02 October 2011 - 23H30??
China activist defies officials in fight to save lake
Chinese environmental activist Wu Lihong gestures toward the algae on the edge of Taihu Lake in Yixing in Jiangsu Province in September 2011. Despite a two-decade battle to clean up the once-scenic Taihu Lake that earned him three years in jail, Wu says the water still "stinks" from pollution.
AFP - Prominent environmental activist Wu Lihong plunges his hands into a thick layer of toxic green scum and brown foam floating on one of China's biggest freshwater lakes.
Despite a two-decade battle to clean up the once-scenic Taihu Lake that earned him three years in jail, Wu says the water still "stinks" from pollution.
"There's no place in China that isn't polluted. There's no place in China that's clean," complains Wu, 43, who calls himself the "Guardian of Lake Tai".
Taihu Lake lies on the border of the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu in one of China's richest regions, once known as the "land of fish and rice," and is still a source of drinking water for the heavily populated area.
But after three decades of explosive economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws, the lake -- like most waterways in China -- is heavily contaminated with toxic waste from surrounding factories and farms.
Wu, who remembers swimming in Taihu Lake as a boy, started campaigning to clean up the water in the late 1980s.
The former engineering equipment salesman has paid a high price for his environmental crusade, losing his job in 2001 and landing in jail a few years later as his one-man battle embarrassed and angered local officials.
His once-portly frame has thinned somewhat and his black hair is speckled with white, which Wu attributes to his time in prison.
"There are only a few people like me making a fuss. But I'm not afraid," said Wu, who was jailed in 2007 for extortion.
Wu has long proclaimed his innocence and insisted he was set up by the government of his native Yixing city, which was eager to protect the booming local industry from pollution controls.
Shortly after his arrest, a toxic algae bloom in Taihu Lake contaminated water supplies for more than 2.3 million people in Wuxi city, which sits across the lake from Yixing, drawing nationwide attention to the issue.
Many of Wu's supporters said the toxic pollution, which turned large parts of Taihu Lake a murky green, should have led to the activist's release.
Wu was finally freed last year and was immediately ordered by police to stay quiet or "we will make you disappear".
Authorities, anxious about the power of online social networking sites to organise protests, have also blocked Wu from accessing the Internet.
His rural home is constantly monitored by security cameras, he is routinely followed when he goes out and is not allowed to work.
But Wu says he is undeterred, especially after discovering that the water quality of Taihu Lake improved little during his time in jail despite government efforts to crack down on surrounding factories.
In its 2010 annual report on the country's water quality, China's environmental protection ministry gave Taihu Lake its lowest rating.
Under China's water quality classification system that means the lake is "essentially useless" and can't even be used for agriculture or landscaping, according to a World Bank report.
Wu accuses local officials of protecting factory bosses, who evade detection by discharging pollutants at night, trucking waste to other sites or channelling contaminated water into hastily-dug ditches.
"They are too greedy," Wu said of the officials willing to turn a blind eye to the pollution in the pursuit of economic growth and career advancement.
Local authorities however blame chemicals used by farmers for causing most of the toxins in the water, which have killed fish and other marine life.
The government has made efforts to clean up the lake, releasing millions of algae-eating fish into the water and recently ordering the closure of nearby sewerage discharge facilities and garbage dumps from November 1.
It also pays squads of workers as little as 40 yuan (about $6) a day to patrol the shoreline to collect garbage and suck up algae using a device like a giant vacuum cleaner.
But a layer of green and brown sludge still pollutes the surface of the lake and Wu has vowed to keep up the fight.
We live here," he said, explaining his dedication. "We could swim in the water before."
Environmental activist sentenced - Los Angeles Times
A Chinese environmental activist accused of blackmailing polluting businesses was sentenced to three ... A court in the eastern city of Yixing also fined Wu Lihong.
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Much of China's environmental challenge stems from the very rapid and unfettered ... Wu Lihong worked for sixteen years to address the pollution in Tai Lake, ...
Chinese authorities detain environmental activist中国当局拘留环保活动家
24/04/2007。美国广播公司... ABC新闻在线 By 斯蒂芬McDonell
One of China's most prominent environmental activists, Wu Lihong, is being held by police.中国最杰出的环保活动家之一,吴立红,警方正在举行。
The salesman-turned-activist came to prominence for his efforts to save a giant freshwater lake and naming Chinese companies that were allegedly polluting it.推销员出身的活动家来突出他的努力挽救一个巨大的淡水湖泊和命名的中国公司,据称,污染它。
His supporters say he upset local government officials who saw his activities as threatening the taxes of major companies.他的支持者说,他心烦当地政府官员,谁看到他的活动,如威胁到各大企业的税收。
He is now accused of extortion and blackmail after plain-clothes police raided his house.他现在被莫须有指控敲诈勒索罪后,便衣民警突击搜查他的房子。
Mr Wu's family claim he is being framed.吴先生的家庭声称他被诬陷。
Though the Chinese government has vowed to take strong steps to crack down on environmental destruction, regional governments are thought to have corrupt relationships with manufacturing companies.虽然中国政府已经发誓要采取强有力的措施,严厉打击破坏环境,地方政府认
为有腐败的关系,与制造企业。
Activists say they routinely use police to squash dissent.活动人士说,他们经常使用警察壁球异议。
? 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ?2012澳大利亚广播公司Copyright information: 版权信息: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm Privacy information: Chinese authorities detain environmental activist. 24/04/2007. ABC ...
One of China's most prominent environmental activists, Wu Lihong, is being held by police. The salesman-turned-activist came to prominence for his efforts to ...
荆溪江南人 发表评论于
Tough Times For China's Dissidents对于中国的持不同政见者的艰难时期
西蒙优雅 六月26,2007 | + 时代周刊
马克·罗尔斯顿/法新社/ Getty
Wu Lihong at work吴立红在工作
According to conventional wisdom, the approach of the Olympics was supposed to have been a time when conditions got easier for dissidents/activists in China as Beijing tried to show its best face to the world.根据传统智慧,奥运会的临近,本来一直是一个时间,当条件得到了在中国的持不同政见者/活动家更容易,因为北京试图向世界显示其最好的一面。 But as Amnesty reports ( the link but forget it if you are in China), the opposite seems to be the case.但大赦国际的报告( 这里的链接,但忘记它,如果你是在中国),相反,似乎是这样的。 The amnesty report, which argued that jailing and harassment of activists has actually increased in the last year came out in April.大赦的报告,该报告认为,监禁和骚扰活动家实际上已经在去年增加了四月。 Recent days seem to have confirmed that it is a tough time to be a dissident in China.最近几天,似乎已经证实这是一个艰难的时间是在中国的持不同政见者。
First there's the case raised some weeks ago by the redoubtable Southern Metroplis Daily ( in translation) of Wu Lihong, the imprisoned environmental activist.首先,有这样的话,提出可怕的南方都市报日报(几个星期前, 这里的翻译),吴立红被囚禁的环保活动家。 For well over a decade, Wu has campaigned tirelessly, some might say obsessively, to publicize the pollution of Lake Hu in central China, mentioned in my previous case.十多年来,吴立红不知疲倦地在竞选,有些人可能会说痴迷,宣传在中国中部地区的污染,太湖,在我以前的案例中提到的。 At what should be his moment of vindication, Wu is languishing in jail, accused of attempting to extort money from local officials.什么应该是他平反的时刻,吴在监狱里受苦,被控企图敲诈当地官员的钱。 We've had Wu visit our Beijing office a number of times and can say that we're quite familiar with him and his cause.我们已经吴立红访问我们的北京办事处的次数,可以说,我们与他和他的事业非常熟悉。 The likelihood that he would sacrifice nearly 15 years of dogged work and much anguishfor a few thousand renminbi is laughable.几千元人民币的可能性,他会牺牲近15年的工作和多anguishfor的顽强是可笑的。 Or it would be if her weren't in jail.或者是,如果他在监狱。
Then there's the case of Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer about whom TIME has written often, most recently on this .再有就是最近,时间经常写关于他的盲人律师陈光诚, 博客 。 He was beaten in prison, allegedly for refusing to have his head shaved, and went on hunger strike for three days.他在狱中被殴打,据称拒绝他的头剃光,绝食三天。 The information about Chen's beating was original passed on by his wife, who went to visit him in jail and found him in a sorry state.有关陈的跳动是通过他的妻子,去看望他在??监狱里,他发现了对不起国家对原有的信息。 She spoke to another dissident, Hu Jia, who has been under house arrest in Beijing since late May.她说话的另一个持不同政见者,已被软禁在北京被捕,5月下旬以来,胡佳。 Hu told one of my colleagues that the inmates who beat him up told Chen: “The Party will give me credit for beating you up.” Chen was been on hunger strike for 76 hours.胡佳说,我的一个同事,犯人痛打他告诉陈:“党给我打你的信用”陈绝食76小时。 “I was on hunger strike myself so I know what it feels like. “我是自己绝食,所以我知道这是什么感觉。 Chen refused food as well as water so in no time he would have been dehydrated and陈拒绝食物以及水,所以在任何时候,他会一直脱水 suffering.”痛苦。“
Hu, an AIDS activist, has been under house arrest since May 18 when he attempted to go to the airport for a planned trip to Hong Kong.自5月18日,当他试图去计划前往香港机场,胡佳,艾滋病活动家,一直被软禁。 “They took me in and questioned me about everything i said. “他们把我和我询问我说的一切。 They said I was a disturbance to the social stability.他们说我是一个社会稳定的干扰。 I don't see why some remarks could be hazardous to the social stability.我不明白为什么一些言论可能危害社会稳定。 I think it is ridiculous.” Hu was planning to go to Europe early June, “but the government was worried that I might join the commemoration of the June the 4th.” He's not sure why he is still being held, tho it may have something to do with the film he and his wife, Zeng Jinyan (a Time 100 World's Most Influential People selectee this year) made that chronicled their lives under surveillance by the police.我认为它是荒谬的。胡佳是计划到欧洲早期的六月,“但政府的担心,我可能会参加纪念在六月四号。”他是不能确定为什么他是仍然正在举行,芹苴,可能有做电影,他和他的妻子曾金燕(一个时间100世界上最??具影响力人物征召员今年),记载了他们的生活,由警察监视之下。
荆溪江南人 发表评论于
美国:优先在中国对话的权利
'Whole of Government' Approach Requires All Agencies to Raise Rights政府全体要求所有机构,以提高权利
2011年5月6日,
China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the 2010 US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing.中国国务院副总理王岐山和美国财长盖特纳在2010年中美战略经济对话在北京。
?2010路透社
The Chinese government takes careful note of which US officials and agencies do and don't talk about human rights, so showing commitment requires across-the-board coordination.中国政府需要仔细地注意到,美国官员和机构做不谈论人权,因此呈现出的承诺,需要跨板协调。 If the people who deal with China on trade, financial, and defense matters raise concerns, the Chinese government will sit up and take notice.如果贸易,金融和国防事务上与中国打交道的人引起关注,中国政府将坐起来,并采取通知。
Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch索菲·理查森,观察亚洲宣传主任在人权
(New York) - The United States should demonstrate its concern over the Chinese government's crackdown on dissent by raising human rights at all segments of next week's US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Human Rights Watch said today. (纽约) - 美国应表现出对中国政府镇压异议的关注,在下周举行的中美战略与经济对话的所有环节,提高人权,人权观察今天说。
The Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S+ED), which involves more than a dozen government agencies from each government and is hosted in the US by the Departments of Commerce and State, will convene in Washington on May 9-10, 2011.战略与经济对话(海关),其中包括十几家政府机构和各政府是在美国商务部和国家部门主办,将于2011年05月9-10日在华盛顿召开。
Since the uprisings began in the Middle East in late 2010, and Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the US in January 2011, the Chinese government has cracked down on dissent in an effort to crush any domestic move towards a "Jasmine Revolution."在2010年年底以来在中东起义开始,中国国家主席胡锦涛的国事访问,美国在2011年1月,中国政府已破获的努力粉碎任何对国内移动异议“茉莉花革命。” Since early February, Human Rights Watch has documented the enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of dozens of lawyers, bloggers, and activists.自2月初以来,人权观察,记录,强迫失踪和任意拘留数十名律师,博客和活动家。 The US has characterized these developments in China as "serious backsliding."美国特点在中国的发展“严重的倒退。” Last week, US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner described Chinese government responses to queries at the US-China Human Rights Dialogue on individual cases as providing "no sense of comfort."上周,美国助理国务卿民主,人权和劳工迈克尔·波斯纳介绍中国政府的反应,作为提供在美国 - 中国人权对话就个别个案的查询“不舒适感。”
"The Chinese government takes careful note of which US officials and agencies do and don't talk about human rights, so showing commitment requires across-the-board coordination," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “中国政府需要仔细地注意到,美国官员和机构做不谈论人权,因此呈现出的承诺,需要跨板协调,说:”索菲·理查森,人权观察亚洲宣传主任。 "If the people who deal with China on trade, financial, and defense matters raise concerns, the Chinese government will sit up and take notice." “如果贸易,金融和国防事务上与中国打交道的人引起关注,中国政府将坐起来,并采取通知。”
A number of US officials have characterized their approach to promoting human rights in China as a "whole of government" strategy.一些美国官员的特点他们的做法,以促进中国人权“整个政府”作为一项战略。 This approach recognizes that many US interests are fundamentally premised on the establishment of an independent judicial system, the free flow of information, and tolerance of criticism of government policies and practices in China.这种方法承认,许多美国的利益,从根本上建立独立的司法制度,资讯自由流通,并在中国政府的政策和做法的批评的宽容为前提。
Human Rights Watch urges that this approach be employed in the S+ED by tasking the following agencies with raising relevant human rights issues with their Chinese counterparts, such as:人权观察敦促受雇于+ ED,这种做法,任务与提高有关人权的问题与他们的中国同行,如下列机构:
The Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative should express concerns about the lack of progress in legal reforms, many of which are linked to World Trade Organization commitments designed to create a more predictable business environment; about ongoing efforts by the Chinese government to surveil and censor the Internet, which poses a threat to the freedom of expression; and about the dangerously ambiguous Law on Guarding State Secrets, which has been used against Chinese government critics and members of the international business community;署应商务部和美国贸易代表办公室表示关注缺乏法律改革的进展情况,其中有许多是与世界贸易组织的承诺,旨在创建一个更可预测的商业环境,由中国政府的不断努力进行监督和审查互联网,这构成了威胁言论自由;和危险的模棱两可的“保守国家秘密,一直反对中国政府的批评和国际商界的成员;
The Department of Health and Human Services, and particularly its Food and Drug Administration, should express concerns about the corrosive influence of Chinese state censorship and the Chinese government's persecution of whistleblowers, which prevents timely reporting on food and product safety and public health;卫生和人类服务部,特别是食品和药物管理局,表达对中国国家审查和中国政府的迫害举报人,防止食品和产品安全和公众健康的及时报告的腐蚀性影响的担忧;
The Department of Education should express concern about the systemic discrimination against the children of Chinese migrant workers that limits access to education, and the effects that this will have on China's development, particularly as it moves out of low-skills production in future years and requires a more skilled labor force;教育部门应表示关注,对中国农民工的子女限制接受教育的机会系统性歧视,和的影响,这将有中国的发展,特别是因为它转动低,技能生产在今后几年和要求更熟练的劳动力;
The Department of Energy should not only raise the case of Xue Feng, an American geologist serving an eight year sentence on state secrets charges for his participation in the sale of a database regarding China's petroleum agency, it should also urge the US-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum to adopt international standards and safeguards on human rights and transparency in their exploration, extraction, and infrastructure projects;能源部应该不只是提高薛冯,1美国地质学家服务1八个一年刑期的国家秘密,他参加有关中国的石油机构的数据库销售费用的情况下,它也应该呼吁的美 - 中国石油和天然气工业论坛采用国际标准和保障人权,并在他们的勘探,开采和基础设施项目的透明度;
The Environmental Protection Agency should ask for greater transparency regarding environmental crises in China and for the Chinese government to cease its persecution of environmental activists such as Wu Lihong, who after being tortured during his three-year incarceration has virtually ceased his advocacy work, and Karma Samdrup, a Tibetan environmental philanthropist now serving a 15-year sentence on trumped up charges;环保局应要求中国政府关于在中国的环境危机的更大透明度和停止其如环保人士吴立红,谁在他3年监禁后,被折磨他的宣传工作实际上已经停止迫害,噶玛桑珠,一个藏族的环境慈善家,现在捏造的收费服务15年徒刑;
The Department of Defense should raise not only concerns about the use of military forces in domestic Chinese policing operations but also the Chinese government's unwillingness to address the root causes of unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang, which fundamentally compromise the country's stability; and国防部应提高关于使用军队在中国国内治安行动不仅关注,而且还导致中国政府不愿从根本上解决西藏和新疆的动乱,这从根本上危及国家的稳定;
The Department of Justice should raise its concerns about disappeared, detained, and disbarred Chinese human rights lawyers and what such tactics mean for Chinese officials' claims to abide by the rule of law.司法部应提高其关注即将消失,拘留,取消律师资格的中国人权律师,这样的战术对中国官员声称遵守法治意味着什么。
"Secretary Clinton has said that every day is human rights day at the State Department, so there's no reason the Strategic and Economic Dialogue can't also be a human rights dialogue," said Richardson. “克林顿国务卿说,每一天都是在国务院的人权一天,所以没有理由的战略与经济对话,也不能成为人权对话,”理查森说。 "Secretaries Locke and Geithner, as well as other US representatives, must do their part." “秘书洛克和盖特纳,以及其他美国的代表,必须尽自己的一部分。”