NEWS,15.3.2012

China removes top leadership contender Bo from post

 

 

Ambitious Chinese Communist Party leadership contender Bo Xilai has been toppled from his post as head of the inland city of Chongqing, in a move risking a backlash from backers of his controversial vision of socialist growth. His abrupt downfall, announced on Thursday by the official Xinhua news agency, exposes ideological divisions as a new generation prepares to take power in China later this year, and may stir tensions between supporters of his more traditional, state-dominated version of socialism, and liberal critics, who saw him as a dangerous opportunist. Bo was removed as party boss of Chongqing, a sprawling region in the southwest that he turned into a bastion of Communist revolutionary-inspired "red" culture and egalitarian growth, a day after being rebuked by Premier Wen Jiabao in a news conference broadcast live across the country. The telegenic Bo had been a contender for top leadership, but his prospects suffered a blow after Vice Mayor Wang Lijun, previously his long time police chief, went to ground in February in the U.S. consulate in nearby Chengdu until he was coaxed out and placed under investigation.Xinhua said Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang will replace Bo, but gave no further details. It also said Wang had been removed from his vice mayor post. When announcing Bo's dismissing, the head of the party's powerful organisational department, Li Yuanchao, said the move was made "in light of the serious political repercussions of the Wang Lijun incident," according to Chinese news reports that cited a Chongqing television report. Vice Mayor Wang had earlier been a key figure in a drive against organised crime that garnered Bo nationwide attention. While Bo might be kept on in some role until the Communist Party leadership succession this autumn, his hopes for promotion to a top job were finished, said Chen Ziming, an independent scholar in Beijing who follows party politics.” Now it looks like Wen Jiabao's comments yesterday represented the leadership's collective view that Bo needed to go," said Chen, referring to the premier's pointed rebuke of Bo."This will affect the leadership politics for the 18th Congress, because this opens up new uncertainties about who is in contention," said Chen.The 18th Party Congress late this year will see China's biggest leadership transition in nearly a decade, with Party Chief Hu Jintao and other elders due to retire and hand power to a younger generation headed by Vice President Xi Jinping.Unlike Bo, Xi has shied away from the limelight. Both are "princelings", the term for children of current, retired or late revolutionary leaders."The fact that the Xinhua announcement did not stress that Bo will be placed in another post means that he's probably going to be put under investigation, and there won't be any conclusion on his future until the end of that," said one source, a journalist with extensive contacts among central and Chongqing officials. He spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself and his contacts.Bo's fall from a confident defence of his policies at a news conference last week to dismissal this week has come while central authorities push forward with an investigation into Wang's flight to the U.S. mission.Bo has plenty of fans, attracted to the idea of a "Chongqing model" of development that promises greater equality. Some were riled by his sudden departure."The removal of Bo Xilai is a real shock to me. We don't know whether it's because of his personal errors or is an attack on the Chongqing model," said Sima Nan, a leftist writer and broadcaster in Beijing who has praised Bo."If this amounts to a negation of the Chongqing model, then I can't agree with this decision."Wen added to the cloud hanging over Bo on Wednesday by scolding Chongqing for the scandal and obliquely warning against nostalgia for the Mao Zedong era."Well, the good news, I guess, is that the risks of leftism and extremism in Chinese politics have just taken a nose dive," said David Zweig, a scholar of Chinese politics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology."I guess nobody really knew what he believed in, except self-promotion, and now the self-promotion has done him in, which is good," said Zweig.Bo's removal quickly became one of the most talked about topics on China's Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo, with the normal censorship of discussion on top leaders strangely absent. Many people expressed support for Bo."With the anti-mafia heroes Bo and Wang both gone, what are we going to do now?" wrote Jin Zhiheng.The man who takes in Chongqing, Vice Premier Zhang, studied economics in North Korea and is a former party boss in the export-dependent southern province of Guangdong. Unusually, he retains his vice premiership despite his new position.Xinhua did not mention whether Bo could lose his seat in the Politburo, a central decision-making body that sits under the more powerful Standing Committee. The Politburo itself would have to make that decision.The mayor of Chongqing, Huang Qifan, widely seen as the brains behind the city's elaborate growth plans, appeared to survive the fall of Bo, at least for now.Huang said he would "resolutely support the handling of the Wang Lijun incident, and the adjustment of the municipal leadership," the news reports said, citing the Chongqing television broadcast.

NEWS,21.02.2012.

Medvedev hosts Russia’s protest leaders

President Dmitry Medvedev hosted leaders of Russia’s protest movement Monday, in a rare move after an outburst of rallies against Vladimir Putin’s likely return to the Kremlin.Medvedev discussed ideas for reforming Russia’s “far from ideal” political system at a meeting that would have been almost unthinkable before mass opposition protests broke out in the aftermath of December parliamentary polls. Leftist radical Sergei Udaltsov, ex-Cabinet Minister Boris Nemtsov and liberal politician Vladimir Ryzhkov – leaders of the movement that organized mass rallies against the authorities – were all present at the meeting.” Our political system is far from ideal and most of those present here subject it to criticism and sometimes very harsh criticism,” Medvedev said at the meeting at his Gorky residence outside Moscow. “There are people here with different political opinions and that is good because we have to understand in what direction our political system will develop,” he said in comments broadcast on state television.Udalstov, Nemtsov and Ryzhkov – whose faces were virtually invisible in state media in the last few years – were shown on state television attending the meeting along with other leaders of unregistered political parties. However state television had not by Monday evening broadcast any of their comments to the Russian president.Nemtsov said ahead of the meeting that he intended to press Medvedev for the release of 37 “political prisoners” and demand constitutional changes barring all presidents from serving three terms. Russian news agencies said that Medvedev discussed his proposals – already submitted to parliament – to bring back elections for regional governors and simplify the procedures for registering parties. However the demands for the protest movement go far beyond this and its leaders have called for the annulment of fraud-tainted Dec. 4 parliamentary election results and far-reaching political reforms.Putin, president from 2000-08, is seeking to reclaim the Kremlin in a March 4 vote after his four-year stint as prime minister. Medvedev would then become prime minister in a job swap vehemently criticized by the opposition. Opinion polls are predicting that Putin will win the election but the opposition has vowed to hold multiple protests afterward to protest his domination of Russian politics. According to a state pollster, Putin will be elected president in the first round of March’s election with more than half the vote, avoiding a run-off that would dent his authority on the eve of his planned return to the Kremlin’s top job.Putin is likely to win 58.6 percent of the vote, far ahead of his closest rival, said Russia’s Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), which has a history of accurately predicting the results of Russian elections.“Putin will gain victory,” the pollster’s general director, Valery Fedorov, told reporters in Moscow. The forecasts were based on a poll of 1,600 people carried out across Russia this month. Second place will go to veteran Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who is likely to win 14.8 percent, the pollster said. A mood change against Putin among voters in major cities has stoked speculation that the former KGB spy might face the humiliation of winning less than half of the vote, undermining his claims of majority support and triggering a second round.Putin even conceded this month that he may face a second round, though he warned such a step would stoke infighting and undermine Russia’s political stability. But the poll indicates that though Putin is facing the biggest protests of his 12-year rule, his aides believe the former KGB spy can still bring in enough votes to secure another six years as Kremlin chief.Putin’s former chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, said the latest forecasts for the elections indicated Putin could win 59-61 percent of the vote. The news, he said on Twitter, would make many “sleep more soundly.”VTsIOM forecast that nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky would win 9.4 percent followed by billionaire financial whizz kid Mikhail Prokhorov with 8.7 percent and former upper house Speaker Sergei Mironov with 7.7 percent. Opponents such as Communist leader Zyuganov and blogger Alexei Navalny say that the election will not be legitimate as officials are bound to falsify the results in Putin’s favor.Putin was clearly taken aback by the scale of the protests against the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections, initially dismissing opponents as the pawns of the West and even branding them chattering monkeys. But as the seriousness of the challenge became evident, Russia’s most popular politician changed track, reshuffling his team and approving some planned changes to open up the tightly controlled political system he still dominates. During the parliamentary election, VTsIOM forecast Putin’s United Russia party would win 48.5 percent of the vote.

NEWS,02.02.2012

Portuguese strike flops, workers fear for jobs

The trains ran and the buses, too. Staff made it to work and shops and banks opened across Lisbon. Weak backing for a transport strike on Thursday reflected a broader lack of appetite for militant action by workers concerned for jobs threatened by Portugal's growing debt crisis. Already facing its worst hardship in decades, Portugal has come under increasing pressure over the last month on fears it will be forced to seek another bailout beyond its current 78-billion-euro lifeline or restructure its debts like Greece. Italian, Irish and Spanish bonds rally, but Portugal's remain mired in doubt Lisbon can handle its debt. Government austerity measures are biting. Unemployment is above 12 percent and expected to rise further in the poorest country in Western Europe. However, the strike appeared to have little impact. Trains and buses were running. Only Lisbon's metro and ferries shut down.” They are raising the prices and now there is a strike as well, this is annoying," said Rosario Mendes, a janitor waiting for a bus to return home from her early shift. "We can't go on strike, there are no jobs.” Shops and commerce was functioning normally in Lisbon. Even union officials acknowledged the strike was weak.” We are analyzing why (train and bus) workers didn't mobilize as we had expected," said Jose Manuel Oliveira, a coordinator for the FETRANS transport union.The Portuguese have so far shown little passion for the kind of violent protests and strikes that have hit Greece during its crisis. Portugal has few traditions for widespread protest. The situation is similar in neighbouring Spain despite 23 percent unemployment. A general strike in November 2010 had limited impact. Spain's unions have lost clout and credibility. There is also wide-spread sentiment in Spain that families and the government lived beyond their means during a 10-year-long housing and construction boom. Nor has there been much sign of widespread militancy in France or in Italy. Thursday’s strike in Portugal was aimed at government efforts to restructure public transport companies, which have huge debts and will almost inevitably lead to job losses. The government has not yet detailed its plans.” This strike was premature and badly explained by the organizers, as the government has not yet outlined its plans for the transport restructuring," said sociologist Elisio Estanque at Coimbra University. "So it does little but caricature and vulgarizes the strike movement.” Portugal’s second-largest umbrella union, the UGT, reached an agreement with the government and employers last month on labor reforms that will make it easier to hire and fire workers, boosting competitiveness.UGT chief Joao Proenca said his decision to sign up to the agreement was motivated by his view that Portugal's lenders -- the European Union and IMF -- are under pressure to listen to unions in order to avoid a failure like in Greece. That should give unions greater clout in future reforms of the economy. Since Portugal's crisis began there have been only two general strikes -- one in November last year and one in November the previous year. There have been some sporadic strikes, such as train drivers and port workers, but they have related to specific issues in the sector, not in general against austerity measures. But, as Portugal enters the harshest year of austerity and recession under its bailout there are still risks that social protest could flare up, especially if the government decides to adopt further cost-cutting measures to meet budget goals. It has already effectively eliminated two months' pay for civil servants, cut health and pension spending and raised taxes across the board. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said this week he would meet the terms of the bailout "whatever the cost.” Another factor that could have undermined the union movements a split between the moderate UGT and the more radical CGTP, which refused to sign the labour reform agreement with the government and is affiliated to the small Communist Party.

"Prices are soaring; they are robbing the people and sinking the country. Reject the pact of aggression," read Communist Party banners plastered around Lisbon, in reference to the labor reform accord. Economic reality -- whether the slump deepens or the first signs of recovery appear this year -- may well end up being the key factor in deciding whether more workers join protests. Still, the challenges have only increased since many investors started believing Portugal may have to seek more bailout money, putting Lisbon further behind the recovery seen in Ireland, the euro zone's other bailed-out country."If we manage to get closer to Ireland and not Greece, strife should subside, but if more draconian austerity measures are imposed, there will be a limit after which popular discontent will spill over to the streets," said Estanque.