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Gecko3 · 03:46 AM

http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/vid...p10436,00.html

Found this on another forum, thought it could make some interesting political debate here. This is definitely a side of China that you don't get to see or hear about much (and if you watch the video, you can kind of tell how they're already trying to suppress even the cameramen recording these things).

That got me to thinking about other things similiarly happening not just in China, but the US as well (and no doubt other parts of the world are probably experiencing things like this). Imagine if the house you lived in right now was suddenly declared "condemned" and you were forced to move out, only to find out about a year later that where your house used to be is now a business district.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0509/p01s03-ussc.html

Here's a small excerpt from that article:

The Institute for Justice's report documents dozens of instances of apparent abuse where states and local cities and towns put the interests of individual developers over longtime residents. For instance:

• In Atlantic City, an entire black middle-class neighborhood was condemned and destroyed to make way for a tunnel to a new casino.

• Bremerton, Washington removed a woman in her 80s from her home of 55 years for the claimed purpose of expanding a sewer plant, but gave her former home to an auto dealership.

• West Palm Beach County in Florida condemned a family's home so that the manager of a planned new golf course could live in it.

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This is the 5th Amendment from the US Constitution (relevant info italicized and in bold print):

Quote:

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The problem presented in the above link is that these people's homes aren't being taken away for "public" use. I suppose one could argue that a private business setting up there would generate jobs/income for the city, but I don't think many people would be happy about that, if they had a house, say by a beachfront or other highly desirable area, and having it turned into a Starbucks or Walmart.

So what does this have to do with China? Well, as you can see, the situation is much worse in China, and contrary to what we might see, it seems that there's a lot of unrest, and despite the Chinese government's attempts to suppress it, given its past history, another large protest or rebellion will probably occur (heck, China's got quite a long history of civil wars and rebellions against the current regime, and most of them were often pretty bloody).

And to generate some debate, are you for or against govt. taking people's private property for private businesses? Why are you for or against it?

I'd have to be against it. While again, you can argue that those private industries are creating jobs, why do they have to do it right by the beachfront property owned by a few private citizens? If it were for a school or other government building, I'd be okay with it, so long as the people get compensated fairly. But from what I'm getting based on these articles, it seems that people don't even get that, they're just told to move (I could be wrong, but you have to wonder if what's being done is ethical, and in the US, constitutional). I feel bad for those Chinese who lost their homes and are forced to live in those tents afterwards (like the footage of the old man and his sick wife being forcefully taken out by the police).

Wonder how long it'll be before the world is entirely run by corporations. Yeah, some of you will joke that it already is, but there could very well come a day when Walmart can legally force you out of your house so they can build another store there.

Jam it back in, in the dark.