Rare Victory

For Chinese, Peasant Revolt Is Rare Victory
Farmers Beat Back Police In Battle Over Pollution
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 13, 2005; Page A01

A pitched battle erupted that soggy morning between enraged farmers and badly outnumbered police. By the end of the day, high-ranking officials had fled in their black sedans and hundreds of policemen had scattered in panic while farmers destroyed their vehicles. It was a rare triumph for the peasants, rising up against the all-powerful Communist Party government.

The confrontation was also a glimpse of a gathering force that could help shape the future of China: the power of spontaneous mass protest. Peasants and workers left behind by China's economic boom increasingly have resorted to the kind of unrest that ignited in Huaxi. Their explosions of anger have become a potential source of instability and a threat to the party's monopoly on power that has leaders in Beijing worried. By some accounts, there have been thousands of such protests a year, often met with force.

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Comments

[robert]

shouldn't this be on 3click?
I can't figure anything out anymore...