China quake could speed growth of ad-hoc activism

By Emma Graham-Harrison and Lindsay Beck

CHENGDU (Reuters) - It was just an afternoon stroll down the streets of his hometown, but every step blogger "Yellow Peach" took was revolutionary.

There were no placards or banners, no slogans or matching T-shirts, but by "taking a walk" together for a couple of hours, a few hundred citizens of a laid-back southwestern city were illegally challenging government plans for a new oil refinery.

They wandered in quiet clusters down a route circulated by Internet and mobile phone, watched by uniformed and plainclothes police who knew exactly why they were there and later punished six people for their role.

"This was a victorious meeting, a rally. The kindling has already been scattered. What follows now depends on everybody," Yellow Peach wrote, signing off on a string of messages to a fellow blogger giving a blow-by-blow account of the protest.

The protest was typical of a new type of activism spreading rapidly through China -- ad hoc networks of the well-educated and relatively well-off, usually focused on one issue they feel threatens their health or wealth.

The Chengdu walkers hoped to imitate middle class pioneers from the more prosperous east coast who forced local governments to move or reconsider multi-billion dollar industrial and infrastructure projects when they took to the streets.

They largely ignore formal NGOs which Beijing monitors, emasculates or ties up in red tape, connecting instead through blogs, chatrooms or SMS phone messages to spread their message.

At their most effective, these creative, driven groups can change how and where firms do business in China and force the ruling Communist Party to be more responsive, experts say.

"This kind of civil society, based not around formal organizations but around issues, can mobilize more people and they are more determined," said Yiyi Lu, a researcher at British think-tank Chatham House who used to work in China's NGO sector.

"They are probably more effective on issues which mobilize them, because they directly affect their lives and interests."

QUAKE AND ITS AFTERSHOCKS

In the end, the activists in Chengdu never had a chance to find out if they could spark a wider revolt.

Less than two weeks after they took to the streets, the city was rocked by a massive earthquake which flattened towns and villages less than an hour's drive away, killing nearly 70,000.

The petrochemical project is now under review after the tremors caused chemical spills at smaller plants and village houses around its planned perimeter collapsed in ruins.

But as people across China rushed to help victims or send cash, food and clothing, the protesters found a new use for their organizing and publicity skills -- and informal civil society may have gained a new impetus.