We
all believe in symbolism, don't we? For showing our emotions,
material possessions, fears, anger, we invariably resort to symbolism. That is
why emoticons are so popular in modern age communications. I read
somewhere, that people buy very expensive cars to flaunt their wealth
and not for use. The car here becomes a symbol of wealth. It is no
longer a medium of transportation. Followers of modern Hindu
religion, very well know that the idol they worship is an inanimate
object, yet it is subjected to all kind of worldly rituals and it is
even decked up with ornaments and expensive clothes. The idol of a
deity here, therefore is nothing but a symbol of an unknown power
entity, whom we fear and are also awed.
Social
movements too need symbols. Mahatma Gandhi was a super strategist and
used symbolism in an absolutely masterly way. I always feel
fascinated to read about his 'Satyagraha' movements. In one of his
'Satyagraha,' he used a simple ritual of making salt from brine water
in such superb fashion that within weeks it got converted into a
major political movement against the British. He used many such
symbolic gestures such as hand weaved cotton on home spinning wheels
effectively to counter British commercial interests that were killing
India.
Sometimes
things happen in the other way. A relatively minor event, can become
a starting point of a major conflict. The murder of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by a
Serbian in 1914 led to the start of World War I, barely one month
later, killing thousands of people. Here also, this murder was a
symbolic event. Obviously not every such symbolic event would lead to
a major catastrophic change. The spark of such an event can start a
big fire only if there are lots of dry wood splinters around,
otherwise the spark just gets extinguished.
Last
week on 16th
July 2013, in China's Linwu county, Hunan province, a farmer, Deng
Zhengjia, was selling watermelons, grown on his farm, along with his
wife , when he was approached by several Chengguan Police. The
Chengguan are officially designated as 'Urban management officers,'
and ensure that law and order is maintained in urban areas. The
Chengguan confiscated 4 watermelons and asked the farmer couple to
move to another designated area as the area where the couple was
selling watermelons, was not approved for street vending. Obeying the
orders, the farmer couple moved to an approved spot.
After
about 50 minutes the same group of Chengguan police got into a
scuffle with the same farmer now standing at the permitted spot.
According to China news agency, seven or eight Cengguan started to
beat this farmer Deng with the weight from his weighing scale. After
10 seconds or so, the farmer fell down and suddenly died. The dead
farmer's wife and some eye witnesses say that the officers continued
to kick his body after he fell down and refused to call 120, China’s
medical emergency line.
Chengguan
are widely conceived as arrogant bullies in China, who are believed
to abuse their power. When Chinese media broke the news of Deng
Zheng, there was immediate wide spread condemnation. Wang Juntao, a
popular microblogger, who posts under the name “Laorong,”
retweeted one of his old posts about Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian
street vendor who immolated himself after his scale was confiscated
by authorities. Mr. Bouazizi’s self-immolation triggered the
revolution later known to the world as Arab Spring. A user on Weibo,
Sina Corp.’s popular microblogging service, said “China’s
chengguan are addicted to beating up people.” Another added that
the tragedy “couldn’t be tolerated by God” and was “the
nightmare of China.”
Realizing
the wide spread resentment, the municipal administration in Linwu
suddenly went on defensive. Calls to the local publicity bureau in
Linwu were unanswered on afternoon. A person who picked up the call
at the urban management administration, refused to comment and said
that he was not clear about the event.
For
next two days, thousands took to the streets in Linwu county of Hunan
province in order to keep the dead body from being taken away by
local law enforcement officers. Local media say that the people
believed that keeping the body for autopsy was the only way to prove
that the vendor was lethally beaten.
Around
4 AM on morning of 18th
July, about 200 local police officers attacked the crowd with sticks
and shields, and managed to take the body away. There were witnesses
and reporters, including a reporter from the website of state
broadcaster China Central Television.. Immediately, bloody pictures of
injured civilians were posted on Weibo, and two reporters from a
local Hunan television network also alleged that they were beaten
when interviewing witnesses.
On
same day, the family of Mr. Deng finally consented to an autopsy
conducted by a forensic team designated by the local government, but
only on the condition that they be allowed to be present during the
autopsy and keep samples from it, according to Hunan Daily, a
Communist Party newspaper. However it was observed that the most of
the posts about the event, from newspaper Hunan Daily’s official
Weibo account, were later found deleted.
The
autopsy was conducted on that day afternoon around 2:30 p.m.,
according to Hunan Daily. The local government held a press
conference at 4:00 p.m. but didn’t announce results and kept the
results under wraps.
A
blogger, who calls himself as Chengpeng, says: Deng Zheng had a
simple Chinese dream. All he wanted was a sweeter watermelon seed so
that he could harvest more watermelons and quickly sell them so he
can have a good home dinner. But you can not even dream of selling
more watermelons in China, because not only you are not protected,
but you can not even keep your treasure of watermelons. You reap
what you sow.
Blogger
Chengpang might have become emotional, but his point is well taken.
No one can really say whether death of a watermelon vendor can bring
about major repercussions and reforms about the urban police. That
would depend upon so many other factors. The fact remains that even
in a tightly politically controlled country like China, the writing on
the wall is very clear. But it must be accepted that not every
symbolic event brings about a revolution or an Arab spring.
23rd
July 2013
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