Mob beats Chinese steel factory executive to death

[tj2001]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Mob beats Chinese steel factory executive to death
Thousands of workers had gathered in northeastern rust belt city of Tonghua to protest the takeover of their company and threatened layoffs.
July 27, 2009

Chinese state media confirmed Monday that a steel factory executive was beaten to death after thousands of workers gathered to protest the takeover of their company.

Chen Guojun, an executive at Jianlong Steel Holding Co., died Friday after an angry mob in the northeastern rust belt city of Tonghua beat him and then blocked ambulances from reaching him, according to the China Daily.

The protesters worked at the state-owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group, which was going to be sold to Chen's privately owned Jianlong Steel. Chen sparked the riot by announcing 30,000 workers would be laid off, the newspaper said.

They dispersed later only after they were assured by authorities the sale would not go through.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-mob27-2009jul27,0,3235364.story

[donco6]

1. Gee, maybe THAT'S why execs get paid so much. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

10. 1 way to deal with outsourcing

[DJ13]

2. Thats dumb

You're supposed to start with the bankers.

[billyoc]

3. I'm a sucker for these warm and fuzzy human interest stories.

[cliffordu]

7. Me too.....

BWAHAHA AHH A HAHAHHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHHAHHHA HAHAH A

Coming soon to a population center near you.......

[billyoc]

13. Really restores my faith in humanity, ya know?

:evilgrin:

[cliffordu]

14. Yep - In some places true justice still prevails.

Old Skool indeed.

[proteus_lives]

4. Sounds like old Red Guard behavior.

They beat, tortured and killed people publicly on a daily basis.

[create.peace]

5. The human rights centre said workers were angry that Chen earned about 3m yuan

The workers are thought to have been fearful of further large-scale redundancies at a company that reportedly axed many jobs only a few years ago. Reports suggest Tonghua has between 20,000 and 50,000 employees.

Millions of people were laid off by state enterprises in the 1990s and workers often complain that they receive little compensation.

The human rights centre said workers were angry that Chen earned about 3m yuan (£267,000) last year while Tonghua's retirees were given as little as 200 yuan a month.

http://www.hedgehogs.net/pg/newsfeeds/hhwebadmin/item/600588/china-steel-workers-beat-boss-to-death

[truthisfreedom]

8. 3,000,000 versus 200. That's a pretty intense ratio. 15,000 to one. In the US, it's 1000:1

when comparing average CEO take-home to average minimum wage.

[create.peace]

16. yep, nt

[izzie]

17. You would think both sides would see they need each other sooo

would think over what both sides were doing. One often wonders how a CEO figures he could make a cent with out the worker or the worker one cent with out the back ground to be able to work. I sure see nothing wrong with a little govt. control to see that it all works out. Beating the CEO to death is hardly a good move or putting all those people out of work. Crazy

[JVS]

51. Workers don't need the CEO, they need self-determination

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. Actually that would be 3m/yr vs 2400/yr. A little better,

but not much.

[ieoeja]

38. But it would put it on par with the United States ratio at 1250:1.

[earcandle]

6. communism at work...

"wait a minute, aren't we supposed to be the dictatorship
of the proletariat here? 
What is all of this laissez faire capitalism doing in our
economy!?@#$$%^^&&* Out damn spot!" 

[Chulanowa]

9. So... Basically, he was buying a state business, then firing everyone who worked there.

Of course, we're all "lolchina"

I kinda wonder what some of our fellow posters' reaction to a similar situation would be.

Tonghua has a population of 300,000.

10% of the town would have been unemployed by the single stroke of a pen.

Yeah, you dumb fucks, explain to me how much better than these workers you would be in that situation, how you would hold hands and sing and then go apply at McDonalds to let the beauty of Capitalism figure out which of your 30,000 buddies got the night janitor position that's open.

[DRoseDARs]

18. Did a bowling ball fall on your head or something?

Er, people 'round these parts aren't too friendly to the idea of CEOs and execs raking in huge amounts of cash while shafting their employees. If someone here stateside tried to fire 30,000 people in one foul (sic) swoop, an unholy stink would certainly be raised. Fortunately for our corporate swine, they know to do it in smaller numbers stretched over time. Flies under the radar of the 24 hour news cycle that way. Most here know this also, but most USians aren't here. That's why we rely on people like Kucinich, Nader (well, when he's not drinking the Moonshine Kookaid), and Edwards (when he's not busy cheating on his wife ... and I voted for that bastard before it came out. Grr.) to be the public servants who are the workers' advocates.



And lolchina? I'm gonna have to remember that one, that's Intertubespeak gold right there. :thumbsup:

[NashVegas]

45. Bull

If someone in the US laid off 30k people in one day, their stock price would shoot through the roof, and ABC news anchors would say it shows how well the economy is doing.

[Stumbler]

11. Imagine if American CEOs faced the same threat

Plans like NAFTA would've been scrapped before they began. If we as a populace took up arms against corporate greed when they started off-shoring our manufacturing base, they wouldn't have been so successful at bankrupting our nation.

Then again, how many of those could've-been-laid-off Chinese workers have the same luxuries we take for granted? Hi-def televisions, air conditioning, microwaves, fast food, internet porn, etc. I'll bet one of the biggest reasons we let ourselves get walked on by our corporate overlords are those little day-to-day conveniences we assume are our God-given-right as American citizens. We lack concern for our own well-being as long as we have bread and circuses to distract ourselves from what's really going on.

Even a majority of inmates in prison will comply with his/her lack of freedom if we give them access to cable television and soda.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stuball111]

15. Seems we could learn something from the Chinese, Like

Say... with elected officials? If they don't hold to their campaign promises, take em out and beat em stupid...AFTER they leave office then tell the guy that takes his place,"see? this is what's waiting for you if you fuck us around" I'll bet the house that they snap into line and start listening to the people, instead of CEO's and business execs and fucking "economists"! Yesiree, we'd have a perfect country after one election!

[oedura]

44. Why after?

I say most of our elected officials deserve beatings NOW.

[Vidar]

19. Not a bad way to deal with capitalist parasites.

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

34. Actually,

Murder is a VERY bad way to deal with ANYTHING!

Otherwise, where does it stop?

[Chulanowa]

36. So, what would have been a good way to deal with it?

This steel plant was the major source of income for the town. 10% of the population worked there - That figure is probably quite a bit larger if you count just the working-age population.

One fellow, in order to make a couple extra Yuan, was going to destroy the lives of thirty thousand people and possibly kill the town by removing this factory from it.

I'm not condoning the murder. But I can definitely see it as a form of self-defense. If you tell me you are going to make it so that I live in the street, then I will respond exactly as if you are yanking things from my home. it may not be the best solution available to me, but...

[nsd]

52. This is a strange stance to take for someone with a Gandhi avatar. /nt

[Chulanowa]

53. Gandhi was a human, too

Trick is, he managed to overcome the majority of his stupid impulses. I have yet to manage that :D

I'd switch back to the crazy Horse avatar... but that's not Crazy Horse.

[Recursion]

57. Gandhi fought in the Boer War

And was decorated for bravery

[BradXXX]

20. Sometimes

you have to get your hands dirty.

[No Elephants]

21. is there any way, short of murder, to get justice?

[Nay]

23. One would hope there was, but experiences over the last 10 years dictate

otherwise. A 600,000-person march against the war had NO effect.

[Tim01]

32. You could march now. Different results maybe. nt

[dugaresa]

26. i wish there was but if you look at the history of labor in the US

you realize that trying the rational approach gets you a pat on the head and a brush off.

Shut down a factory, bust a few heads and scare the shit out of management and woo hoo you get a seat at the table.

[NuttyFluffers]

49. respect and authority are a peaceful alternative in lieu of violence...

but sometimes some groups forget their respect and appreciation of authority for the "other side" in any social equation. this eventually leads to temporary repression and then finally a healthy physical reminder of why respect and authority was given in the first place...

life in cycles, we've all seen this shit before.

[Canuckistanian]

22. Workers in China and France have the right idea

If you take away someone's life and livelihood, be prepared to accept the consequences.

North Americans are wimps.

[wroberts189]

24. desperation.. messenger beware. nt

[Doctor_J]

25. Woo-hoo!

Someone should forward this to the Health Care profiteers in the US. Power to the people

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

35. Are you in favor of Capital Punishment?

Putting a cold-blooded murderer (someone who brutally steals the life of an innocent human being) to death is wrong.

Putting a poor schlub who gave tragic, but not fatal, news is OK?

Just say NO to Capital Punishment - REGARDLESS of the crime!

[Doctor_J]

37. No. We have prisons to incarcerate criminals.

Unfortunately at times the law does not reach people like the robber barons and others in the upper crust. In such a situation, eventually, at least in a healthy democracy, the people will be forced to go beyond writing their Congressmen and posting on DU. It's unfortunate this anti-worker executive died, but the workers must have been confronted with the fact that the law could not help them get justice.

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

47. Therefore, the next time I am downsized,

Forget trying to deal with the situation in a peaceful manner. Forget trying to work my way out of my situation using personal effort and creativity.

No, I should grab a gun or a club and ice the MoFo who gave me the pink slip!

(No, sorry, the idea of killing someone does not work for me)

[Doctor_J]

55. Of course not

downsizing happens. But when an executive makes a concious decision to relieve 30,000 people of their livelihood, or when health care executives deliberately engage in serial murder by denying people treatment, they should face consequences. Sadly, here in the US such people are beyond the reach of the law, but that does not mean that they are beyond justice. So far hate radio has been keeping the health care profiteers safe by brainwashing the people into believing they are not entitled to care. Eventually the truth will get through to the people, and these health care profiteers, together with their congressional lackeys, lobbyists, and propagandists are going to pay dearly

[xchrom]

27. shrug -- if the workers and The People want to stop being

exploited, made redundant, laid off for rehiring at a lesser wage, etc-- then this is the kind of anger it will take.

[Bigmack]

28. Won't happen here... "Slave" mentality...

or perhaps "prisoner" mentality.

"What can weee do? They are soooo powerful, and we are sooo weak..."

[Doctor_J]

33. Something along these lines many years ago might have redirected the US

It's way too late now for one act of civil disobedience to do any good. We're probably past the point at which a civil war could have been avoided. It's still a ways off, but probably is the end result of hate radio. Hopefully our side will be ready, and not end up like the Rwandan resistance.

[nolabels]

50. The foes to US working middle class have spent decades insulating from the fire

Hell, they even have us paying taxes in the screwing of ourselves. But in the long run they just were not smart enough in keeping modern technology away from us. We are rapidly gaining the tools to now turn the screws on them :evilgrin:

[sarcasmo]

40. Correct, the herd mentality here, helps the Corporations control the herd.

[pampango]

48. Kind of runs counter to the view that it's the Chinese workers who are the "wage slaves"

that cause the US such trouble. While they are poorly paid compared to American workers, perhaps the Chinese do not perceive themselves as the powerless "slaves" that some here cast them as.

[lonestarnot]

30. Woopsie.

[David__77]

31. Killing him was a mistake. But it's good that Chinese workers are highly militant.

It should be stressed that the actions halted the sale of the public company, and that, for now, that 30,000 workers will be retained.

China's workers and farmers will definitely continue to stand up for their rights.

[sarcasmo]

39. Mob Rules.

[Doctor_J]

41. Unfortunately when some people are beyond the law, this sometimes

happens.

[Supply Side Jesus]

42. Wow...Death to the suits?

Usually Window warriors speak that way because they have no idea what really violence and death really is.

[conspirator]

43. I am not shocked. Shits happen. Rich people kill thousands with their wars

and greed. And it's business as usual, they are not even arrested.

[Mind_your_head]

46. How "interesting" how the Chinese handle such news

kick

[Vinca]

54. It's just wrong that I'm hoping the Chinese-made steel scaffolding

my husband bought came from that company. The stuff apparently wasn't primed before painting and started rusting the second it hit fresh air. We try to only buy American, but there was none available that was made in the U.S.

[The Magistrate]

56. Perhaps It Will Kick Off A Global Trend, Sir....

[Alamuti Lotus]

58. One can only hope, sir.

On the subject, there was the incident with those French workers recently--I did not catch the conclusion, but they were threatening to martyr their factory to spite its greedy overlord.

[treestar]

59. That's evil and whoever was responsible deserves to feel the

consequences. I am appalled by the defense of murder on this thread. It's merely a mirror reflection, on the opposite side, of freeper threads.

If a product is not selling a factory has to be closed. If a business isn't making a profit, it is physically impossible for it to go on.

China is supposed to be socialist or communist, so why didn't these workers have a safety net? That is what we need, not murder.