Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Saturday, December 08, 2007

How about uncivil society?

If the activity is illegal, does that make it part of "uncivil" society?

Chinese police stage huge gang crackdown

"Hundreds of police with semi-automatic weapons raided a hotpot restaurant and rounded up dozens of gangsters in one of the biggest crackdowns on crime syndicates seen in mainland China...

"The alleged gang boss, Lin Guoqin, a local politician and senior figure in the local business community, was among those arrested...

"Such were the concerns about mob collusion with local police that senior officers were replaced or sent on holiday before the raid... Even those who took part were told it was a training exercise...

"Lin was reportedly a member of the local People's Congress... as well as being vice-chairman of the chamber of commerce, a travel association and a group of leading entrepreneurs...

"China does not disclose statistics on organised crime, although public security officials have acknowledged that this is a "huge-occurrence period". Since the opening up of the economy there has been a rise in drug use, prostitution, counterfeiting, smuggling and intimidation. Many gangs are in league with officials. With no independent judiciary or media in this one-party state, there are few channels to expose their activities..."

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home