News about the Maoist Left in China

Three articles, one from the the NY Times, one from the Economist and one from the University of Hong Kong's  China Media Project, report on China's Maoist Left. They all make reference to the campaign launched by Maoist websites such as Utopia and Maoflag.net, against the neo-liberal economist Mao Yushi who recently criticized the "sins" of Mao Zedong and the CPC in years gone by. I have previously translated the preamble to a petition circulating on the web calling for the indictment of Mao Yushi and Xin Ziling for sedition. I also posted comments at both the Economist site and the HK University site.

This site is of course dedicated to bringing the Maoist side of this debate and other Maoist issues to a broader non-Chinese speaking audience.

I'm also posting two news reports, one regarding an issue that the Maoist websites have been obsessive about and another concerning changes in China's labor law that may have very significant repercussions.

The first regards postponing the further introduction of genetically modified food into China. The Maoists outside the Party have been organizing "reverse propaganda teams" to go out to public venues to agitate against GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Young activists have gone to public parks with poster boards and leaflets educating citizens about the hazards of GMOs. They have also gone to public lectures where GMOs are being discussed to challenge scientists promoting GMO research. The announcement that the approval of GMOs has been sidetracked was greeted with high fives on the Maoist web and seen as a great victory for their efforts. An earlier article discussing this issue can be found at GM Watch.

Reverse Propaganda team in Purple Bamboo Park, Beijing

The second report is on the approval of collective bargaining rights and regulations for non-state sector officially sanctioned unions. It is posted at the ACFTU website. A translation of the article follows:

General Timetable for the Introduction of a "System of Collective Wage Negotiations" A schedule for a 3 year period during which enterprises will completely implement a comprehensive system of collective bargaining has been promulgated

According to a report by “China's Voice” <Peak of the Evening News>, the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has initiated a 3 year period during which enterprises will completely implement a comprehensive system of collective bargaining.

ACFTU Minister for Collective Contracts, Zhang Jianguo, said that the emphasis will be on good management of collective wage negotiations with regional business sectors, non-public enterprises and the world's top 500 companies operating in China. Focus will be on industrial clusters, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), labor-intensive enterprises and industries that are organizationally relatively regionally concentrated.

Regarding the problem of employees who are afraid and hesitant to talk to management about workers rights and benefits, Zhang Jianguo said that from the point of view of the widespread desires of the workers, they certainly hope that the unions will fight even more for their reasonable and legitimate interests. It is worth understanding that some employees worry whether unions can fight for their legitimate interests and fair interests  I feel that this is a problem. Fighting for workers legitimate rights and fair interests requires a process, and in that regard we have to especially emphasize that the laws that already regulate workers rights do not have any provisions for consultations or the need for negotiations, or who will  be responsible for the formulation and good implementation of the regulations.

Moreover as regards the anxiety of enterprises about rising manufacturing costs, Zhang Jianguo believes that such worries are unnecessary, because the principle of consultation is to seek win-win cooperation, the pursuit of the balance of interests, the trade union demands made on behalf of workers interests, cannot surpass the level of increase in worker productivity growth, and should also be within the scope  that enterprises are able to withstand.

At the same time, the All China Federation of Trade Unions has launched a "national trade union collective bargaining instructor training program for implementation of the plan." Zhang Jianguo said, the ACFTU plans to use the 3 year period to train 150,000 instructors from stratified groups within the trade unions at all levels to carry out the work of collective wage negotiations  for the trade unions.

Privatization is the main erroneous tendency in China's economic field

This short article outlines the basic tasks of the primary stage of socialism and the challenges faced at this point in China's economic development. The fundamental question is in which direction will China go. Will the reforms that support a market economy and the development of private enterprise reach a tipping point where the underlying socialist foundations of the economy are eroded to the point of no return, or will the state-owned sector be protected and promoted to ensure the continued development of the socialist nature of the economy? The ultimate question is whither China? Those who promote privatization also promote “universal values,” a code word for “human rights,” and “democratization,” a code word for the liquidation of the Communist Party, its transformation into a reformist Social Democratic Party and the implementation of a bourgeois democratic multi-party, bicameral parliamentary system of governance. During the recent National Peoples Congress Wu Banguo, Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee announced the “Five NOs” as the guiding principle of the State during the next five year period, no multiparty election (maintenance of the political monopoly of the Communist Party) , no diversified guiding ideology systems (maintenance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as the guiding ideological system), no separation of powers (subservience of the political system to the Communist Party), no federal system (maintenance of central control of the economy) and no privatization (state-control of the commanding heights of the economy). 

Privatization is the main erroneous tendency in China's economic field

Liu Guoguang 　

The precondition for persisting in the primary stage of socialism, the basis of our economy, is to maintain the socialist market economy and to avoid both privatization and the single public ownership system. Currently the main erroneous tendency is not towards the single public ownership system but privatization. As regards the two tendencies, the crucial point is not to beat the one down, but to realistically and gradually retreat from the tendency towards privatization.
 
The criteria that Marxism uses in evaluating the system of ownership is not just looking at the proportional make-up of the ownership system. Neither does Marxism advocate not looking at this proportion. If, however, the proportion of the public sector of the national economy is constantly being reduced, reduced to a very low level, tending towards zero, that cannot be considered socialism. Over the last few years our macro-economy has seen the decline of public ownership and the rise of private ownership, "The nation recedes while the people advance." Some scholars estimate that public ownership no longer holds the predominate position. If that determination holds true then the basic economic system enshrined in our constitution is in imminent danger. This needs to be urgently reversed.
 
The basic economic system not only requires that public ownership occupies the dominant position in the economy but that the state plays a dominant role in the economy. The state should have control over the economic lifelines of the national economy. The power of the state to control, influence and compete must be enhanced. In the socialist economy, the role of the state in the economy is not like that in the capitalist system, in which it is only engaged in supporting private sector companies, does not want to operate departments that supplement private enterprise and seeks to rectify the inadequacies of market mechanisms. In the socialist economy the role of the state is to achieve the sustained, stable and coordinated development, consolidation and improvement of the socialist system. The state-owned economy should be focused on the energy, transportation, communications, finance, infrastructure and pillar industries, and other important industries and key areas in the life of the national economy, and should have "absolute control", "strong control ", "or a controlling interest" in these industries.

Another task of the State-owned economy is to protect social justice and an equitable economic base. Areas in which state-owned assets are not important for the regulation of the economy, but are very important in order to safeguard justice and fair competition should also be regarded as "important" and "critical" areas, and the state should strive to do a good job. Therefore, the task is not only to preserve the controlling power of the state-owned sector's natural monopoly position in the economy but at the same time to safeguard its development in the competitive arena, display its stability, ability to create employment, guarantee social well-being and its function in supplying public services, strengthening national transfer payments and carrying out the fair redistribution of economic power and strength.
 
The State-owned economy must not, as some neo-liberal elites and members of the chattering class within the system keep shouting, "completely withdraw" from the competitive field. The proponents of the privatization of the state-owned economy require that it not only fully withdraw from the field of competition, but also that the so-called lifelines of the national economy, the important industries and key areas, pull out of the state-owned economy. One of the measures advocated is to create conditions to encourage private enterprises to enter the "monopoly industries," this is the dream of the advocates of privatization because these monopoly industries are generally high profit industries. It should be made clear that in regard to national security the problem is not that there should be no control of economic lifelines and the natural monopoly industries in strategic sectors,, but rather who will be in control and who will monopolize. In general, in these particular sectors and industries, public ownership rather than private ownership of business enterprises better reflects the country's strategic interests and the public interest.
 
The private economy has two sides, in addition to the positive side which is conducive to the development of productive forces,, it also has the negative side of exploitation, which should be bound by the society because the nature of exploitation and the pursuit of self-interest gives rise to a number of social consequences, such as labor disputes, polarization, etc. Marxist political economy must be aware that it is not only necessary to study the private economy and private enterprise in order to guide their healthy development in legitimate business in appropriate industries, but also to limit their illegal and unhealthy management behavior and control their areas of business, such as they should not be allowed to control the lifeblood of key sectors and not be allowed to enter the monopoly sectors, these sectors are naturally highly profitable sectors but are also in the national and public interests, it should be borne by the public sector and cannot be for making a fortune for private capital to expand the gap between rich and poor.

 ("Global Vision globalview.cn" No. 371, taken from the "Social Science Report," January 6, 2011, the original title is "consolidating the institutional basis of the socialist market economy - the primary stage of the basic economic system")

Preamble to the Petition Calling for the Indictment of Mao Yushi and Xin Ziling

The following is an excerpt from a petition circulating on the Chinese web indicting Mao Yushi, a prominent neo-liberal economist, for defaming Mao Zedong and subverting state power. Mao Yushi has written polemics against Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party casting aspersions on both. There is a movement on the Chinese web to press charges against Mao Yushe and defend the PRC from those who wish to see a western supported political system imposed on the Chinese people. 

Petition to the Gansu People's Prosecutor to Press Charges against Xin ZiLing Mao Yushi

(http://www.wyzxsx.com/Article/Class22/201105/235503.html)*

*This petition is circulating in other Chinese provinces as well

Chairman Mao Zedong was the founding leader of the People's Republic of China, he was the leading core of the first generation of the Communist Party of China, the beloved leader of all the working people of each and every Chinese nationality and an unprecedented national hero, he was also and still is the respected great revolutionary teacher of the world's oppressed peoples.

Chairman Mao Zedong as leader of the Communist Party of China led the Chinese people of all nationalities through arduous struggle to ultimately defeat the enemy at home and abroad, overthrow the three great mountains oppressing the Chinese people, establish the People's Republic, and cause our nation, which in recent history had been aggressively invaded by the west, oppressed and humiliated, to tower over the East and begin a peace-building, great national rejuvenation process.

After the founding of new China, the old and new imperialists were not reconciled to fail, they have never given up on aggression, and attempts to enslave the Chinese people. It was Chairman Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of the Chinese People's Liberation Army closely relying on the strength of the people who again and again defeated the imperialist and hegemonic aggression, sabotage and armed provocations, to defend national independence and national dignity, to defend the domestic peace and construction. He also created a new Chinese people unafraid to defy threat and violence, despising the powerful, having the courage to struggle against imperialism, with the staunch quality of national determination to fight until victory, serving as a bright beacon for the oppressed and victimized people of the world. Mao Zedong Thought has thus become a sharp weapon of the world's oppressed nations fighting for national independence and liberation.

Under the leadership of Chairman Mao, Chinese Communists led the Chinese people in establishing a brand new socialist system without exploitation or oppression. Under socialism the laboring masses stood up and liberated themselves and in a burst of intense passion reconstructed the country. Under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the Chinese Communists and all nationalities breathing one breath, sharing the same fate, bearing all hardships, advanced, leaving pleasure behind, leading the Chinese people united in one mind, battling heaven and earth, within the short span of 27 years, astonishingly accomplished reconstruction. China from a country that did not produce its own oil, cement, iron nails or matches but needed to import them from overseas, developed into a country that has a complete industrial system with its own atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, trains, automotive, nuclear submarines, computers and all the world's most advanced technology products, and in some areas one of the world's leading countries. This developmental pace is extremely rarely seen in all of human history!
Although during Chairman Mao Zedong's lifetime people's material living conditions were not rich and prosperous, people's living standards had already increased significantly and progressively improved. While the people of that time were not rich and self-satisfied they were at peace and harmonious. There was no exploitation, there was no oppression, no desperate need for making a living, everyone could afford the cost of housing, medical care and schooling and avoid suffering torment. Everything needs to go through a process of accumulation and development, and this truth applies to improving people's living standard. We can search our souls and ask, if there hadn't been the era of Mao Zedong in which the Chinese people were united as one, engaged in arduous struggle to build up the country through thrift and hard work, during which industry, agriculture, national defense, science and a technological base were formed, how could there be future generations of peace, tranquility and prosperity?

The Chinese people during Mao's time were vigorous and magnificent! The Chinese Communists led by Chairman Mao made great contributions to the Chinese people in every possible way! With Chairman Mao Zedong as the representative of that generation of Communists of noble character and unquestionable integrity shining like the sun and moon!

Even though some policy mistakes during the process of reform and opening up were made that seriously violated the interests of the broad, laboring masses and seriously hurt the laboring masses feelings, nevertheless the majority of working people still support the Communist Party's leadership, are willing to defend the democratic government of the People's Republic of China, and are willing to fight all attempts to overthrow the Communist Party's leadership, and the socialist system. The underlying reasons are; first, the people support socialism; second, the profound affection held by the people for the first generation of Communists represented by Chairman Mao, the supreme confidence held by the people in the ability of Mao Zedong Thought to nurture the new generation of Communists, the belief that the Communist Party created by Chairman Mao has the ability to correct itself, and that even though there has been a short deviation it will eventually return to the correct road of Mao Zedong Thought. The glorious achievements of the first generation of Communists led by Chairman Mao are the political basis for the legitimacy and legality of the Chinese Communist Party holding political power.

Enemies at home and abroad are very well aware of this, therefore, thirty years after Chairman Mao Zedong's death, domestic and foreign enemies have never stopped their vilification of, and vicious slanders and attacks against Chairman Mao Zedong. They fabricated countless lies to smear Chairman Mao, to vilify the CCP and defame the history of New China. Their basic aim is to negate the legitimacy and legality of the CCP's hold on power, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the leadership of the CCP and the socialist system, to domestically restore human exploitation and the old system of oppression while internationally to continue to support the imperialist exploitation of the Chinese people and restore the colonial enslavement of the Chinese people! Mao Yushi, Xin Ziling and their ilk are domestic and international representatives of the vanguard of these anti-Party and anti-socialist forces.

It should be said that these enemies of the people have to some extent been successful, but in the end they are inevitably bound to fail. To say that they have had success is because during the years following Chairman Mao's death they pushed through negations and slanders of Chairman Mao, benumbed the broad laboring people, completed the robbery of the masses of people, created a situation in which the mass of common people could not afford housing, could not get medical care, could not attend school, where a great extent of workers were laid-off, a great extent of peasants were impoverished, a great extent of college students were unemployed, where corruption was rampant, and a large number of women became prostitutes! After pushing through the looting of the broad laboring masses they completed their bloody accumulation of wealth. Now what they want to do is completely overthrow the Communist Party and annihilate the last obstacle on their way to implementing the dictatorship of capital in order to consolidate the results of their robbery. Hostile overseas forces by colluding with domestic Chinese traitors and comprador forces have had some success in influencing the government, the economy, the culture and the military. Having relentlessly demonized Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, politically they have successfully isolated and libeled China and the Chinese government; economically they have achieved a certain degree of colonial control of China's economy; in culture, they have successfully trained a large number of cultural traitors, and gradually whittled away at new China's national pride and national honor; militarily they have also achieved surrounding China, constantly showing off their military strength around China's borders, creating trouble, and continuing to support China's national separatist forces in an attempt to dismember China. The ultimate goal of the Western imperialist forces is to maintain the rule of international monopoly capital, and to realize their dream of the permanent colonization of China. That they ultimately will be bound to fail, is due to the fact that the Chinese people have started to awaken. People are already fully aware that domestic reactionary forces under the banner of "universal values" are looting the people, selling out the country and restoring the shady system of exploitation. They realize that U.S. led imperialism has hoisted the banner of freedom and democracy in order to criminally invade other nations and enslave their people. People also realize that the difficulties that they have met and the predicament and humiliations that the country has been in and borne over these years are all the result of having discarded Mao Zedong Thought. At present, across the great land of China a flourishing red tidal wave has arisen. This is not only in memory of Chairman Mao, but is a powerful declaration of support by the broad masses of laboring people for persevering in Mao Zedong Thought and adhering to the socialist road!

The day the people thoroughly awaken is the day when both domestic and foreign reactionary forces will be completely vanquished! Because of this those domestic and foreign reactionaries who want to subvert the people's democratic political power and overthrow the socialist system are full of dread, and are engaged in their final death bed struggle.

Mao Zedong's Thoughts on Class Struggle and Daoist Philosophy

This is a very “Chinese” essay. The terminology is steeped in classical and revolutionary Chinese rhetoric and thus may be difficult for those versed in Western epistemology to understand. From a Marxist perspective “spirit” can be thought of in terms of the “ideological superstructure” of society while its antithesis “matter” can be thought of as the “material base” of society. The essay focuses on Mao's idealism. The material basis of society, i.e. the forces and relations of production are a manifestation of the ideological foundations of society, i.e. its cultural value system, rather than vice versa. One can materially change the mode of production but that will not automatically transform the ideological superstructure. Under the socialist mode of production the old ideas and cultural norms of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie are so deeply ingrained in the psyche of the people that they will spontaneously reappear and push the society towards ideological revisionism and the inevitable restoration of capitalism. The only way to combat this is through an ideological struggle in the superstructure over people's ideas and thinking. Mao saw this as a life and death struggle for the survival of the new, young sprouts of socialism in the PRC. The resurgence of capitalist modes of production in China since the demise of the Cultural Revolution is stark testimony to Mao's profound insights, hence the necessity of continuing the class struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Mao Zedong's Thoughts on Class Struggle and Daoist Philosophy

 Posted by 刘泰特 (Liu Taite) on May 20,2011at Utopia (http://www.wyzxsx.com/Article/Class18/201105/235156.html)

When I was in secondary school, the quotations of Mao Zedong on class struggle were like a bolt from the blue, always hovering about in every Chinese mind: “With a population of 800 million people, is it really okay to not participate in this battle?” “It is a great joy to battle against Heaven. It is a great joy to battle against Earth. It is a great joy to battle against People.” “You can accomplish anything by carrying out class struggle.”　

That time was very strange, private ownership had already been abolished, eliminating the exploitation of man by man, the landlords and capitalists had been overthrown. It was felt that Mao's continued emphasis on the class struggle was making a mountain out of a mole hill, like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

But Mao realized that the class struggle was mainly in the Party, it was the two-line struggle within the Party, it was the capitalist roaders within the Party who were the class enemy. 　　

So who were these capitalist roaders? Liu Shaoqi, who was neither corrupt nor immoral, was labeled as the biggest capitalist roader, I couldn't understand why. 　　

Afterwards I slowly read and began to understand Mao Zedong, but this understanding didn't just come from book learning, what was even more important was that I began to participate in real life, it was through practice during the course of historical developments that the necessary inner mental logic came through.

History makes people wise! Moreover, anything that becomes known through the mirror of history has its mysterious veil completely torn away. History continuously repeats itself, just as humanity has to forever continuously satisfy the same needs and continuously seek out the basic necessities of life.

As the saying goes, "small mistakes can produce big consequences," however huge the discrepancy or opposition, it is initially hidden in the small things much as Lao Tzu said, "The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things." 　　

Lao Tzu's "Tao" is "the nothing” from which everything is produced. 　　

The differences that exist between all things were there when they were very small and just beginning. They were even present in the midst of “nothing," and this “nothingness” is non-material. 　　

So what is "non-material"? The non-material is the opposite of the material. The non-material is "spirit", so when it is said that "something was produced from nothing," Lao Tzu equated this “nothingness” with “spirit” and called this spirit the “Tao.” Since "Tao" is equated with"spirit", then "spirit" is equated with "nothingness." 　　

Spirit has no material body or form, it is metaphysical, it cannot be seen, so Lao Tzu equated it with "Nothingness"; but the spirit is the most fundamental truth, it not only is the origin of all things, but also governs the movement of all things, so Lao Tzu said "All things under heaven sprang from that which is, that which is sprang from nothingness." 　　

The relationship between spirit and matter, is the object of mankind's most fundamental philosophical inquiries.　　

The few thousand lines of Lao Tzu's “Tao Te Ching” are concerned with the concepts of “being” and “non-being,” the relationship between the spiritual and the material and the elucidation of the ultimate unity of opposites.　

I did not read the thoughts of Mao Zedong with the intent of conducting a direct comparison with the philosophy of Lao Tzu, but the contradiction between the spiritual and the material is the essence of Lao Tzu's philosophy and is reflected everywhere in Mao Zedong's thought. 　　

During Mao's time classes were abolished, but contrary to expectations Mao Zedong said that not only did classes still exist but that class struggle had intensified, this was based on Lao Tzu's thinking of "something from nothing," this is easy to understand because everything is a product of the spirit, and classes are the product of spiritual values, as long as the soil which germinates the spiritual and cultural values of classes still exist, so will classes still exist. 　　

So Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, an attempt to destroy the ideological cultural values of the exploiting classes in people's minds. Isn't this the most profound, most expansive, most decisive life and death battle of the class struggle? 　　

The most fundamental reason for the development and persistence of private ownership and classes are the traditional spiritual values in people's minds, at that point in time this was not recognized by the vast majority of people. As history develops until today, when a qualitative change has given rise to a quantitative change, people have suddenly begun to come to this realization. 　　

Mao Zedong's ontology of the spirit of class struggle, is the same as Lao Tzu's "something from nothing." Mao Zedong's strategy of class struggle, is precisely the same as Lao Tzu's.

Lao Tzu said: “The movement of the Tao by contraries proceeds; And weakness marks the course of Tao's mighty deeds."

Mao Zedong's thinking of class struggle was: the more we destroy classes, the more emphasis there must be on class struggle, "Relentlessly pursue the tottering foe!" 　　

Mao Zedong wanted to follow the “Tao” that leads to the abolishment of classes, the methodology is seize and not let go of the opposition, but to also take the opposition seriously as very strong. 　　

The opposition seemed to be a "spent force," but Mao recognized that was superficial, the spiritual and cultural strength of the opposition was still very strong. He placed the opposition in a "strong" position, and ourselves in a “weak” position. By "defending the weak," we will not underestimate the enemy and be paralyzed, we will then have the spirit to do better. 　　

Mao made an in-depth philosophical analysis of class struggle. 　　

On the surface Mao emphasized materialism, but in essence Mao spoke mostly of the spirit. He was the greatest representative of Chinese political idealism.

After liberation, Mao Zedong said, the "violent storms," of the class struggle are over, but class struggle will still exist for a long time. Afterwards, as the international situation became grimmer, Mao rapidly strengthened his thoughts on class struggle, and raised it to the principal contradiction in Chinese society, to the point that the class struggle should be talked about every year, every month and every day.

The class struggle that we see takes the form of a confrontation of material interests. But this kind of conflict and confrontation over material interests at bottom is rooted in the contradictions of human culture, it is rooted in the orientation of people's spiritual values, and is concealed in the very depth of their souls, it is the ideological struggle between good and evil. 　　

The spiritual and cultural conflicts of society determine the contradictions and struggles of society's material relationships. 　　

It is the spiritual that determines the material! It is the spiritual that changes the material! It is “something coming from nothing!”

An understanding of the significance of the struggle over spiritual values in Mao Zedong Thought therefore shows that Mao Zedong's theory of class struggle is not alarmist, but penetrating and far-sighted. 　　

Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in order to carry out class struggle in the realm of the spirit, it was properly called an "ideological and cultural revolution", it was a great baptism of the national spirit. 　　

The Cultural Revolution's "theory that the class struggle still exists" is on the surface "imaginary," it "comes out of nowhere" but it is actually true, its that spirit promotes ongoing material accumulation, people are just totally unaware of it. 　　

After China ended the "Cultural Revolution," and renounced the theory of class struggle, how many people have thought of China today and the true wealth gap that has appeared between classes? At the time when a difference in the material appears, people suddenly realize that the spiritual has resulted in a material change! The result is the wild fantasy of producing "something out of nothing!"

The spirit of history is just this type of unexpected surprise.　　

During the “Cultural Revolution” the material basis for the class struggle basically did not exist so the spirit of all the big talk about the class struggle didn't seem to make any sense, but once the the spirit of the theory of class struggle was renounced the material sense of class struggle immediately broke through to the surface. It was as if the material had broken its spiritual chains and Pandora's box was finally opened. 　　

　 　

Independent Thinking, Read the Classics - Victor Hugo Bookshop, Suzhou together exchange ideas 　　

Is the Watermelon Accelerating Agent Really Harmless?

The following article is an investigative  report of the "exploding watermelon" story that has garnered international attention of late. It shoots down the reassuring reportage in the mainstream Chinese press. This type of investigative reporting is very common on the Chinese web and individual reports of this sort are widely copied and disseminated at many Chinese web sites. 


The article was written by Zheng Fengtian and posted at the Utopia web site  on 5/18/2011 (http://www.wyzxsx.com/Article/view/201105/234804.html)

In today’s Beijing News it was reported that, “an expert said the watermelon growth accelerating agent widely used in China is harmless to the human body." The news was the leading story on all the major web portals. In an interview expert Wang Liangju (WLJ) said that "the accelerating agent or growth regulator is used in the promotion of plant production, its function is the same as the hormones in the plants that regulate plant growth and development. The accelerating agent began to be widely used internationally in the 1960s and 70s and since the 1980s has been widely used throughout China on fruits and strawberries, etc. in accordance with state regulations. When put to appropriate use there are no side effects on the human body." The main reason for the Jiangsu incident reported in the Yangtze Evening News was the heavy rainfall following a drought, which lead to the watermelon 'explosions' that attracted everyone’s attention."  The newspaper said ,"Nanjing Agricultural University, College of Horticulture, Professor WLJ after looking into the situation and conducting analysis said that there was a drought during the three month early growing season from March through May then from the afternoon of May 7 to the morning of May 8 heavy rains were the main cause for the melons cracking open."

It was really pleasant news. It was all because of the horrible weather conditions, the accelerating agent had nothing to do with the melons swelling up and exploding, so we can all relax and safely eat watermelon! But the question is, if the problem was influenced by climate change then it should not have been restricted to just one town in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. This shouldn’t have been the only town in which watermelons were grown, why didn’t the same weather conditions in other places result in similarly exploding watermelons? Was this due to the reporters not doing their job or due to a successful local news cover-up? On reflection, neither should be the case. Blaming the weather for the explosions is a bold hypothesis, but it defies logic.

However, after a thorough search on the web Prof. Wang Liangju’s reassuring assertion that the watermelon growth accelerating agent widely used domestically is harmless to the human body has become hard to swallow. The Baidu On-line Encyclopedia indicates that Prof.  WLJ "has been engaged in the promotion of new technology in the research and development concerning the growth and  regulation of fruit, vegetables and other horticultural crops,” "mainly at present, in the application of 5 - aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in agricultural production, the development of the ALA as the main active ingredient of the "strong amino acid water-soluble fertilizer Philharmonic," Whether or not Professor WLJ originally took money for doing research work for the accelerating agent we do not know. But it only makes sense that the conclusions of somebody blowing his own horn should be suspect. Can’t you see that in China there are many devotees of high-tech who blindly promote new technology in order to make a fortune. There are obvious conflicts of interest.

After all is said and done do plant hormone additives have a negative effect on the health of the human body? This is a such an important question, with so many broad interrelated associated issues, but so far it has gotten a minimal amount of attention. Let us look at the views of medical experts, after all, those who ate the watermelon with the accelerating agent were humans. Those experts who are engaged in plant hormone research should not be the one’s who investigate their effects on human health, this is the domain of medical experts. Many medical experts believe that one reason for childhood sexual precocity is due to  the residual effects of animal and plant hormones. Most counter-seasonal vegetables and fruits are forced by hormones. The short-term effect seems to be slight, but the long-term side effects of human consumption could be harmful causing a disruption of the adult endocrine system, affecting the balance of human metabolism. This could be even more harmful to children, leading to childhood sexual precocity. Animal experiments show their  potential impact on animal reproductive functions and their role in growth and development. Other studies have found that the most common set of ethylene plant hormones can definitely damage the human brain and kidney while gibberellins (GAs) can lead to infertility disorders. Studies of mutagenicity in 3 experimental groups of mouse somatic and germ cell found that the incidence of micronuclei was significantly higher (6.13 ‰, 9.13 ‰, 11.25 ‰)  than in the conrtol group (2.88 ‰ ).  There is also a dose - response relationship, in high and medium dose groups the abnormality rate (49.6 ‰) is claerly higher than allowed by human poisoning standards. Two human trials of ethylene toxicity are as follows: Half of the 10 men and women tested with a dosage of 1.8 mg/ kg had abdominal pain, diarrhea, stomach cramps, increases in urinary frequency and volume and an increase or decrease in appetite. In addition,  plasma cholinesterase and erythrocyte cholinesterase activity increased.

A separate report, by botany Prof. Yin Saer of the Department of Biology, Istanbul University,  warned that excessive hormones contained in fruits and vegetables get concentrated in the human body. This is very harmful to health, causing damage to the nervous system, causing allergies, or even causing cancer.

How many fruits on the market today have been treated with plant hormones? Isn’t it claimed by plant hormone researchers that these hormones have been largely self-digested in mature fruits and plants? There are a very few studies in which plant growth regulators can be measured from fruits and vegetables sold on the market. One such report on 30 samples of bean sprouts collected from 3 farmer’s markets in Hangzhou measured 4 - chlorophenoxy acetatein content at a level greater than allowed by state food hygiene standards of 1 mg / kg. Measurements of  5mg/kg ~ 30 mg / kg were found in 2 samples of green bean sprouts and 5 samples of yellow bean sprouts.

In Shenyang over 50 samples of a variety of sold fruits were collected from two supermarkets and three farmers markets. In 46 samples ethylene was detected for an overall detection rate of 92.00%. It was detected in 38 of the 42 domestically produced fruits, a detection rate of 90.00%. It seems residues were quite common.

In addition the use of plant hormones also injures the plants. These hormones have the following effects on fruits and vegetables: increased head size, abnormal color, bland taste and poor quality. Compared to organically produced mature fruits and vegetables the fruit and vegetables produced with hormones had hard flesh, uneven color, and shortened storage period. Why hasn’t the fruit in recent years been good to eat? This has a great deal to do with it.

Plant hormone residues in agricultural products is gaining more and more attention. Watermelon, fruit and vegetable farmers in order to generate high profits, have abused the use of plant hormones, consciously increasing their concentration and application time, etc., bringing great risks to human health. Currently the United States, Canada, Japan and other countries have developed rigorous agricultural chemical standards for these kinds of hormone residues. China’s standards still lag far behind and are in urgent need of improvement. There should at least be regular agricultural chemical tests to detect these plant hormones.

The U.S. has very good experience in this regard and is worth our study. These plant hormones are classified as agricultural chemicals and must undergo rigorous toxicological tests and health and safety tests before they can used in the market. Moreover, the testing and approval authority is not in the agricultural sector but the environmental protection department.  At present there are many serious problems in the division of labor in our administrative system. The agricultural sector oversees both production and safety and there are deficiencies in enforcement. A lack of third party checks and balances exists for production at the risk of sacrificing health and safety. The safety of these humanly consumed agricultural products should not lack the oversight by heath departments and environmental protection agencies.

Sino-American Confrontation. The View From China.

What follows is a preamble to an interview conducted by Iranian TV with Paul Craig Roberts former Assistant Treasury Secretary during the Reagan Administration. The interview can be viewed below the Chinese introduction.

The translated Chinese text gives a perspective not seen in the official "sanitized" international English language Chinese Press which tries to present a very non-controversial face to the outside world. The text reflects the thinking of the Maoist faction both within and outside the CCP. I'll leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions.

By Zhang Hongliang: Recently, including this interview with Paul Craig Roberts, a growing number of U.S. opinion makers have publicly acknowledged that the so-called "Arab Spring" turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular, NATO's military aggression against Libya has been planned by the United States, and its main strategic goal is directed against China. The killing of bin Laden by the United States marks, for the time being, an end to the war on terror, the next focus will be to concentrate its energy on China, a strategy which they hope will lead to the complete disintegration of China. In this regard, the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, brimming with self-confidence explicitly stated: China would soon follow in the footsteps of the Middle East and North Africa and is trying to “stop history, which is a fool's errand. They cannot do it. But they're going to hold it off as long as possible.” The development and evolution of the situation, fully confirms the basic conclusion - the main purpose for the United States' plan for fomenting turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East is to drive China out of Africa, and the major purpose for the U.S. manufacturing a civil war in Libya, is to make Libya a miniature facsimile of China.

 

During the negotiations between the United States and China's Wang Qishan, a Foreign Ministry spokesman refuted Clinton's assertion and maintained that the political climate in the Middle East and North Africa would not be replicated in China. But simply open the world map and then look at the political, economic and cultural situation of today's China, and you will find that Hillary Clinton's clear intent was not to make empty rhetoric or an off-hand joke.

There are ten U.S. military bases surrounding China serving to encircle and contain China.. In addition, Japan and various Southeast Asian countries are joining hands to infringe on China's territorial waters serving as a huge fence trying to surround the Chinese mainland and reduce its resources to the verge of exhaustion. For 30 years the U.S. has nurtured the formation of a large force of comprador traitors who have colluded with Western capitalist groups through a series of colonial rules, to turn China into an "international cash cow" with a big belly filled with hay for the sake of their own enrichment. Under the circumstances in which surrounding resources are being depleted, China has become the first "international cash cow" to go far afield to Africa to seek survival and development of utilizable resources; China will become the first "international cash cow," to break through the fence of the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, to get the African "hay" it needs to survive. This is the main reason that the United States has gotten into the Middle East and North Africa, to get this break away "International cash cow", to go back to mainland China. After 30 years, all the multinational cluster of Western countries in China, have almost exhausted the resources of the Chinese mainland, and now, they want to drive the cattle back into its stall, to get its last drop of milk, the result can only be to kill it and eat its meat.

This is the ultimate fate that the U.S. has arranged for China. This is the fundamental basis for Hillary's statement.

Faced with the chaos in the Middle East and North Africa, we have to admire the United States Grand Strategy and the big picture, and the implementation of an international strategy of high efficiency. In October, 2007 the U.S. established its African Command, in just less than four years it has developed a strategy to try to drive China out of the African continent, and confine it once again into the resource depleted East Asian mainland.

Based on the efficacy and military record of the U.S. Africa Command, one can take a look at the other headquarters set up by the U.S. In 2010 – the U.S. Cyber Command. In so doing we have to attach great importance to Hillary's clear-cut political conclusions.

Relative to the U.S. Africa Command, dealing with the African continent's more than 50 countries, 800 ethnic groups and 1,000 languages, the current U.S. Cyber Command's task is much easier, because the four major Chinese web portals are under U.S. control. For instance, the majority of the cultural elite in charge of China's media are under U.S. control and influence, especially many of the bureaucrats in charge of China's administrative resources, financial resources and media resources are under U.S. control. It would therefore not be anymore difficult to stage an "Arabian Spring," in China than to push China out of Africa. Hillary thus has a sufficient basis for confidence. In contrast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected Hillary Clinton's talk in typical bureaucratese and did not see any real foundation for her statement

In recent years, we have been talking about how the 21st century will be a period of change in social history, the world has entered a period of cultural transition. China has entered a period of political transition, the main content is the transition from a period of elite political rule to a period of mass political rule. The transition will focus mainly on the contradictions in China. The question is whether China will disintegrate or dramatically ascend. The United States corporatists are confident that the China will disintegrate. the Maoists among the Chinese Communists have confidence in the ascendancy of China. The turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa mark that the world transition has already begun, and the United States wants to transfer this upheaval to China.

China has to be well-prepared for the times. The most effective preparation is spiritual preparation, that is the whole country must be burning with the raging fire of idealism and it seems that our current rival the U.S. is the same. Although the idealism of the United States is a Christian fundamentalist idealism, although it is an idealism reeking of blood, as long as there is idealism, it will certainly be able to overcome disunity and cynicism. Only idealism can overcome idealism and only revolutionary idealism can overcome barbaric idealism. 

 

Today is May 16 , it is the 45 anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. No matter how people look back at the outbreak of this great unprecedented revolution 45 years ago, one thing is undeniable, the Chinese nation of that time was an idealist nation, the Chinese people of that time were an idealistic people, so the China of that time was a secure China and there was no threat of disintegration. The China of that time was full of heroic people and full of youthful energy. Then the U.S. Capitalists were afraid of China.

These words written down today can be taken as a commemoration of the 45^th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution.

To view the video go to this link

Critique of the “Backward Masses” Theory

What follows is the translation of an interesting analysis of Mao's thinking on the massline and proletarian democracy.

I was moved to write this after reading Shan1Yue's on-line article, “Persist in the Massline.”

At “Utopia” there have been a number of essays that clearly look down on the masses. Some say that today's worker/peasant masses have low consciousness and are hopeless. Some disparage the masses for singing “red songs” and “hip-hop.” They ask how can this raise their consciousness or resurrect the socialist road?

First, this type of thinking lacks class analysis. Today most of the laboring masses have already been thoroughly confused by bourgeois and revisionist thinking. But this isn't the masses fault. It is the result of a breach in the cultural and intellectual front over the last few years by the bourgeoisie and a resurgence of capitalist social relations seen in all social strata. Nevertheless, the worker/peasant masses still have the greatest desire for socialism and are the greatest opponents of the capitalist social stratum.

In the present stage of struggle against the bourgeoisie and capitalist ideology the resurgence of socialist culture and the renewal of socialist education is without doubt the first most important step. Moreover the broad masses saw this early on. Over the last few years no one has promoted socialist education, so the masses have taken it upon themselves to do so. They have spontaneously taken up the singing of “red songs,” the display of Chairman Mao's image and talk of the special goodness of the Mao era. Yet some intellectuals or those polluted by bad intellectual airs think that socialist education must consist of long-winded pedantic essays and rebuke the worker/peasant masses for having a low level of consciousness and not understanding what socialism is all about. But I ask you, how many of these essay are actually written for a mass audience? Most lack a popular touch and are full of pedantic rhetoric and senseless blather. In fact most have no idea what socialism really is. If the essays at “Utopia” continue to stay detached from the workers and peasants it will in the end become a worthless site. During the “Cultural Revolution” the theory of the “backward masses” was already criticized, but many here still subscribe to it. Chairman Mao said, “to become a teacher of the masses you must first become their student.” There are those who prattle on about educating the masses, but what have they learned from them? Have you just learned the few words “backward masses?”

So I see that that those comrades who strive to promote the “red culture movement” such as Comrade Bo Xilai are, from their work style, by comparison correct. The “red culture movement” was devised by the masses. Many comrades have popularized and spread it amongst the masses. This is the working style of from the masses to the masses. Marxism seizes the initiative of the masses it doesn't impose itself on the masses. Look at what Chairman Mao did, he took hold of the mass movement, “In Industry Learn from Daqing, In Agriculture Learn from Dazhai.” “Let the Nation Learn from the PLA,” the “Three anti (anti-corruption, anti-waste, anti-bureaucracy) and Five anti Campaigns (anti-bribery, anti-theft of state property, anti-tax evasion, anti-cheating on government contracts, anti-stealing state economic information) ,” the “People's Communes,” “The Angang Constitution,” “The Four Great Freedoms of Great Democracy (speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big character posters),” “Red Guards,” “Barefoot Doctors,” “721 Worker's Colleges,” “Mass Criticism,” etc., etc., all these were developed by the masses themselves. Chairman Mao grasped the socialist spirit and substance of these new born creations of the masses and then returned them to the masses to experiment with and popularize. Chairman Mao never saw himself as the self-appointed leader of the masses or the masses as being the playthings of the bureaucracy. Chairman Mao's massline is real true socialist democracy. So one's work style determines the standard of whether one is or is not a Marxist. The so-called practice of Marxism is the process by which the masses grasp hold of Marxism. If you from the get go suspect that the masses have low consciousness how will they ever carry on some sort of Marxism?

The masses certainly want to raise their revolutionary theoretical level, but most important is raising their cultural level, not some delusional attempt to make everyone into a revolutionary theoretician or a talented revolutionary success. By cultural level is meant one's basic value system, one's view of life, basic norms of living, according to the concrete conditions of everyday life. Comrade Lei Feng sacrificed himself when he was only 22. He was not some theoretician, but he was a great Communist fighter, he was a model of the new socialist person. There was the even younger Liu Wenxue young heroine of the grasslands, etc., etc. They understood that collectivism and socialism were more precious than an individual's life. Based on their value system and fundamental view of life they had already become new socialist people. Of course they should also continue to raise their revolutionary theoretical level, but it was already based on their progress in consolidating and deepening their fundamental value system, view of life and world view. At the same time the raising of mass consciousness is most importantly the masses teaching themselves in the midst of the historical movement. If one only conducts theoretical debates to teach the masses Marxism, that will make Marxism into a theology or a metaphysics.

In short, just as Chairman Mao stated, “The masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant.” The masses create their own revolutionary mass movement. Not only do they transform the objective world but they also transform their own subjective world. The political party of the proletariat has leadership of the masses not because it is particularly smarter than the masses but precisely because they grasp the innate superiority of the masses character, not the idea of the masses backwardness.”

This article has an in-depth discussion and analysis of the recently approved petrochemical plant initiated by the German multinational firm BASF for the production of MDI. The authors sound an alarm warning about the potential dire consequences of a chemical leak similar to that which occurred at Bhopal, India. They call for the suspension and revoking of the project's approval.

Approval of BASF MDI project in Chongqing will have disastrous consequences

2011-4-12 16:08 | of: tough country girl | Source: Mao Zedong Flag Net | Views: 14130 | replies: 69

How could the large-scale chemical production of the compound MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) with an annual output of 400,000 tons and which has the potential to create a catastrophic explosion be approved for the Changshou District of Chongqing in the upper reaches of the Three Gorges reservoir area? 
 

Of: an old revolutionary

On March 29, 2011, the "China Chemical Industry News" 4th edition "International Chemical Industry” reported that the "BASF MDI project has been approved in Chongqing." It reads as follows: On March 25, BASF announced "The project to produce 400,000 tons of diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) per year in Chongqing, China has been approved, the total investment will reach 80 billion yuan, the base will mainly produce raw materials for polyurethane foam core, it is expected to put into operation during the year 2014."

"According to reports, after stringent environmental, health and safety standard audits, as well as local public consultation and several rounds of expert review, the project finally received the relevant Chinese government official approval. The Project will have equipment and components for facilities producing MDI, nitro benzene, and aniline, at the integrated chemical production complex at the heart of the Chongqing (Changshou) Chemical Industrial Park"

Dr. Brudermueller, an executive board member of BASF Europe responsible for Asian Pacific business, said: "The development of inland regions of Chongqing located at the Chongqing Developmental Center will help BASF invest in one of the world's largest MDI markets of the future. In the process of construction and operation of the project we will use world-class safety and environmental standards and make sure that our production facilities operate in a manner that will directly improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. This investment will let us lead the way towards developing western China and will support the Chinese government's push for the rapid and sustainable development of it's western region"

"It is reported that, in addition to the integrated MDI production facilities, BASF will also build a new plant to produce auxiliary polyurethane materials at the Chongqing location to meet the growing demand for these products in the construction, household appliances, transportation, and footwear industries, and other important growing markets "

The origin of this project are: In 2006, BASF put into operation in Shanghai a MDI plant that produced an annual output of 84,000 tons of MDI used in the production of polyurethane plastics, polyurethane elastomer, and the manufacture of artificial leather and non-solvent paints, etc. The project received a handsome profit and the company originally wanted to build on this base and expand the projects output and scale of production. However, because the raw materials and intermediate products used in the production process, especially phosgene COC12 (carbonyl chloride), are highly toxic and have great impact on the surrounding environment, and since the plant had already surpassed targeted environmental indicators, it was determined not to agree to continue the expansion of production in Shanghai. Soon thereafter, when a number of Shanghai officials were transferred to Chongqing they brought the project with them. The Chongqing Changshou Chemical Industry Park will be built as a world-class chemical industry cluster using new materials in an integrated program.

The project will be one of the top 4 in the world and push the heavy chemical industry in Chongqing to the world frontier: the installation will have the largest single set of natural gas processing capacity; the largest single set installation for isocyanate production and the most efficient installation for integrated petrochemical and natural gas production; the most efficient devices for natural gas resource utilization with a total investment of 33 billion yuan, while production output will reach 50 billion yuan.
 

Annual output of 400,000 tons of MDI is one of the main targets of the project (ie, BASF said the investment accounted for 8 billion yuan), BASF Corporation will make it one of the world's largest bases for the production of polyurethane plastic materials. BASF can take advantage of cheap Chinese resources, including electricity, water, and other low-cost raw material and human resources, to supply MDI upstream and downstream series of chemical products to supply the domestic and foreign markets.

Because the project will be built on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges reservoir area not far from the Yangtze River the issues involved are many and knowledgeable people have frequently raised multiple objections, so final approval was delayed. After the Chongqing Municipal Committee, the mayor and other leaders conducted multi-layered lobbying efforts a number of department heads gave their consent and support. On September 29, 2009 Jingchu news (AFP),based on an account by the Xinhua news agency reported with much fanfare that Germany's BASF Chongqing MDI project had won the approval of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and had passed the "green tests." In this regard, once the project was published on-line and the dangerous issues associated with it came to light there were immediate calls for the national authorities not to approve the project, as approval would lead to no end of problems. It is now known that before the project received final approval the concerned Chongqing municipal departments violated the provisions of engineering construction, and began leveling work. Personnel in industrial circles are very concerned and deeply worried about the whole matter. Long-term, former leaders and comrades engaged in the chemical industry brought their objections to the attention of the higher authorities and forwarded detailed reports to the CPC Central Committee and State Council, the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee, appealing for a halt to the Changshou BASF Chemical Park in Chongqing and the large-scale MDI chemical project.

The production process for MDI is highly toxic, and is a high hazard, high risk project. There are many different types of layouts for the chemical industry including those overlooking the sea, inland river types, and inland types, each with different production requirements and safety and environmental protection requirements. To deploy such a highly toxic, highly dangerous, high risk project in the Changshou, Chongqing Center. Such a highly toxic, dangerous, high risk project should not be allowed in the Yangtze River Reservoir area. We should adhere to the implementation of environmental protections without compromising safety standards, policies and measures. Protecting the Mother River, the Yangtze is the moral duty of the Party, the people, and especially the people of the Yangtze River Reservoir. Certainly the problems of one should not to shifted to another.

The MDI project itself and the raw materials and intermediate products associated with its production are highly toxic, flammable and explosive, especially the raw materials used throughout the MDI production process. moreover the project's size is enormous, on a scale of several hundred thousand tons. These substances not only in the production process, but also in the reserves of raw materials, flow volume and semi-finished products require a huge amount of storage. The potential leak, fire, or explosion of these substances cannot be immediately ruled out or avoided. (See Annex "on the MDI device profile")

We should not forget one of the worst industrial disasters in human history, the Bhopal, India gas leak incident that occurred in the early morning of December 3, 1984. The U.S. company Union Carbide had established a plant under the auspices of Union Carbide (India) Ltd. in the northern suburbs of Bhopal the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India (specializing in the production aerosol carbaryl and other pesticides. The chemical used in these products is called methyl isocyanate (MIC) a highly toxic gas). The methyl isocyanate liquid steel storage tank at the plant exploded and 40 tons of gas were quickly leaked resulting in the most famous 20th century major industrial disaster.

According to the Indian government's figures the poison released by the gas leak killed 3,500 local people after the first 3 days. However, independent Indian Medical Research Council data show that the number of deaths after the first 3 days in fact reached between 8000 to 10,000, after many years another 25 thousand people died because of complications caused by poison gas. There were 100,000 people living near the plant who got sick from the gas explosion and 30,000 people living in the area who were exposed to contaminated drinking water.

According to relevant reports the Bhopal, India, gas leak incident has so far resulted in more than 550 thousand deaths from cancer and chemical poisoning resulting in kidney failure, liver disease and other diseases, and more than 200 thousand residents of Bhopal received permanent disabilities. Because of the disaster cancer rates and child mortality rates of local residents are higher than in other Indian cities.

Why should we connect the Chongqing MDI Project to the Bhopal poison gas leak incident? Because the MDI unit and the unit that produced the catastrophic accident in Bhopal both use phosgene COC12 (which is an asphyxiating poison gas used in World War I, resulting in great casualties) as an intermediate product for the generation of isocyanate and the large scale MDI unit at Chongqing will produce many times more phosgene COC12 gas than the former Bhopal pesticide plant (with an annual production scale of thousands of tons).
 
The Bhopal gas leak incident occurred over 20 years ago. The modern chemical industry has made great progress in chemical engineering, automation management and control, equipment and parts, but it is difficult to ensure foolproof operations, because all these situations are controlled by people and subject to human error. Even though there are many highly experienced administrators and competent technicians who will give you their unconditional guarantee one can not be so naïve, there are many cases worldwide to show that there is no such thing as an absolute guarantee. the world's many cases that is absolutely guaranteed to be impossible.

At the end of the last century, and the beginning of this century, two American space shuttles crashed. The causes of the crashes were the result of an O-ring failure that led to a fuel leak and subsequent explosion in one case and the loss of tiles from the heat shield on re-entry in the other. A similar accident led to the sinking of a modern Soviet, now Russian, nuclear submarine. In all these instances there was advanced equipment controlled by officers and men who were highly educated and had undergone rigorous training and selection,. Whether it was due to mechanical failure or human error the astronauts were blown up and the sailors are at the bottom of the sea.

It is not only the operation of human error or the sudden failure of equipment or components that cause disasters, there are natural causes as well such as the earthquake fault zone in Sichuan the neighboring province of Chongqing Changshou (the location of the epicenter of previous earthquake occurrences has changed). In case of a seldom seen sudden earthquake; or the occurrence of some other large geologic, climatic or flood disaster, such outside influences could affect the Changshou Chemical Industrial Park leading to a pipeline rupture, damage to the unit may not be preventable and will inevitably occur.
The Chongqing Changshou MDI production unit with its auxiliary up and down stream production facilities is a very large group of installations, if a gas leak occurred somewhere, causing fire or explosion, it may be hard to instantly determine the moment and location of the accident site. A chain reaction could result, first responders could be helpless and puzzled, and even the operators at the scene could immediately fall to the ground because of gas poisoning death.

The greatest threat is to the Three Gorges Dam downstream from the Chongqing Changshou Chemical Industrial Park, the strategic importance of the Three Gorges Dam is well known, anything that poses a danger to the safety of the reservoir's water supply is absolutely unallowable.

If once completed a leak or explosion occurs at this engineering project, toxic and harmful substances such as: methanol, formaldehyde, chlorine, hydrogen chloride gas, carbon monoxide gas, hydrogen cyanide gas, phosgene and other toxic gases could be released leading to a large number of deaths, the tragic consequences would be disastrous; benzene, nitrobenzene, etc., and waste water could contaminate the Yangtze River as the inevitable end result, though BASF claims to achieve "zero emissions", is that really possible?

Once an expansive incident occurred, aniline, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and a number of auxiliary chemicals, all of which are toxic and hazardous substances, including waste water used to put out fires could all pour into the Yangtze River and the reservoir area, compromising the safety and security of the reservoir's water supply and the waters of the river downstream, directly affecting the water security of Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Shanghai provinces and the ecological balance and the safety of shipping along the vast Yangtze River, The short term downstream effect on people, livestock, drinking water, and agricultural water would be difficult to solve.

The United States and Japan are two countries which have high technical expertise and strict training, their nuclear power plants have experienced management and operations personnel, yet serious nuclear accidents have occurred there which are all historically documented.

On April 20, 2010, 190 km away from the U.S. south coast in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP oil drilling rig caught on fire, destroying the entire platform and killing 11 employees. For a long time no effective solution was found for stopping the resulting large-scale oil spill. According to Reuters on June 15 daily volume was up to 60 thousand barrels of oil (equivalent to 8219 tons of crude oil), resulting in serious pollution of the Gulf of Mexico sea water, and a disastrous loss of marine life. This big accident has given the world's people pause for thought and has raised many research questions that need to be answered.

It's been rumored that the concerned central ministries jointly studied the question of whether this project should be built in Chongqing. The original Minister of the State Ministry of Industry is said to have been strongly opposed to the proposal. Moreover, it is said that during the year when the Three Gorges Dam hydropower project was completed regulations were promulgated which prohibited the building of pollution generating projects upstream from the reservoir area.

It may also be asked, has the the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the continued occurrence of aftershocks that registered 6-7 and above which caused the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant unit 4, been properly addressed? The Japanese government, business and technical personnel who confronted the nuclear leak accident were helpless in the face of the crisis. All previous standards, contingency plans, commitments, credibility, etc., lost their aura. Prime Minister Naoto Kan was helpless. The dark shadow of the nuclear leaks has not yet dissipated. Countless people are still in the midst of fear over nuclear radiation and nuclear contamination. Our National Development and Reform Commission does not seem to have drawn any lesson and has approved the construction of a huge project in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of Chongqing that has potentially great catastrophic consequences. The party and the people have entrusted you with power, why are you so negligent in exercising it?

On April 3, 1992, the NPC passed the very controversial Three Gorges building program. The NPC has the power and duty to oversee the work of the government. Doesn't the National People's Congress have the right to question, supervise, oversee, interfere and stop the construction of such a toxic, high hazard, high-risk large-scale chemical project upstream from the Three Gorges Reservoir in Chongqing?
This project needed to be approved by the relevant government departments, moreover this was the first time that BASF made it public. This once again proves the great wisdom put forward by Marx long ago: "With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10% [profit] will ensure its employment anywhere; 20% certain will produce eagerness; 50%, positive audacity; 100% will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300%, and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged." A correct assessment. It must be acknowledged that most MDI production facilities are built along the seacoast. It must be acknowledged that the Bhopal gas leakage caused 25 thousand direct and 550,000 indirect casualties and more than 200 thousand common people were permanently disabled and are as good as dead. It must be acknowledged that the Japanese government and people are still helpless in confronting the continually developing Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The investment in the Chongqing MDI cluster by the Chongqing municipal government and foreign investors should be stopped. BASF should give up the original plan, and the project should be placed in a coastal area. But reality shows that they cannot stop themselves. In their mind's eye it's a win-win situation, easy money on which they can make a fortune, and the height of plunder. They can come up with all sorts of guarantees and deception approvals regardless of the effect on the life and death of the people. The environmental safety of the mother river of the Chinese people, the Yangtze, and the safety of people's lives and property along it's shores are worthless to them. This fully demonstrates the the Chinese side has sold out China's sovereignty, and the German side has invaded and occupied China's sovereignty. The upper reaches of the China's mother river, the Yangtze is crucial for China's national sovereignty. No doubt about it, these are serious political and strategic problems.
 
The power that we have entrusted to departments, party branches and people involved at all levels in examining and approving national affairs is not done to give you the authority to review only whether they meet general specifications, standards, and feasibility, and whether the superficial numbers look good, but should be to safeguard the fundamental interests of the nation and people and comprehensively and accurately determine and handle the various interests, of the party, the country, the people and nationalities, and take historical responsibility to better use their power. Regretfully, while the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant leak and the people of the world's minds are still shrouded in darkness, our government departments have not done any reflection and have made a hasty decision to approve the construction. Chongqing which sings “red songs” and cracks down on organized crime why are you silent on this and do nothing? Isn't the development of things based on the people's will, I hope you will not become a big sinner in Chinese history.
 
We hereby strongly urge the National Development and Reform Commission to immediately withdraw your approval, and called on the NPC concerned about this, be promptly intervene to stop them.
We urgently appeal that the progressive national Web sites, conscientious intellectuals, professionals and other people concerned about this situation, make a positive response, and take emergency action to protect the national interests and the security of the people by making condemnation and conducting appeals.

In particular the Party Secretary and Mayor of Chongqing Municipality, the party committees of the provinces and cities along the Yangtze River the regional party, government, and military leaders of all departments and all the people should stand up to defend the fundamental interests of the people, the people's long-term stability and security of the front ranks of the Yangtze River Mother River, and resolutely stop the the location of the MDI project in Chongqing.
 
We strongly urge the Central and the State Council, the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee to immediately and completely negate the the decision to construct the MDI project in Chongqing Changshou. In order to protect the security and prosperity of the people's lives, defend the Yangtze River and Three Gorges area, make the right decision for the great Chinese mother river!
Attachment: "Introduction to the MDI Production Unit"
Love the party, be patriotic, love the soldiers
April 12, 2011

The press, media, and websites are welcome to use the included text reproduced in the annex, and welcome to comment on this article on-line.