Reuters: “One of China’s most celebrated experiments in grass-roots democracy showed signs of faltering on Friday, as frustrations with elected officials in the southern fishing village of Wukan triggered a small and angry protest.
On the first anniversary of an uprising that gave birth to the experiment, more than 100 villagers rallied outside Wukan’s Communist Party offices to express anger at what they saw as slow progress by the village’s democratically elected governing committee to resolve local land disputes.
“We still haven’t got our land back,” shouted Liu Hancai, a retired 62-year-old party member, one of many villagers fighting to win back land that was seized by Wukan’s previous administration and illegally sold for development.
The small crowd, many on motorbikes, was kept under tight surveillance by plain-clothed officials fearful of any broader unrest breaking out. Police cars were patrolling the streets.
“There would be more people here, but many people are afraid of trouble and won’t come out,” Liu told Reuters.
A year ago, Wukan became a beacon of rights activism after the land seizures sparked unrest and led to the sacking of local party officials. That in turn led to village-wide elections for a more representative committee to help resolve the rows.
Friday’s demonstration was far less heated than the protests that earned Wukan headlines around the world last year. But the small rally reveals how early optimism has soured for some.
Nevertheless, Wukan’s elderly village chief and former protest leader, Lin Zuluan, who was voted into office on a landslide, stressed these grievances were natural teething problems with any fledgling democracy.
He stressed his administration had made concrete strides including wresting back 253 hectares and implementing clean, legal and open administrative practices including full disclosure of village finances and open tenders for projects.
“At this starting point for Wukan there will definitely exist some problems but it doesn’t mean there hasn’t been democracy or that we have made major mistakes,” he said.
In March, expectations were high in this village, built near a sheltered harbor fringed by mountains, after Lin and his fellow elected leaders pledged to swiftly resolve the land issue.
Lin said complex land contracts and bureaucratic red-tape were hindering their work, with nearly 700 disputed hectares still unaccounted for.
Some critics say the village committee, which includes several young leaders of last year’s protests, lacked administrative experience, failed to engage the public and allowed itself to be out-maneuvered by higher party authorities.”
via Chinese democracy experiment marked by protest a year on | Reuters.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/03/05/wukan-village-elects-own-committee-hint-of-jasmin-spring/
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