China Massacre Update: Meet Your Scapegoat

I’d allow myself to feel some sense that China is making a serious inquiry into these events if it weren’t for the preposterous claim that only three people were killed.

The commander of paramilitary forces who opened fire on villagers protesting land seizures has been detained by the authorities in connection with the shootings, an extraordinary response that suggested high-level concern over whether the crackdown was justified.

Yes, that’s the minimum requirement when a government’s forces kill citizens. But an honest accounting of the facts–certainly any accounting that would change the way citizens are compsated for the loss of their land–seems remote.

China needs a nationwide, broad-based opposition movement. Contrary to the case in North Korea, where circumstances are far more dire and urgent, I’m not certain this movement should espouse or prepare itself for violence. Coordinated, nationwide peaceful demonstrations could bring the PRC down. Does anyone think that Beijing can withstand another Tienanmen?

In fact, I’m certain that this massacre was absolutely the last thing Beijing wanted. Beijing is to be blamed not for giving the order to fire (they almost certainly didn’t), but for building a system in which the party authorities are unaccountable, thuggish, and corrupt.