| inbluevt | Date: Sunday, 2013/07/14, 9:59 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
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Protests in a southern Chinese citylast week that forced local authorities to abandon plans for a
uranium-processing facility highlight the growing willingness of ordinary people to challenge the state on environmental issues.
The proposed Longwan Industrial Park project won’t beapproved “in order to fully respect the opinion of the masses,” the government of Heshan, Guangdong province, said ina statement on its website on July 13. A “social-stability risk assessment” of the proposal that was released for public awareness generated “much opposition,” it said.
Heshan is the latest local authority to back down in the face of pressure from a public increasingly empowered by its ability to sway officials who fear social unrest. Governments in cities across the country have canceled or delayed plans for industrial projects over the past year after confrontations with residents concerned about safety and pollution.
“Chinese civil society is getting stronger,” said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong. “People now realize if their numbersare big enough, if they are united and stand their ground, the government will back down,” he said.
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Message edited by inbluevt - Sunday, 2013/07/14, 10:06 PM |
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