digg

Join DiggAbout

Digg Townhall Tonight!
Tune into the live Digg townhall tonight at 5:00pm PST/8:00pm EST.

See the original image at slate.com —

How Educational are Chinese Re-Education Camps?

slate.com — Two women in their late 70s were sentenced to "re-education-through-labor" by the Beijing police after they applied repeatedly for a permit to hold a protest. How much education actually happens at these re-education camps? Hint: Not much.

show profanity settings
expand all
  • mrgarci1, on 08/21/2008, -2/+412 quotes stick out:

    "Re-education-through-labor provides local authorities with a way to detain citizens without filing criminal charges.... Inmates can be sentenced to up to three years, although they can be kept for a fourth year for failing to admit their guilt or violating camp rules. Sentences can be appealed, but they are reviewed by the same Public Security Bureaus that handed them down."

    To my understanding, there is a designated protest area for the Olympics. But it seems applying to protest there is basically signing your own arrest warrant. Am I wrong?
    • WoollyMittens, on 08/22/2008, -1/+16Arrest warrant... I'd call it death warrant. Nobody survives 4 years of hard labour under appalling conditions and without medical care or proper nutrition.
      • rebrad, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2They get nutrition and medical care. Healthy organs bring higher prices on the world market.
      • locamama, on 08/22/2008, -1/+3especially if you are already in your late 70's. I don't think these women will make it out of this camp.
    • LocalDocal, on 08/22/2008, -1/+12No, you're right. There was another article (concerning foreign bloggers protesting) in which the article said specifically that despite the law about having to apply for a permit to protest, *no* permit has ever actually been granted. Instead, they're, as you said, used to sign your own arrest warrant.

      You know, I'm actually glad for this article mainly because the article mentions how these labor camps can be used to detain people without charges and how they seem to be used as a source of revenue. In the actual article with the two women being arrested (and several other articles actually), dumbasses would always appear to screech about how it's 'China's laws' and China can do whatever it want. I think this article provides a better view of what China's law is all about.
    • rebrad, on 08/22/2008, -11/+6The Democrats could learn a lot from their socialist brothers. They could use it to start and provide lobor for green projects in every major city.
      • Phearce, on 08/22/2008, -5/+4rebrad = Republican Fanboy
      • rebrad, on 08/22/2008, -0/+3Sorry Phearce, I'm a libertarian and don't support either candidate. I was once a Democrat until I learned that their definition of freedom was more Orwellian than mine.
      • docbob84, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1After the last eight years, you think it's the DEMOCRATS that would like to see the working class imprisoned and the right to protest revoked? Can you please tell me exactly which drugs you're on? I'm jealous.
      • rebrad, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1No drugs. I saw it on MSNBC
      • sajorojas, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1I think McCain and Obama should run on the same ticket. At least then the American people will realize what a broad choice they have.
    • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -5/+4Ahhh, as we all get to know the collective we learn that....RESISTANCE IS FUTILE, you will be assimilated comrade even if we have to "re-educate" you. I can hardly wait until Obama forces me to join the America Health care collective. I love to be forced to do *****, it makes my day.
      • rebrad, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1At least your labor can be used to produce more iDoctrination units otherwise known as iPods. Gaia bless you my brother.
      • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2Gaia already blessed me with life sir and now these damn collectivist fools wanna take it away for THEIR lofty ideas.
    • babbitblob, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1Room 101.
    • kuzotz, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Well it is in the olympics, but there are so many urban dwellers that when groups organizse these things. The gov't doesn't think it will get popular, and when it does. The Chinese gov't always folds to the protester's demands. Because they know there ain't ***** to do, but during the olympics they cracked down hard. They mainly did it so they looked like a true police state in which they had control over their people. See the hint.They looked like a true police state. China is about to experience some civil unrest really soon as more people are starting to get tired of their gov'ts BS.
  • Backdrifts, on 08/22/2008, -1/+14There's a great book about these places called 'Bitter Winds' by a guy who was imprisoned in one for nearly 20 years. After being labeled a 'counterrevolutionary rightist' by the government they stuck him in one, and he just got transferred from one to the other for the next couple of decades. If you're interested at all check it out, the guy's name is Harry Wu.
    • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -4/+2'counterrevolutionary rightist'

      Hey, foul, thats the name the collectivists in the US were gonna use to imprison global warming deniers and freedom lovers.
    • gaoshan, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1Though be aware that the camps Harry Wu is talking about are those of the Mao era and were a very different beast from the situation today. The whole situation re: labor camps still sucks and is wrong but the differences between 2008 and the 1960's and 1970's when Harry Wu was imprisoned are legion.
  • thisisparta, on 08/22/2008, -3/+12Jesus, this ***** is almost bad as the North Koreans.
  • dwhitbeck, on 08/22/2008, -2/+10The Chinese dictatorial leadership should have a little re-education through labor.
  • hawkspur, on 08/22/2008, -4/+30China is a totalitarian hellhole. The Olympics have just been them putting glitter and perfume on a pile of dog ***** decisions their government doles out.
    • diabolicedict, on 08/22/2008, -7/+4Tough talk for someone who buys Chinese products and services.
      • hawkspur, on 08/22/2008, -1/+11It's functionally impossible to avoid them. I'm sure you completely avoid all Chinese products and services right?
      • diabolicedict, on 08/22/2008, -3/+5I love Chinese product and services, why should i avoid them? I am not a hypocrite to claim the moral high ground on this issue.
      • arjie, on 08/22/2008, -4/+7If you really felt very strongly against Chinese policies you would give up Chinese products and be willing to live a less comfortable life without them. You'd also meet other citizens and lobby your government, or at the least, try. The fact that you don't means you value your comfort over objecting to Chinese social policy. Not meant as an insult, it's just fact. None of us care enough.
      • theaceoffire, on 08/22/2008, -3/+2Bull.

        Its not like we are buying expensive shoes or something, EVERYTHING is made in china (Or a place that treats people as bad if not worse).

        So unless you want to go around without clothes, food, cars, gas, chairs, computers, etc, you can't avoid it. To claim otherwise is naive.
      • arjie, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2I can get clothes made in India, food grown in India; cars made in plants in India (import duty on cars is 110%); gas pumped from the Gulf, Russia, Venezuela; chairs (CHAIRS? WTF?! Chairs are made all over the place). It's only all my electronics that are made in China. I live in India, of course.

        theaceoffire: You live in the United States for god's sake, agriculture is so damn big there. You're the third largest producers of wheat in the world. You're complaining about food?

        I still can't get over 'chairs'. Don't tell me you don't have a carpenter within a kilometre of your place (if you live in a suburb).
    • TigerStar337, on 08/22/2008, -3/+1As I recall from the Olympic games in Atlanta, the Americans did the same thing. Further, during the Atlanta games there was 2 murders.

      Perhaps, when the games are in London, the Limeys will show the world how to do the Olympics properly.
      • kuzotz, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1There was a terrorist attack during the olympic games in Atlanta. Further more I don't think that city hid it's ghetto from everyone. But that was because of Moorehouse and Spellman University who prevented that BS. Instead they did a HUGE project over the city in which they made it look better, and it's really hasn't changed much since then.


        BTW the ATL is quite the dangerous city. I doubt those people were murdered near the stadium. They were probably on MLK st. or something.
    • Phearce, on 08/22/2008, -1/+2"Perfume on a pile of dog *****" -- I prefer "makeup on a pig", but either works.
    • nod123g, on 08/22/2008, -4/+0Why are you so afraid of china? funny~

      Are you sorry for people living in china?OK,donate all your salary to them, and of course, Many thanks!
  • shig, on 08/22/2008, -1/+7Answer: A boot stomp to the face, and a kick in the neck.
    • 5xSTUN, on 08/22/2008, -0/+5Or, as Orwell put it, "...a boot stamping on a human face forever."
  • eckofire, on 08/22/2008, -2/+5this makes me sick.
  • Technopundit, on 08/22/2008, -2/+22Yah, but they turn out iPods REAL CHEAP!
  • JMellissa, on 08/22/2008, -2/+27Slavery by any other name is still slavery.
    • Tarnum, on 08/22/2008, -5/+4Yeah, but they turn out iPods REAL CHEAP!
    • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -3/+3Yep, anytime you force people to work for the collective or live their lives the way the collective sees fit, you have injustice and slavery.

      BTW, you all MUST participate in Social Security and Government healthcare. You have no choice, the collective has decreed it and resistance is futile.

      In the meanwhile, those Chinese are horrible for forcing people to do things aren't they?
      • Dunhamzzz, on 08/22/2008, -1/+3Yeah, but they turn out iPods REAL CHEAP
      • Methusalah, on 08/22/2008, -0/+5There's a big difference between being taxed to fund programs that at the very least were intended to help those in need and programs where 70 year old women are forced to spend 12 hours a day performing hard labor to bring in revenue for the government. You may not like paying Social Security and medicare etc, but I much prefer that over being forced into slavery for 4 years because I simply requested permission to protest a decision my government has made.
      • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2Methusalah: So forcing people to work is ok if you have lofty ideals?

        BTW, try not paying social security and see if your government doesn't put you in a little concrete room where you can be butt raped. You might not "rather have that" after all.

      • Methusalah, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1@govsucks No, If I implied that forcing people to work is ok for any reason it was my error.

        If I had no income I wouldn't be thrown in jail for not paying social security and nobody would come and throw me into a labor camp so that I could. My point is that you are trivializing the impact of these Re-Education camps so that you can spout of unrelated comments about the American government (which I'm by no means a huge fan of).
      • kuzotz, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Don't bother. govsucks has no real comprehension skills.
    • Pixelpaws, on 08/22/2008, -2/+4"Freedom is Slavery" - George Orwell, 1984.
  • RobbyInternets, on 08/22/2008, -1/+7Sports boycotts went some way to helping the situation in South Africa but for some reason there is no real swell of support for an Olympic boycott. Sorta stinks if you ask me, I'd boycott it but then I wasn't paying it much attention anyway.
  • Tarnum, on 08/22/2008, -0/+24Forced labor for someone in her 70s is practically a death sentence.
    • bluesman3535, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1I admire the strength of the older Chinese standing up to the BS. I would like to thank them for exposing the cruelty usually hidden in China.
  • Jaysunli, on 08/22/2008, -6/+20I hate the folks that use the "Well, you use Chinese products so you can't say anything about their governement!" arguement.

    It's ridiculous.
    • diabolicedict, on 08/22/2008, -8/+7It's called not being a hypocrite. Why claim the moral high ground if you cannot defend it?
      • Phearce, on 08/22/2008, -3/+4LOL, unless you're a Luddite, how could you possibly avoid Chinese products in our global economy? (BTW: we're communicating via digg, on computers, which almost certainly have Chinese components).
      • duckyinc, on 08/22/2008, -3/+2How about telling your government to stop importing those? But no you don't like activism do you?
      • MmmPi, on 08/22/2008, -4/+5My god this word hypocrite get thrown around!
        Someone who claims moral ground who cannot defend it is NOT a hypocrite, a hypocrite is someone who's actual belief and your public belief are in contradiction.
        Using a product but complaining about it makes you an enlightened consumer, a true capitalist NOT a hypocrite.

        http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypocrite


  • bentman78, on 08/22/2008, -7/+11socialism at it's best...
    • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -5/+3Collectivism sir, these pussies get their panties in a wad when you don't use the correct word for their collectivism so just call it collectivism. Why these collectivists get mad at the Chinese for protecting their collective is a mystery. Especially when the collectivists here also force people to do ***** against their will, making them no better than the Chinese.
      • bentman78, on 08/22/2008, -0/+3sorry...collectivist progressive government at it's best.
    • OCSmoke, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1Or the norm of Authoritarianism.
  • scabbers, on 08/22/2008, -5/+17Thank God America won't ever imprison people without charges or legal representation etc!

    /s
    • passedoutghost, on 08/22/2008, -5/+4Yeah, thank God because America doesn't torture people either like those nasty, nasty Chinese.

      /s (in case some people didn't realise)
    • atgmac, on 08/22/2008, -4/+10Yes, america puts people applying for a permit into hard labour camps all the time.
    • govsucks, on 08/22/2008, -3/+6Yeah, thank ManBearPig that our government doesn't force people to participate in government programs like the Chinese do.

      Its funny to watch collectivists get mad at other collectivists...its like watching a snake eat itself.
  • liquidmetalband, on 08/22/2008, -5/+12Sounds an awful lot like the US prison system.

    Stick people in for protesting or drugs and then have them work for tiny amounts of money.
    • normlsparky, on 08/22/2008, -1/+6our privatized prison system is different only because it makes shareholders in prison stock rich instead of the government. just think of how those stock prices will jump when the fema concentration camps in most states are filled to capacity. once that happens, the sheer volume of forced labor will finally make us competitive again in the world markets. just a few more pesky constitutional rights left to eliminate. in the interests of national security, of course.
      • methylamine, on 08/22/2008, -0/+3you rock. see you in the camps. ***** the goons who call themselves "government"
    • wexmajor, on 08/22/2008, -0/+4I don't think many people in the US are in prison for protesting. The drug comparison is unsettlingly apt though.
    • Dibou, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2No one gets arrested for protesting. They get arrested because the "protest" involves throwing blood on someone, blocking traffic, blocking doorways, etc. Even then they are let go within hours usually.
  • daPhoenix, on 08/22/2008, -4/+3People from a country with over 2 million prisoners commenting on the practices of another with almost 4 times as many people.

    Pretty rich.
  • Fanboy88, on 08/22/2008, -7/+4Who useful are the USA prisons at reforming criminals...making them into good American citizens?

    Is USA jingoism tarnishing the Olympic ideal?
    • Phearce, on 08/22/2008, -1/+5?!? I saw the article as significant in terms of due process and free speech. Shifting the conversation to prison-effectiveness or jingoism is just distracting.
  • nimbusnacho, on 08/22/2008, -4/+11War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength; Education is Labor.
  • FrankHope, on 08/22/2008, -1/+6This is Slave Labor. Tibetan Monks have also been sentenced to re-education unless they renounce the Dalai Lama.
  • edebolt, on 08/22/2008, -2/+6A couple of hundred thousand people in reduction camps sounds really low. When I traveled thru southern China there were many signs along the road saying no pictures etc of the people working in the fields. This is because it would be bad publicity if shown inside or outside of the country. At one point we had our camera taken and had to endure a 3 hour questioning. In addition whenever a family has more than 1 child and don't pay the bribes then the authorities take the over quota children and they grow up in the camps. Perhaps they are not called re education but there are a lot of orphan kids working for the state in China.
  • jaytea90, on 08/22/2008, -10/+3I'm sick and tired of all this ***** concerning the Chinese Government. If you don't like it LEAVE THE COUNTRY and STOP BITCHING ABOUT IT. Disregarding the amount of corruption that does surround the government I still like the fact that they can have an airport built in 3 years, in Australia, it's taken at least 6 years for a proposition of a new metro to go through, probably another 10 for funding to get approved, in the end i'll doubt really enjoy the new system.
    Communism is all about the greater good and it fixes the problems fast, sure moving a few million people may not be a smart idea, but in the end it gets dams built and provides electricity for millions more.
    • normlsparky, on 08/22/2008, -2/+5thanks for letting us know that your enjoyment of facilities created quickly with slave labor is at stake here. how dare issues like human rights infringe upon your right to enjoy things quickly and cheaply. your "LEAVE THE COUNTRY and STOP BITCHING ABOUT IT" remark illustrates that your ignorance is indeed legendary. people will talk about your low IQ for generations to come. what part of PRISON LABOR CAMPS made you think people could just say "no thanks, i'd rather just leave the country"??? wouldn't that undermine the greater good philosophy of the communist ideology? how would anything ever get done? in the end, facilities get completed in all types of governments. some just do it by paying people a living wage and treating them with dignity instead of resorting to slave labor.
      • jaytea90, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1These people are put there into labor camps because they cannot do what they are told. The government has set up protest areas, and they chose not to. This is a totalitarian society ruled by the iron fist of dictatorship. If you don't like it, tough, move to another country. OF COURSE it doesn't undermine the greater good philosophy of the communist ideology. You have two old protesters, if they get reeducated successfully, cool. If they don't, they work for the government that they hate, cool, bricks gets made.

        Apologies I did phrase it poorly, I meant don't bitch about it, leave the country, bitch about it.

        Now, mostly all of the construction are not slave labor, mind you, stop twisting my words. My example of an airport was, obviously not, built with slave labor.

        Wait i'm sorry i've lost all point of argument, i don't even know what they're protesting against...unless it's democracy...democracy still screws over the minority
    • ShisouKen, on 08/22/2008, -0/+4Dugg down for idiocy

      "Leave the country and stop bitching about it"

      Methinks you don't know much about China.
      • jaytea90, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Methinks it's a lot easier than youthinks.
    • liuite, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2your authoritarian government has built a dam in an earth quake prone region right above where tens of millions live...a dam rupture will cause the largest man-made disaster in history which will make katrina pale in comparison. too soon to be proud of that dam as only time will tell!
      • jaytea90, on 08/25/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately I can't agree with you more/less. There are always downsides.
  • Natasha85, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1i dont agree ,look what was happening in poland during comunism, now the country is growing but b4 it was crap, to get bread u have to queue long hours leave ur children at home on its own and stand there, they also didnt accept real money, u had to queue up at the bank to change them into 'monoply ' money which allowed u to buy specific food, how good it is?
  • Virgule, on 08/22/2008, -2/+2They make them watch the new Star Wars then enact Jar Jar Binx... IN FRENCH!

    OK, i suck at internet funnies ;(
  • bunkybrewman, on 08/22/2008, -2/+2We are "re-educating" ourselves thanks to PC dominated society that increasingly controls our lives. Instead of work camps, we have those people who believe they *know* what you should do, how you should do it, and what you should think.

    These comments, in all likelihood, will be buried, proving my point. (which, as a contrary opinion that doesn't mesh with the status quo on this site will be rendered moot)
  • gkiltz, on 08/22/2008, -0/+0How educational is any prison?
    Why do you say that?
    These are things we all need to think about!
  • morningmatters, on 08/22/2008, -1/+1The Chinese system needs to be changed, but at the same time serving time in jail shouldn't be a cakewalk either. The whole point of jail is to serve out punishments in order to deter future crimes. You may not agree with the law or why people are sent to prison, but prisons themselves should not be a happy or relaxing place.

    In China's case, people should not be sent to prison for their political beliefs. However, majority of the people in prison are criminals who deserve to be in prisons. I can only hope that other nations won't have a jail system like the US where millions are in jail and people are not afraid to go jail.
    • bluesman3535, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2How much did the Chinese government pay you for your ridiculous post here? How is "applying for a protest permit' a political belief?
    • jabelar, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2Well, the word "criminal" is self-referencing. You can make any stupid law and then call someone who breaks it a criminal. That is the problem with the drug laws in US. Someone should have the right to wreck their own lives/health by using drugs, but a huge number of people are in jail for possession. I'm not bashing US cause I agree the situation in China (and many, many other countries) is much worse -- not just the laws are bad, but the police, the jailers, the politicians, etc. But I object to the idea that "criminals belong in jail" without examining whether the laws themselves are dumb.
  • vexingmodstwo, on 08/22/2008, -2/+8And just yesterday, Obama said we should be more like China.
  • TINZUSA, on 08/22/2008, -2/+3Nobody, absolutely nobody anywhere in the World should be afraid to speak their mind.
  • bluesman3535, on 08/22/2008, -1/+2Now back to the fantasy China. Enjoy the Games! After the games book a vacation to Tibet.
  • methylamine, on 08/22/2008, -3/+4Note: America imprisons more people in absolute terms, and far more percentage-wise, than China.

    China's bad for liberty. But America's grasp of liberty may be worse, soon.

    Read up on FEMA camps built by Halliburton. Yes, there are prison camps in America. No, they won't let you watch American Idol there.
  • liuite, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1\ / we are sending you to the school of hard knocks
  • Jaysunli, on 08/22/2008, -0/+2Owning something made by a country and denouncing horrible actions by a government are totally different things that have no basis on each other.

    What's wrong with you people.
  • Yage2006, on 08/22/2008, -3/+1Dunno but I like the sound of it. America could use that for all the idiots running around.
    • britoca, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1watch out, someone might think you're quite idiotic
    • OCSmoke, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1Be an idiot, become slave labor. Very patriotic.
  • britoca, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1after seeing how the CCP bullied the IOC, foreign journalists and protesters, and still is imprisoning their own citizens, I'm pretty much done buying anything made in China. I'm going to do my part from now on. This is not going to be easy, and certainly, I might even forget to check the "made in" tag due to lack of practice, but from now on, I have decided, I will really try to pay attention to this, to force the habit on to my consumption and to not buy "made in China". This evil force must be tamed.

  • m2garand, on 08/23/2008, -0/+2The US also has reeducation camps. We call them public schools. In these camps you can learn how Lincoln, Wilson, FDR and Truman were great presidents. How capitalism cause the Great Depression and the government saved us (pay no attention to the Federal Reserve). You can also "learn" how we having a Living Constitution.
  • rebrad, on 08/23/2008, -1/+2@govsucks I thought everyone knew about the gulag they built in Denver to handle protesters. I think someone needs to get up on current events on something else than huffingtonpost instead of looking for new sources of drugs.
  • MarkEarhart, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1The people of China should raid a factory where they make the fireworks they are so famous for and take these slave labor camp guards hostage. I'd light a roman candle and stick it where the sun doesn't shine!!!
  • dt07, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1Without the Bill of Rights we are the same. Demand our politicians read them NOW.
  • mrrealtime, on 08/23/2008, -0/+0if we dont speak out against China's repressive government as loudly as possible, you can be guaranteed its oppressive, disgusting, inhumane practices and policies will be copied as soon as possible by your own government.
  • Nerys, on 08/23/2008, -0/+1I bet you it works quite well at squashing dissent.
  • enewsreference, on 08/24/2008, -0/+1As long was we can purchase cheap goods everything is ok... http://www.enewsreference.com/newspaper/china.htm
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.