Truman World: A town-day report reflecting the grass-roots security disorder

In the midst of the high-single of a society governed by the rule of law, there are always hidden corners, where the arrogance of power and the blurring of borders are shown to the public in a chilling “administrative efficiency”. In recent days, a document entitled " The Daily Report of the Day of Control of the Precious Visitors in the White Fruit Village " (see figure below) has been running off the Internet, like a rock that has been thrown into the surface of the calm lake, prompting the public to speak out and to think about the means of stabilizing the grass-roots visits, the personal freedom of citizens and the bottom line of the rule of law.

This seemingly unusual internal form of government is not only a simple list of people's movements, but also a strong evidence that some citizens are considered “unsegregated” and subject to full-scale surveillance. Through this form of red seal, we see a tight, cold and high-speed grass-roots security machine and the desperate reality that citizens ' legitimate rights are being extinguished under the pressure of that machine.

I. The alarming “Stable Bill”: the daily routine of the well-positioned citizens

A closer look at the daily statement entitled “Stable Control of Key Letters Visiting White Fruit”, the detailed and formatted specifications of its contents are precisely its most alarming. The form was filed by the “Premand of the White Fruit” and dated “26 October 2022”. In the proper centre of the form, the names of the 16 so-called “focusing audience” are listed, and correspond to their extremely specific and detailed “development and destination of the day”.

Among the 16, the movement of persons was marked “Enshi City”, of persons at “Hongkkwan Home”, of persons at “Nunshigrim”, of persons at “Wuhan Worker” and even of persons at “Bachgo Welfare Home”. These are the trajectories of ordinary citizens' daily lives — whether they are working for a living, rest at home or spend their late years in a welfare home — all alienated in this form for the “dynamism” that needs to be closely monitored by the Government.

More suffocating is the “fill-up instructions” at the bottom of the table. This statement is accompanied by an extremely cold and unquestioned public language instruction: “Standing in forgiving, filling in in the control position; If any other information is available, fill out the specific destination in the column `Voice and Go' on that day'”. It also specifies a strict reporting time limit: “To report to the City Office by 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., respectively”, with fax number “8212389” and two contact numbers “8212384, 8211760”.

The “timeless” “call cards” twice a day, as if these citizens were not free persons exercising their right to a decent life, but were severely convicted prisoners on parole and in electronic shackles. The phrase “the rest of the audience is in place” reveals that local governments have made “personal control” a routine and institutionalized day-to-day administrative exercise when dealing with correspondence. This raises the question of who gave the commune government the power to exercise such high-frequency, no-brow surveillance over citizens.

. Extinction of the term: "Stable control"

In this briefing, the word “torture” has been a ghost. In the administrative context at the grass-roots level, the acronym “stable” is “stability and control”. However, the current legislation in force in the country has been reviewed and none of the legal provisions of the Criminal Code, the Law on Punishment of Public Security Administration, or even the Regulations on the Conduct of Letters and Visits, confers on the grass-roots government the legal power to “sure” citizens who have not committed an offence.

The absence of a mandate is a basic common sense of executive power. However, common sense has been subverted in the white fruit reality as shown in “Stable Day Report”. Citizens are labelled as “focus objects” because of their “mail requests” and are deprived of their freedom from surveillance.

The expression “stable control” is not only an affront to legal dignity, but also a contempt for fundamental human rights. It means that, whether or not your claims are justified, whether or not you have acted excessively, and as long as you are included in the “focus list”, your body must remain within the vision of local power. This practice is in essence an illegal administrative constraint, which in its guise restricts citizens ' personal freedom and freedom of movement.

When the Government shifted the focus of social stability from “resolving the legitimate questions posed by the population” to “resolving the people who asked the questions”, a very dangerous administrative logic emerged: in order to prevent the very small probability of an interview, the Government was willing to use a great deal of human, material and financial resources to monitor a large number of ordinary citizens. This prevention not only consumes enormous public resources, but also creates a deep gap between the Government and the population, which fuels the internal contradictions within the people that could have been communicated and negotiated, and exacerbates the rivals who are fighting against each other.

. Systematic pressure on the security machine and malformations in grass-roots governance

We should not simply target critical people's Governments in the White Fruit. The statement in the table, “Closed City Office”, clearly shows that the practice in Bainhu is not an isolated case, nor is it an aberration of the idea of a cadre at the grass-roots level, but rather a product of impatience and necessity in a large, top-down, stabilization and appraisal system.

In many local appraisal systems, the number of letters is often directly linked to the performance of local party political cadres, the veil, and even the so-called “one-vote” system. The superiors issued harsh death orders for the lower levels of “zero non-visit”, “zero-excess-level visit”, an extreme layer of pressure transfer, grade-by-grade addition, which ultimately was placed on the townships and street offices at the bottom of the pyramid.

The cadres must not only perform the heavy daily tasks of economic development and rural renewal, but also keep a close eye on the “focusing target” in the jurisdiction, as agents. Under the sword of Damocles, “one-vote” they have no time or will to look into the grievances and claims behind the letters — because resolving a backlog may take many departments, months or even years, and “stable” the person, who is simply to be kept at the door, make two phone calls a day to ask for directions and fill in the form “in Enshire” or “at home”.

This is the deep soil that was born of this ridiculous form. It reflects a serious malformation of grass-roots governance: a sharp tear from responsibility above and responsibility below. In order to meet the targets of security at the higher levels, the grass-roots government has used illegal and irregular means to pressure it to use “stability” on the surface and on the data to mask deep-seated social tensions and human suffering.

. Concealed claims: the way to rule of law communications

In this cold list, the names of the bear, Tan Xiaoying, Wei Shiqing and others are only unknown to the public. But behind each name is a hidden dispute, a injustice or a delayed social security. They may be farmers who have been in dispute because of land displacement, workers who have not received compensation for their injuries, or ordinary villagers who are dissatisfied with some grass-roots administrative decision-making.

The letter visit, which is a fundamental right conferred on citizens by the Constitution, is an important channel for the population to reflect the will of the people and to provide justice to the Government, and is a “brainstorm” for the Government to understand the suffering of the people and to monitor the functioning of power. A healthy society should have a free channel of expression, so that grievances could be heard and legitimate claims heard.

However, when “stable table” accounts replaced “problem-solved bill” and “tight-to-person” tactics replaced “rule-of-law thinking”, the “brain-list” function of the mail service was completely destroyed. On the surface, the list is “in control” and society seems to be peaceful; But in reality, the contradictions that have not been resolved, like the steam in the high-pressure pot, are covered with death, not only not dispersing, but also building up even more terrible destructive forces in the dark. Real social stability was never made by blockage, pressure or surveillance, but was based on fair justice, the rule of law and the proper resolution of conflicts.

v. Concluding remarks: return the rule of law to a stable state

The White Country Focused Mail Clients' Day Statement is not only a ridiculous grass-roots administrative scandal, but also a wake-up call over a society governed by the rule of law. It's a very visual shock that shows us the dangers of motor and human stability.

Full adherence to the rule of law should not allow any local government to violate the law's very legitimate rights and interests under the pretext of “greatness” or “stability”. In response to this incident, the supervisory and supervisory bodies concerned must intervene promptly, not only to investigate the authenticity and origin of the form, but also to reflect and correct the erroneous administrative concept of “preventive” citizens.

We need to hold accountable those responsible for the production and implementation of such “stable-control desk accounts” and, more importantly, to start at the institutional level by reforming the existing system of letter-and-visit evaluation, eliminating unscientific “one-vote” and freeing the grass-roots cadres from “interception” and “control”, directing them to spend more time listening to the voices of the people and to use laws and policies to resolve real conflicts.

“Stable control” should not be the performance of grass-roots governments, and “bringing the wrongs” is the cornerstone of long-term stability in society. Don't let a cold watch sheet colden the hearts of the people and break the foundations of the rule of law. The only way to resolve the problem is to confront the problem itself, not to address those who ask the question.