Verna Yu: 'Our spirit will never be crushed': Hong Kong activists vow to keep fighting despite new laws

By Dilip -

For Joshua Wong, Lee Cheuk-yan and James To – three of Hong Kong’s highest profile pro-democracy activists – the possibility of going to jail in China has never been more real. The national security law passed in Beijing and enacted in Hong Kong on 1 July appears to be tailor-made for them in many ways. In less than a week Hong Kong’s atmosphere has changed dramatically. 

People have been arrested for possessing materials deemed “subversive”. Colourful “Lennon walls” with pro-democracy messages have been torn down or replaced by blank notes after police warnings. Political groups have disbanded. Authorities have ordered schools to remove books that might “endanger” national security while public libraries have pulled sensitive books.  Police no longer need search warrants for national security cases. A hotel in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay has been turned into the national security office and opened on Wednesday.

Hongkongers face a Kafkaesque reality as censors outlaw the words of protest

The law – which punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison – has been criticised by legal experts for its broad and vague definitions that would allow the authorities to prosecute whoever they wish. National security cases can also be sent to Chinese courts for trial. Vowing not to give up on their mission, Wong, Lee and To say they are prepared to go to jail. Wong, 23, the face of the 2014 Umbrella movement who has already been imprisoned three times, told the Guardian that he had “no choice” but to keep going...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/08/our-spirit-will-never-be-crushed-hong-kong-activists-vow-to-keep-fighting-despite-new-laws

see also

Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa’s statement on India’s withdrawal of his visa // India denies visa to Tiananmen activist Lu Jinghua

Remembering June 4, 1989 - Families of Tiananmen Square victims accuse Beijing of three decades of 'white terror' // Tiananmen Mothers: No Amount of Power Can Rub Out June Fourth

June 4, 1989 - the Chinese people struggle for democracy. Timeline of the Tiananmen protests

China’s Brave Underground Journal - Remembrance

Looking Back at the June 4 Massacre, Twenty-Four Years on

June 4, 1989 - the Chinese people struggle for democracy
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang

ALL REFERENCES TO TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE CENSORED FOR 20 YEARS

The People's Republic of Amnesia - Remembering A Forgotten Tiananmen

Minxin Pei - China’s historical amnesia

China Labour Bulletin

Book review: The State as Faction: Mao’s Cultural Revolution

Democracy Protests In Hong Kong Turn Violent // Cops, Protesters Clash In Huge Hong Kong Demonstrations - Photos

Hong Kong pro-democracy protests – in pictures

Hong Kong students begin democracy protest - Chinese people struggle for democracy

Cops, Protesters Clash In Huge Hong Kong Demonstrations - Photos

The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang

China Labour Bulletin

Magnus Fiskesjö: China's Thousandfold Guantánamos

China is committing ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang – it's time for the world to stand up: Frances Eve

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei says virus has only strengthened China's 'police state'
China's hidden camps What's happened to the vanished Uighurs of Xinjiang?

Chinese lawyer who exposed baby milk scandal jailed for subversion

Tom Phillips - China seeks to eradicate 'vile effect' of independent journalism

“A desperate plea from an ordinary citizen in China: somebody please do something"

Yuli Yang: A love letter to Wuhan, from a resilient local watching from afar // Chinese people are enduring coronavirus like everyone else. Don’t traumatise us further

'Hero who told the truth': Chinese rage over coronavirus death of whistleblower doctor

Richard McGregor: The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the deep flaws of Xi’s autocracy

Death of 'barefoot lawyer' puts focus on China's treatment of political prisoners

Chinese human rights lawyer ‘totally changed man’ after being jailed

 


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