A Community Organizer's Death in China

Community organizer Qian Yunhui in Zhaiquiao, China, may have been murdered for protesting the building of a power plant on his family's ancestral property. It's not clear at this time who may have murdered him, but it was the local Chinese government that forced him to give up his land. They were also quite methodical in cleaning up any evidence of murder:

Qian's body was taken away before an autopsy could be performed. Officials reported that a security camera at the spot where Qian died wasn't working.

The two people who villagers say saw men press Qian down as the truck ground his life away disappeared briefly. When they surfaced on state television in separate interviews four days later, they denied seeing anything suspicious.

One of them, Qian Chengyu, was in handcuffs and behind bars during the television interview.

The other, Huang Diyan, said she'd been coached by unnamed collaborators to say she'd witnessed a killing. Careful viewers could see a man dressed in what looked like a police uniform reflected in the window behind her.

A friend, who asked for anonymity for fear of being arrested, told McClatchy that police had taken Huang's husband to a hotel for a night and told him that it would be best for her family if she recanted her tale of murder.

China is an emerging world powerhouse because of its embrace of capitalism. But capitalism doesn't equal freedom, nor does it equal freedom from an oppressive government. It just means the Chinese government learned how to make money. We're not as bad as the Chinese government, by far, but protesting anything in the States is still likely to get you arrested.