Flying Dragons of Fury vs. Warlords of the Forbidden City

If events in China's Hebei province are any indication, the defeated plaintiffs in Kelo v. New London may want to head down to their local dojo to prepare for the next phase in their struggle. For the second time, peasants have turned back an attack by goons trying to clear them out to make room for a state-owned power plant. Sez The Globe and Mail:

The farmers fight back against the attackers with wooden poles and pitchforks. At one point, they knock down one of the assailants and club him repeatedly as he lies motionless on the ground. The four-minute videotape abruptly ends when the farmer with the digital video camera is forced to flee from the assailants. He reportedly suffered a broken arm in the battle.

Of the six slain farmers, most reportedly died from bullet or stab wounds. One of the attackers also died, the Beijing News reported.

Lefty bloggers are said to be dismayed.

Watch the video. Thanks to kevrob.

Comments

[Mo]

So let's see, Americans roll over to the demands of our government and the Chinese pick up arms and fight their government. My head hurts.

Warren, this round's on me.

[keith]

Now I expect apologies from anyone who ever said those 70s films where "the local dojo fights back against greedy land developers who want to tear down the community center and build a shopping mall" were stupid.

What New London needs is a Monkey Hustle.

[matt]

God bless those guys....and good luck to them.

[Eric the .5b]

Hell, yeah.

[mediageek]

Keith, I'll see your Kung-Fu dojo and raise you A troupe of break-dancers.

[The Real Bill]

Mo,

Sadly, these farmers have nothing to lose but their lives. The loss of their farmland may mean death to them anyway. Their government is taking what little they have, whereas, even after high taxes and other takings, most Americans still have lots to lose. Regardless, I have more respect for those Chinese farmers than us.

[Mo]

Bill,
I too have nothing but respect for these farmer. What you say reminds me of a Nasser saying that my dad told me (Note: my dad despised Nasser, but said this saying was the one thing out of all his speeches that stuck in his head). It was something along the lines of "The desire for freedom is proportional to the price of bread." In essence, he was saying that when you struggle for basic survival, you don't have time to worry about other things like free speech or property rights, etc. Since, the governement taking the farmers freedom was also taking away their source of survival, their fight for survival coincided with their fight for freedom.

This is also why most Americans are willing to give up their freedom because most believe that this fight with Islamic terrorists is one of survival (I personally don't give bin Laden and his goons that much credit). The survival instinct is the strongest one we have, it will trump others, like the one for freedom.

[Stretch]

It is a strange twist of fate that the very freedoms which have granted the average American with a decent standard of living are not worth fighting for because of how decent that standard of living is.

[agentalbert]

As soon as I read Keith's post I knew it wouldn't be long until someone went to the "electric boogaloo" card. Truly one of the worst movies I ever sat through in a theater. But nice to see others are aware of it.

[Sandy]

agentalbert:

I can only assume you didn't see Breakin' I. If you saw that and still went to see Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo, well, then, you have no one to blame but yourself.

[thoreau]

In another thread there was talk of Iraqi insurgents supposedly being supplied with pistols that don't have serial numbers. Whatever the validity of that rumor, I've got an idea: How about if some of those pistols wind up in the hands of Chinese peasants facing eminent domain?

[mediageek]

thoreau-

A compatriot of mine wrote an article recently for a blackpowder shooting magazine. Evidently blackpowder shooting is very much alive an well in rural China, despite the gov't line of total prohibition. Most of the guns have been passed down for generations, and used strictly and discreetly for hunting. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to hear that some of these might be employed in other such clashes.

However, I think the best thing they could do would be to hit one the NORINCO factories and walk off with a few crate fulls of Kalashnikovs, or even heavier stuff. Of course, in reality that probably would be a lot harder to pull off than it seems sitting here in a comfortable chair in the USA...