Justice for all

I’ve lived in China for almost two and a half years.  This country has seen so much change in the past generation that it reminds me of a song I learned in elementary school: “the only thing that doesn’t change is change.”  I think that listening to stories is the best way for an outsider like me to understand and begin to take part in these changes.

Here’s one such story, from a project inspired by the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs.  My friend Rich Brubaker is a prolific social entrepreneur, professor, consultant and blogger.  He recently asked ten of his interns to interview workers on the streets of Shanghai about their jobs and dreams for the future.   Here’s one example:

I highly recommend checking out the handful of other interviews that are up so far, as well as the comments.

What I find amazing about these interviews, and my own similar conversations, is the optimism and hope and complete absence of self-pity that shine through the words.  A common phrase in Chinese is “chi ko,” which translates to eat bitterness, or do what needs to be done.  I see this every morning when I stroll through the hutong to my office, and chat with a friendly middle-aged lady who sorts and bundles trash.  She asks me if I’ve eaten; I ask if she’s been busy (a common conversation pattern in Chinese.)  Her answer is always the same and always delivered with a smile: “if I’m not busy I have nothing to eat.”

Conversations like these are where getting involved with social change begins.  I think it’s important to develop a a strong sense for the priorities, goals, and thought processes of the local community.  This takes time.  It takes trust.  It takes language lessons.  It takes understanding that there’s not one single story.  It takes misunderstandings and re-explanations and identifying preconceived notions.  It takes a keen awareness of personal strengths.

In my time in China, I’ve been lucky enough to work with five different organizations, involving education, microfinance, and corporate social responsibility.  All of these jobs have been related to social change in some sense, regardless of the sector.  My friends here in Beijing have done amazing work in clean transportation, theatre, microfinance, sustainable energy, gay rights, showcasing the impact of global warming through ice sculptures, and so much more.  These are foreigners that have taken the time to really understand the local conversation in their respective area of focus.  (I have also met Chinese activists, but since I think that Akhila’s readers are mostly outside China I’m focusing on the roles foreigners have played.)

I am grateful for the opportunities China has given me, to learn, to listen, and to broaden my sense of social change.  Xie xie!

The Changemaker

Leslie Forman graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Latin American Studies.  As a corporate trainer for Yaxley Education, she teaches Chinese lawyers, journalists, and engineers to use English more effectively.  Her interests include renewable energy, events that involve costumes, and practicing her Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese (though preferably not at the same time!)

You can catch her on Twitter, @leslieforman!

There’s a very interesting opinion article in the International Herald Tribune about Hillary Clinton and her recent trip to China.

Hillary Clinton in China

On Wednesday, the State Department released a report criticizing China for its human rights record. However, in one of her first important diplomatic moves as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton showed little support for human rights and seemed to directly contradict the findings of the State Department report, and more generally the U.S. position regarding China & human rights.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have set back the cause of human rights in China when she said on her Asia tour that while the United States will continue to press China on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and human rights, “our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.”

Clinton’s position has two potentially detrimental effects. It undermines the long-fought campaign for a comprehensive foreign policy, one recognizing the interdependence of human rights concerns with traditional strategic goals. And it ultimately fails civil society groups in China and those suffering human rights abuses. — Sonia Cardenas

I’m shocked that Clinton chose to prioritize economic issues over human rights — not that those issues aren’t important, but simply because she’s denying that human rights is important. By choosing to separate human rights from all these other issues, Clinton also fails to understand that all these problems are interrelated. How can you progress on climate change or security when human rights at home are being violated? In the end, all these issues have to be addressed. And human rights definitely has to be one of the top priorities. For the first time, I’m incredibly disappointed in Hillary Clinton, and I hope that this doesn’t signal future blatant disregard of human rights by the Obama administration.

She went out of her way to downgrade human rights, placing economic, environmental and security relations above the abuse of countless individuals under Chinese rule - members of minority and religious groups who are systematically repressed, detainees and prisoners who are tortured, human rights and civil society activists arbitrarily detained, women and children routinely subjected to violence and discrimination and tens of thousands without recourse to an effective justice system, as well as widespread censorship. — Sonia Cardenas

And some argue that before the U.S. can criticize other countries for its human rights abuses, the U.S. has to ensure that it is respecting human rights itself. Of course, this is true, and I’ve always strongly believed that by closing Guantanamo, the U.S. will demonstrate its commitment to human rights and can become a more effective advocate of human rights around the world. But, when people attempt to use this argument as a way to effectively exempt other countries from criticism for their human rights abuses - by saying “Oh, since the U.S. is being hypocritical, they have no right to speak out against other countries’ human rights violations” - that’s what I think is wrong. Regardless of what the U.S. is doing at home, America has such great power abroad that it cannot simply ignore. The U.S. has to continue exercising this power for good, by continuing to pressure other countries - including China - to end human rights violations. American hypocrisy may end soon - or it may never end; America has never had a perfect human rights record. Does that mean that the U.S. shouldn’t work to end human rights abuses in the meantime? No. Ending human rights violations simply has to start now, rather than being postponed “sometime” into the future.

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