tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73280186457791678282024-03-05T22:37:48.958-08:00NGOs in ChinaA blog about developments in the nongovernmental, nonprofit, charitable sector in China.NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-34573729773803951802022-02-23T07:03:00.001-08:002022-02-23T07:03:23.191-08:00What Social Innovations Advisory has been doing to promote a resilient civil society and inclusive development<p> It's been nearly 16 months since I last wrote about our work at Social Innovations Advisory (SIA), the consulting firm I started back in early 2018. Since then, we've been through struggling through a pandemic that is going into its third year, and an abrupt departure from China last summer with my family (one day I may write about this). In January this year, we ended up back on our feet here in Taipei, Taiwan where we'll be based for the next few years and maybe beyond.<br /></p><p>The mission of SIA is to build a resilient civil society for inclusive, sustainable development. Early on, SIA's focus was on China, but as I explained in my last post, we began to venture further afield following China's growing footprint overseas. In 2019, we organized a team of researchers to carry out a UNDP/DFID project to examine the social risks of Chinese overseas investment in Nepal and Zambia as part of that massive development project known as the Belt and Road Initiative. </p><p>This project led to consulting for the UK government's China Infrastructure Programme which was intended to help Chinese state-owned enterprises raise the social and environmental standards of their infrastructure projects overseas. We were brought in because of our expertise on China and inclusive development, particularly social inclusion and community engagement. We succeeded in bringing in Chinese partners, including a large industry groups whose members are SOEs, to work on projects to improve their engagement with affected communities. </p><p>Since March 2021, in collaboration with the Innovation for Change network and other NGOs, we've been working directly with those communities and CSOs in the global South to strengthen their capacity to understand the BRI, and engage Chinese government and corporate actors to hold them accountable. It's the opposite of what we did for the China Infrastructure Programme and arguably more impactful because civil society is more open to working with us, and understands our language more than Chinese SOEs which have been conservative and cautious in embracing the idea of inclusive development.</p><p>In addition to the work we've been doing with global South civil society and BRI, there are two other important areas of work SIA has been involved in. </p><p>One is helping organizations re-think, re-orient and re-strategize their work in challenging spaces such as China and Hong Kong. We have advised the EU, international NGOs, and other organizations develop new strategies through research and convening of stakeholders.<br /></p><p>The other is helping NGOs, particularly those working on human rights which have relied heavily on international funding, explore and develop innovating strategies and methods to diverse their local funding base to become more financially sustainable. We have designed tools to train and mentor NGOs through this process, and hope to do more in helping them develop prototypes that can be scaled up.</p><p>If you'd like more information about our work or want to talk about collaborating, please take a look at <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/11_ChnMwxh_t8qi3N1ywh41sGiv2HBXEx/view?usp=sharing">this pamphlet</a> about our work, and get in touch with me at sshieh@siadvisory.org.<br /></p><p><br /></p>NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-14685030310175834872022-01-06T22:26:00.000-08:002022-01-06T22:26:31.392-08:00The 14th Five Year Plan for Social Organizations: Opportunities for NGOs<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In my last blogpost, I wrote about the 14th Five Year Plan (FYP) for Social Organizations released in October 2021 and its blueprint for imposing greater controls and supervision over Chinese social organizations in an effort to create a "high-quality" social organization sector. While the FYP instills little optimism for the development of an independent civil society, it does identify areas in which NGOs in China can contribute to the development of the sector, and to sustainable and inclusive development in China and globally. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sections 3.6 and 3.7 of the FYP call for strengthening the internal management, governance and technical skills of social organizations. These areas are critical to developing more professional and disciplined social organizations, and include strengthening social organizations' financial and human resource management, governance, legal compliance, communications and public relations, marketing, and digital capabilities. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Section 3.7 identifies attracting more talent to the sector as another critical need, and calls for encouraging more majors and courses on social organization management and social work, and more continuing education services and training for those working in the sector.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Section 3.8 includes a number of areas that NGOs can contribute to both in terms of policy advocacy and service provision that align with national strategies:</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Support social organizations nationwide to provide professional services focusing on national strategies such as rejuvenating the country through science and education, strengthening the country through improvement of talent, innovation-driven development, rural revitalization, coordinated regional development, sustainable development, and addressing the aging of the population. Support regional and provincial social organizations focusing on the development of the western region, the revitalization of old industrial bases in the northeast, the promotion of high-quality development in the central region, the first development in the eastern region, the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the integration of the Yangtze River Delta Region.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This includes China's "going out" strategy in line with the Belt and Road Initiative and the recently release White Paper on International Development Cooperation in the New Era.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c258e5f7-7fff-d0d0-47ae-7b48f3776a95" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Properly implement the "going global" of social organizations, orderly carry out overseas cooperation, enhance the ability of Chinese social organizations to participate in global governance, and strengthen the influence of Chinese culture and China's "soft power.” (Section 3.8)</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-c258e5f7-7fff-d0d0-47ae-7b48f3776a95" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-2242224d-7fff-2dc4-71aa-15f67eb9d363" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One other area of opportunity for NGOs will be in the provision of community services through community-based organizations (CBOs) or what the FYP refers to as "community social organizations" (<i>shequ shehui zuzhi</i>). This aligns with the rollout of a major government initiative (see the Ministry of Civil Affairs' <a href="http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/xw/tzgg/202012/20201200030935.shtml">Special Action Plan for Cultivating and Developing Community Social Organizations (2021-23)</a>) to strengthen the infrastructure for community services directing more attention and resources from sources such as government procurement and philanthropy to improving community services in urban and rural areas. This is elaborated on in Section 3.8 of the FYP:<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Promote social organizations to serve communities. Focus on consolidating and expanding the results of poverty alleviation and effectively linking with rural revitalization, and give play to the active role of social organizations in mobilizing social forces, linking resources from all parties, and providing professional services. Focus on special groups and mobilize social organizations to participate in public welfare undertakings such as elderly care, childcare, and assistance to the disabled. Focus on the concerns of the masses, give full play to the active role of social organizations in expanding public participation, promoting democratic consultations, resolving social conflicts, and spreading a culture of the rule of law, so as to better participate in grassroots social governance. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Implement the "Special Action Plan for Cultivating and Developing Community Social Organizations". Speed up the development of community social organizations, and guide all localities to use more resources such as policies, funds, and talents for the construction of community social organizations</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Give full play to the role of hub social organizations such as federations of community social organizations and community social organization service centers…. and guide community social organizations to link social workers and volunteers to participate in community governance, provide community services, cultivate community culture, carry out community consultations, resolve community conflicts, and promote community harmony. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">While the focus of this initiative
is more on building the capacity of community social organizations to
provide more professional community services, there may also be
opportunities for policy advocacy on formulating more enabling policies
to support this sector.</span><p> </p><p> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri,sans-serif" id="docs-internal-guid-c258e5f7-7fff-d0d0-47ae-7b48f3776a95" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span face="Calibri,sans-serif" id="docs-internal-guid-c258e5f7-7fff-d0d0-47ae-7b48f3776a95" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p>NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-97648659055118162022-01-04T01:22:00.000-08:002022-01-04T01:22:07.402-08:00The 14th Five Year Plan for Social Organizations and the future of civil society in China<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">In October 2021, the Ministry of Civil
Affair</span> issued its<span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> <a href="http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/xw/tzgg/202110/20211000037062.shtml">14<sup>th</sup> Five Year Plan (FYP) for the
Development of Social Organizations</a>. The FYP is the first of its kind for the
social organization sector and is must reading for anyone interested in
understanding how the Chinese government intends to reshape the future of China</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">’</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">s nonprofit sector. It puts forth a grim blueprint for the sector</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">’</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">s development over the next five years drawing on high level policy
documents<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></span>
and major laws and regulations<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></span>
issued over the last few years. </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background-color: white;">The dominant theme in the blueprint is the need to st</span>rengthen
supervision, control and standardization of the social organization sector in order to
promote </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">“</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">high-quality</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> social organizations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To improve their "quality," the FYP calls for
raising barriers to entry for social organizations, increasing the proportion
of charitable organizations, cracking down on social organizations violating
laws and regulations, and clearing out </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">“</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">inefficient,</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">“</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">ineffective</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> and </span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">“</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">illegal</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> social organizations (Section 3.3).<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a></span>
It calls for supervision and control to come not only from the social
organization</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">’</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">s management and registration organs (Civil
Affairs) and professional supervising units (PSUs), but also from the Communist Party,
law enforcement agencies, the use of artificial intelligence and big data, and
society (Sections 1 and 3.4).</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The political leadership role of
Communist Party groups in social organizations is mentioned prominently in
many of these sections. Below are just a few examples. </span></span> </p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">In Section 1, party groups are </span>described as playing a vanguard,
“battle fortress” role inside social organizations. <br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Section 2.2 brings attention to <span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“strengthening the party's overall leadership
over social organizations, continuing in-depth study and implementation of “Xi
Jinping's Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era”….
effectively realizing full coverage [in the sector] of party organization and
party work, integrating party building work into the entire operation and
development processes of social organizations, and ensure the correct
development direction of social organizations. <br /></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Section 3.2 calls for social organizations to “be
guided to be thankful for the party, listen to the party, and follow the party.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Section 3.3 emphasizes strictly synchronizing the "collection of party member information during registration," "reporting of party building work during the annual inspection," and "inclusion of party-building work in important evaluation indicators." </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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{page:WordSection1;}</span></style></li></ul><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is little mention in this document of creating an enabling environment for social organizations. Only toward the end does it discuss the need to support the development of social organizations' branding and communications capacity, and very briefly mentions preferential tax policies for social organizations (Sections 3.6 and 3.7).<br /></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">********************************* <br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The last five years starting in 2016 represents perhaps
the most important turning point for civil society in China since the 1989
democracy movement. This period has seen an unprecedented cascade of top-down
policy and regulatory initiatives aimed at remaking the social organization
sector</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">. In a blogpost I wrote back in 2016, I said that 2016 could well be the year that the future starts.<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></span>
What I meant by this was the future of civil society as envisioned and shaped by China's party-state. Since then, analysts have tried to make sense of that future</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">. Most have taken a
wait-and-see attitude, others have put forth a more pessimistic outlook<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a></span>,
while some continue to argue there is space for civil society to operate<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a></span>.
While there may still be room for debate about how civil society will survive
and evolve in this difficult environment, there should be little doubt now about what the future looks like in the eyes of China's party-state. One only has to read this FYP to know. </span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Central
Committee and State Council. 2016. </span><a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/opinion-on-the-reform-of-the-social-organization-management-system-and-promotion-of-the-healthy-and-orderly-development-of-social-organizations/"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin;">“</span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Opinion </span></a><span><a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/opinion-on-the-reform-of-the-social-organization-management-system-and-promotion-of-the-healthy-and-orderly-development-of-social-organizations/">on the Reform of the
Social Organization Management System and Promotion of the Healthy and Orderly
Development of Social Organizations”</a>.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></p></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> <span>In particular, the <a href="https://chinadevelopmentbrief.cn/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Charity-Law-CDB-Translation.pdf">2016 Charity Law</a> and <a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/regulations-on-the-registration-and-management-of-social-organizations-draft-for-solicitation-of-comments/">2018 </a></span><span style="mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/regulations-on-the-registration-and-management-of-social-organizations-draft-for-solicitation-of-comments/">Draft Regulations for
Registration and Management of Social Organizations</a>. </span></span></span>
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> <span>This is in line with the recent <a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/social-organization-ecology/">Notice on Eliminating the Breeding Grounds for Illegal Social Organizations and Cleansing the Ecological Space for Social Organizations</a>, March 20, 2021. See the analysis by Holly Snape. 2021. </span><a href="https://madeinchinajournal.com/2021/04/29/cultivate-aridity-and-deprive-them-of-air/"><span>“Cultivate aridity and deprive them
of air,”</span></a><span> Made in
China.</span></span></span></p>
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span> See <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/3/blog/post/edit/7328018645779167828/2927528121132139055">"2016: The Year of Regulation and a New Future for Civil Society?"</a> NGOs in China.<br /></span></span></span></p>
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span> See <span style="color: black;">Kang, Xiaoguang. 2018. </span></span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2017-0026"><span>“Moving
Toward Neo-Totalitarianism: A Political-Sociological Analysis of the Evolution
of Administrative Absorption of Society in China.”</span></a><span style="color: black;"> <i>Nonprofit Policy Forum</i> 9 (1): 1–8;
Snape (2021).</span></span></span></p>
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span> </span><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">Deane, Lawrence. 2021. </span><a href="https://madeinchinajournal.com/2021/07/15/will-there-be-a-civil-society-in-the-xi-jinping-era-advocacy-and-non-profit-organising-in-the-new-regime/"><span style="mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">“Will There be a Civil
Society in the Xi Jinping Era?”</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> Made in China.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"> </p>
</div>
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{margin-bottom:0in;}</style></p>NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-70664674570197227752021-04-21T01:45:00.000-07:002021-04-21T01:45:00.962-07:00China's neutered civil society will make it hard for it to deliver on the SDGs <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> I recently wrote this blogpost for Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) and am reposting it here. </span><br /></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">China’s White Paper and the BRI: Can we expect China to deliver on the SDGs? </span></b></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> While China’s new White Paper for International Development Cooperation opens opportunities for it to make substantial contributions to the SDGs through south-south cooperation and China-backed initiatives such as BRI, I argue the top-down development approach of China and the lack of an active civil society might hinder the delivery of its commitment to sustainable and inclusive growth in the global South. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> The English-language blogpost can be found on BRHHC's website, <a href="https://www.bhrrc.org/en/blog/chinas-white-paper-and-the-bri-can-we-expect-china-to-deliver-on-the-sdgs/">https://www.bhrrc.org/en/blog/chinas-white-paper-and-the-bri-can-we-expect-china-to-deliver-on-the-sdgs/</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> The Chinese version of the blogpost can be found <a href="https://www.bhrrc.org/zh-hans/%E5%8D%9A%E5%AE%A2/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%9A%84%E7%99%BD%E7%9A%AE%E4%B9%A6%E5%92%8C%E4%B8%80%E5%B8%A6%E4%B8%80%E8%B7%AF%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E8%83%BD%E5%90%A6%E6%9C%9F%E6%9C%9B%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%85%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%8F%AF%E6%8C%81%E7%BB%AD%E5%8F%91%E5%B1%95%E7%9B%AE%E6%A0%87/">here</a></span><a href="https://www.bhrrc.org/zh-hans/%E5%8D%9A%E5%AE%A2/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%9A%84%E7%99%BD%E7%9A%AE%E4%B9%A6%E5%92%8C%E4%B8%80%E5%B8%A6%E4%B8%80%E8%B7%AF%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E8%83%BD%E5%90%A6%E6%9C%9F%E6%9C%9B%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%85%91%E7%8E%B0%E5%8F%AF%E6%8C%81%E7%BB%AD%E5%8F%91%E5%B1%95%E7%9B%AE%E6%A0%87/"> (中文版本的链接)</a></p>NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-61726630531453874512020-08-18T01:48:00.004-07:002020-08-18T01:55:47.257-07:00Pathways to Financial Sustainability for NGOs<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Social Innovations Advisory (SIA)</b> is pleased to announce the release of
its report, <span lang=""><a href="https://innovationforchange.net/en/toolkit/building-a-roadmap-for-financial-sustainability-for-rights-based-csos-in-the-global-south/"><span lang="">Building the Roadmap f<span lang="">or Financial Sustainability
for Rights-based CSOs in the Global South</span></span></a></span>. The report
analyses case studies of CSOs in the Asia-Pacific region that are piloting a
wide range of business and funding models. These cases are based on interviews
conducted during the spring of 2019 with 22 CSO leaders about their
experiences, achievements and challenges. Summaries of 16 of these cases in
standardized templates are now available in the <span lang=""><a href="https://innovationforchange.net/en/toolkit/cso-sustainability-database/"><span lang="">CSO Sustainability Database</span></a></span> on the website
of <b>Innovation for Change (I4C)</b>. The report can also be found on the <span lang=""><a href="https://rightscolab.org/building-the-roadmap-for-financial-sustainability-for-rights-based-csos-in-the-global-south/"><span lang="">website of <b>Rights CoLab</b></span></a></span>, of which SIA's director, <b>Shawn Shieh</b>, is a Contributor.</span></p><p><span face="" style="font-family: "baskerville", serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="" style="font-family: "baskerville", serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2UiEBkMNiXek3oIuEVBM45z7FFuwbAKtUVFHmpNuaIbJnkXbQwahhlQzvmY3kic5jKCq9d_blJHyJG0Nk65A2q069631qLY-pUU1fcN23-bJIaneFxqXznFUPql9MQ72lh_auxgDSGGk/s810/Screenshot+2020-08-18+at+4.51.34+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="571" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2UiEBkMNiXek3oIuEVBM45z7FFuwbAKtUVFHmpNuaIbJnkXbQwahhlQzvmY3kic5jKCq9d_blJHyJG0Nk65A2q069631qLY-pUU1fcN23-bJIaneFxqXznFUPql9MQ72lh_auxgDSGGk/s640/Screenshot+2020-08-18+at+4.51.34+PM.png" /></a></b></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The findings of this research project have also been shared in the
following platforms:</span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="font-family: "baskerville", serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A <span lang=""><a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/civicstage/2019/11/21/civic-innovators-series-creative-sustainability?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=82957019&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--olvht3W5Xyu_EaYB2gwI2HY63OY5UTt24fvlnWyEdn0cniaL2bhqnj8V1NrtG0YBkDhn59XBQedvdbs9WVhZTrj3s_w&_hsmi=82957019"><span lang="">podcast in the Civic Innovator’s series</span></a></span> featuring
SIA’s founder, <b>Shawn Shieh</b>, Innpactia’s coordinator,<b> Ana María Espin</b> and<b>
</b>Innpactia’s founder, <b>Juan Carlos Lozano</b> on “Creative Sustainability”
focusing on the imaginative and inventive ways that civil society organizations
are seeking resources, funding and other support for their work in often
difficult circumstances.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b>Shawn Shieh</b>’s <span lang=""><a href="https://www.openglobalrights.org/is-china-the-future-for-hybrid-cso-funding-models/?lang=English"><span lang=""><i>OpenGlobalRights</i> article</span></a></span> on how Chinese
CSOs are at the forefront of exploring hybrid business and funding models
thanks to China having perhaps the most diverse funding ecosystem in Asia.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>SIA’s report
and cases join a growing body of work carried out by the <b><span lang=""><a><span lang="">Innovation for Change</span></a></span></b><b> </b>network and
<b>Rights CoLab</b> on financial sustainability and alternative CSO business and
funding models in other regions of the world. SIA’s report can be found on the <span lang=""><a href="https://rightscolab.org/building-the-roadmap-for-financial-sustainability-for-rights-based-csos-in-the-global-south/"><span lang="">website of Rights CoLab</span></a></span>, and the cases
can be found on <span lang=""><a href="https://rightscolab.org/civil-society-innovation/"><span lang="">Rights CoLab<span lang="">’s Mapping<span lang=""> Civil
Society Innovation platform</span></span></span></a></span>. </span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">SIA plans to use these findings to highlight the critical importance of
financial sustainability and local funding to both funders and CSOs in the
coming years. We will be developing toolkits and providing trainings and
coaching to mentor CSOs on exploring alternative business and funding models.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For questions, please contact Shawn Shieh, Founder and Director, SIA, at
shawnshieh@gmail.com.</span></p>
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ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}</style></p>NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-14865763704877458262020-06-04T06:49:00.004-07:002020-08-18T01:56:22.878-07:00June 4 and Black Lives Matter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"> Today is the 31st anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989. At the time, there was division within China's leadership ranks over whether to use the military to suppress the protests. Eventually, Deng Xiaoping and the conservatives in the Politburo Standing Committee prevailed over the objections of the nominal leader, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang who sought a political solution to the protests; martial law was imposed and military units were called to Beijing. The decision to seek a military solution to the protests did not go uncontested. The general of of a garrison near Beijing refused to follow the orders and military units further from Beijing had to be called in. They eventually marched through Beijing and on June 4 cleared Tiananmen Square shooting and running over civilians. The number of people who died is only known to the Chinese government, but estimates range from the hundreds to the thousands.<br />
<br />
It's hard not to think about China's use of military force against its own citizens in the June 4 protests without thinking of President Trump's recent threat to use military force to "dominate" protests against police violence against black Americans that have rocked U.S. cities. The parallel is a striking one, yet Donald Trump is the leader of a democracy while Deng Xiaoping was leader of an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party holds a monopoly on power. <br />
<br />
Many of us would read this parallel as yet one more sign of Trump's dangerous brush with authoritarianism and the threat it poses to America's increasingly fragile democracy. It also shows the moral bankruptcy of Trump's push back against China in supporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Given his record, Trump's posturing against China should be taken as just that - a position taken solely for political expediency, without any moral weight behind it.<br />
<br />
June 4, 2020<br />
Fair Haven, New York</span><br />
<br /></div>
NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-51312364993226459182020-05-13T07:53:00.002-07:002020-08-18T01:56:44.945-07:00Five Chinese labor activists released but not free<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
May 13, 2020<br />
<br />
On May 9, <a href="https://www.clb.org.hk/content/five-labour-activists-released-after-15-months-detention">China Labour Bulletin</a> announced that five Chinese labor activists had been released after spending 15 months in detention and another 14 days in quarantine because of the pandemic. The five are Zhang Zhiru, Wu Guijun, Jian Hui, Song Jiahua and He Yuancheng. Guijun, Jian Hui and Yuancheng were well-known in the labor rights community having founded or worked for prominent labor organizations in the south of China. Jiahua, the only female in this group, was a former worker-turned-activist after her experience in 2015 representing workers at the <a href="https://clb.org.hk/content/lide-shoe-factory-workers%E2%80%99-campaign-relocation-compensation">Lide Shoe Factory</a> in one of China's best-known collective bargaining cases. <br />
<br />
Since their arrest back in January 2019, we have had little information about their whereabouts or circumstances. It now turns out that they were pressured to dismiss the lawyers of their choosing and accept state-appointed lawyers. Unbeknownst to their families, they were also tried behind closed doors on criminal charges of "gathering a crowd to disturb public order" (聚众扰乱社会秩序罪). Zhiru and Guijun were sentenced to three years imprisonment, suspended for four years, while the others were sentenced to 18 months, suspended for two years. The suspended sentences mean that they will be closely monitored, and their movements restricted, during the period of their suspension and unable to continue their previous work.<br />
<br />
Unlike the arrests of five prominent labor activists from Guangdong in December 2015, the arrests of these five activists garnered less international attention, coming in the midst of a string of other arrests of workers and activists, many connected to the <a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-chinese-states-repression-of-jasic.html">high-profile Jasic Technology case</a> in Shenzhen. Together, the harassment, detentions and arrests of workers and activists from 2015 to the present, all stemming from Xi Jinping's broad-ranging assault on civil society, represents the most severe crackdown on labor in China in recent memory. As I wrote in my last post on <a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2020/05/remembering-power-of-labor-during.html">the power of labor during the pandemic</a>, the crippling of worker centers and labor activists has made it much more difficult for civil society to monitor labor violations and assist workers and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic and the opening-up phase.<br />
<br />
On a personal note, I know four of these activists well, having worked with Zhiru, Jian Hui
and Jiahua during my time at China Labour Bulletin. In 2016, we had
plans to bring Jiahua and several other female worker activists to Bangalore,
India to discuss their collective bargaining experience with Indian
female garment workers. It would have been a meeting of labor activists
from the world's two most populous countries. Unfortunately, Jiahua
and the others were stopped at the border on their way to meet us in
Hong Kong to board the flight to Bangalore. So in a quick act of
improvisation, they put together a video message and we carried it to
Bangalore where we shared it with the Indian garment workers. More recently, I was in touch with Jian Hui who had moved from Shenzhen to Changsha, in the neighboring province of Hunan, where he
was excited about starting up his own worker center. The last message I
received from him was on December 19, 2018, a month before he
disappeared.<br />
<br />
I've thought and worried about him and the others often since then, so news of their release is sweet indeed but comes with a bitter aftertaste knowing they will not be free to do what they love.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-30835146719228090732020-05-02T07:50:00.001-07:002020-08-18T01:57:36.370-07:00Remembering the power of labor during the pandemic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">May 1, 2020</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">They are the healthcare workers in our hospitals
taking care of our loved ones. They are the sanitation workers keeping our
streets and parks clean and collecting our garbage. They are the public
transport workers keeping subways and buses going for those of us without cars.
They are the people in delivery centers packing goods we order online while
sheltering at home. They are the farm workers and meat packers working to
ensure we have food on the table. They are workers in factories making our personal
protective equipment (PPE), thermometers and ventilators. The list could on.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In my first blogpost of 2020, I'd like to use the occasion
of International Workers Day to remember the power of labor in the global fight
against the COVID-19 pandemic by highlighting the situation of workers in China. In
countries like the U.S. we are reminded of this power by reading <span lang=""><a href="https://www.labornotes.org/coronavirusnews?page=2">reports
of workers</a></span> on the frontlines organizing for better personal
protective equipment, payment of wages and hazard pay, paid leave, etc. In
China, where this pandemic began and where much of our PPE is produced, news
about worker grievances and protests rarely gets out thanks to heavy censorship,
and the <span lang=""><a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-chinese-states-repression-of-jasic.html">fierce
repression</a></span> of Chinese labor activists and organizations over
the last few years. Thanks to reporting by organizations like <span lang=""><a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/china-report-analyses-labour-actions-by-civil-society-organizations-during-coronavirus-outbreak-0">China
Europe Association for Civil Rights</a></span> and <span lang=""><a href="https://www.blogger.com/CLB,%20https:/www.clb.org.hk/content/workers%E2%80%99-struggles-echo-around-world-pandemic-spreads)">China
Labour Bulletin</a></span>, we have some idea of how workers, and the
organizations and individuals seeking to assist them, are responding during the
pandemic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFiByAQpXMdheLQv6-uLpNDJky4LMv5MsUYuf1V2nmuhfZ8vNpD2LZOK7C3o5929j2XYo88KYoHbJC_oHpKzNx2rttUpsaiGGzZeaax6aJeFfIPllpQKrq3jn6bpm-rfha_69Y95iG8E/s1600/Picture+of+workers.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="451" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFiByAQpXMdheLQv6-uLpNDJky4LMv5MsUYuf1V2nmuhfZ8vNpD2LZOK7C3o5929j2XYo88KYoHbJC_oHpKzNx2rttUpsaiGGzZeaax6aJeFfIPllpQKrq3jn6bpm-rfha_69Y95iG8E/s400/Picture+of+workers.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Workers at a hospital construction site in Wuhan</span></div>
<span face="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></span><style><!--
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Workers whose livelihoods are being threatened are
organizing and protesting</i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Migrant workers in Wuhan where the epidemic began were
pressed into action in early February to build hospitals to isolate and contain
patients with COVID-19. Unable to return to their homes for the Chinese New
Year holiday, many worked overtime with inadequate PPE to construct these
hospitals. Later some of these workers organized to demand payment of wages
owed to them for their work. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In the first half of March, thousands of financially
struggling <span lang=""><a href="https://clb.org.hk/content/taxi-driver-protests-continue-despite-government-relief-measures">taxi
drivers</a></span> in several provinces staged protests demanding a
reduction in their vehicle rental fees. While some of the organizers were
fired, in many cases, they successfully forced concessions from their employers
and the local government.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Even healthcare
workers in some hospitals have posted online demands for payment of promised
government subsidies.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Mutual-aid groups, worker organizations and volunteers
are offering assistance and advocating for worker rights</i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In their
struggles during the pandemic, workers have been abandoned by China’s only
union, The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), a party-controlled
organization which was set up to represent workers but often functions more as
an arm of the government.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In the void left by the ACFTU, civil society groups –
mutual aid groups, worker organizations, and volunteers – have emerged to offer
assistance to workers and call attention to vulnerabilities faced by workers
and their families.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">A number of self-organized mutual-aid groups composed
of students and social workers in a dozen cities came together to fund raise for
PPE for sanitation workers, and to draw public attention to the contributions
made by these workers.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Other volunteer groups have called attention to the “digital
divide” facing children of rural migrant workers whose classes were transferred
online yet who lack the equipment or internet connections enjoyed by students
living in the cities. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The few worker organizations that have not been
suppressed are also providing assistance. Organizations working with domestic
workers have started a hotline for counseling and information about epidemic
prevention. Others have opened legal aid hotlines for workers seeking
information about their labor and employment rights during the pandemic.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">As workplaces start back up, reports have emerged
about employers opening up too soon and without providing workers with adequate
PPE. In a case of a state-owned factory in Fujian that required its employees
to show up before the official re-opening date, workers posted complaints to
the local government online and said they would refuse to show up for work. In
another case, student interns in Shenzhen were told to show up for work even
though they were still owed wages. When they complained to the local
government, the factory was ordered to stop its operations. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">These stories from the front lines in China give us a
fleeting glimpse into the pressures that workers in China face and represent
only the tip of a very large iceberg. Still they remind us of the contribution
of Chinese workers who make much of what we depend on, including the PPE that
keeps us healthy and safe.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><br /></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-64781388405839932722019-11-21T05:17:00.003-08:002020-08-18T01:59:21.847-07:00Chinese NGOs meet with African NGOs on holding Chinese companies accountable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Last week I had the privilege of joining a group of
Chinese NGOs to attend the African Coalition of Corporate Accountability’s
General Assembly in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d’Ivoire. The theme of this
year’s General Assembly was “Impacts, Opportunities and Accountability in the
Context of Chinese Investment in Africa.” <br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
The Chinese NGO delegation was
organized by Jingjing Zhang, founder of the China Accountability Project (CAP)
based in Washington, D.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CAP is a
nonprofit organization run by experienced Chinese public interest lawyers and
environmental professionals and dedicated to holding Chinese companies
accountable for their environmental impacts and rights violations. It has been
bridging the knowledge gap between Chinese CSOs and their counterparts in
Africa and Latin America.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfTBa5kxpc4lHGDSun3xS2hyhKWlNKydpf1gQqdJNaKjh6SHasogfXF8KfCAyifkOnjIMnFkT3I_jDTd8cWtIe7PNw7vkhya2s4A6szh21aKD3syf93s8KPjjkELWyqAsHMKwN4kScLU/s1600/IMG_5921.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfTBa5kxpc4lHGDSun3xS2hyhKWlNKydpf1gQqdJNaKjh6SHasogfXF8KfCAyifkOnjIMnFkT3I_jDTd8cWtIe7PNw7vkhya2s4A6szh21aKD3syf93s8KPjjkELWyqAsHMKwN4kScLU/s400/IMG_5921.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: georgia;">This gathering was the first time ACCA had Chinese
NGOs meeting up with African NGOs. I would go so far to say it was the first
time independent Chinese NGOs, as opposed to official Chinese NGOs or GONGOs,
had an opportunity to discuss and strategize with African NGOs about best civil
society practices for managing negative impacts of Chinese investment. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">As NGOs with experience working on labor and
environmental protection in China, we wanted to share our experiences about
working as NGOs in China on these issues and provide a more realistic picture
of the state of civil society and the environmental and labor movements in China.
We also wanted to provide some recommendations on how African NGOs, trade
unions and communities could respond to the negative social and environmental
impacts of Chinese investment in Africa. We hoped through this experience, we
could move Africans away from stereotypes about Chinese and add more humanity
to a Chinese face.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
The first day, sitting in the meeting hall, we were
welcomed by a local band of brass and drums that recalled a New Orleans blues
band, followed by a group of women with painted faces doing a traditional song
and dance. We were welcomed by ACCA organizers and heard a keynote address
about China in Africa from a Nigerian academic doing graduate work on China in
Africa. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SFBI00UbsFylfkeRAkDQR01lzJWa0d0iHq4Ag1NYMwwlOQRZ9hwDz_I0vrFgQsojdpBvreuwFXbn_-4zYXS30bpkVEYOmk-chufuXQmvXX3VM-vL98M6j2xdkvzTKiyYCfNtSA28qhQ/s1600/Screenshot+2019-11-21+at+9.03.12+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1127" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SFBI00UbsFylfkeRAkDQR01lzJWa0d0iHq4Ag1NYMwwlOQRZ9hwDz_I0vrFgQsojdpBvreuwFXbn_-4zYXS30bpkVEYOmk-chufuXQmvXX3VM-vL98M6j2xdkvzTKiyYCfNtSA28qhQ/s400/Screenshot+2019-11-21+at+9.03.12+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfT7uVCDx83932FJTUOBeYVRfjpy64dhF2rG9qBR-98zEXVLgKV6xgfU5ICA7UFIf3Ci6bL1wjdlvKXD-mK8qaIO38xyJ3eqjiaUUwYTspqhy5NVb8snQKtNHGtcrOWg3I3Hu0cLpMqQ/s1600/IMG_5916.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfT7uVCDx83932FJTUOBeYVRfjpy64dhF2rG9qBR-98zEXVLgKV6xgfU5ICA7UFIf3Ci6bL1wjdlvKXD-mK8qaIO38xyJ3eqjiaUUwYTspqhy5NVb8snQKtNHGtcrOWg3I3Hu0cLpMqQ/s400/IMG_5916.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">I gave a presentation about the labor movement in China,
speaking about my experience at China Labour Bulletin where we worked with
Chinese labor activists to organize workers involved in labor disputes and
trained them on collective bargaining strategies and techniques. I also spoke
about my trip to Zambia looking at labor relations in Chinese workplaces in the
manufacturing and mining sector, and how some Chinese companies in Zambia had
learned over the years to recognize independent unions – something China does
not have - and engage in collective bargaining with them to improve wages and
working conditions. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_u70rpHLS_ehRbiL3HIrXCH9wHW7xUxLSoHpcVe5I-eARLLFDYdIa703XmVjEf3p-1zmfzrYeLPdUKVKVd8q5NUDbu1c8uYSwGKQpQ7D4p0IdJGYy92K-uQ3CX0KoYhQUAGa3WMpE9Oo/s1600/IMG_5938.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_u70rpHLS_ehRbiL3HIrXCH9wHW7xUxLSoHpcVe5I-eARLLFDYdIa703XmVjEf3p-1zmfzrYeLPdUKVKVd8q5NUDbu1c8uYSwGKQpQ7D4p0IdJGYy92K-uQ3CX0KoYhQUAGa3WMpE9Oo/s320/IMG_5938.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">My other colleagues spoke about the environmental
movement, and their experience holding companies and government departments
accountable for pollution through campaigning and lawsuits. They showed the
negative environmental impact that Chinese companies on their home country, but
also how Chinese NGOs had been able to hold these companies accountable. The
suggestion was that African companies could do the same but it would take time,
strategizing and perhaps assistance from Chinese NGOs to figure out how best to
mitigate the damages wrought by Chinese companies in Africa.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDRymP4VO9Q9YzEfkevAYQcKti_3eJucYGfw_n-bvQCvx5cwIl0KmHMtuTnTsZ-7wcOJpgtUQ44bOfNCquyveP0R2f7TcqM9j4nHyA593g6OPDlsUqW9GnoM_Lr3cMWZayqoNEwABNuQ/s1600/IMG_5917.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDRymP4VO9Q9YzEfkevAYQcKti_3eJucYGfw_n-bvQCvx5cwIl0KmHMtuTnTsZ-7wcOJpgtUQ44bOfNCquyveP0R2f7TcqM9j4nHyA593g6OPDlsUqW9GnoM_Lr3cMWZayqoNEwABNuQ/s400/IMG_5917.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The Africans in the audience were a very curious crowd
and asked a lot of questions. Their questions often reflected a pent-up anger
against what they saw as the damage visited upon their communities by Chinese
companies. One man asked whether it was true that China was only sending
criminals to Africa. Our answer: there’s no evidence of this. Another asked
what would happen if African countries simply refused to accept Chinese
investment. Our answer: Chinese investors aren’t all that different from other
investors; they are largely part and parcel of the global capitalist order. Just
look at the pillaging of the Amazon being carried out by mostly white
(non-Chinese) farmers, miners and loggers. Countries do not shut their doors to
other investors who come to exploit their resources and labor, so why would you
do that to Chinese investors? What we should be asking is not how to keep these
investors from a particular country out (although there may be a good reason to
exclude investors in certain sectors or those involved in informal/illegal
activities), but how to better regulate and manage the risks that come with their
investment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOWsQybQjhwcs6aSvSalR5NyWRnZvYqh1U_G7XYlNCN1_g_Wqz5I8W5dgrn36X-DFdpDVcufRjdhmTIi3qWk4vlOU3BkyA7zQ1vWoMYD0eMUDgerQKL6PIl8JGlBiTldqwg26TWPePoI/s1600/IMG_5939.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOWsQybQjhwcs6aSvSalR5NyWRnZvYqh1U_G7XYlNCN1_g_Wqz5I8W5dgrn36X-DFdpDVcufRjdhmTIi3qWk4vlOU3BkyA7zQ1vWoMYD0eMUDgerQKL6PIl8JGlBiTldqwg26TWPePoI/s400/IMG_5939.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="" lang="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The next day was spent looking at corporate
accountability mechanisms ranging from grievance mechanisms, to greater
transparency and disclosure of information, to lawsuits. The sessions focused
on large-scale natural resource extraction projects financed through Chinese
state and commercial loans. These are the projects getting the headlines in the
paper, and their sheer size and amount of money involved, as well as their
impact on local communities and the environment, highlights the pressing need
to do something to hold these companies accountable.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In a small separate session on labor conflicts,
another dimension of China in Africa came up that gets less attention but may
be no less important over the longer run: the wave of Chinese companies and
entrepreneurs moving into other sectors of the economy. As David Dollar points
out in his 2016 Brookings Institution report, <i>China’s Engagement with
Africa: From Natural Resources to Human Resources</i>, Chinese financing in
Africa may be concentrated on the large-scale projects in the energy and
transportation sectors carried out by state-owned firms, but the majority of
Chinese people in Africa are dispersed across a wide range of private firms in
services, manufacturing and agriculture. There is no good data on how many
Chinese actually live and work in Africa. Many are said to go to work in large
projects and end up overstaying their visas and going into business for
themselves or working for other Chinese businesses. The mythical number of one
million Chinese in Africa is often used as in Howard French’s 2014 book, <i>China’s
Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa</i>.
</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In Zambia, the estimates of Chinese living there
ranged anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000. Whatever the numbers, the presence of
Chinese migrants not only in the capital of Lusaka but also in the Copperbelt
cities of Ndola and Kitwe were ubiquitous. There are many Chinese raising
families there. There are Chinese malls and stores carrying mostly merchandise
imported from China. There are Chinese restaurants and casinos. There are Chinese
medical clinics, and so on. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCIvdHgzPFc5sFqEGJgt_pnGvgK9CBeBzy6fxT1sRkKAmkbGSe_RlZn5VqBfkJye0PSBxX9eD2a_tekbbv42_DUl-Hbth6q_bF5yMyyXLYxHUhrZhxxyGab5lp_qIK8eDWHZGALRT00I/s1600/China+mall.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCIvdHgzPFc5sFqEGJgt_pnGvgK9CBeBzy6fxT1sRkKAmkbGSe_RlZn5VqBfkJye0PSBxX9eD2a_tekbbv42_DUl-Hbth6q_bF5yMyyXLYxHUhrZhxxyGab5lp_qIK8eDWHZGALRT00I/s400/China+mall.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAZYXnjVvnuvwH0bAFVQ9MABdh8sAKrATl1UqPDWHumgIIQLd_7p4bXOK4D8cFvvlSlFdH0ukhQmpW2nHI1sk9QgqiTrH55hich5MTSDfmnoQhl6UB0eJKFA9oUI9d1Pfb63Mwp7o37s/s1600/China+casino.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAZYXnjVvnuvwH0bAFVQ9MABdh8sAKrATl1UqPDWHumgIIQLd_7p4bXOK4D8cFvvlSlFdH0ukhQmpW2nHI1sk9QgqiTrH55hich5MTSDfmnoQhl6UB0eJKFA9oUI9d1Pfb63Mwp7o37s/s400/China+casino.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Dollar suggests that the growth of Chinese in these
sectors will become more important, as demand in China for natural resources
tapers off over time. This shift is suggested in the title of his report, <i>From
Natural Resources to Human Resources</i>. This smaller-scale private sector
activity has not received the same amount of attention as the large financing
deals in the extractive resource sector. Most importantly, its cumulative
impact on the continent is growing quickly and increasingly being critically
received by local populations. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">This impact was the subject of our small session on
labor conflicts which quickly moved to other concerns such as Chinese firms
competing and crowding out African firms in manufacturing and services, lack of
linkages between Chinese firms and African suppliers, Chinese workers taking
jobs that could be given to Africans, and the lack of skills transfer and
training for Africans.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Two days to discuss a topic as enormous as Chinese
investment in Africa was clearly insufficient but it was a good start. There
are many parts to the ecosystem of holding companies accountable. The focus was
on large-scale, natural resource extraction projects such as mines and dams,
and on the NGOs that work on transparency and information disclosure, and on
mechanisms such as campaigns and lawsuits. There could easily have been another
two days devoted to organizing communities, trade unions and business
associations to address the social and economic impact of Chinese investment, and
providing grievance, monitoring and accountability mechanisms not only to hold
Chinese companies accountable but also to hold governments in those African
countries accountable for enabling the negative impacts of Chinese and other
foreign investment. As <span lang=""><a href="https://www.csis.org/blogs/international-consortium-closing-civic-space/promoting-sustainable-business-practices-protect"><span lang="">Charles Kojo
Vandyck points out</span></a></span>, CSOs in
Africa can also “trigger conversations about the UN Guiding Principles through
multisectoral convenings and forums” and in regional institutions such as “the
African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Central African Economic and
Monetary Community (CEMAC) and the East African Community (EAC).”</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">One point that was made through the two-day meeting
was that the situation in Africa is not all that dissimilar to the situation in
China. In both places, laws, regulations and guidelines are being drafted that
incorporate international standards. This legal framework creates various entry
points for civil society to hold the state and companies accountable. This is a
point I came back to in my presentation when I concluded with three hard-earned
lessons we should keep in mind:</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">One was that China and Africa have experience with
creating laws that incorporate international standards to varying degrees, but
these laws can have shortcomings or are simply not implemented or enforced. Here
is where civil society comes in.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Second, these laws are not going to be much use unless
NGOs, workers and communities work together to call for improvements in the
laws, and hold governments, banks, international financial institutions and
companies accountable for complying with those laws. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Third, civil society needs to go beyond just naming and
shaming to do the hard work of organizing workers and communities, and engaging,
pressuring and negotiating with companies, governments and other stakeholders
if we are to achieve true win-win solutions for companies, workers and
communities, and realize the still-distant promise of what Vandyck calls
sustainable businesses which he defines as: </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
“….enterprises
that generate respect for human rights across their value chains. This type of
business does not only use a percentage of its profits to promote a social
cause through corporate social responsibility, but it also safeguards human
rights within its operations and the communities where its products or services
are used.”</span></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-52813023856886373382019-10-19T07:05:00.001-07:002020-08-18T02:00:03.713-07:00What Social Innovations Advisory is doing to build civil society resilience in China and beyond<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaxOui4bAQKI7W705fHG0PNG9637plP_wqx0-Q2fyIOgfFjrXxU2ICqUB1Ilrvd2cypNhwBvuCTui-aGv93u3e95L4N0Ox45oqXb_XkRFXJqwj8VWQirXwJJwP8p-JIF-YUpof22uEnQ/s1600/SIA+new+logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1600" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaxOui4bAQKI7W705fHG0PNG9637plP_wqx0-Q2fyIOgfFjrXxU2ICqUB1Ilrvd2cypNhwBvuCTui-aGv93u3e95L4N0Ox45oqXb_XkRFXJqwj8VWQirXwJJwP8p-JIF-YUpof22uEnQ/s200/SIA+new+logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">About a year ago, I wrote a <span lang=""><a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-latest-initiative-starting-up-social.html">blog
post</a></span> about my consulting company, Social Innovations
Advisory, Ltd. I started SIA up in 2018, after leaving my position as Deputy
Director of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, to help NGOs carry out innovative and impactful
programming and reporting in China, Asia and beyond. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Most of what I did in the first year
was limited to China – monitoring and reporting on the legal environment for
civil society and philanthropy, doing a mapping of active labor organizations
in China, and helping with funding proposals for China-based projects. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">During that year, I increasingly found
myself venturing further afield, writing about how CSOs can expand civic space
in Asia (mobilize local resources!), and going on a fact-finding mission to
interview human rights CSOs in Israel and Palestine on challenges they were
facing on access to funding.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2019, SIA’s core work continued
to be on China:</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span>Monitoring and updating ICNL’s China
page for the <span lang=""><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/china.html">Civic
Freedom Monitor</a></span>, and updating ICNL’s <span lang=""><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China%20Philanthropy%20Law%20Report%2031%20Aug%202018%20update.pdf">China
Philanthropy Law Report</a></span> and related <span lang=""><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China.html">info
graphs, timelines and FAQs</a></span> to explain the civil society
and philanthropy environment and laws.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span>Updating the Council on Foundation’s <span lang=""><a href="https://www.cof.org/content/china">Country
Note for China</a></span>.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span>Evaluating
a China project, carrying out a China philanthropy seminar at HKU, helping an international NGO convene a meeting in Hong
Kong to rethink their China strategy, and helping an international NGO with its
temporary activity filings.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">But increasingly our work is taking
us further afield, focused on helping NGOs build resilience by diversifying
their access to local resources and funding, and helping Chinese and
international NGOs to address the challenges and risks posed by Chinese
investment in the Belt and Road Initiative. Here’s a sample of some of our
work:</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A Financial Sustainability for Rights-based CSOs in
the Global South project funded by Counterpart International and USAID, leading
to the creation of 1) an online database of cases of CSOs that have moved from
foreign funding to local resource mobilization; 2) a report analysing the
cases; and 3) a toolkit to train CSOs on mobilizing local resources. More on
this later.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Helping international CSOs seeking to localize in
China to identify funding sources and come up with an outreach strategy to support
programming in China and overseas.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A UNDP China project examining the social risks to
sustainable development posed by Chinese investment in BRI countries. For this
project, SIA put together a research team of four researchers from an
international CSO and a Chinese CSO to carry out fact-finding missions to Nepal
and Zambia, and draft a Discussion Paper which will be published by the UNDP at
the end of 2019. There are plans for follow up projects to manage some of these
risks.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Participating in a Chinese civil society delegation to
the 2019 General Assembly of the African Coalition of Corporate Accountability
(ACCA), whose theme is the impact of Chinese investment, to share our China
experience and knowledge with our African counterparts.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In these projects, one can discern pathways
by which CSOs can flourish in this changed environment in China. One is
experimenting with new models for mobilizing resources inside China. A second
is going abroad, following Chinese companies and individuals, and learning how
to operate internationally and engage with international civil society. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">While both are challenging and have
their pitfalls, CSOs may have little choice but to move ahead because of the
tantalizing opportunities they offer.</span></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-15056890151884118382019-09-27T19:02:00.003-07:002020-08-18T02:01:02.826-07:00On the 70th anniversary of the PRC, how can we rebuild China's civil society?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
As the People's Republic of China approaches the 70th anniversary of its founding, we need to reflect on an important question and that is how to rebuild China's civil society. China's civil society has made significant progress over the last 40 years, but in the last 5-6 years, it has suffered a great deal and even gone backwards. China desperately needs to recover and rejuvenate the civil society that had been emerging in the early 2010s. More than ever before, China needs a capable, engaged and independent civil society and we need to be thinking now about how to achieve that. As I have said <a href="http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/remaking-chinas-civil-society-xi-jinping-era">elsewhere</a>,<br />
<br />
"In the long run, there really is no good alternative to a robust,
vibrant civil society if China wants to develop into a prosperous and
stable modern power. Chinese civil society’s responsibility is thus a
heavy one and its supporters should recognize this moment as a critical
opportunity to rethink how civil society can adapt and move forward."<br />
<br />
In that essay, I likened China's civil society to a forest that has experienced a major fire and needs to be regenerated. What then needs to be done to rebuild China's civil society so that it can play a constructive role in guiding China to a better future? Here are some ideas I've been thinking about, not necessarily in order of importance. <br />
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">- Strengthening Chinese civil society's understanding of international values, and the capacity and opportunities to engage in exchanges with international civil society</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">- Strengthening the capacity of Chinese civil society to carry out actions to realize
those values </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">- Strengthening the legitimacy of Chinese civil society among the
public, private sector and government.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">- Beginning a process of detaching the party and state
from civil society, and shaping government policy to create an enabling, rather than controlling, environment for CSOs working in China.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">More on these ideas later.</span></div>
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</div><br />NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-43743953030249731982019-06-04T01:44:00.002-07:002019-06-07T01:52:02.002-07:00In Remembrance of Forgetting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
June 4, 2019 Guangzhou, China<br />
<br />
Last year my wife and I celebrated
our 30th anniversary together. We were married in Wilmington, Delaware
on July 2, 1988. I wonder if being able to celebrate and remember the
day of our wedding made any difference to our marriage and to our lives.
What if we were not allowed to celebrate our anniversary, talk about it
with our family and friends, share pictures of us celebrating our
wedding or anniversary on social media? Would it make any difference to
us or our families or friends?<br />
<br />
It's hard to answer
this question because like most counterfactuals, the scenario I'm putting forth has never happened. Of course we are able to share our
memories with others and we take it for granted so we never really stop
and think about why it matters. Here I have to confess that I've never
been one to appreciate the institution and trappings of marriage. As a
28 year old still searching for his bearings - and this is no reflection
on my wonderful wife - I approached the wedding like I approached getting
my vaccinations at the doctor's. It was more an utilitarian exercise
I needed to do so I could move on with my life.<br />
<br />
As I've
grown older, I've changed my view of that event. I've come to
appreciate that sharing memories of our marriage contributes to a larger
collective memory and history that gives our relationship and our life
more meaning because it is shared and remembered by others outside our
immediate relationship. Sharing memories of that event matters because
it became an essential part of building the family and community that we
started when my wife and I chose to marry.<br />
<br />
Not being
able to share the event with others would create a discontinuity in that
collective memory and history. We would still be able to talk about
other things with our family and friends. But something would be
missing: the founding event that led to our wonderful family and
community of friends. Being denied the ability to share that event, we
would not be able to live a normal life, to build a normal community of
family and friends.<br />
<br />
A few months after our wedding,
I started my Ph.D. in political science at Columbia University in the
city of New York. I had decided to specialize in the study of Chinese
politics after spending a year teaching English in China and coming away
knowing I wanted to study this great enigma of a country. <br />
<br />
The
next year, in the spring semester, I remember walking through hallway of the
School for International and Public Affairs, and seeing a mass of people
packed into the auditorium on the ground floor listening to someone
speak. I was told the speaker was a certain Liu Xiaobo, a visiting scholar at
Columbia at the time, who was speaking about something big taking place in China. Shortly afterwards, he flew back to Beijing to join
in something he knew he had to be a part of.<br />
<br />
After two
years of fieldwork in Taipei and Xiamen, and two more years of writing
my disseration, I received my doctorate in 1996 and went on to teach
political science at a liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York.
My wife and I raised two children in the town of Hyde Park. Ten years
later she joined the foreign commercial service and was posted to the
U.S. embassy in Beijing, bringing her family along.<br />
<br />
I spent most of my
time in Beijing working for China Development Brief, a Chinese NGO
reporting on the ever so gradual development of China's civil society.
We were motivated by the idea that China needed to build a strong
societal foundation if any change in its superstructure was to be
sustainable. My colleagues and I looked nervously to the future, rarely
talking or thinking about the past, and dreaming of better things. One
early June day, I asked a taxi driver if he knew what anniversary it
was. He was stumped until I told him. And then he suddenly remembered
what all of his compatriots had forgotten. <br />
<br />
We had been
living in Beijing for around three years when, in 2010, Liu Xiaobo was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was unable to accept the prize, having
been imprisoned for taking part in the writing of Charter 08, a
manifesto calling for China to move in a more liberal, democratic
direction. Liu ended up dying in prison on July 13, 2017 of liver
cancer. Almost no one in China knew who he was. Many of his compatriots
hadn't forgotten, they just didn't know he existed.
Which is worse? <br />
<br />
I ask that question about my anniversary.
I think I would rather my anniversary be forgotten than for people not
to know about it. I understand people are busy and
have better things to remember than my anniversary. But I would want my
friends and family to at least know my wife and I were married, that we
had a wedding sometime in the distant past. That sharing of memories
constitutes an important part of what separates our community of family
and friends from our acquaintances. <br />
<br />
On this day, I
understand that the Chinese are busy too, and that they have better
things to think about than the past, such as the future for their
families and their nation. I hope for their sake that they are not
ignorant, that they have instead simply forgotten. Because then, like my friend
the taxi driver, all it will take is a reminder for the light to go on
and the memories to return.</div>
NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-7324680582022843622019-02-02T14:11:00.000-08:002019-02-02T14:13:52.522-08:00The rising role of “hub-style” organizations as stewards of the party (pt. 2) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
following post is Part 2 of a guest blog </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">by Ryan Etzcorn</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span lang="EN-US">a Fulbright Research Fellow (2018-2019) and a
graduate of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
and Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies (MPP & MA).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>***************************************</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Leaning on hub-style organizations to
bridge the gaps: the theme of cross-sector coordination</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If
the attitudes and goals regarding hub-style organizations are sorted into
themes, cross-sector coordination is the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> Hub-style organizations have become a dominant force in the
region’s discussion on future public welfare provision, and they bring with
them a determination to scramble the boundaries between enterprise, government,
and nonprofit activity in hopes for better integration and efficiency. In some
ways, the core ideas behind this drive for intersectoral coordination resemble </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/collective_impact"><span style="color: #1155cc;">the </span></a><a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/collective_impact"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“collective impact”</span></a><a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/collective_impact"><span style="color: #1155cc;"> wave</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in the U.S. in the early 2010’s, when leaders across sectors
experimented with long-term, coordinated social solutions to some of their
communities’ most intractable problems.But collective impact in the U.S. </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://charterforcompassion.org/images/menus/communities/pdfs/230209_Wolff_reprint-1.pdf"><span style="color: #1155cc;">has since come under fire</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> for (among other things) too often failing to provide a central
“backbone” authority able to bridge differences among institutional partners. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Social
service leaders in Guangzhou and Shenzhen wonder less about who will coordinate
a new and multisectoral harmonious society -- that’s clearly the Party's job.
Despite the major differences between these cities, all agreed that “hub-style
organizations” at the intermediary level are becoming the indispensable “bridge
and belt” of a new era in Party-led cross-sector social welfare provision.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Building capacity” for the nonprofit
sector</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
second dominant theme emerging in my interviews is a fixation on the role of
hubs in “building capacity” for social organizations. This term has also </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614520050116677?journalCode=cdip20"><span style="color: #1155cc;">long been a fixture</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in western debate and seems to take on new meaning in the
Chinese context. Several SO leaders I talked to expressed suspicions that
“building capacity” was a red herring for preparing SO to take on top-down
government purchasing projects, but others working with hubs also occasionally
emphasized the necessity of promoting resource diversification among social organizations.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Each
interview with the leaders or staff in hub-style organizations expressed a
desire to build genuine links between community members and institutions and to
build a healthy social sector. During several of these same interviews, my
counterparts even expressed an expectation that their hub would be granted more
autonomy in their daily affairs once the MoCA and other government ministries
had determined that fledgling hubs could graduate from a “development phase”,
though it was unclear when that day might come. On the other hand, hub-style
organizations in Shenzhen and Guangzhou invariably envisioned a future where
social organizations were either contracting from the government or providing
social services to supplement state goals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Exchanging capacity for loyalty at
China’s new hubs </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To
many in both these cities, there is no smooth bullet train to a future with
secure resources, but a clear emphasis on government contracting persists among
social organizations, hub-style organizations, and government officials. For
many social organizations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Guangzhou,
the struggle for revenue diversity may look especially bleak. MoCA in Guangzhou
has so far constructed a much more centralized and “systematic” approach to
building social organization capacity through hub organizations, with selective
support flowing down each administrative level starting from the municipal
MoCA. In response to </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://www.chinanpo.gov.cn/1201/112802/index.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">a MoCA directive</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> to set up ten social organizations in every community (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shequ</i>) by the end of the year, one
social organization leader said he saw this as hopeless due to the immense
difficulty of finding enough competent and experienced professionals to staff
new organizations in an industry notorious for weak remuneration.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
the view of the government-led hub-style organizations, the cure for civil
society’s stunted growth lies less with easier registration requirements, open
fundraising channels, or clearer tax incentives for charitable donations, and
more with a constant drumbeat for professionalization. When it comes to
administrative capacity, they may have a point. social organization leaders I
spoke with complained of an explosion in paperwork over the last two years,
especially if an organization was so foolish as to seek status as a “charitable
organization.” Unfortunately, efficiency gains for government ministries
captured by outsourcing administrative functions to hubs may be accelerating
the administrative burden for grassroots groups as these intermediary organizations
grow into a </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://theory.people.com.cn/n1/2015/1217/c49150-27941636.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“second government.”</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
many ways, intermediary organizations play a vital role in civil societies
across the world, but as my interviews have so far suggested, active
discrimination by hub-style organizations plays a growing role in determining
which versions of civil society are connected to critical revenue lifelines. In
Guangdong’s resource-strapped social sector, hubs<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>offer a rare lifeline to “incubate”
Party-friendly social organizations and “hatch” them out into society for
greater roles in social welfare provision, but as the incubation kitchens reach
capacity, they also double as a means for local governments to exclusively “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kai xiao zao” </i>(to open a
special oven or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>grant preferential
treatment) in the name of stability maintenance. It remains to be seen how well
these southern hatchlings will earn public trust, provide effective services,
and bear witness to society’s structural challenges. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This blog is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the
U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in this blogpost are entirely
Ryan’s and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S.
Department of State, or any of its partner organizations. </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></b></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-37474623414086315032019-01-30T01:53:00.003-08:002019-01-30T02:11:50.247-08:00The rising role of “hub-style” organizations as stewards of the party (Pt. 1) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
post is part 1 of a guest blog by Ryan Etzcorn, a Fulbright Research Fellow
(2018-2019) and a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford
School of Public Policy and Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies (MPP
& MA). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>***************************************</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By the end of 2018, I grew pretty comfortable with the bullet
train commute between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The past 40 years of Reform and
Opening Up have transformed this corridor into one of the most important
economic regions in the world. Throughout the Pearl River Delta, regional
leaders take every opportunity to parade their proud tradition of leadership in
manufacturing, technology, and record-breaking infrastructure. In this corner
of China, the obsession with “breakthrough innovation” has advanced to feel
like a regional pastime.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But to some of the region’s Party-state
leaders and private “social entrepreneurs”, breaking down barriers of time and
space for more GDP is not enough. Instead, these leaders have re-dedicated
themselves to a paradigm shift which seeks to erode sectoral barriers between
government, business, and charity for the provision of “public benefit” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gongyi</i>).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In both Shenzhen and Guangzhou, social
workers, business leaders, leading government officials, and academics are
collaborating in WeChat groups, conferences, and salon discussions and using
the same slogans to emphasize a more coordinated era of “public governance.” It
is time, they say, to heed Xi Jinping’s call for “</span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.chinanews.com/ll/2019/01-18/8733113.shtml"><span style="color: #1155cc;">collective community building, collective governance, and
collective sharing</span></a></span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">” and use it to replace the
tired government/business/nonprofit sectoral boundaries of bygone eras and
foreign origins. Under the leadership of the Party, “participatory” community
governance will finally be realized, starting with Guangdong.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As both a researcher and practitioner, I
arrived in August of 2018 on a research fellowship to explore how new
developments in Chinese policy and law were propelling changes in the fabric of
its civil society. Before that, in the years leading up to the paired release
of the Charity Law and Overseas NGO Law in 2016, I spent two years of a
graduate program at the University of Michigan examining Chinese civil
society from several angles, including archival work and interviews with
grassroots organizations across China. The passing of those two highly
anticipated laws came and went and I chose Guangzhou and Shenzhen to study
their implementation. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For me, the rationale for wanting to
study new “public benefit” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gongyi</i>)
developments in Guangzhou and Shenzhen felt obvious. Both are situated under
the same national and provincial laws and regulations. Other Guangdong cities
have been notable for standout social policy experimentation, but the
province's top rank in philanthropic giving has much to do with its
two mega cities. Guangdong also boasts special funds for social
organization capacity building and trails only Jiangsu Province in the sheer
number of social organizations that have been registered to date. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Both Shenzhen and Guangzhou have more in
common with each other than either does with most other Chinese cities, and yet
some contrasts in public welfare delivery regimes remain profound. The much
older city of Guangzhou is known in the region for more than 450
state-engineered “family integrated social service stations” providing
wrap-around services that are administered by China’s largest legion of social
workers. In comparison to Shenzhen, Guangzhou is importantly recognized for the
more exclusive role that government plays in resourcing and fostering social
organizations. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The younger, sleeker Shenzhen is known
as a hotbed for major technology firms and real estate investment. Huge tech
companies and Hong Kong cross-border flows provide more diverse options for
social organization funding, even while the Ministry of Finance has pushed
special pilot efforts to rationalize and strengthen government procurement of
social services. Shenzhen also sprang into action early with one of the first
local governments in China to capitalize a series of community
foundations. Along with Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu, Shenzhen’s government
has subsidized social impact investment pilot projects, subsidized fixed costs
for social enterprises, and even issued social impact bonds. Although
clear differences persist, the backdrop they provide makes commonalities in
policy design even more notable and potentially telling for broader trends in
the PRC.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shaping a sector: introducing “hub-style organizations” </span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Amidst the blur of WeChat zines and
conference forums I attended since Fall 2018, an obvious pattern of
institutional leadership emerged across both cities. Surprisingly, it wasn’t
quite the government itself nor the grassroots groups holding the microphone or
building most of the WeChat groups. Instead, it looked like I was witnessing a
takeover by the organizations “in between”. In China’s current social sector,
to be a “hub-style organization” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shuniu xing zuzhi</i>)
has become a term of pride that resembles a notion of being higher up in a sort
of institutional “value chain”. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the past month, I spoke with leaders
at state-backed “social organization institutes”, city-wide social
organization<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>associations, the Ministry
of Civil Affairs (MoCA), grassroots groups, and leading “mission-oriented”
consulting groups in both Shenzhen and Guangzhou. My first rounds of
interviewing distinguished two major types that were viewed as key for building
financial capacity and sustainability among grassroots groups:
quasi-governmental associations and incubator bases. Both of these hub
categories are managed on some level by government institutions or other
quasi-state institutions, such as the All-China Federation for Women or the
Communist Youth League. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Social organization associations, social
organization “institutes“, and charity federations collectively make up the
first category that are mostly registered as civil non-enterprise units, though
they actually function as directly-reporting auxiliaries of specific bureaus or
departments within the MoCA.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7328018645779167828#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></sup></span></sup></a>
Though they mostly exist at the city level, district versions also exist in
both Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Each of the three types in this category also
served as a “platform” by convening social organizations, producing research
and propaganda for social organization consumption, disseminating data on the
sector, or providing free training services. Social organization associations
in particular are being increasingly tasked with serving as a depository for
annual reports required of all registered organizations, where the data is
pooled and later conveyed to the MoCA.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Incubators make up the second category
and are established by local government initiatives at the city, district, and
sub-district levels in both Shenzhen and Guangzhou. They also represent a more
collaborative approach combining state subsidies, operating contracts with
civil non-enterprise units, in-kind donations from local businesses, and
training services from professional consulting firms like NPI. Without
fail, every incubator felt obliged to stress that participation in an incubator
space does not merely provide office space, but also includes opportunities for
training and “resource docking” opportunities (fundraising training,
grant-writing, or help with government procurement applications). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For many organizations, these hub
organizations are key forums both for demonstrating loyalty to the Party and
gaining access to critical resources. Both categories of hub-style organization
are charged with promoting “Party-building” among their member institutions,
and those grassroots organizations that are amenable to creating Party
committees and networking those committees are systematically favored by
evaluation criteria and access to hub-provided resources. Service-oriented
(non-advocacy) organizations with missions that match local government goals
are also favored by incubators that provide subsidized resources. Even social
organization interviewees that expressed wariness toward government cooptation
earnestly wished they could get a coveted spot in an incubator, if only for the
substantial benefits, like free rent or help with registration. The problem now
is that most incubators have been at capacity for two years or more in these
two cities, with long waiting lists for entry. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In part 2 of this blogpost,
Ryan will discuss how “hub-style” organizations are being utilized by the
Party-state, covering two main themes: cross-sector coordination and “building
capacity.” </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This blog is not an official
site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views
expressed in this blogpost are entirely Ryan’s and do not represent the views
of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner
organizations. </span></i></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7328018645779167828#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></sup></span></span></sup></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Social Organization Associations
and Social Organization Institutes operate under the the Social Organization
Management Bureau at the municipal-level MoCA for each city, though the social
organization Institute in Shenzhen was initiated by a combination of the social
organization Association and Charity Federation, which are directly supervised
by MoCA. According to interviews and <u><span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://zwgk.gz.gov.cn/GZ09/index1.shtml?catecode=1&cateid=list1"><span style="color: #1155cc;">official info</span></a></span></u>, the Guangzhou
Charity Federation is directly supervised by the Emergency Relief & Charity
Affairs Office at the municipal-level MoCA. In Shenzhen, the Charity Federation
<u><span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://www.sz.gov.cn/mzj/jgzn/zsjg/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">is directly supervised</span></a></span></u> by the
municipal MoCA, but not by any particular office of the municipal MoCA, like in
Guangzhou.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-10699809902059673622018-12-30T20:58:00.000-08:002019-05-27T18:55:39.721-07:00The year 2018: China’s civil society past, present and future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At first
glance, the new Terminal 2 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport comes
across as a elegant technological marvel. It has a polished, ultra-modern feel with
high ceilings, open spaces, sparkling storefronts and the latest in high-tech
digital hardware. But as you walk through it, you realize there isn’t much life
inside. The floors are a cold, gleaming granite and the commercial space is
filled with stores selling luxury brands, a few restaurants and coffee shops, and
one convenience store. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH3ZNmdo7JDAiMBNFZOrv1v6k8ZOlEkKl9ZrqArb-xIyFXn_9crYgynTQe_7bRLwk6OntKUx9XAvhZpvKS0rOdaG02oYN9jYOYsSdhOTZXJWkVkytGspGJsuzOkIjn9rB8Gj4BrGE9QhE/s1600/GZ+airport+shot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH3ZNmdo7JDAiMBNFZOrv1v6k8ZOlEkKl9ZrqArb-xIyFXn_9crYgynTQe_7bRLwk6OntKUx9XAvhZpvKS0rOdaG02oYN9jYOYsSdhOTZXJWkVkytGspGJsuzOkIjn9rB8Gj4BrGE9QhE/s320/GZ+airport+shot.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EH9iB4mIkcQlrUy_CgZ7l2VDZe6HdspGrixwC2POc-9B4akvtErhwpUO4CGumXn0M002ZN3MGPtdoPKYxuPkCNM2ltWhjlZ4ZeEa-r1bhkP2pg7EMW22_lxt0nXYL65i_YoAWqr7txg/s1600/convenience+store.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EH9iB4mIkcQlrUy_CgZ7l2VDZe6HdspGrixwC2POc-9B4akvtErhwpUO4CGumXn0M002ZN3MGPtdoPKYxuPkCNM2ltWhjlZ4ZeEa-r1bhkP2pg7EMW22_lxt0nXYL65i_YoAWqr7txg/s320/convenience+store.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The lower your income bracket, the fewer places you have
to hang out, which is a problem if you’re seeking to create a welcoming,
inclusive environment for travelers. There is none of the vibrant energy you
find in other airports in other parts of Asia or Europe or the U.S., with hip
restaurants, bars and stores catering to travelers of more modest means. </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9sOj-scrOpK1wIahyphenhyphen8VtsWOKuRaMTRLu57C_-t9GBKwSnBAPj2SazriZjkphwoUiwkMZ0pDZ9HHZX7afCMS0T4YgQq3i3uTI_oNRJi5D9u_5WBUr55iuhSuxm2VXkTyBHWliUydI-Cw/s1600/GZ+airport+store+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9sOj-scrOpK1wIahyphenhyphen8VtsWOKuRaMTRLu57C_-t9GBKwSnBAPj2SazriZjkphwoUiwkMZ0pDZ9HHZX7afCMS0T4YgQq3i3uTI_oNRJi5D9u_5WBUr55iuhSuxm2VXkTyBHWliUydI-Cw/s320/GZ+airport+store+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_068LH15-kt62hIBOb2TLHJLdDnc3oz0KXCfFOlYGgoqLfzRSgdK3fv7ShzDFTK4bH1wTC2AjVceBifmS5Gp1yXvwsLe2nEODvCq2qdjZsAjbsJJyTzchqK-qVLLmvQIt_XEiu_BRDM/s1600/GZ+airport+store.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_068LH15-kt62hIBOb2TLHJLdDnc3oz0KXCfFOlYGgoqLfzRSgdK3fv7ShzDFTK4bH1wTC2AjVceBifmS5Gp1yXvwsLe2nEODvCq2qdjZsAjbsJJyTzchqK-qVLLmvQIt_XEiu_BRDM/s320/GZ+airport+store.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Terminal 2,
like many other of the new structures being built in China, could serve as a
metaphor for the kind of civil society China is building, one that is carefully
constructed from the top down and looks beautiful on the outside but lacks the
energy and life that comes from the engagement of individuals and groups having
ideas to express and problems to address. Both Terminal 2 and China’s present civil society are like someone’s utilitarian fantasy or nightmare. Why would
someone construct structures like this, a society like this? I would suggest the
impetus has more to do with conveying strength and imposing order and control and
less with expressing or satisfying human needs and desires. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This <i>civil
society present</i> represents a significant departure from <i>civil society past</i> which
is the civil society that was emerging prior to the new era ushered in by the supreme
architect-in-chief, President Xi Jinping. While control and repression by the
state was a part of life before Xi, grassroots groups of different shapes and
sizes found soil to take root in and grow, like weeds in a well-tended lawn. It
was a stunted civil society but nevertheless one with a human core. More importantly,
it was a civil society building the necessary foundation to begin a dialogue
with the state on the country’s future. There were environmentalists taking on air
pollution and monitoring Chinese investment overseas, public interest lawyers representing
workers stricken with pneumoconiosis and Falun Gong practitioners, performance
art by feminists and anti-discrimination activists fighting against sexual
harassment and discriminatory hiring practices, labor activists training
workers on labor law and collective bargaining, and NGOs calling for equal access
to education for migrant children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Under
President Xi, civil society has <a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-xi-jinping-is-remaking-chinas-civil.html">undergone
a makeover</a> and the product as it appears in the year 2018 is as impressive
as it is disheartening. Terminal 2 comes to mind when surveying <i>civil society
present</i> and the civil society that might come to pass – <i>civil society future</i>. The
building blocks for this makeover are now familiar to many and have been
documented in this blog over the last few years: </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the passage of more restrictive laws
and regulations governing foreign NGOs, charity, social organizations,
religion, volunteers;</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the provision of state funds to
outsource services by social organizations and the creation of government-supported
incubators and development centers to guide “social construction”;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the closing down of independent civic
groups engaged in activism and advocacy and house churches, and the arrest of human
rights lawyers, feminists, labor activists, environmentalists, and ministers
over the last four years;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the requirement for all social forces
to submit to the orthodoxy of Marxism-Leninism and the leadership of the
Communist Party</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I witnessed these changes in my many conversations
with activists and NGOs in China in 2018. Some
activists had headed underground for cover. Others were seeking to remake
themselves by registering as social organizations working on community and
charitable issues like providing services to migrant families or helping the
elderly and disabled. Many NGOs, unable to get support from overseas donors due to restrictions imposed by the Overseas NGO Law, had difficulty finding funding. To my surprise, many were now relying heavily on funding from the government. Other more pragmatic types were looking to
start new business models like social enterprises. Still others continued to
hold out either because they chose not to go after government funding or because they were on a blacklist and were unable to register as a social organization, which was a prerequisite for applying for government funding. A common
refrain I heard from my NGO friends was, “At least we’re alive. We see that as a
victory.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Their persistence
is a bright spot in an otherwise dismal year. In <a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-chinese-states-repression-of-jasic.html">one of the biggest crackdowns on labor groups</a>, police and security forces rounded up workers, students and
labor activists involved in the Jasic Technology factory protests in the
southern metropolis of Shenzhen. Many of the students were self-identified Marxists from top universities
like Beijing University and Renmin University. There were also a few
elderly Maoists who joined the mix. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Jasic case
epitomizes the moral bankruptcy of the Xi regime which seeks to impress,
control and terrorize yet has no ideological or moral core of its own. The
striking irony of Xi’s “new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics”
should not be lost on anyone. A regime that is building the most formidable
Marxist edifice of the 21<sup>st</sup> century rejects the Marxist appeal of
students and Maoists to support workers in their struggle against capital. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’d like to
end my last post of 2018 on a bright note with a reminder that next year marks
the 100<sup>th</sup> and 30<sup>th</sup> anniversaries of two important historical
mileposts in the development of China’s contemporary civil society: the May 4<sup>th</sup>
Movement of 1919 and the June 4<sup>th</sup> Movement of 1989 respectively. <i>Civil
society future</i> has a long way to go to recapture the moral core of these
movements, but let’s hope it can take baby steps in that direction in 2019.</span></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-88014017606407055022018-12-09T07:08:00.000-08:002018-12-09T18:17:50.113-08:00The Chinese state’s repression of Jasic workers and their supporters, and the international response<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today is International Human Rights Defenders Day, and tomorrow December 10 is International Human Rights Day, so
it’s only appropriate that we use this opportunity to remember the Jasic
workers and their supporters and explore ways to work for their release.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I was in the process of preparing a list of the 32 individuals
associated with the Jasic case who have been in custody, detained and/or disappeared
but then two days ago, Human Rights in China provided a valuable public service
by issuing an urgent appeal on behalf of the Jasic workers and their supporters,
along with a better, more <a href="https://www.hrichina.org/en/press-work/hric-bulletin/hric-urges-international-attention-32-jasic-workers-and-supporters-detained">up-to-date
list</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Jasic case will be remembered as an important
event in the annals of Chinese labor history, less for what Jasic workers
achieved on the factory floor and more for their success in mobilizing wider
social attention to the workers movement and for the ferocious repression by Chinese
authorities and police. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How the Jasic case got this big</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The details of the Jasic Technology case are by now
well known. Over the past two years, the factory had asked workers to step up
production and changed the scheduling system to redefine leave and thereby
reduce workers’ overtime pay. They also imposed a new disciplinary system to
ensure workers fell in line. As early as July 2017, a handful of Jasic workers went
to the local Labor Bureau to submit a complaint about management practices. Jasic
management made some superficial changes but not enough to address the workers’
concerns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In May and June of 2018, these Jasic worker activists took
a different approach to improving labor relations in the factory. They found
that Jasic did not have a enterprise union as required by law, and approached
the local Pingshan district union to ask about setting up an union and holding
democratic elections for union positions. Jasic management took steps in June
to set up a union and hold elections but then manipulated the elections for union
posts by assigning their preferred candidates to run. While the Pingshan union originally
supported the worker activists, they did nothing when Jasic management hijacked
the election process. In the end, none of the worker activists who had proposed
setting up a union were elected. In July, these activists continued to solicit
the support of other workers about the need for a democratically-elected enterprise
union. Jasic management responded by firing six of the activists in mid-July. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Crackdown</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At this point, things got out of hand as the worker
activists began to share information on social media about their problems at
Jasic and failed efforts to establish a democratically-elected union. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Supporters from diverse groups – university students,
former Jasic employees who had been fired or pressured to leave, workers from
other factories, Maoists – began to show up at the factory gates calling for
reinstatement of the fired worker activists. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The hardline police response that followed escalated
the conflict. On July 20, the police seized 20 of the protestors and held them
at the police station overnight. The protestors were released the next day and
went back to the factory to continue the protests along with other supporters.
On July 27, the police formally detained 29 of the protestors. This news brought
attracted more supporters from different cities to support the workers and
those who had been detained. On August 24, police seized about 50 more
supporters, detaining some or placing them under residential surveillance, and
interrogating others. Most of these people were later released. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On September 3, we heard news of the first formal
criminal charges filed against those on this list. Four of the Jasic worker
activists were charged with “gathering a crowd to disturb social order” which
carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. On September 8, Fu Changguo, a
staff member at the labor NGO, Dagongzhe Center, was formally arrested under
the same charge. No other criminal charges have been filed against any of the
others. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From this chronology of events, we can see that if Jasic
management had made a good faith effort back in June to set up a
democratically-elected union and started negotiations with workers to address
their concerns, this case would not have escalated to this level.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jasic as a labor rights and human rights case</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jasic now stands as the biggest case of police repression
against workers and their supporters since the central government’s <a href="https://clb.org.hk/content/wall-street-journal-china-detains-labor-activists-authorities-sweep-industrial-hub">crackdown
on labor groups in Guangzhou on December 3, 2015</a>. The Jasic case is already
turning out to be larger in scope than the 2015 crackdown which resulted in the
formal detention and trial of three labor NGO staff for “gathering a crowd to
disturb social order.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The police have
already formally arrested four Jasic workers and one labor NGO staff on the
same criminal charge, and seized at least 27 others, mostly university students
and NGO staff. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these have been
disappeared, others have been detained and still others placed in residential
surveillance. News about the workers and their supporters is being continually
updated online by the <a href="https://jiashigrsyt.github.io/">Jasic Workers
Support Group</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The police have also taken a harder line against
suspects in this case than in the 2015 crackdown. This may be in part because
of the participation of university graduates from top universities in Beijing
and Nanjing, which raises the specter of a worker-student coalition, but also
because police seem to be taking a harsher line against collective protests. Multiple
violations of procedural safeguards for suspects and detainees have been
reported by the friends and family of the detained, many of whom have not been
able to see a lawyer. Lawyers need authorization from family members to take on
a case, and according to the reports of HRIC and other informants, police are
putting pressure on family members not to give authorization and on lawyers not
to take on Jasic cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Like the 2015 case, Jasic has become both a labor
rights case and a broader human rights case, highlighting violations of the right
of workers to freely organize and form a union, as well as citizens’ rights to
freedom of assembly and due process under the law.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How the international community can help</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The international community has an important role to
play in mitigating the effect of the repression against Jasic workers and their
supporters. Fortunately, many organizations and individuals have already begun
to raise their voices in protest. Foreign media have covered the repression as
it has grown in scope, notifying the international community of new
developments. International human rights groups have publicized urgent appeals to
foreign governments and the broader international community calling for the
release of the workers and their supporters. Foreign scholars have called their
universities to stop exchanges with Chinese universities and academic
conferences. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">More can still be done. International human rights and
labor unions organizations can bring the Jasic case up at the UN and ILO which
have mechanisms and special procedures for reporting violations of
international labor and human rights principles. Foreign diplomats can make
their governments aware of the human rights violations in this case and raise
them at meetings with their Chinese government counterparts. At a more personal
level, foreign diplomats can, whenever possible, visit affected family members
to show support and send a message to the Chinese police that the family
members will not be intimidated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Foreigners naturally wonder whether their actions
would be helpful or backfire and make things worse for the people they are
trying to help. Many Chinese activists are now making it clear that intervention
on the part of the international community is helpful. They note that the
Chinese government is sensitive about its international image and cite a number
of cases where international attention has ameliorated the treatment of Chinese
activists, their families and lawyers. </span></div>
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-->NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-66903638219999464422018-11-28T08:09:00.002-08:002020-08-18T02:01:36.226-07:00My latest initiative: starting up Social Innovations Advisory to strengthen civil society in China and Asia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDonmZ0_9uXcruAGG47Qzqr7jp12KkhjdHb4Oq9zFeihFa8SyOBUfeKQnVnjK3vrtm3s_rvPzqFWWTevlNwTxzjMMY90afo5GWshEI4xmQGin83nRvnbKrgyXD-OgDr0WtNE01qOh_MtE/s1600/SIA+new+logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1600" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDonmZ0_9uXcruAGG47Qzqr7jp12KkhjdHb4Oq9zFeihFa8SyOBUfeKQnVnjK3vrtm3s_rvPzqFWWTevlNwTxzjMMY90afo5GWshEI4xmQGin83nRvnbKrgyXD-OgDr0WtNE01qOh_MtE/s200/SIA+new+logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In March, I wrote a <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://ngochina.blogspot.com/2018/03/from-hong-kong-to-guangzhou.html">blogpost</a></span>
about my move in February of this year from Hong Kong where I had a great gig
as the Deputy Director of Development and Operations at China Labour Bulletin.
Since then, I keep meeting people who ask me where I am and what I’m doing with
my time, so I thought I’d send an update.<br />
<br />
I’m now living in Guangzhou
remaking myself as a consultant for international NGOs operating in the greater
China and Asia-Pacific region. I’ve registered my own consulting company,
Social Innovations Advisory, Ltd, in Hong Kong to help NGOs interested in doing
innovative and impactful programming and reporting in the region. While I spend
most of my time in Guangzhou, I make regular trips to Hong Kong and neighboring
countries for meetings and other business.<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Below are some
of the consulting projects I’ve taken on this year: </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Researching and writing the <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China%20Philanthropy%20Law%20Report%2031%20Aug%202018%20update.pdf">China
Philanthropy Law Report</a></span> for the International Center for
Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), and regularly updating ICNL’s China page for the <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/china.html">Civic
Freedom Monitor</a></span>.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Developing short <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China.html">info graphs,
timelines and FAQs</a></span> to explain the civil society and philanthropy
environment and laws in China for ICNL.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Regularly updating the Council on Foundation’s <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.cof.org/content/china">Country Note for
China</a></span>.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Contributing an assessment of China’s legal
environment for civil society for a <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/discussionpapers/2018-80">policy
brief on global civil society</a></span> written by Professor Helmut Anheier of
Germany’s Hertie School of Governance in preparation for the G-20/T-20 in
Argentina.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Writing an article, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/1.%09http:/www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/remaking-chinas-civil-society-xi-jinping-era">“Remaking
Chinese Civil Society in the Xi Jinping Era”</a> for ChinaFile.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Participating in a two-week fact-finding mission to
interview human rights NGOs in Palestine and Israel about restrictions on
access to funding, and drafting a 20-page advocacy report, for the International
Federation for Human Rights (Fidh).</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Writing a thought piece on strategies for expanding
the space for civil society in the Asia-Pacific for Innovation for Change-East
Asia’s retreat for civil society leaders and intellectuals.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Carrying out a survey of active labor organizations in
China for an international NGO and writing a report with recommendations on how
foreign companies can engage with and support those organizations. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Organizing a forum for an international NGO to discuss
and come up with recommendations on changing their strategy in China/Asia.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Conducting and writing an evaluation of a civil
society project in China for a U.S. funder.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Helping NGOs to conceptualize and draft concept notes
and full proposals for large European Union and U.S. government grants.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Stay in touch and let me know how I can contribute to the global effort
to strengthen civil society, labor and philanthropy. I can be reached by email
at shawnshieh@gmail.com or shawnshieh@tutanota.com, by Skype using my Skype ID
profshawn, or by phone or WhatsApp through my China number +86 18565377724.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><br /></div>
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--> NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-50168436769491434532018-09-26T05:05:00.000-07:002018-09-26T15:11:17.098-07:00How Xi Jinping is remaking China's civil society<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This was the original title of <a href="http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/remaking-chinas-civil-society-xi-jinping-era">my recent article</a> in ChinaFile. I had asked the editor to change it to "Remaking China's Civil Society in the Xi Jinping Era" because I thought it was more accurate. After all, Xi Jinping is not remaking China's civil society single-handedly. There were many others who could take credit. And one could argue, as Renmin University professor Kang Xiaoguang did in his <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/npf.2018.9.issue-1/npf-2017-0026/npf-2017-0026.xml?format=INT">recent article</a>, that the remaking of civil society began under Hu Jintao who was the first General Secretary to recognize social organizations for the first time in his speeches on "social management" around 2010. At the time, social organizations felt that this was a recognition of their contributions to society, and a sign that the Communist Party was further opening up to them. But Kang implies that the party leadership was instead setting civil society a trap; in recognizing the contributions of social organizations, they were actually saying that they had come up with a blueprint for controlling them. That blueprint was for them to operate under the leadership of the party and supervision of the government. Social organizations were to get more support from the government in terms of registration and funding. But in return they would have to give up their autonomy and independence. Social organizations could only provide services, they could not engage in advocacy and claim to represent their constituents. Only the Communist Party and its subordinate government agencies could do that.<br />
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Following this logic, Hu Jintao set out the blueprint and Xi Jinping then made that blueprint a reality by cracking down on rights activism and advocacy NGOs, pushing through a series of laws and regulations, such as the Charity Law and Overseas NGO Law, calling for social organizations to set up party groups and providing more funding and support for social organizations that engaged in service provision.<br />
<br />
So while it is true that Xi Jinping was not single-handedly responsible for remaking China's civil society, he was the one that made the reconstruction of civil society a reality. He did not do it alone and had plenty of help from the millions of civil servants who worked under him. But he was the one to take the blueprint and make it come alive. <br />
<br />
Now after traveling around China and surveying the damage, seeing the social organizations engaging in advocacy and rights protection that are no longer active, and the many social organizations that now get government funding to provide community services, I see that I may have gotten my title wrong after all. Maybe it should be "How Xi Jinping is Remaking China's Civil Society." <br />
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-48776037769163905732018-08-27T19:12:00.001-07:002018-09-20T02:05:25.494-07:00The Draft Regulation for Registration and Management of Social Organizations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the first week of this month, the
Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) issued an important draft regulation governing
the registration and management of social organizations (the official Chinese
term for nonprofits) for public comment. The draft Regulation for Registration
and Management of Social Organizations, and instructions for sending in comments,
can be accessed using the links below. The deadline for sending in comments in
September 1. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/xw/tzgg/201808/20180800010466.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/xw/tzgg/201808/20180800010466.shtml</a><br />
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<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ASZYh7SoiVsOUPp6MnRrjA" target="_blank">https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ASZYh7SoiVsOUPp6MnRrjA</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ChinaLawTranslate has an
English-language translation of the regulation <a href="https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/%e7%a4%be%e4%bc%9a%e7%bb%84%e7%bb%87%e7%99%bb%e8%ae%b0%e7%ae%a1%e7%90%86%e6%9d%a1%e4%be%8b%ef%bc%88%e8%8d%89%e6%a1%88%e5%be%81%e6%b1%82%e6%84%8f%e8%a7%81%e7%a8%bf%ef%bc%89/?lang=en">here</a>.
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At this writing, the word is that the
MCA has received only around 100 comments, so if you know any Chinese NGOs,
encourage them to submit their comments in the next few days.</span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some Background</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This draft regulation will replace the
three previous regulations that formed the core of the regulatory system for
social organizations: the "Regulations for the Registration and Management
of Social Groups" issued on October 25, 1998; the "Provisional
Regulations on the Registration and Management of Civil Non-enterprise Units"
issued on October 25, 1998; and the "Foundation Management Regulations"
issued on March 8, 2004. <b>Note</b>: The draft regulation has replaced the term "civil, non-enterprise units" with the much improved "social service organizations".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Given the rapid changes in the NGO sector in China,
including the passage of the Charity Law in 2016, these regulations were seen
by many observers as outdated and in serious need of revision. In the last half
of 2016, we finally saw drafts of revisions to all three regulations issued for
public comment, but then silence for two years before this draft regulation
appeared this month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Given the very short time frame
allowed for public comments, the draft regulation has already stimulated quite
a bit of discussion in the sector, including calls to slow down the drafting
process to ensure that different views are heard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For those interested, NGOCN has two
posts here with feedback on the draft regulation: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.ngocn.net/news/2018-08-08-bb087c670a740041.html" target="_blank">http://www.ngocn.net/news/2018-08-08-bb087c670a740041.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.ngocn.net/news/2018-08-06-070063a1db16d6ed.html" target="_blank">http://www.ngocn.net/news/2018-08-06-070063a1db16d6ed.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CDB has also collated a number of
posts about the draft regulation here in Chinese, <a href="http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn/service/action/topicc.php?topic_id=157" target="_blank">http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn/service/action/topicc.php?topic_id=157</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There have also been some forums
organized about the draft regulation. Here's a <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/H10UH0SVjGbydhiEbcAuiQ" target="_blank">Weixin
post</a> that has been getting quite a bit of attention citing the views of
Yang Tuan, a long-time and respected observer of the sector, and other analysts
and observers of the sector. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><i>Some Impressions and Comments</i></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I've only had the chance to skim
through the regulation, and the various discussions, but here are some quick impressions and comments based on what I've been reading.
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First of all, I'm surprised they
came out so quickly. I was on record that I didn't think we'd see a draft this
year, so now I'm going to eat my words. I’m also surprised that MCA is only
allowing about four weeks for public comment given the importance of the draft
regulation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, the draft regulation is
going in the right direction in terms of creating a more enabling environment
for NGOs, but the details of the regulation are fraught with a number of
problems, including inconsistencies with the Charity Law. Below are some
problems that have been raised:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The draft allows direct registration
(e.g. registering with Civil Affairs without needing a PSU) for four categories
of social organizations: 1) chambers of commerce and trade associations; 2)
science and technology groups; 3) charitable, public welfare organizations; and
4) rural and urban community organizations. One complaint is that the definition
of the third category- charitable, public welfare organizations – is overly
narrow, even more so than the definition of charity and public welfare spelled
out in the Charity Law, and that the definition should be broadened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another problem is Article 4 which
prohibits social organizations from engaging in “for-profit business
activities. This seems to be overly restrictive and not in line with the Charity
Law which has a more expansive view of the activities social organizations can
engage in. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Article
9 of the Charity Law states that charitable organizations may not have a
“profit-making purpose,” which implies that profit-making activities would be
acceptable as long as they support a charitable purpose.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In another improvement, the draft
regulation allows social organizations to set up branches, but not “regional
branches” so apparently branches can only be set up in the administrative area
in which that social organization is registered, but this is not clearly
stated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The draft regulation makes it more
difficult for smaller foundations to register. The minimum registered capital
for foundations of 8 million RMB was raised above the 2 million RMB amount
required in the previous regulations, and the 2016 draft regulations. Also the
2016 draft regulations allowed foundations to register below the provincial
level, a move that would have helped smaller, community foundations. This draft
regulation now states that foundations can only register at or above the
provincial level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is quite a bit of language in
the draft regulation about the need for social organizations to establish
Communist Party organizations, and carry out Party activities. Social
organizations are required to prepare the conditions, and provide a workplan,
for setting up party organizations. None of this language requiring Party
organizations was in the Charity Law or in the previous regulations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The draft regulation also spells out
very specific, and onerous, penalties for social organizations that violate
their legal responsibilities, and allows law enforcement wide discretion in
investigating violations. Language clarifying limits on law enforcement
investigative powers should be included to protect the legal rights of social
organizations and their staff. </span></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-9418885495717599952018-06-10T21:31:00.000-07:002018-06-10T23:46:16.153-07:00Free Special Issue on NGOs in China in the Xi Jinping Era<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Nonprofit Policy Forum just issued a very nice special issue on recent
developments in the NGO space in the Xi Jinping era (disclaimer: I contributed). The articles published in
this issue are meant to be accessible and topical, and are relatively short for
academic pieces. Below is a list of the articles with authors and abstracts. They can be downloaded free of charge on <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/npf.2018.9.issue-1/issue-files/npf.2018.9.issue-1.xml">Nonprofit
Policy Forum’s website</a>. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Nonprofit
Policy Forum, Volume 9, Issue 1 (May 2018)</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Special
Issue on Nonprofit Policymaking in China, Guest Editors: Xiaoguang Kang and Qun
Wang</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1) Introductory
Essay: China’s Nonprofit Policymaking in the New Millennium</span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Qun
Wang, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs,
Bloomington, USA, E-mail: qunwang@indiana.edu.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Xiaoguang
Kang, China Institute for Philanthropy and Social Innovation, Renmin University
of China, Beijing, China, E-mail: kxg63@vip.sina.com. </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2) Social Autonomy and Political Integration: Two Policy
Approaches to the Government-Nonprofit Relationship since the 18th National
Congress of the Communist Party of China</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jinjun Wang, Party School of Zhejiang Provincial
Committee of the Communist Party of China, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, E-mail: 67923702@qq.com</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Qun Wang, Indiana University School of Public and
Environmental Affairs, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA, E-mail: qunwang@indiana.edu.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br />
<u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abstract:<br />
</span></u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since the 18th National Congress of
the Communist Party of China, the party-state has established a number of
policies on social organizations. Some policies are complementary, whereas some
seem to be contradictory. These policies are associated with two policy
approaches. The first is socially oriented, allowing social organizations the
opportunity for autonomy and encouraging capacity-building. The second is
political integration mainly through party-building in social organizations.
The two approaches do not exist alone or in isolation. Intertwined they
indicate that the Chinese party-state has begun to institutionalize an
integrative control mechanism to maximize the utility of social organizations
in prioritized fields of work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3) Government
Service Purchasing from Social Organizations in China: An Overview of the
Development of a Powerful Trend</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Weinan
Wang, The School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal
University, Beijing 100875, China, E-mail: wwn.greenhope@126.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Holly Snape, Peking University, School of
Government, Research Center for Chinese Politics, Beijing, China, E-mail:
hollysnape@126.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abstract:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In
this work, we draw on available data to develop a comprehensive picture of the
process through which “government service purchasing” has developed in China
thus far. We argue that to understand the challenges that have begun to emerge
in practice, it is important to look back and understand how government service
purchasing has developed to date. Our hope is that by providing an overview of
this development process, we can facilitate further research on what we believe
is a phenomenon that will have deep implications for the relationships between
Party, state, society, and market over the next decades in China.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4) The
Chinese State and Overseas NGOs: From Regulatory Ambiguity to the Overseas NGO
Law</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Shawn
Shieh, Chinese
University of Hong Kong, University Services Centre for China Studies, Hong
Kong, China, E-mail: shawnshieh@gmail.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abstract:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This
article discusses the significance of the Law of the People’s Republic of China
on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in
the Mainland of China (hereafter the ONGO Law) for the Chinese state’s
regulation of overseas NGOs in the reform period. We show how the ONGO Law
represents a dramatic shift in the regulation of ONGOs from a situation of
regulatory ambiguity to one where ONGOs now come under a comprehensive law that
seeks to regulate all their activities in mainland China. In doing so, the Law
has created a dramatic shift in the legitimacy of ONGOs in China. Before the
Law was enacted, ONGOs operated in a legal grey area where their work was
opaque, received little recognition, and enjoyed limited legitimacy in the eyes
of the government and public. The Law will change all of that, making the work
of ONGOs more visible and transparent, and providing a formal channel for
dealing with the government. At the same time, in putting the implementation
and enforcement of the Law in the hands of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS),
and creating a legal framework that is restrictive rather than enabling, the
Chinese state has sent a very different and contradictory message to ONGOs who
see themselves being viewed more as objects of suspicion than as legitimate
stakeholders in China’s development.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5) Advocacy
under Xi: NPO Strategies to Influence Policy Change</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jessica
Teets, Department of Political Science, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
05753-6203, USA, E-mail: <a href="mailto:jteets@middlebury.edu">jteets@middlebury.edu</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Oscar
Almen, Department of Government, Uppsala University, Uppsala 75120, Sweden,
E-mail: oscar.almen@statsvet.uu.se</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abstract:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Under
the Hu-Wen administration, scholars analyzed how political opportunity structures
(POS) affect the policy influence of NPOs in China, and found that the
opportunity structure was relatively more open, especially for NPOs using
personal connections. In this article, we focus on changes in the opportunity
structure since Xi Jinping came to power after 2012, and find that the more
closed political climate has had important consequences for NPO policy
advocacy. We identify three strategies that NPOs have used to advocate, such as
using the law, media framing, and establishing expert status. While these
strategies are not novel, we argue that the weighting has shifted in terms of
what leads to success.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">6) Chinese
NGOs are “Going Out”: History, Scale,Characteristics, Outcomes, And Barriers</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Xiaoyun
Li and Qiang Dong, College of Humanities and Development Studies, China
Agricultural University, Beijing, China, E-mail: xiaoyun@cau.edu.cn</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abstract:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From
a historical perspective, China has become a focus of attention in contemporary
globalization, and the expansion of Chinese NGOs’ participation overseas has
been an important part of its globalization process. On the one hand, this
“going out” phenomenon implies a spontaneous, internal cultural power within
the Chinese society driven by a strong economy, which is a modern form of
ideological promotion caused by capital expansion. On the other hand, this
process has also been propelled by utilitarian factors. Nevertheless, despite a
decade of development, the “going out” of Chinese NGOs is still in its infancy.
Moreover, Chinese NGOs that are going global face various challenges in terms
of laws and policies, public awareness and fundraising, transnational
operations, and professional talent. To propose new concepts of global
development, Chinese NGOs will have to strengthen themselves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">7) Moving
Toward Neo-Totalitarianism: A Political-Sociological Analysis of the Evolution of
Administrative Absorption of Society in China</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Xiaoguang
Kang, China Institute for Philanthropy and Social Innovation, Renmin University
of China, Beijing 100872, China, E-mail: kxg63@vip.sina.com. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Abstract:</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">China
recently promulgated and revised a number of laws, regulations and measures to
regulate the nonprofit sector. All these administrative efforts increase
support for Chinese nonprofit organizations (NPOs) on the one hand and put
unprecedented pressure on them on the other. The seemingly contradictory
effects are actually based on the same logic of Administrative Absorption of
Society (AAS). This article proposes three phases in the development of AAS: an
subconscious phase, a theory-modeling phase, and an institutionalization phase.
The institutionalization of AAS has led to the rise of neo-totalitarianism,
which is featured by state capitalism, unlimited government, and a mixed
ideology of Marxism and Confucianism. Neo-totalitarianism further</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">strengthens
AAS and has begun to reshape the relationship between the state and the
nonprofit sector. This article analyzes China’s nonprofit policymaking from a
sociopolitical perspective, and clarifies the context, the characteristics, and
the evolution of laws and policies in the nonprofit sector in macrocosm.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-5665698035012581292018-06-03T19:20:00.000-07:002018-06-04T18:23:06.454-07:00 In Remembrance of Memory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> On the 29<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, I thought
I would post some of my favorite excerpts from the essays of Liu Xiaobo<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7328018645779167828#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a>, a
participant in the 1989 movement and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner who died
in a Chinese prison on July 13, 2017. Written more than 10 years ago, these
excerpts continue to resonate for me in this age of Xi Jinping.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“The Communist Party of China’s
Dictatorial Patriotism”</b> (2005)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In this age of strongman politics, in which Xi Jinping has demanded absolute
loyalty to the party, Liu reminds us that we should have no illusion about the
nature of one-party rule.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In short, a government can only be qualified to
represent the interests of the people, which, when combined, constitute
national interests, if it respects and loves the people, and, in particular, if
it respects and protects the rights of the people to question, criticize, and
even oppose government policies by peaceful means. Only then can it be called a
patriotic government and only then is it qualified to promote patriotism.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> However, the patriotism of a
dictatorial regime is exactly the opposite: it promotes patriotism with
high-flying talk but never respects or cares for the mainstay of the nation—the
people. </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First, its power is not conferred by
the people but comes from and is sustained by violence. It transforms public
power, which is supposed to serve the public good of society, into private
power of the regime and the powerful, into a tool for implementing the will of
the regime and obtaining profits for the powerful.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The current CPC may be the world’s largest political
party, but compared to the 1.3 billion people in China, its 60 some million
members are no more than a small minority, so how can it so shamelessly boast
that it “represents the people and the nation”? The reason the CPC regards
itself to be the natural representative of “the country, the nation, and the
people” is not at all because it truly has “the mandate of Heaven to carry out
justice,” but because it wants to maintain its dictatorial power and protect
its vested interests.</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Changing the Regime by
Changing Society”</b> (2006)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is my favorite essay of Liu Xiaobo’s, full of optimism and faith in the
power and agency of society, and with wise words about how change will come to
China. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In an un-free society ruled by a
dictatorship, under the premise of the temporary absence of power that can
change the dictatorial nature of the regime, the civic ways that promote the
transformation of Chinese society from the bottom up that I know of are as
follows:</i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Regardless of how great the freedom-denying power
of a regime and its institutions is, every individual should still fight to the
best of his/her ability to live as a free person, that is, make every effort to
live an honest life with dignity. In any society ruled by dictatorship, when those
who pursue freedom publicly disclose their views and practice what they preach,
as long as they manage to be fearless in the small details of everyday life,
what they say and do in everyday life will become the fundamental force that
will topple the system of enslavement.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">5. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whether an insider or an outsider of
the system, whether working from the top down or the bottom up, each should
respect the other’s right to speak. Even the statements and actions of people
attached to the government, as long as they do not force constraints on the
independent discourse among the people and the rights defense movement, should
be regarded as a useful exploration of transformational strategies and their
right of speech should be fully respected. Those who advocate transformation
from the top down should maintain adequate respect for the explorations of
those working from the bottom-up among the people. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6. Institutional common sense on how to confront
rather than evade an ever-present dictatorial power: place into one’s own hands
the initiative for improving the status of the population without rights,
rather than pinning hope on the arrival of some enlightened master or
benevolent ruler. In the strategic maneuvering between civil society and the
government, regardless of how official policies may change, the most important
thing is to encourage and assist the civil rights defense movement and hold
fast the independent position of civil society.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In sum, China’s course toward a free
society will mainly rely on bottom-up gradual improvement and not the top-down
“Chiang Ching-kuo style” revolution.<sup> </sup>Bottom-up reform requires
self-consciousness among the people, and self-initiated, persistent, and
continuously expanding civil disobedience movements or rights defense movements
among the people. In other words, pursue the free and democratic forces among
the people; do not pursue the rebuilding of society through radical regime
change, but instead use gradual social change to compel regime change. That is,
rely on the continuously growing civil society to reform a regime that lacks
legitimacy.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;">“The Many
Aspects of Chinese Communist Party Dictatorship”</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;"> (2006)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;">Here Liu delves further into the nature of a one-party regime, which is
increasingly propped up by coercion and economic enticements than through any ideological
belief in communism, and questions its lasting power. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The CCP regime suppresses dissident political forces
in a variety of ways: shadowing, wiretapping and imprisonment, as well as
bribery and coercion; evil laws and low schemes, as well as gray space; regime
dictatorship, as well as thug violence; open criticism and, secret purges;
ironfisted methods, as well as appeals to human emotion (the police officers in
charge of keeping watch on dissidents invariably start up their conversations
in a “getting-acquainted” tone), to the extent that even when reining in those
intractable rebels, the police leave themselves some leeway in that they no
longer claim to be motivated by high-sounding ideological reasons, but rather
deploy the “rice-bowl theory” that they are simply trying to keep their jobs.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, the very use of such pragmatic, flexible
control methods, because of their thoroughly opportunistic nature, paints the
doomsday picture of dictatorial politics—countless flaws in the system itself,
questions of the regime’s legitimacy, and rapid erosion of its
effectiveness—where the ruler and the ruled engage in expedient cooperation
based on the principle of profit-before-everything.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;">“The
Negative Effects of the Rise of Dictatorship on Democratization in the World”</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;"> (2006)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK;">In this essay, Liu foreshadows the growing concern about the effect that
China’s rise has had in shaping global norms and standards concerning
development, governance, democracy and human rights. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The CPC regime has replaced the former Soviet Union to
become a blood transfusion machine for other dictatorships. It provides large
quantities of economic assistance to dictatorships such as North Korea, Cuba,
and Myanmar, offsetting to some degree the impact of Western economic sanctions
and enabling these remaining despotic regimes on their last legs to linger on.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-HK; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The CPC regime uses China’s huge market to lure and
coerce big capital from the West, and the very nature of capital is to chase
profit with no regard for universal values or fair trade. So the big capital
from various Western nations inevitably tries to exert influence on its home
country’s China policy…..To make a profit, these companies have gone as far as
to recklessly betray universal values and the American government’s human
rights foreign policy. Without exception, they have all bowed to political
pressure and coercion from the CPC regime and have become its accomplices in
restricting the freedom of expression and in its literary inquisition.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7328018645779167828#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">English-language translations of these essays are
available on Human Rights in China (HRIC)’s <a href="https://www.hrichina.org/en/press-work/statement/liu-xiaobos-death-stain-cpc-international-community-must-press-liu-xias-freedom?utm_source=HRIC%20Updates&utm_campaign=c3d41f54cf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-c3d41f54cf-242671141">website</a>.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-25952259327571301552018-05-30T02:49:00.002-07:002020-08-18T02:02:43.576-07:00CDB and CLB: Claiming the Space for An Independent, Progressive Civil Society in China<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
Sometimes you need to leave home to appreciate the
family you left behind. I had that epiphany recently. Having worked for <a href="http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.cn/">China Development Brief</a> and <a href="http://www.clb.org.hk/">China Labour Bulletin</a>, two civil society
organizations that developed a reputation for independent and authoritative monitoring
and analysis about civil society and labor in China, I confess to taking their
importance for granted. Then, when I was invited recently on a fact-finding
mission to Israel and Palestine to meet with NGOs working on human rights and humanitarian
issues, it suddenly became clear to me.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4EB2ahLdUpzkD6yq96Swy_NvVC-ac0F2VVS9dvU_3Af0brhCAqZQjVC7_6pK-BWGjulVyY3qyQdmQbXnPj7Qhg1a0FYGeaq87sKvlYxgBuKJZSpHvtw2n6YZixtCVBAhGNGEWu754pQ/s1600/you+at+Mount.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4EB2ahLdUpzkD6yq96Swy_NvVC-ac0F2VVS9dvU_3Af0brhCAqZQjVC7_6pK-BWGjulVyY3qyQdmQbXnPj7Qhg1a0FYGeaq87sKvlYxgBuKJZSpHvtw2n6YZixtCVBAhGNGEWu754pQ/s400/you+at+Mount.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face="" lang="" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The purpose of our mission was to investigate
restrictions on NGOs’ access to funding, a critical component of their freedom
of association rights. These NGOs play an important role in monitoring,
documenting and seeking to ameliorate violations of international human rights
and humanitarian law in Israel and Palestine. Over the last few years, like
their counterparts in many other countries, they began encountering greater
pushback by the Israeli government, including on issues such as funding. In
2016, an NGO Transparency Law was passed in the Knesset requiring Israeli NGOs
that received more than 50% of their funding from foreign governments, to
declare their foreign government funding sources on their publications and
websites, and in meetings with government officials. This law had the clever
but sinister effect of singling out Israeli human rights NGOs that rely heavily
on foreign government funding, while leaving untouched nationalist, right-wing
NGOs that also rely on foreign funding but from private donors</span>.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQPWNdu9iFQmiZ2r2ySopclAYvPjnw5z_GlgjpyDu3v5ds8rIHeMQA2KfpQb3EjiPIHi7hb_TLvaCFvRrPsXxY0pJGZW6huj-AIVncotRVDcxNi0eSZ2oIhBwgbIuVBf5b7PAiK8aeqc/s1600/Free+Palestine+flag.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQPWNdu9iFQmiZ2r2ySopclAYvPjnw5z_GlgjpyDu3v5ds8rIHeMQA2KfpQb3EjiPIHi7hb_TLvaCFvRrPsXxY0pJGZW6huj-AIVncotRVDcxNi0eSZ2oIhBwgbIuVBf5b7PAiK8aeqc/s400/Free+Palestine+flag.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">In our meetings with these NGOs about the pushback
against their funding sources, one name came up again and again: an Israeli
civil society organization called <a href="https://www.ngo-monitor.org/">NGO
Monitor</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the surface, NGO Monitor
comes across as the kind of organization that China Development Brief was meant
to be, an authoritative one-stop shop for foreigners interested in NGOs in that
country. Its objective,
as stated on its website, is “producing and distributing critical analysis and
reports on the activities of the international and local NGO networks, for the
benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations
and the general public.” </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">On closer inspection, though, much
of its content takes a very critical and even hostile view of more progressive,
left-wing NGOs that monitor and call attention to human rights violations
against Palestinians. One common line of attack is to point out the reliance of
these NGOs on foreign government funding, particularly funding from European governments.
Labeling these NGOs as “foreign agents,” NGO Monitor along with other
nationalist, right-wing NGOs, with support from powerful politicians and officials, have over the last decade launched media and
lobbying campaigns to delegitimize the work of human rights NGOs in Israel and
Palestine. Their campaigns have worked. They led Israeli legislators to draft
the 2016 NGO Transparency Law, and pressured European governments to review
their funding commitments to human rights NGOs in Israel and Palestine. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The case of NGO Monitor shows how
important it is for independent, credible, progressive NGOs to claim and defend
the epistemological space and language for talking about NGOs in any country. It
is clear that NGO Monitor now occupies a vital space for civil society in Israel.
It has become an almost indispensable resource for those who want to better
understand the NGO space in Israel. Like CDB’s NGO database, it has a large database
of local and international NGOs working in Israel and Palestine. In fact, it
seems to have the only such database in the English language. When you type in
an Israeli NGO’s name, the first search result to come up is from NGO Monitor’s
database which presents profiles of that NGO’s funding sources and activities
written from the perspective of NGO Monitor.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="Default"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
The problem of course is that NGO
Monitor has a highly partisan agenda, one that is intent on dividing civil society,
and aligned with nationalist, right-wing NGOs and the current Netanyahu
government. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What it and other right-wing
groups in Israel are doing is eerily familiar to the ideological warfare taking
place in President Trump’s America, and raises deeper concerns about their role
in undermining Israeli democracy. As Professor Amal Jamal notes in his report, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/comments/2018C02_jamal.pdf">The
Rise of Bad Civil Society in Israel</a></i>, “bad civil society” organizations
like NGO Monitor, make
“use of democratic procedures to silence and delegitimize any critiques of
government policies, especially those voiced by [human rights organizations]…. “The
cooperation of ‘bad civil society’ with…government ministries and central
political parties feeds the public sphere with anti-democratic values and
norms, which undermines civil and democratic ideals and liberal freedoms and
brings the entire democratic system into question.”</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijES_vIQDL9KS3JCZDZHRmGJr9d1idEQbniIx_Ma7tCilH7070ZZeXO_oqDb9RD39ueFDlxXzIGY6min8lWfQFrVutrh6ou5wLIhz-Az6FKUSmWV69yFRrp3SkVlKpYXrihfZrOIlAnM8/s1600/Trump+wall.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijES_vIQDL9KS3JCZDZHRmGJr9d1idEQbniIx_Ma7tCilH7070ZZeXO_oqDb9RD39ueFDlxXzIGY6min8lWfQFrVutrh6ou5wLIhz-Az6FKUSmWV69yFRrp3SkVlKpYXrihfZrOIlAnM8/s400/Trump+wall.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">At CDB and CLB, we spent hours
discussing and debating our positioning in Chinese civil society, knowing we
were one of the few go-to sources on civil society and labor for the
international community. We emphasized our independence from the government, and
our support for grassroots NGOs, workers and the progressive values they stood
for. But in the process of defending them, we ensured that our reporting and
analysis remained credible and impartial, and tried our best to use accurate
information, adopt a neutral tone, and avoid attacking other civil society
organizations. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course, any reporting in China
has to tread carefully in a restricted and censored space where there is less
room for different ideological positions. In a democratic and open society like
Israel’s, the space is more wide open for organizations to voice more critical
and extreme views. That makes NGO Monitor’s occupation of the English-language
space there that much more astonishing. Now, recognizing that they waited too
long to respond, human rights organizations in Israel and Palestine are
considering ways to fight back and reclaim some of that space by setting up a
more independent, impartial alternative to NGO Monitor. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Here’s where I had my epiphany. After seeing what
happened in Israel, the significance of CDB and CLB became clear to me. These
two NGOs occupied the civil society space in the early days back in the
mid-1990s, when there wasn’t much of a civil society in China, and they spent
the last 20 years or so defending that space with integrity on behalf of an
independent, progressive civil society. In doing so, they helped to build the
linguistic and epistemological infrastructure for understanding and talking
about civil society in China. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The Chinese government is now seeking to reclaim some
of that space with more assertive legislation and initiatives and, at some point in the future, as China’s society opens
up and discussion and debate become more ideological and contentious, other
groups on both the right and left will enter the fray. But I’m confident that
Chinese civil society is in a good position to deal with these challenges, in
part because of the contributions made by CDB and CLB.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-83126318446059828022018-05-04T00:08:00.000-07:002018-05-04T00:08:21.563-07:00Dr. Timothy Hildebrandt's Summer Course in Beijing on NGOs, August 6-17<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dr Timothy Hildebrandt (associate professor of social policy at the LSE)
is again offering his course on Chinese social organisations this
coming August 6-17 at the LSE-PKU Summer School. In the course—which is
consistently ranked highest in student satisfaction
at the Summer School—students will gain a theoretical grounding in the
development of NGOs generally, as well as a deep empirical understanding
of how these organisations have developed in China.<br />
<br />
The course is
dynamic by design, responsive to the fast changing
environment for NGOs in China; it is cutting edge in its discussion of
new issues and exploration into concepts and theories to understand
them. Particular attention is paid to emerging issues, such as changes
in laws on registration, the precarious future
of international NGOs, and the growth of government-organised NGOs
(GONGOs) and social enterprises. Although no single issue area is the
central focus, lectures and seminars will draw attention to
environmental protection, public health, HIV/AIDS, elder care,
labour, and LGBT rights, among others.<br />
<br />
The intensive 2-week course is
designed for a wide variety of students. In the past, the class has
included advanced undergraduates, those just having completed their
bachelors, masters students, PhD students, and career
professionals in government, law, and business.<br />
<br />
To learn more about the
course and apply for the summer school, please visit <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Summer-Schools/lse-pku-summer-school/courses/lps-sa301&source=gmail&ust=1525480762204000&usg=AFQjCNFldSvBQBJSsuKOCYhTagjNDA6Zcg" href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Summer-Schools/lse-pku-summer-school/courses/lps-sa301" target="_blank">http://www.lse.ac.uk/<wbr></wbr>study-at-lse/Summer-Schools/<wbr></wbr>lse-pku-summer-school/courses/<wbr></wbr>lps-sa301</a>. The deadline for applying is June 15. Should
you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Dr Hildebrandt at <a href="mailto:T.R.Hildebrandt@lse.ac.uk" target="_blank">T.R.Hildebrandt@lse.ac.uk</a>.<br />
<br />
Please feel free to disseminate this widely to any individuals or institutions where you think there might
be interest!
</div>
NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-84801896204051794312018-04-27T03:56:00.002-07:002020-08-18T02:03:34.231-07:00The Humanity of the Z35 Hard Sleeper<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I decided
the other day to ride hard sleeper on the Z35 express train from Beijing
to Guangzhou. Taking the train is a great way to see the country. China has one of the
most extensive and best railways in the world. For long-distance travel, there
are several classes of train. One is conventional, locomotive-pulled trains
which have various levels of express and local service. The other is the
high-speed or bullet trains which have made China the envy of other countries
including the U.S. China started building their high-speed railways about 15
years ago and already has the most extensive high-speed system in the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
conventional trains feature different classes of travel: soft sleeper, hard
sleeper, soft seat, and hard seat. The soft sleeper has four bunks per
compartment, two on either side, and the compartments can be closed for
privacy. Hard sleeper has six bunks per compartment, three on either side, and
the compartments cannot be closed. If riding hard sleeper is like being in the
gritty city, soft sleeper has the feel of the quiet suburbs. The bullet trains and
soft sleepers are more expensive, so people with less means or who want to save
money generally take hard sleeper or even hard seat. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s been
decades since I took hard sleeper, but I associate it with being with regular
people, and wanted to take my time to see China’s countryside. The Z35 route
goes through the central provinces of Hubei, Henan, Hebei and Hunan before
arriving in Guangdong at China’s southern gateway, traveling a total of 2294
kilometers. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEpzp3MCz987Oe8Pe-kQtLMI97hmmW1mNOiDG2ZBb38cE-44-gqtn5jmFMrRwT8AbZ4DHWMEo1hQdgZBOVKdHxd2iP4imjyzwJjzyMuovv8s6SOOeESDHUGxf9wC6djwG0Msa0oeNdBE/s1600/IMG_1517.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEpzp3MCz987Oe8Pe-kQtLMI97hmmW1mNOiDG2ZBb38cE-44-gqtn5jmFMrRwT8AbZ4DHWMEo1hQdgZBOVKdHxd2iP4imjyzwJjzyMuovv8s6SOOeESDHUGxf9wC6djwG0Msa0oeNdBE/s320/IMG_1517.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Riding the
Z35, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the same China I knew 30 years ago.
Yes some things have changed. The hard sleeper compartments now have nicer linens
and air conditioning, there is no smoking allowed in the compartments, and the
trip from Beijing to Guangzhou takes only about 22 hours instead of two days. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnJBTEHG_qXJddJnRqJ1rp5wvdLJtWnDGdHiGyPW_68vJOtfcWUEmrAHS6nvsMUPh06ynFvmgH6EWbmfOGlIniVrg4nXsJ-y07CnlLBzmwvVQpJLkK1xVsgAXxkGPNj4zCxHKpmzeJ8E/s1600/IMG_1519.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnJBTEHG_qXJddJnRqJ1rp5wvdLJtWnDGdHiGyPW_68vJOtfcWUEmrAHS6nvsMUPh06ynFvmgH6EWbmfOGlIniVrg4nXsJ-y07CnlLBzmwvVQpJLkK1xVsgAXxkGPNj4zCxHKpmzeJ8E/s320/IMG_1519.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But the people haven't changed much, and that was refreshing to see in a country where blocks of old
buildings and alleyways are razed, and gleaming skyscrapers and efficient subway
lines go up in their place, in a blink of an eye.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Passengers
still struggled to get up and down the bunks, and rummaged around for places to
place their suitcases. They sat in the narrow corridors looking at their phones,
or lay on their bunks looking at their phones. They lined up at the hot water
area to fill their thermoses. They waited patiently for the one bathroom in
each car to disgorge its occupant. A few kids played around the feet of their
parents. People’s belongings began to spill into the open on their bunks and in
the corridors. The trash bin cover was conveniently stuck so people began
piling their instant noodle containers and plastic bottles near the bathroom
sink. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZC7lfP7Nov3DbuGhCUbrhyphenhyphenaS91lC_tX8dfJNxM898u_KzRVSEf-nP5-iy-HWLBEyJP9-YFIJmdBSCSpnRlxp29Lkt2Nsx13G-9mhci-c7D3OEmN3DX4bYvpK0WQCRMSkGQNkSYUucO0o/s1600/IMG_1531.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZC7lfP7Nov3DbuGhCUbrhyphenhyphenaS91lC_tX8dfJNxM898u_KzRVSEf-nP5-iy-HWLBEyJP9-YFIJmdBSCSpnRlxp29Lkt2Nsx13G-9mhci-c7D3OEmN3DX4bYvpK0WQCRMSkGQNkSYUucO0o/s400/IMG_1531.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The train attendants walked past sweeping the floor, cleaning the
bathrooms which seemed to be constantly occupied, and pushing food carts
through the corridor calling out the names of the foods – milk, yogurt, chicken
leg and rice. One attendant made several sales pitches in our car for prunes
from Xinjiang, and chrysanthemum tea from Anhui. </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHLAEEmzA7aVsQ1e2jTmuwsmNgrzbcgA3NObXKpKHM9aSd4fn_2Z49rOFbf04Br5mJ8_XveIi_Vp1wEj3RXX9cEamd6SfTKno08deXsBZKPPlEi-a5h5eBrpyAcg9HHJ_f91WoR6-pmM/s1600/IMG_1540.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHLAEEmzA7aVsQ1e2jTmuwsmNgrzbcgA3NObXKpKHM9aSd4fn_2Z49rOFbf04Br5mJ8_XveIi_Vp1wEj3RXX9cEamd6SfTKno08deXsBZKPPlEi-a5h5eBrpyAcg9HHJ_f91WoR6-pmM/s400/IMG_1540.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One lady who
boarded in Henan entered our compartment and looked for a place to put her
suitcase. She was pretty and dressed smartly in high heels and a knee-high skirt. I made sure to dress comfortably in shorts, t-shirt and sandals but some
preferred the more formal look despite the proletarian furnishings. When she didn’t
see a space for her suitcase below the bottom bunks, she put her suitcase on
the middle bunk. Then she climbed up, placing her feet on the metal footholds and pulled herself up. Once on the bunk, she stood up and tried to put her suitcase in an
opening above the top bunk. She had to stretch and an elderly gentlemen in a dress
shirt and tie came over to help. I was sitting on the bottom bunk and feeling
awkward because I could see up her skirt and I felt bad the old man had acted
faster than me in lending a hand. The studious looking guy reading across from
me was trying hard not to look at the scene, and I tried not to stare. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then after some effort, she and the elderly
guy managed to raise her suitcase into the opening, whereupon she settled back
in her bunk, and made a call on her phone. The old guy also went back to his phone,
sending encouraging, peppy audio texts to people I imagined were either friends or business
partners that went something like “let’s get together sometime and talk” and “let’s
help each other out, and improve our situation together!” </span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Watching
these scenes play out, I couldn’t help but feel a common humanity in these moments,
witnessing the same inefficiencies, foibles and concerns in Chinese today as I
remembered 30 years ago. China may be on the way to becoming a global economic
and technological power, but that ambition was not evident in the people in the
hard sleeper section who were just trying to figure out how to get by, and pass
the hours, in their cramped spaces. In confining us to close quarters over a
long period of time, the hard sleeper had a kind of leveling effect, doing away
with any pretense of status and privilege. The old guy in the dress shirt and
tie, the pretty woman in high heels and skirt, they were all in the same bunk and
bathroom as the rest of us. Now if they could just put aside their smart phones
and start talking again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7328018645779167828.post-48332141812115795252018-04-12T03:18:00.000-07:002018-04-12T03:22:46.525-07:00Resources for contextualizing recent developments in philanthropy and civil society<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm proud to announce the release of a set of infographics, graphs, timelines, factsheets and FAQs that I developed with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. You can find these resources on <a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China.html">ICNL's website</a>. The purpose of these resources is to help people understand the significance of recent developments in the philanthropy and civil society space in China. They are meant to complement a longer, more detailed <a href="http://www.icnl.org/research/Philanthropy/China%20Philanthropy%20Law%20Report%20-%20final%20March%202018.pdf">China Philanthropy Law Report </a>that I wrote and published with ICNL.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2dxc7ernAaP3Qj1BBDQrrYtaxyqUjmsq6zaBqh7EwiCAE37CAhHkVJfjRYim29fMFOsPtEDEpf_BR9HVZW8CRi-e2UgW85fs4qqPkMaVo2ccHArMXeII17aZslSseOL5JfBfpRc0f6MQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.06.55+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="934" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2dxc7ernAaP3Qj1BBDQrrYtaxyqUjmsq6zaBqh7EwiCAE37CAhHkVJfjRYim29fMFOsPtEDEpf_BR9HVZW8CRi-e2UgW85fs4qqPkMaVo2ccHArMXeII17aZslSseOL5JfBfpRc0f6MQ/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.06.55+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
The idea behind these resources was to 1) provide context for the report, and 2) highlight the significance of the legal developments discussed in the report.<br />
<br />
In terms of context, we wanted to provide a visual way to understand the universe of civil society actors affected by recent legislation, particularly for those unfamiliar with the Chinese civil society space. Thus one set of resources is a Universe of Chinese and Overseas NGOs, and graphs showing the growth of Chinese NGOs since the 1990s.<br />
<br />
Another part of the bigger picture is how these developments fit into the longer-term evolution of philanthropy and civil society, and its regulation, in China. Thus, another set of resources are two timelines, one a timeline on the rise of philanthropy and civil society in China, and another timeline on major developments in the regulations of philanthropy and civil society.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPZPysdzl_ebu_eKOYBnp5nJxzlMfqzZDL5PAlKfc-g-eGYS2RuD-Aonh-ljVmX52_FRvno_oEaKLAoKcdt5HtLuc3bhcrj52_0jduZaadfnOUwwO1IgSiX5QwI5MySiFu5nGyTqX-s8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.12.20+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="950" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPZPysdzl_ebu_eKOYBnp5nJxzlMfqzZDL5PAlKfc-g-eGYS2RuD-Aonh-ljVmX52_FRvno_oEaKLAoKcdt5HtLuc3bhcrj52_0jduZaadfnOUwwO1IgSiX5QwI5MySiFu5nGyTqX-s8/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.12.20+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In highlighting the significance of the legal developments discussed in the ICNL report, we wanted to drive home how major legal developments starting in 2016 have substantially reshaped the philanthropy and civil society space in China. Thus, we developed three factsheets underlining major changes in the regulation of Chinese and Overseas NGOs after 2016.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhho7f_5Q_EsRtwGr20LuF_KDvB0rNuX1dycN2H_Lpk_FkZdQEqVNHKZosherpxKDGjDNjMCEXZQ9sAMFmQrV518oK6DdMjUt6MBKnOd7pAtDaeWMjnK8YO9g6SSrG1uWWHFKshq6M5eGY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.13.44+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="946" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhho7f_5Q_EsRtwGr20LuF_KDvB0rNuX1dycN2H_Lpk_FkZdQEqVNHKZosherpxKDGjDNjMCEXZQ9sAMFmQrV518oK6DdMjUt6MBKnOd7pAtDaeWMjnK8YO9g6SSrG1uWWHFKshq6M5eGY/s640/Screen+Shot+2018-04-12+at+11.13.44+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Finally there are two sets of FAQs, one on the 2016 Charity Law and another on the 2016 Overseas NGO Law.<br />
<br />
I hope these resources are useful for those who want to understand the importance of these very substantial changes that have taken place in the legal environment for philanthropy and civil society in China over the past 2-3 years. Please share these resources if you think they would be helpful to others. <br />
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NGOs in Chinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07936881317299246085noreply@blogger.com0