Chinese increasingly protest projects that threaten environment

[LuckyTheDog]

China is a country with gargantuan environmental problems, deep distrust of government and a population that is increasingly wired through mobile devices. Put that together and it's no surprise that large street protests are breaking out against waste incinerators, chemical plants and other industrial projects.

The latest, in the southern China county of Boluo, in Guangdong province, saw thousands of people march through the streets Saturday, with some returning Sunday, to protest a planned garbage incinerator. Police detained 24 demonstrators, but overall the response was relatively restrained, a sign that Chinese authorities have resigned themselves to occasional environmental blowback.

Judith Shapiro, a professor at American University in Washington who specializes in China's environment, said it remains to be seen if China's government will remain somewhat tolerant of anti-pollution protests.

"There is more political 'space' for protests around environmental issues than, for example, labor rights or the hot-button subjects of autonomy for Tibet or Xinjiang," Shapiro said in an email exchange. That said, China's Communist Party is "desperately afraid of unrest," she added, noting Mao Zedong's famous quote that a "single spark can cause a prairie fire."

MORE HERE: http://wonkynewsnerd.com/chinese-increasingly-protest-projects-threaten-environment/

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, LuckyTheDog.