CCP Persecutes Parents of Earthquake Dead

On May 12, the one-year anniversary of the 8.0 magnitude Sichuan earthquake, the government declared "Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day" – but the parents of children who died in the earthquake were threatened with imprisonment if they held commemorative ceremonies on that day.

The earthquake killed approximately 70,000 people, including thousands of children who were crushed in substandard school buildings. The government places the number of dead children at 5,335, but independent estimates have placed the figure at between 7,000 and 9,000. Over 374,000 people were injured and millions were left homeless. 17,923 persons are still missing.

During this last year, the parents of the dead schoolchildren have continued to accuse local government officials and corrupt construction companies as being responsible for their children’s deaths. Their basic accusation is that unsafe school buildings were constructed utilizing low grade cement and thin steel reinforcements made from scrap, if there were any reinforcements at all, so that local officials and companies could pocket some of the funds. Constructions of this type have been illegal since the 1976 earthquake.

It is estimated that circa 10,000 schools were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. In many areas, the schools were the only buildings to have collapsed. But a government study simply concluded that the schools collapsed due to the force of the earthquake.

The Chinese government has censored media coverage of the school building scandal, while harassing and detaining parents who have sought explanations and justice. According to Amnesty International, some have been held in the infamous "black jails" – unofficial illegal jails. Others have been subjected to sessions of "political re-education." Lawyers and activists who have attempted to offer them assistance have also been harassed, threatened and detained for "spreading rumors and disrupting social order," "subversion" and "possessing state secrets."

Journalists have also been harassed and the parents have been told not to speak to them. Foreign journalists have been labeled by government authorities as outside agitators. "This society is so dark," says one father, "Ordinary people have no place to speak out. After all the horrible experience we went through, the government is still torturing us."

Most parents of the young victims have been "induced" into accepting an offer of circa $8,800 per child with some retirement benefits on condition that they cease their agitation and legal claims, but many continue to demand the truth. No lawsuits have been accepted by the courts. A father who was detained by police when he tried to file an official complaint stated, "The government says, 'Since you have a second child, why are you still asking about this? We tell the government: 'This is your responsibility, this is your fault. So why shouldn't we question this?'"

Working with a group of volunteers avant-garde artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been compiling a list of the dead students, as the government never released their names, considered "too sensitive." He explains, "Our purpose is really to end the systematic cover-up. We are really tired of their bureaucratic answers and their way of trying not to acknowledge who is dead (...) If you don't know who died, you don't know how many died, or where, or why, if you do know who, many other facts can come out." Facts that he says could uncover "a lot of wrongdoing about construction. It's not a matter of a few builders; it was a regional or nationwide policy on construction methods when there was very little money and very fast building. It's really a policy failure." He also stated, "In order for China to move forward, we must not shield our eyes, but rather talk about the problem and have transparency. If such responsibility cannot even be taken by the government, a society like that is very dangerous."

So far, they have compiled a list of almost 5,000 names, which are systematically deleted by censors from Ai's blog. They estimate that the list may reach 8,000 names. Some of the volunteers have been harassed, some arrested, their notes confiscated. One says, "We want to commemorate these kids. They are dead, and all they left to this world are their names. That's all they had."

In contrast, a quote from the deputy mayor of Juyuan, a town which was hit hard by the earthquake: "The dead are dead, and the survivors must get on with their lives. When there's a car crash, the rest of the traffic cannot wait for the two drivers involved to resolve their argument. The police should move the two cars aside and deal with the problem later, slowly. The traffic must pass."

Link to the recently published Amnesty International report, "Justice Denied: Harassment of Sichuan earthquake survivors and activists":
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/018/2009/en
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/018/2009/en/dbf100fd-c9f7-4675-91b4-e85e25460809/asa170182009eng.pdf

Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5294397/Sichuan-earthquake-anniversary-Parents-of-victims-told-not-to-hold-memorials.html
http://www.thespec.com/News/Discover/article/563054
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0505/p06s01-woap.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3yDX_n3qkeGI8zXnVofLlmmjv_QD97US63O0 http://www.smh.com.au/world/earthquake-ceremonies-banned-in-china-20090509-ayjt.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinas-quake-coverup-1678542.html
http://www.cfr.org/publication/19414/
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18184
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/t561689.htm
http://www.beijingdaily.com.cn/chinanews/200905/t20090511_519052.htm

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