Sending vibes to the brave people of Hong Kong who are gathering again today

[applegrove]

to protest the Chinese extradition laws. Hong Kong political prisoners may be extradicted to mainland China for trials under the new law. Residents of Hong Kong are worried about autonomy and Chinese power plays too. Today it is mostly the young who are demonstrating. CBC News

At the very least peaceful protests and civil disobedience of all kinds will open the eyes of main Chinese to the possibility of political protest. These brave souls will give others in China ideas and language to do the same.

I'll never forget my brother's roomate from China who was visibly shaking when told Tamils were having a demonstration on Parliament Hill here in Ottawa, ten blocks away. Of course it was peaceful. But that is not what the Chinese are taught about demonstrations. This was someone doing a masters. His father was a public servant who traveled the world. It must be intentional propaganda to teach them that demonstrations are always dangerous and always involve violence that spreads.

[tymorial]

1. That 50 year agreement isn't worth the paper with Charle's signature

[applegrove]

2. Who is Charles?

[applegrove]

3. From the WP email newsletter:

"SNIP.....

It’s always been easy to prophesy Hong Kong’s doom. Ever since Britain handed over the bustling colonial entrepôt to Beijing in 1997, prognosticators and politicos of all stripes warned of its inexorable decline. Hong Kong’s liberal and quasi-democratic traditions, including civil liberties such as freedom of speech, would wane and wither under the new Communist overlords, they said. So, too, would the economic preeminence of this famous port at the heart of global trade, eclipsed by booming cities on the Chinese mainland. And, ultimately, Hong Kong’s supposedly apathetic local populace would accept its fate and get with the program.

None of these fears are misguided and, in some cases, have proved far too real. But for all the political pressure bearing down on Hong Kong, the city still has a way of defying the naysayers and standing up — even if that means rising against the tide of history itself.

That spirit has been on display this week. On Sunday, Hong Kong saw its biggest protests in half a decade, with possibly upward of a million people flooding the streets in opposition to a draft bill that would allow for extraditions to the mainland. A pocket of protesters who attempted to hold a sit-in at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council clashed with riot police and were blanketed with pepper spray.

The legislation’s proponents insist that current legal loopholes — Hong Kong does not have extradition treaties with China or Taiwan — need to be closed. But its critics argue that the bill fundamentally threatens the “one country, two systems” model that has enabled Hong Kong to maintain a degree of political autonomy since 1997. Permitting extraditions to the mainland, they contend, would enable China’s authoritarian leadership to further erode the rule of law and civil liberties in Hong Kong. When a senior Communist Party official in the ruling Politburo publicly offered his support for the measure, it only deepened suspicions in Hong Kong.

....SNIP"