Now, 10 Years in the Presidency Xi Jinpingof rule, community organizations such as Charles have been dismantled and hopes of reincarnation crushed.
Charles has fled China and many of his activist friends are in prison.
“After 2015, the whole civil society began to collapse and fragment,” he told AFP, using a pseudonym for security reasons.
On the verge of securing a third term at the helm of the world’s most populous country, Xi has oversaw a decade in which civil society movements, a booming free media and academic freedom have all been eroded.
As Xi sought to eliminate any threat to the Communist Party, many non-governmental organization activists, rights lawyers and activists were threatened, imprisoned or exiled.
AFP interviewed eight Chinese activists and intellectuals who described the collapse of civil society under Xi’s leadership, although some are determined to keep working despite the risks.
Some face harassment from security officials who call them for weekly questioning, while others cannot publish under their own names.
“My colleagues and I have often experienced interrogations lasting more than 24 hours,” the LGBTQ rights NGO activist told AFP on condition of anonymity. The psychological trauma from repeated interrogations has added to his troubles.
“We have become more and more incompetent, whether from a financial or operational standpoint, or on an individual level.”
The collapse of China’s civil society has been a long process full of obstacles for activists.
In 2015, more than 300 lawyers and rights defenders were arrested in a sweep called the “709 crackdown,” the date it was launched – July 9.
According to rights groups, many lawyers remained behind bars or under surveillance for years, while others were sacked.
Another significant moment was the adoption of the so-called Foreign NGO Act in 2016 which imposed sanctions and gave police wide powers over foreign NGOs operating in the country.
An environmental NGO activist told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal: “In 2014, we could have raised protest banners, did scientific fieldwork and collaborated with the Chinese media to highlight environmental abuses. ”
“Now we must report to the police before doing anything. Every project should be in collaboration with a government department that feels like a supervisory committee.”
Today’s scenario is markedly different from what it was a few years ago, when civil society groups were able to operate in the relatively permissive environment they began under previous President Hu Jintao.
“At universities, many LGBTQ and gender-focused groups emerged around 2015,” said Carl, a member of the LGBTQ youth group, although he felt “pressure to tighten up.”
By 2018, zero-tolerance to government activism came to a head with authorities suppressing a budding #MeToo feminist movement and arresting dozens of student activists.
“Activities were previously restricted, while ideological functions such as political education classes intensified,” said Karl.
In July 2022, Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University issued an official warning to two students for distributing rainbow flags, while the social media pages of dozens of LGBTQ student groups were blocked.
Another harbinger of regression was a 2013 internal party communiqué that banned the advocacy of what he described as Western liberal values, such as constitutional democracy and press freedom.
“It considered these ideologies hostile, whereas in the 1980s we could discuss them and publish books about them,” said Gao Yu, a Beijing-based freelance journalist. document.
“In a normal society, intellectuals can question the mistakes of the government. Otherwise… is it not as it is? Mao era?” he asked, referring to Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China.
Now, 78-year-old Gao keeps a watch on social media, has virtually no income and is barred from making overseas calls or gathering with friends.
“We are all like corn under the village mill,” she said.
Gao and his peers are replaced by celebrity academics who parrot radical nationalist ideology, while others have been thrown out of their positions or face classroom surveillance from students.
Wu Qiang, a former Tsinghua political science professor and party critic, said: “In the past decade, a kind of gossip culture has developed in China’s intellectual sphere.”
“Students have become censors reviewing every sentence of their professor, rather than learning through mutual discussion.”
Faced with an increasingly harsh climate, many workers have either fled China or stopped their work.
Despite the growing animosity, including online bullying, only a handful persist.
“Maybe we’re at the bottom of a valley right now… but people are still speaking out relentlessly,” said Fang Yuan, founder of gender rights group Equity.
For others, like environmental organization activists, it is an “unbeatable war” against nationalist trolls who claim that all NGO workers are “anti-China and brainwashed by the West”.
“It makes me feel like all my efforts have been wasted,” he said.
Charles’ friends, #MeToo lawyer Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing, have been held without trial for more than a year on charges of sabotage.
He believes the authorities saw his gathering of youth activists as a threat – and the extent of prosecution is shrinking.
“The government is now targeting individuals who do small-scale, subtle, low-key activism,” he said.
“They have made sure there is no new generation of workers.”