishi Village" and "People's Representative, Yao Lifa". ¶10. (C) "Taishi Village" documents the 2005 struggle of the Taishi villagers (a village near Guangzhou, ref E) to legally recall their corrupt village chief. In addition to interviews with recently released villagers, the documentary also follows such outside actors as Chinese journalists, rights protection lawyers (Guo Feixiong, Tang Jingling and Guo Yan) and independent candidate experts (Hubei's Yao Lifa and Lu Banglie). The film's most shocking scenes include the broad-daylight arrest of Lu Banglie, despite showing his National Peoples' Congress card to police, and an attack by thugs on Ai, Tang and Guo, while trying to escape the village. This past August the film was screened in front of the Taishi villagers on the one-year anniversary of the incident (Note: South China Morning Post reporter Leu Siew Ying was detained while trying to cover the story, ref C. End note.). A second film entitled "People's Representative, Yao Lifa" picks up after the Taishi fallout and records the struggle of independent candidates in Hubei (Yao Lifa and Lu Banglie) and in Taishi village (Feng Qiusheng). Ai said the film is important because it shows the daily work of ordinary activists rather than leaders such as Gao Zhisheng and Guo GUANGZHOU 00032369 003 OF 003 Feixiong. The majority of the film follows Yao as he explains to villagers, in town hall settings, their right to elect independent candidates and the benefit it will have for China's reform and development. Ai also documents police harassment of the candidates, including an interview with Lu, two weeks after receiving a beating by thugs that put him temporarily in a coma, and with Feng, after he reportedly faced 85-days of interrogation and torture. ¶11. (C) Ai does all her own filming and her ideas often come from conferences she attends. Her film studio includes 20 people - five faculty members and 15 students. She disseminates the films among gender studies faculties in China and through friends in the Rights Protection Movement. Ai wants the educated civil servants of China to see her movies and potentially change their views. She has heard that the film "Taishi" even reached Wen Jiabao's office. ¶12. (C) Ai recently completed a new film entitled "The Epic of the Central Plains" about a village affected by the blood contamination scandal in Henan. Thousands were infected with HIV, and the local officials' refused to deal with the issue. During her filming, Ai said the local people were very supportive of her work, even providing her with free food and shelter. Ai's goal is not only to document the villagers' complaints, but also to "provide locals with a strategy for activism." She hopes that everyone who watches the film will donate 1 RMB to Aids prevention work in China. ¶13. (C) In the future, Ai wants to produce a film on human rights in China. Ai said that in China, "the phrase 'human rights' has never been seen as positive;" moreover, the Chinese people have only been given lessons on obedience and "never about how to use their rights." She wants to produce an educational video that describes the history of human rights, possibly entitled "Building Up a Common Human Rights Culture." The video would likely include an explanation of basic human rights and historical clips from the signing of the United Nations Human Rights Charter. She is unsure whether to include examples of human rights abuses in China, as this would make the film more controversial. Ai is increasingly sensitive to outside pressure and decided against signing a petition on Gao Zhisheng's behalf because of concerns raised by the Dean of her university. Comment: A More Viable Strategy? -------------- ¶14. (C) The education-based methods of some South China activists may turn out to be more viable than aggressive political tactics such as protests and independent candidates. This would increase the potential for funding. For example, the United Nations may be interested in funding projects on human rights education. Additionally, some donors have expressed interest in funding Citizen magazine if its content were more mainstream. Moreover, broad educational activities are not as threatening to local interests. In the handling of many rights protection cases such as Taishi or Chen Guangcheng's research into one-child policy abuse, local officials were accused of personal malfeasance. General education on human rights, on the other hand, is a universal principle, the promotion of which would not lead to criticism of any particular group or official. GOLDBERG