There is Power in a Loosely Organized Gang of Litigious Meddlers

Jul 16, 2008

By Patrick.

Set to the tune of “There is Power in a Union,” by Joe Hill:

While westerners and our media focus on the plight of Tibet, Fa Lun Gong, and occasionally on isolated activists who’ve gone to prison for refusing to shut up about the injustice of Chinese government, a cadre of lawyers, associations of advice givers, small businessmen and landowners associations are slowly doing more to create a real rule of law and respect for individual rights in China than any fringe group or the government itself. Their novel strategy? Take the government at its word about rights, and sue or embarrass officials and wrongdoers into doing the right thing through petitions. Pretty novel in a country that only passed nine laws from 1966 to 1976, anyway.

This article on the topic, by UCLA professor Ching Kwan Lee, is well worth reading for anyone interested in modern Chinese culture or human rights issues.

Via Norm Geras.