Farmer teaches himself law, turns ecowarrior
YUSHUTUN, CHINA: Wang Enlin, an elderly farmer who left school when he was 10 years old and taught himself law armed with a single textbook and dictionary, makes for an unlikely eco-warrior.
Yet the 64-year-old is determined to reap justice as he readies for a fresh battle in his war with a subsidiary of China’s largest chemical firm, which he accuses of polluting and destroying his farmland.
“In China, behind every case of pollution is a case of corruption,” he said of his mission to bring Qihua Chemical Group to account.
Wang and other villagers from Heilongjiang province have sued Qihua, accusing it of contaminating their soil, in a case that has stretched on for 16 years.
This February, Wang earned a rare victory when a local court ordered Qihua to clear up their chemical waste site and pay 820,000 yuan ($120,000) as compensation.
But that ruling was overturned on appeal, and Wang is now gearing up to fight back. “We will absolutely win. The law is on our side,” he said.
Wang’s battle began in 2001, when a village committee leased 28.5 hectares to Qihua for use as a chemical waste dumping ground without the villagers’ consent.
Wang says he felt compelled to teach himself law after realising he lacked the knowledge or resources to take on the might of an industrial giant.
After petitioning the local authorities to no avail, he received aid in 2007 from the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, which helped the villagers put together a lawsuit using evidence he had compiled.
But it was still another year before Wang’s case was accepted into China’s justice system.
Today Wang prepares his own legal paperwork and hosts daily gatherings at his home for villagers hoping to learn about their rights.