Chinese Union activist Zhao Dong-min sentenced to 3 years in jail

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Sunday October 24, 2010 15:11 by John Cornford

A prominent Chinese labour activist was sentenced on 20 October to three years in jail for “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order” .
Zhao Dongmin was arrested on 19 August last year after organizing more than 380 workers from about 20 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to form a labour rights group tasked with overseeing and monitoring SOE restructuring, and reporting corruption and abuses of power.

The Shaanxi Union Rights Defence Representative Congress was formally banned by the city government of Xi’an on 27 July 2009. Zhao then wrote an open letter of protest to the State Council, the city, provincial and central committees of the Chinese Communist Party. He was arrested 18 days later.

Zhao Dongmin

Since his arrest, Zhao’s case has been taken up by an increasingly vocal group of supporters, many of whom share his leftist political views. More than 50 scholars signed a petition this month stating that Zhao was not only innocent but had performed meritorious service and that his arrest mocked the rule of law and insulted trade union organizers.

Zhao’s three year sentence is on the upper-end of the scale for labour activists. Unlike a decade ago when five or ten year sentences were not uncommon, the authorities nowadays tend to use threats, harassment and short-term detention rather than criminal trials and prison terms to suppress labour groups and activists. It is perhaps Zhao’s Maoist allegiances therefore that led to his relatively heavy sentence on this occasion.

In another move, 108 veterans of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army have condemned Zhao's treatment.

Declaration of the Concerned Group of 108 Veterans of the original 68th Unit and the 23rd Unit of the People's Liberation Army in Da-an City, Jilin Province on matters related to Zhao Dong-min

Any Chinese person who has a conscience and stands for justice knows that what has happened to Zhao Dong-min has gone beyond a single incident. It has become something of political significance in today's China. It has become a test case for us to tell whether the Chinese Communist Party is a real Marxist-Leninist Party or a fake one, whether the government is a real people's government or a fake one, whether the Communists are real ones or fake ones, and whether or not those in the government are actually serving the people.

How this case will be handled will be the turning point to determine whether the Chinese Communist Party understands that it has been on the wrong path and returns to the people, or it continues to cheat, manipulate, oppress people, and to continuingly add more suffering to people, following the road to be the enemy of the people, and collaborating with the imperialist powers in their evil deeds. This is a life and death struggle between the two classes, the proletarian class and the bureaucratic class; the two different positions; and the two different futures.

However, when lawyer Zhao Dong-min, the proud son of our proletarian class, worked to protect the rights and benefits of the workers, the bureaucratic class and its police and legal authority joined together to oppress him. Zhao was arrested and detained until today. The legal system is supposed to protect workers but it turned around and became the agent of killing the legal rights of the workers, and it also suppressed people's legal rights to appeal.

Therefore, we solemnly declare to the legal authority of Xian City, Shaanxi Province:

1. With the power bestowed to you by the Party and by the people, please go through this case as soon as possible, and immediately declare Zhao Dong-min innocent and free him. The evidence of this case was falsified and will not be able to stand any interrogation.

2. Any work unit and any individual must obey the Constitution and protect the dignity of the Constitution from being violated. No one can be allowed to attack the democratic rights of the working class. Those who violate workers' rights should be charged and put on trial.

3. The law protects citizens from being illegally harmed and illegally charged.

4. Restore lawyer Zhao Dong-min's reputation. Compensate him for his financial loss and his mental suffering.

5. Severely punish those who were responsible for the false accusations and other illegal actions taken, thus making this case an example for others.

All 108 veterans signed their real names. Among them 58 are unemployed, 13 are workers, a few are peasants, quite a few are cadres, one is the vice-principal of a school, and another one is the vice-principal of a party school. Among the rest, one works as the vice-chief of an Agricultural Bureau, another is the vice-head of a hospital. One works for the Public Security Bureau and another serves as the vice-head of the Xiang government.

More background to Zhao's case is available at: