Why Are Beijing Residents Protesting Olympic-Related Evictions?

[humanino]

Beijing is a great place to live, with the olympic games coming, the historical sites... Why would local residents be unhappy and protest ?
Because they have been evicted from their homes, soon to be demolished.

Olympics protesters clash with police in Beijing​

BEIJING (AP) — A small group of protesters has clashed with police near Tiananmen Square in China's capital, saying they were evicted from their homes to make way for reconstruction ahead of the Olympic Games. The two dozen demonstrators scuffled with police Monday in the historic Qianmen district just south of Tiananmen. The protesters said they had been evicted from their because the district was being reconstructed. The area is being rebuilt into a commercial strip with businesses such as Nike, Starbucks and Rolex. Demonstrations in and near central Beijing's Tiananmen Square are rare and generally stopped quickly by police. China is sensitive to any public criticism of the Beijing Olympics, which begins this week. Security agents are stationed throughout the city to watch for signs of unrest.

"We don't oppose the Olympics. But it's wrong for them to demolish our house. It's wrong," protester Liu Fumei told the Associated Press, which filmed her screaming and scuffling with women in civilian clothes.

Beijing residents stage protest over Olympic eviction

 

[WarPhalange]

Wow. Did they at least get paid for the value of the home + land?

Methinks a little of this will be needed this year:

 

[fourier jr]

I doubt we'll see much of that in Beijing. Athletes will get dq'ed automatically for making political statements on the podium.

 

[mgb_phys]

The area is being rebuilt into a commercial strip with businesses such as Nike, Starbucks and Rolex

Darn, getting so you can't even trust your enemy to be good commies these days...

 

[LowlyPion]

Darn, getting so you can't even trust your enemy to be good commies these days...

But maybe they are being good commies? The central planning committees apparently decided where they would put the Starbucks and Nike and the people were likely just told to move. Pretty simple really.

Admittedly it probably wasn't your US style eminent domain appropriation, but then communism isn't so much about the rights of the individual as perhaps the perceived collective good now is it?

 

[rootX]

I doubt we'll see much of that in Beijing. Athletes will get dq'ed automatically for making political statements on the podium.

That would be a really tough job for China as protests will receive more attention from the media.
I would be surprised if there wudn't be any trouble.

 

[WarPhalange]

I doubt we'll see much of that in Beijing. Athletes will get dq'ed automatically for making political statements on the podium.

Then we have to wonder if anybody will do it anyway.

 

[lisab]

Then we have to wonder if anybody will do it anyway.

Hmmm, if a Chinese national did it, I'd be surprised. It would take courage, for sure, but it would be a powerful moment.

Remember the guy who stood in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square...is he still a free man (or even alive)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man

 

[rootX]

Hmmm, if a Chinese national did it, I'd be surprised. It would take courage, for sure, but it would be a powerful moment.

Remember the guy who stood in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square...is he still a free man (or even alive)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man

This would be the best opportunity for people who want to say something. But, the government has imprisoned all the activists :shy:.

I wish their government apologize for Tienanmen (I think they haven't - read it from BBC someday).

 

[WarPhalange]

Of course, it would be pretty astounding if China made a public apology for those various things right before the games started, like during the starting ceremony.

 

[Evo]

I'm still surprised that the olympics were allowed to be held in China, since the premise of the games seem to go against the politics of the country.

I, for one, will not be watching the games. I will not be buying from the sponsors.

 

[Jordan Joab]

/Devil's Advocate

What these citizens fail to realize is that this commercial strip will bring foreign money to the area and increase the value of properties nearby. In the long run, these evicted citizens will benefit from the increased influx of turists spending money in China. It's all for the greater benefit of the Republic, comrades. Get behind the tanks, not in front of them.

Communism + Capitalism = Win

 

[Evo]

/Devil's Advocate

What these citizens fail to realize is that this commercial strip will bring foreign money to the area and increase the value of properties nearby. In the long run, these evicted citizens will benefit from the increased influx of turists spending money in China. It's all for the greater benefit of the Republic, comrades. Get behind the tanks, not in front of them.

Communism + Capitalism = Win

For a few weeks during the games? They will be closed down shortly afterwards.

 

[Jordan Joab]

For a few weeks during the games? They will be closed down shortly afterwards.

Oh wow! If this is true then it's really messed up. What I don't get is why do Chinese people put up with this garbage; there's over 1 billion of you, go slap the Gov around!

 

[mgb_phys]

I'm still surprised that the olympics were allowed to be held in China, since the premise of the games seem to go against the politics of the country.

Isn't the presmise of the games to show off your country's genetic superiority by being stronger than all those foreign untermenschen? If so the ideal olympics were held in 1936.

ps. It's ironic how many of the olympic symbols which are being 'dragged into politics' by the protestors were invented for the Berlin olympics.

 

[Monique]

Beijing is a great place to live, with the olympic games coming, the historical sites... Why would local residents be unhappy and protest ?
Because they have been evicted from their homes, soon to be demolished.

I wouldn't have expected it otherwise.

 

[mgb_phys]

Here in Vancouver we are getting busy rounding up all the drunks/homeless/druggies before the 2010 winter olympics - not sure where we are shipping them yet

 

[turbo]

I just watched a spot on NBC news showing how the Chines authorities have taken water from a province near Beijing so that they can green up the city for the Olympics, run fountains, etc. The narrator said that the aquifer under the city is dropping at 20 feet/year due to heavy water usage and the booming population. I don't think I'll bother watching any of the Olympic events - the sight of those poor farmers who were denied irrigation water was pretty discouraging. Rice fields turned to dusty hard-pan... I'd love to send them some of mine.

 

[devil-fire]

Wow. Did they at least get paid for the value of the home + land?

Methinks a little of this will be needed this year:

Some sort of compensation is given (I've never heard of houses being demoed and no compensation at all), the Chinese are not barbarians after all. Unfortunately there are cases were the money is interrupted before it gets to the people who's houses were lost. The federal government will have a plan that involves the relocation of a group of people and gives money to the municipal government but the municipal government 'loses' it in their trunk instead of allocating it to the people.

IMO there is a lot of be said about someone being literally forced out of their home if they do not agree to the compensation offer. Being financially compensated is only one factor here.

 

[Evo]

Don't forget the US has the "Eminent Domain" law to take a person's home without their consent as long as "financial compensation" is given.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Here in Vancouver we are getting busy rounding up all the drunks/homeless/druggies before the 2010 winter olympics - not sure where we are shipping them yet

Your Chinatown seems to have most of them (nothing to do with chinese ppl)

 

[Crosson]

I think China is an impressive and respectable country. They have a lot of really severe problems, and though the methods that they use to deal with them seem extreme to us in the west, these methods are basically normal or even better then ever in the context of China's history.

Honestly, I feel bad that China is getting mostly negative press in the west from these Olympics. Why should they have bothered spending so much money to get ready to host, when all the participant countries do is complain?

There are much worse countries that we could focus on villifying, if we actually had time to take a break from our problems in the US. In my opinion, most anti-China news stories are intended as a distraction from our domestic problems.

 

[rootX]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQLfxXpDznyBgtdr0zygqRAc7nBQD92DKH600

In perhaps the strangest protest of the Beijing Olympics so far, the middle-aged American pastor checked into two high-class downtown hotels this week, filmed himself painting the walls of his rooms with activist slogans like "Beijing 2008 Our world Our nightmare" and then disappeared.

 

[WarPhalange]

I think China is an impressive and respectable country. They have a lot of really severe problems, and though the methods that they use to deal with them seem extreme to us in the west, these methods are basically normal or even better then ever in the context of China's history.

So if I beat my wife, and then later reduce it to mild choking, I can sit back and say I'm doing a good job simply because her life is better than ever? No. "Better" =/= good.

Honestly, I feel bad that China is getting mostly negative press in the west from these Olympics. Why should they have bothered spending so much money to get ready to host, when all the participant countries do is complain?

Exactly. They spent so much money on frivolous things like making the parks greener and putting up Rolex stores for the summer instead of using money to help their poor. That's something worthy of complaining about.

There are much worse countries that we could focus on villifying, if we actually had time to take a break from our problems in the US. In my opinion, most anti-China news stories are intended as a distraction from our domestic problems.

Right. We shouldn't bother receiving news about other countries. Especially one that is about to host a really high-profile even that only occurs every 4 years.

 

[mgb_phys]

Exactly. They spent so much money on frivolous things like making the parks greener and putting up Rolex stores for the summer instead of using money to help their poor.

What about a country whose defence budget is approximately 10x as much as china's but can't afford universal health care?

 

[WarPhalange]

What does that have to do with anything? The US not doing something doesn't mean the Chinese get a pass on something else.

 

[huckmank]

Thank god we don't have eminent domain in the good ole' US of A.

 

[huckmank]

Exactly. They spent so much money on frivolous things like making the parks greener and putting up Rolex stores for the summer instead of using money to help their poor. That's something worthy of complaining about.

So you're... what? Proposing that every single poor person must be taken care of by the government before production can start on a single upscale retail establishment?

What exactly does one have to do with the other?

 

[glueball8]

Have any of you been to China? Try to read news from more spread out sources.

 

[rootX]

Have any of you been to China? Try to read news from more spread out sources.

Almost all western press seems to against China so I don't trust them sometimes. I have not problem with China's internal disputes - Tibet and other Islamic (every country has these issues), but some of things like freedom of speech/journalism are obviously wrong.

 

[WarPhalange]

So you're... what? Proposing that every single poor person must be taken care of by the government before production can start on a single upscale retail establishment?

What exactly does one have to do with the other?

I just watched a spot on NBC news showing how the Chines authorities have taken water from a province near Beijing so that they can green up the city for the Olympics, run fountains, etc. The narrator said that the aquifer under the city is dropping at 20 feet/year due to heavy water usage and the booming population. I don't think I'll bother watching any of the Olympic events - the sight of those poor farmers who were denied irrigation water was pretty discouraging. Rice fields turned to dusty hard-pan... I'd love to send them some of mine.

Take your time and read that a few times.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

China has done much worse than this as Turbo mentioned.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8745
Seizure of land, especially from farmers, is a constant problem in China. I read a story on ChinaTheTimes not that long ago about how they had seized land from several farmers to build extremely lavish and palatial homes for the outlandishly wealthy.

For anyone who thinks that China is treated unfairly in the media I suggest you visit The Smoking Man's(ex/banned pf member) forum ChinaTheTimes.com where you can read all sorts of stories about things going on in china that you likely wouldn't normally read about. TSM lives in China and has no bias against it.

Evo I apologize if I oughtn't be telling people about other forums but I think it fits the subject matter and is certainly a good source of news and info on what is going on in China.