Worker and Farmer Riots Demonstrate Absence of Channels for Redress of Grievances

As many as 15,000 villagers besieged a pharmaceutical plant and clashed with police at Xinchang, Zhejiang province, in early July to protest environmental degradation to the local water supply caused by leakages at the plant, according to reports in the New York Times (registration required). The villagers said they took action because their efforts to negotiate with plant managers failed and government officials were unwilling to intervene. "This is the only way to solve problems like ours," stated one protestor. Others said that the example of a similar riot earlier in 2005 inspired the Xinchang protest.

In June in Xizhou, Guangdong province, some 3,000 workers called a spontaneous strike and clashed with police to protest pay reductions, according to reports in the Washington Post (registration required). Workers had presented written demands about their pay to their unit foremen, but factory management did not respond. Chinese law forbids the establishment of independent labor unions that might intercede on behalf of workers in such circumstances.

The two incidents illustrate how the absence of political and legal channels through which Chinese workers and farmers can seek redress for their grievances is generating social unrest. Several senior Chinese officials acknowledged in early July that the number of protests has risen significantly, but they also said that they have no plans for political liberalization and plan to rely on traditional means of social control to address mounting unrest.