Hong Kong's Protesters Are Writing Their 'Last Letters'

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/hong-kong-china-protest/

ince Hong Kong was officially handed over to Chinese rule in 1997, the city has enjoyed a special status within China, a place where dissident books could be published, where protests and free speech were protected. But these freedoms have been eroded, at first slowly and now all at once. In 2019, the Hong Kong government introduced an extradition bill that would have made it easier to prosecute Hong Kongers in mainland courts, a move that kicked off months of protests that at first targeted the withdrawal of the bill but ultimately led to a movement fighting for wider democratic rights. And in June 2020, Beijing introduced a special national security law that effectively outlawed public dissent.

This sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing grants the authorities free rein to crack down on opposition at home and abroad. The authorities are already using this law to enforce limits on free speech. Dissidents’ ideas and speech have become illegal under the legislation, which bars secession, terrorism, subversion of state power, and collusion with foreign forces—which means that bloggers who write against the government, or activists associated with a foreign NGO could all be targeted. Just last week, the government arrested four activists who had posted pro-democracy sentiments online, and barred a dozen pro-democracy candidates from running in the upcoming legislative elections, before postponing the elections entirely.

I was in Hong Kong when the national security law was announced—I shoot photos for a number of wire services, and I was here covering the protests that have continued despite fierce police crackdowns and the threat of Covid-19. I was born in Hong Kong, so I take it as a duty to bear witness to the rapid shifts in political power that have wracked the territory these past few months, as activists shut down whole sections of the city and as security forces brutally arrested protesters off the streets.

*snip*

[woodsprite]

1. Bet the thought of this is giving Trump & Co wet dreams. nt