Town in Guangdong, China
Town in Guangdong, China |
For the outside world, the Chinese democracy movement seems to be covered by a veil so that it cannot be seen clearly. What is happening with the Chinese democracy movement? And what are democracy activists doing and thinking? I would like to take this opportunity to talk about these issues systematically and in greater detail. The general observations expressed here were shaped after soliciting opinions from many friends, some of whom are veterans in the democracy movement. However, the views in this essay are my own, and I take full responsibility for them.
Aiming for a Long Shot
Ibelieve that China's democracy cannot be achieved in the near future under the circumstances in today's China. When we are mentally prepared to accept this reality, we will not be impatient and over-anxious for a quick resolution to the problem. Only then can we have better long-term plans and arrangements.
I think the most important task of the Chinese democracy movement is to help build an integrating platform on which different political forces many condition each other. After that, it is not so important who leads or acts on the platform. Therefore, it is no longer important who the leader is after this platform is built. At that time, the true "right of the people" and "choice of the people" will emerge - the people will choose what political party will rule and which leaders will represent the country. However, China is still a long way from reaching this stage.
Our generation, like others before us, have inherited democratic aspirations from past generations, and are using the past as our guide for the future. We hope to usher China into a peaceful and prosperous future. The past can be traced back to the time of Dr. Sun Yat-sen nearly a century ago. Since then, the aspiration for democracy never ceased to exist in China, even after 1949 when the Chinese communists took power. The Advice and Petition in 1957, the April Fifth Movement in 1976, and the Democracy Wall Movement that began in 1978 were all crucial stages for the course of democracy in China. We, the democracy activists who experienced our formative years during the Democracy Wall movement, can work closely with the younger generation of democracy activists and with the Chinese people to insure that the democratic torch is passed on into the future. I believe that history is on our side, though it is quite possible that the activists of my generation will not live to see the final victory of democracy in China. Like many who went before us, we take pride in being cobblestones on the road to that end. With this in mind, it is therefore important for us to do the work carefully and carry the course of democracy forward step by step. We must consider the realistic situation in China and the needs of the ordinary people.
In today's China, after two decades of economic reform, the ruling party has generated some impressive results in the material facilities for the people, regardless if this was planned by the regime or was an unintended consequence of it. Except in some remote and poor areas, the living standard of most people has improved. However, the polarization within society is becoming increasingly evident - there are billionaires living alongside the utterly destitute. There is also the growing public resentment against the regime for instituting massive layoffs. The peasant protest against exorbitant taxes and levies. China's appalling human rights record has also been censured by the international community.
From Economic Reform to Political Reform
Many economic problems, which can only be solved through the aid of political reform, have impeded the course of reform. The problems in the economic areas and those in political areas do not occur as separate entities, but rather influence each other. For instance, the layoff problem in China is not only an economic one, but also a political one, because it's a result of having overstaffed working units in the past planned economy, and from the "iron rice bowl" system of socialism. This cannot be resolved by mere economic means, but must be solved within political areas. Therefore, political reform must be instituted. Besides, if the layoff problem cannot be solved, there will be political consequences as well. What I mean is that the economic problem should be ideally resolved mainly in the economic area, and the political problem should be resolved in the political area; but in reality these problems are neither isolated nor unrelated to each other. Many economic problems have been the result of political problems, and they must therefore be solved in the political areas.
Thus, even the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot deny the necessity of political reform, though the CCP's political reform measures are either ill-conceived or getting nowhere. I think China's political reform should be a gradual process, for in modern Chinese history there have been many radical, revolutionary storms inflicting much pain on people, but achieving little in terms of people's democratic rights. Now, people especially hope that political activism will not revisit those chaotic times by inciting any unnecessary social movements. In fact, the Chinese people do not want to see any disorder; instead they want a stable and gradual reform process. The democratic activism should conform to this demand of the people for "developing in a stable environment." Hence we must adopt a gradual course of reform to advance democratic goals, which can be summarized in four short phrases:
* Ending the one party autocracy
* Establishing the Third Republic
* Protecting human rights and freedom
* Rebuilding a constitutional democracy
Let me briefly explain what I mean in these four points.
Ending the one-party autocracy. I clearly disagree with the CCP's one-party autocracy, and hope for the emergence of a pluralistic, multi-party political environment. This is the goal we are striving for at the moment. However, this does not mean that the only way to achieve a multi-party system is by overthrowing the CCP. If the CCP does its job well, is not corrupt, represents the interests of the people, then there is no justification for any persons or political forces to overthrow it. If the CCP fails, on the other hand, it should seek to ameliorate the problems from within the party. Therefore, I use the word "end," not the word "overthrow." If the CCP does its job well, and can be supported and chosen by people, then it can still be the ruling party after one party autocracy is ended. Or, it can be the main opposition party.
Establishing the Third Republic. Why refer to it as the "Third Republic"? It is referred to in this manner because it should differ from the "First Republic" established by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the short-lived "Second Republic." The First Republic was ruined by the warlords and Chiang Kai-shek. There was a short-lived Second Republic from 1945 to 1949. The mark of this period was Mao Zedong's article "On the Coalition Government." If we carefully study this article, we can find that Mao put forward, under the historical condition at the end of the Sino-Japanese War, policies for establishing a Second Republic which differed from the First Republic. From 1945 to 1949, led by Mao, the CCP basically followed the principles laid down in "On the Coalition Government," but abandoned such principles after CCP took power in 1949. Thus, the Second Republic was unfortunately destroyed by Mao himself. Now half a century later, Chinese pro-democracy activists are on a quest to discover a "Democratic Republic," which we can call the Third Republic.
Protecting human rights and freedom. The Third Republic seeks to place much emphasis on the protection of human rights and freedom of Chinese citizens. In a certain sense, modern liberal democracy can be called "human rights democracy." Such rights should be various and extensive, not just the "right for existence." They should not be deprived by anybody or any political force. Of course, a society needs to have law and order. One of the basic characteristics of a democratic society is legality or rule of law. People should obey the laws and not act beyond the law. Specifically, people's actions should not hinder the freedom of others. Therefore, this kind of society is not anarchic or without order.
Rebuilding Constitutional Democracy. The Constitution we have now, containing the language such as "holding on the four cardinal principles," is outmoded. Therefore, we should rewrite the constitution in the future. Presently, we can first ask the CCP to carry out what the constitution stipulates regarding citizens' rights, namely, those of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and association, the right to protest against the government policies, and the right to freely elect their political leaders without threat or coercion.
The four goals outlined above are the goals we would like to realize. However, what are the principles of our actions for realizing these goals? We believe that our actions should be "open, rational, and peaceful." This means that our actions should not be covert, but should be open and in conformance with the Chinese constitution. The tactics of so-called "street politics" or demonstrations that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989 were wrong. The Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement was a great movement, indeed the greatest peoples' democracy movement in Chinese history. In this sense, the movement was necessary and right. We can see that there are often demonstrations and protests in the Western democratic countries. We can see that the truck drivers in France place roadblocks on the highway and conduct a strike right there. Thus, "street politics" and parliamentarianism do not necessarily conflict with each other. It depends on the situation to choose the form of action. But, in order to form a democratic society, we must gradually shift from a "street politics" approach to parliamentarianism. We must begin now to enter the process of instituting an electoral process and to strive for the participation of democracy activists in that process.
Why do I stress the idea of nonviolence? This is related to past history. The current regime resulted from decades of armed revolutions, and violence always led to more violence which became the foundation of the new autocracy. In view of this kind of development, we believe that violence will not bring about a stable, prosperous, democratic society. Therefore, we promote peaceful and nonviolent means to prevent such occurrences in the future. We, of course, know that the present regime has a strong armed forces, but we still insist on peaceful and nonviolent means, for we do not want to repeat the errors of our older generation, and we do not want to see a dark, autocratic society appear again like the ones that appeared under the rule of Chiang and Mao. Therefore, it is more important that we strive for a democratic system in which nobody can rule dictatorially.
(This is part one of a two-part article by Xu Wenli. In part two, which will appear in the Jan. 1 issue of the Sampan, Xu will discuss the important issues facing China's democracy movement.)
Photo by Robert O'Malley