Chappal Chor
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- Mar 11, 2010
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BEIJING: The editorial pages of Chinese newspapers often resemble each other. They say the same things and often publish identical articles and editorials released either by the official Xinhua News Agency or government bodies like the information department of the provincial government in Tibet.
They lash out at the Dalai Lama, scold Barack Obama and applaud Hu Jintao in unison. No one ever expects them to act differently.
This time, too, the editors posted identical content. But what they wrote on March 1 took even human rights groups who wait endlessly for some spark of courage on the part of journalists and almost have given up on them by surprise.
Miraculously, 13 Chinese newspapers joined hands to criticize Beijing on the 50-year-old household registration, or hukuo, system that disallows a person to go and work in any province other than his own without a special permit.
The hukuo system was introduced when Mao Zedong found famine stricken people from villages were flooding the cities. It has since become an important tool of political control for the party and the police as the permit system makes it easier to keep a close watch on potential mischief makers and helps stem large scale revolt. This is a system the government has promised to reform but never did.
A 200 million-strong population of migrant workers living away from their home do not enjoy rights guaranteed to them in their native villages. This includes some political rights and access to public schools and hospitals.
Observers say 250,000 children of migrant workers in Beijing do not have access to schools.
The language used in the editorial betrayed a sense of simmering frustration among senior journalists who have so far displayed special skills just to survive in the tightly-monitored press.
The write-up, which a good portion of China's 160 million internet users are believed to have seen, stayed for four hours before it was pulled off.
In a first, Chinese papers 'dare' to criticize govt - China - World - The Times of India
They lash out at the Dalai Lama, scold Barack Obama and applaud Hu Jintao in unison. No one ever expects them to act differently.
This time, too, the editors posted identical content. But what they wrote on March 1 took even human rights groups who wait endlessly for some spark of courage on the part of journalists and almost have given up on them by surprise.
Miraculously, 13 Chinese newspapers joined hands to criticize Beijing on the 50-year-old household registration, or hukuo, system that disallows a person to go and work in any province other than his own without a special permit.
The hukuo system was introduced when Mao Zedong found famine stricken people from villages were flooding the cities. It has since become an important tool of political control for the party and the police as the permit system makes it easier to keep a close watch on potential mischief makers and helps stem large scale revolt. This is a system the government has promised to reform but never did.
A 200 million-strong population of migrant workers living away from their home do not enjoy rights guaranteed to them in their native villages. This includes some political rights and access to public schools and hospitals.
Observers say 250,000 children of migrant workers in Beijing do not have access to schools.
The language used in the editorial betrayed a sense of simmering frustration among senior journalists who have so far displayed special skills just to survive in the tightly-monitored press.
The write-up, which a good portion of China's 160 million internet users are believed to have seen, stayed for four hours before it was pulled off.
In a first, Chinese papers 'dare' to criticize govt - China - World - The Times of India
