The Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2011 by Stanley Lubman
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/12/23/chinas-wukan-protest-will-rights-awareness-spread/?KEYWORDS=Berkeley
The question now is whether the central government will address the root causes of the protests by implementing long-postponed legislation on rural land seizures and cracking down on corruption. For the Communist Party, the risks of inaction are clear. The protests signify an expression of rising rights consciousness among citizens that could grow in other towns.