As the year comes to a close, and media attention shifts elsewhere, we should all pause for a moment to remember the Dongzhou killings.   As bad as this tragedy was, it was only one of many instances of injustice inflicted upon the powerless in China.  Take this story, which ran in quite a few US newspapers in the last few days:

BEIJING (AP) – Police
on Wednesday blocked a Chinese family from holding a news conference in
Beijing to publicize complaints of police brutality in their village.

Members of
the Feng family invited reporters to a Beijing hotel but said police
from their home province warned them against doing so. Two family
members and another villager were questioned by Beijing police and
prevented from leaving their hotel.

Stories
like the Fengs’ are becoming more common in China, where police abuses
are reported frequently and the communist government tries to control
information. Hundreds of people travel to Beijing each year to file
complaints and often write to reporters.

They also
underscore the tense situation in many Chinese villages, where
residents complain about collusion between police and local officials
in offering allegedly unfair compensation for land requisitioned by the
state for lucrative construction projects.

Earlier
this month residents of the village of Dongzhou in southern China’s
Guangdong province clashed with police over land seizures for a power
plant. The government said three villagers died when security forces
opened fire on protesters. Villagers say the death toll may have been
as high as 20.

By the
government’s count, China had more than 70,000 cases of rural unrest
last year, and protests are growing more violent, with injuries on both
sides.

    I guess the silver lining here is that, even though the powers-that-be tried to suppress the Fengs, their story got out anyway.  Compare the repression and violence and arrogance of the CCP response to Dongzhou, and so many other Chinese villages, to the actions of the South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, when faced with a public demonstration gone awry:

President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday apologized for the deaths of two farmers
presumably caused by a clash with police during rallies.

"It is a deeply regretful matter. I bow my head and apologize," Roh said in a
news conference at Cheong Wa Dae.

"Public power must be controlled and exercised only in a calm and collected
manner and therefore holds a heavier responsibility," Roh said, pledging to
reprimand the people responsible, make appropriate compensation for the victims’
families and prepare measures to prevent similar cases.

The farmers died last month and this month while undergoing treatment for
injuries from their collision with police during a demonstration against the
government’s opening of the rice market.

    Why is it that the South Korean president can publicly apologize but the Chinese president cannot?  Democracy is the difference.  And until China begins a more serious democratization, there will be more Dongzhou tragedies.