CP: Human Rights in the US - China's Report No Caricature

[reorg]

Human Rights in the US
China's Report No Caricature

By DAVE LINDORFF

(...)

Having lived for two years in China ­ a fascist-style military dictatorship where the law is simply another tool of repression for those in authority, and where people are routinely locked up, tortured, deprived of their livelihood and even their lives for such transgressions as posting comments on a website, protesting a corrupt boss or conducting prayer services in a private home, and a place where perceptions of America can be pretty bizarre--I was expecting something comic after reading in the Times that the report on the U.S. "approaches caricature."

In fact, putting aside whom it was doing the talking, the report was pretty damned accurate, and devastating.

American society is characterized by rampant violent crimes, severe infringement of people's rights by law enforcement departments and lack of guarantee of the right to life, liberty and security, the Chinese report said, noting that in addition to the threats from uniformed law enforcement, some 31,000 Americans were killed by firearms. The report also noted America's record two million prison inmates, and the fact that three times that many are on parole or probation.

(...)

American democracy is manipulated by the rich and malpractice is common, the report continues, noting that elections in the U.S. are "in fact a contest of money." Really. Can anyone honestly call this a caricature? I remember when I was teaching a group of journalism graduate students in Shanghai, I received my mail ballot from home, which at the time was a small town in upstate New York. I was happy to receive it because I wanted to show it to my class, where the students were anxious to see first-hand how American democracy works. Imagine my chagrin when I opened the envelope and saw that the ballot was composed entirely of single candidates for each post. Republicans so dominated the upstate region that no one bothered to run against them for any town or county post! "These look just like our ballots!" the students said in amazement. Nor in our current red state/blue state polity, are things much different across most of the country, where campaign funding laws, or the lack thereof, make incumbency virtually a guarantee of re-election.

(...)

http://www.counterpunch.com/lindorff03292005.html

Full text of the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2004, released by the Information office of China's State Council Thursday, March 3, 2005:

http://english.people.com.cn/200503/03/eng20050303_175406.html