mgi watch: Dongshan

The Xiamen PX protest last year - covered here – was generally and reasonably accurately portrayed as a sign of civic protest; urban, generally middle class, organized flash mob style via text message, determinedly civic and low key – and basically about environmental issues as well. Moreover, it was successful. There was no violence on the day, no after action repression by the cops, and the decision to build the factory was suspended.

When cities in China decide they’re high enough up the value chain to be able to reject polluting industries, these normally get passed down the chain to poorer areas. The PX propject was no exception, apparently being relocated to some fishing towns further down the Fujian coastline. There were demonstrations here too, of what you might call the classic MGI type. And they met with a classic police response.

Protesters gathered Thursday morning and staged a sit-in to block traffic on a main road. The protest had attracted about 10,000 people by nightfall, she added. At that point, county propaganda officials appeared on local television to assure the public that a chemical factory would not pose a danger and would boost the local economy.

"This really made people angry," she said.

The protests resumed Friday morning with an approximately equal number of demonstrators. Police were dispatched to keep order. A young woman who was part of the protest got into a shouting match with a local official, who ended up slapping her in the face, according to residents quoting witnesses.

Enraged, the protesters moved their demonstration to a local police station, demanding an apology. A half-dozen police cars and motorcycles were pummeled with stones, the residents said.

As the protest continued Saturday, a woman fainted and rumors quickly spread that she had died, residents said. Protesters returned to the police compound and lobbed stones at the buildings, smashing windows and damaging more cars. People's Armed Police officers, swinging batons, struggled to contain the outburst, they said.

The organizers of the Xiamen demonstration went to great efforts to keep everything low key; and for its part the local authority wasn’t keen to go slapping around well heeled urbanites. Maybe the people in Dongshan didn’t go to the same trouble. But it’s interesting – and heartening - to note that they weren’t prepared to stand for one of their number being mistreated by a local cadre.

It should be said that coastal Fujian, even outside Xiamen, is somewhat better off than most of China. But that too is a feature of a lot of MGIs - people who have a little fighting tooth and nail to preserve it. And lastly, we're seeing what might be the begining of a divergence of interests between protesting groups. The original protesters didn't want the factory in Xiamen but didn't care where it went. The Dongshan people don't want it in their backyard either. But without any actual formal popular opposition to the policy of putting polluting factories in coastal Fujian, the demonstrators in both places are effectively competing with each other to see who can most effectively influence decision making.