A SHORT WORD FOR XU LIZHVI AND THOUSANDS OF OTHERS by Sujato Datta
"Another screw comes loose, Another migrant worker brother jumps You die in place of me, And I keep writing in place of you." Zhou Qizao's tribute to Xu I want to begin with an apology. I'm sorry because, I, sitting in my comfortable residence in a metropolis, getting a good college education, can never understand how Xu Lizhvi felt, but still I write this. For all the chest-thumping of its Communist Revolution, the standard of living and working of Chinese workers remain miserable, to say the least.The advocates of capitalism and free market talk loftily about its credentials of competence,meritocracy and welfare fail to take notice of what is happening in the factories of the world. Workers are cramped into dingy