My current location and my next trip

Current location: Italy.
Next trip: Ireland, in mid-July.

Adesso sono: in Italia
Prossimo viaggio: Irlanda, metà luglio

Letture da spiaggia

Michel Foucault - Sorvegliare e Punire. Nascita della Prigione.

Stopped and questioned at *** International Airport

For someone who studies detention and police powers, there is nothing like being stopped and questioned by the police. Truly amazing. No irony meant.

There must be something suspicious or shady about me. Because every time I go through *** International Airport one of these men dressed in black invariably stop me and starts asking me questions. They take my passport and boarding pass, and then they say to me one or more of the following:

You are in our system. You may have troubles with the police in the future.

Why am I in "the system" of the *** police? Because, as a resident of Sweden, when I travel from Sweden to China I use my Swedish ID card. I am a resident of Sweden but an Italian national. This is fine to the police in most European countries. But not at *** Airport. There, I am asked to show my Italian ID.

Not even my passport. When I say to them that I have left it home in Sweden, they refuse to let me go through the gate to get my flight to Beijing.

I am an Italian national, therefore even if I am a resident of Sweden I should use an Italian ID.

Without an Italian ID I cannot prove that I am really Italian. It doesn't matter if I hold an Italian passport.

Such is their line of reasoning.

They do not believe that I left my Italian ID in my apartment in Sweden. This is the truth. They keep asking the same questions about my Italian ID for 15 minutes. I know how a questioning session works (I have taken part to questioning sessions, and held questioning sessions myself) so I keep it cool, waiting for the moment when they will start suggesting me the answer they want to get (something I never did, but I witnessed other people doing it). Pretty much like in Robert J. Lifton books.

Maybe it was stolen.....maybe you lost it and you don't want to tell us.

None of these is true of course. The Italian ID is in Sweden, in my flat. Shall I say that it was stolen?

"I cannot remember exactly where in my flat it is, so I think I lost it"
Now, they talk to me in Italian. I am not sure they can really understand what I say. The Naples accent can sometimes be hard tounderstand. But they seem to be satisfied. I can speak Italian, I am dark, therefore I am Italian.

Then, I am reprimanded by them. Sure, I am a young student (actually I am 31, and a researcher but they believe I am a young student of Chinese language) and should be more careful about where I put my things. Also I should report to the Swedish police that I do not remember where I have put my Italian ID.

I get back my passport and boarding pass, go through the gate and walk 200 metres. I am stopped again. The passport and boarding pass are taken again, and the same questions are asked.

Where do you come from?

Italy! I say. Then the passport magically disappears, and the men in green start testing my knowledge of Italian until they really believe I am Italian. The passport is examined several times: why does your passport look this way?

Where are you travelling from? Where are you travelling to? Why? What are you doing here? Are you sure?

Apparently, I am changing planes. Given that I hold a boarding pass for a flight to Beijing, what else could I be doing at *** Airport?

Stop! Give me your passport! And open your luggage!

This is normally the funniest part...this time, they took two cartons of cigarettes. Asking me why didn't I bring any forbidden items, big quantities alcohol, or more cigarettes. Where is the rest? They asked. What rest? You have more than this. No I don't. You are a smuggler. No I am not. While I was trying to persuade the police that I am Italian, people holding bags full of bottles of spirits happily passed by.

They didn't talk to me in English. All they could say was: come with us young little lady. Had I not been able to understand their language, I would have been lost.

They gave me a notice of seizure. Not a proper form, but a photocopy. The form had been photocopied over and over again. This copy was so dark that reading it was impossible. They didn't write my address on it, they didn't mention the kind and number of the goods they seized.

My current location and my next trip

As most of you know, at the moment I am in Italy, in my sea house. On June 21 I will be travelling to Leiden to join this workshop:

Come molti di voi sanno, attualmente mi trovo in Italia, nella mia casa al mare. Il 21 Giugno riparto per l'Olanda, per partecipare al seguente workshop:

International Workshop
Rent-seeking Politics in China

22-23 June 2007, 9:30-17:00
Gravensteen, Pieterskerkhof 6, Leiden

The market reform in China has resulted in widespread practice of rent seeking. Economic rents are created when the state regulates market entry, imposes tariffs, allocates investment, and rations bank credits. State agents exchange rents with enterprises for private gains or parochial interests. The workshop compares rent seeking across different economic sectors and seeks to locate the political and institutional factors in shaping rent-seeking politics.

Programme

Session 1: Concept and Institutional Background

Rent Seeking in China: The View through a Comparative, Historical and Institutional Lens
Richard Boyd (Leiden)

Corruption, Clientelism and Rent-Seeking: a testing of Definitions

Flora Sapio (Lund)

From Surplus Seeking to Rent Seeking: The Political Economy of Reform in China
Xiaobo Hu (Clemson)

Session 2: Government-Business Relations

Social Efficiency and the Expansion of Rent-Seeking: Reconceptualizing State-Society Relations in China’s Private Sector
David Wank (Sophia)

Political Entrepreneurship in China’s Economic Transition
Yi-min Lin (HKUST)

Rent Seeking and Local Public Finance: Economic Growth and Government Revenue from Local Industries
R. Bin Wong (UCLA)

Session 3: Heavy and Light Industries

Rent Dissipation by Rent Seeking: An Analysis of the Development of the Chinese Automotive and Beer Sectors
Andrew Wedeman (Nebraska, Lincoln)

Changing Modes of Rent Utilization and Industrial Governance in China’s Automobile Industry
Tak-Wing Ngo (Leiden) and Chen Yilin (Tsinghua)

Rent Seeking in the Chinese Beer Industry
Yongping Wu (Tsinghua) and Jin Biao (Tsinghua)

Session 4: Energy and Strategic Sectors

China's Electricity Industry: Powering the Rent-Seeking?
T.J. Cheng (William and Mary) and Chung-min Tsai (UC Berkeley)

Rents and Rent-seeking in China’s Coal Industry
Tim Wright (Sheffield)

Rent Dispersion and Persistent Fragmentation in the Chinese Steel Industry
Pei Sun (Nottingham)

公安部关于严格执行劳动教养规定 进一步提高劳动教养案件质量的通知

公 安 部 文 件

公通字[2004]26号 公安部关于严格执行劳动教养规定 进一步提高劳动教养案件质量的通知 　 各省、自治区、直辖市公安厅、局，新疆生产建设兵团公安局： 公安部印发的《公安机关办理劳动教养案件规定》（以下简称《规定》）自2002年6月1日施行以来，各地公安机关依照现行法律、行政法规和《规定》办理劳 动教养案件，案件质量有了明显提高，有效地保护了公民的合法权益，取得了较好的法律效果和社会效果。但是，目前仍有少数地方公安机关没有严格执行《规 定》，有的认为《规定》是公安部内部规范性文件，可以不严格执行；有的没有按照《规定》告知拟被劳动教养人员有申请举行聆询的权利；有的没有按照《规定》 举行聆询；有的超出适用对象范围批准劳动教养；有的没有按照《规定》呈报劳动教养审批委员会审议决定；有的甚至下达或者变相下达劳动教养办案指标。为了严 格劳动教养审批工作，进一步提高劳动教养案件质量，现就有关问题通知如下： 一、进一步提高对严格执行《规定》重要性的认识。《规 定》是依据现行法律、行政法规制定的，有些内容是公安部结合实际情况对有关法律、行政法规规定的解释。《规定》作为全面、系统规范劳动教养审批工作的规范 性文件，是公安部在法定职权范围内规范劳动教养审批程序，完善劳动教养法律制度的重大举措。各级公安机关要认真贯彻落实《中共中央关于进一步加强和改进公 安工作的决定》（中发[2003]13号）和第二十次全国公安会议的精神，牢固树立执法为民的思想，进一步提高严格执行《规定》对于改革、完善劳动教养制 度，维护社会稳定所发挥的重要作用的认识，将严格执行《规定》作为一项重要工作来抓，确保每一起劳动教养案件均严格按照《规定》办理，做到“事实清楚，证 据确实、充分，定性准确，量处适当，程序合法”。 二、严格按照《规定》的适用对象办理劳动教养案件。各 级公安机关劳动教养审批部门要严格按照《规定》的适用对象批准劳动教养，不得突破《国务院关于劳动教养问题的决定》、《国务院关于劳动教养的补充规定》、 《中华人民共和国治安管理处罚条例》、《全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于禁毒的决定》、《全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于严禁卖淫嫖娼的决定》、《劳动教 养试行办法》和《规定》所规定的适用对象。对依法应当追究刑事责任的，不得降格批准劳动教养；对依法应当予以治安管理处罚或者收容教育、强制戒毒的，不得 升格批准劳动教养。要注重调查取证包括对违法犯罪事实和证据的审核，准确认定行为人的违法犯罪事实，防止因运用劳动教养手段不当而产生负面影响。对事实不 清、证据不足的，不得批准劳动教养；对不能在法定羁押期限内侦查终结的犯罪嫌疑人，不得以劳动教养时间变相延长羁押期限。为了确保严格、公正执法，各地不 得下达或者变相下达劳动教养办案指标，不得将批准劳动教养人员的数量作为考核指标。对违反上述规定以及因违法批准劳动教养导致当事人到公安部上访的，公安 部将予以通报批评。 三、严格按照《规定》的程序办理劳动教养案件。各级公安机关劳动教养审批部门要强化 程序意识，严格按照《规定》的程序办理劳动教养案件，确保审核、复核、合议、聆询、报劳动教养审批委员会审议决定等每一个程序都不走过场。特别是对符合聆 询条件的拟被劳动教养人员，必须按照《规定》告知其有要求聆询的权利；对符合条件的聆询申请，必须作出聆询决定，并认真举行聆询。最近，北京市公安局选择 了一些劳动教养案件公开举行聆询，允许拟被劳动教养人员聘请律师为自己提供法律帮助并参加聆询，新闻媒体对此进行了公开报道，收到了良好的法律效果和社会 效果。各地可以借鉴北京市公安局的做法，选择一些劳动教养案件进行公开聆询，允许拟被劳动教养人员委托代理人共同参加聆询，并作适当宣传、报道。同时，各 省级公安机关要选择一、两个城市作为严格执行《规定》、推广聆询工作的联系点，加强组织、协调和指导，努力使所办理的劳动教养案件取得更好的法律效果和社 会效果。 四、加强对劳动教养案件的执法监督。各级公安机关要严格按照《规定》的要求，建立 和完善劳动教养案件办案责任制度、过错责任追究制度以及其他内部执法监督制度，将办理劳动教养案件情况全面纳入公安机关执法质量考核评议范围。各级公安机 关法制部门要充分发挥职能作用，进一步加强对劳动教养案件的执法监督。对在执法质量考核评议和行政复议中发现超出适用对象范围、违反程序审批劳动教养的， 要坚决加以纠正，一律依法予以撤销。为全面掌握办理劳动教养案件中存在的问题，公安机关要与人民政府法制部门定期沟通情况；对劳动教养行政诉讼案件，受同 级劳动教养管理委员会委托作出劳动教养决定的公安机关的主要负责人或者分管劳动教养审批工作的负责人必须出庭应诉；对符合国家赔偿条件的，要依法予以国家 赔偿；对因故意或重大过失导致国家赔偿的，要向批准劳动教养的负责人和办理劳动教养案件的直接责任人员追偿，并按照规定追究其执法过错责任。各省级公安机 关对在劳动教养执法质量考核评议和行政复议、行政诉讼中发现的问题要予以通报批评，对严格执行《规定》的要予以通报表扬，同时报告公安部。 五、加强对《规定》执行情况的执法检查。各级公安机关要积极探索建立《规定》执法检 查工作的长效机制，进一步提高劳动教养案件质量。各省级公安机关要建立对劳动教养案件办理情况的定期检查制度，每半年对各地市级公安机关执行《规定》的情 况进行一次执法检查，并将检查情况上报公安部。公安部将不定期地对全国执行《规定》的情况进行抽查，并将检查情况通报全国。对不严格执行《规定》、劳动教 养审批工作中存在问题较多的，公安部将予以通报批评；对严格执行《规定》，劳动教养审批程序规范、制度健全、案件质量较高的，公安部将予以通报表扬。 各地接此通知后，请认真贯彻执行。执行中遇到的问题，请及时报部。 公　　安　　部（印）　 二○○四年三月二十四日 主题词：劳动教养 规定 执行 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 抄 送：中央办公厅、国务院办公厅。 　　　 中央政法委。 　　　 本部党委，部属局级单位。 （存档3份 共印515份） ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 公 安 部 办 公 厅 2004年3月24日印发 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 承办人：孙 萍 校对：王 琪