#hong kong national anthem law

[panicinthestudio]

Further reading:

HKFP: Gov’t seeks to ban protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, including from internet, June 6, 2023

HKFP: Protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ dominates local iTunes top 10, hours after gov’t sought ban, June 7, 2023

HKFP: ‘Too early’ to say if ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ ban would result in Google withdrawal, data scientist says, June 13, 2023

[mariacallous]

In late July, the Hong Kong judiciary quashed the city’s attempt to ban “Glory to Hong Kong,” a pro-democracy anthem that rose to popularity during the 2019 protests in the territory. In his ruling, High Court Judge Anthony Chan dismissed concerns that the ban would violate freedom of speech or stifle dissent. Instead, Chan threw out the authorities’ injunction because it was vague, ill-defined, and unenforceable. “The evidence contains little in terms of specificities on how the Injunction would … reduce the prevalence of the Song,” he wrote. “In truth, the answer to much of [the government’s] contentions rests in effective enforcement … I am unable to see how the Injunction would assist.”

It’s not often that a legal opinion takes on an authoritarian government for not being good at authoritarianism, but that’s what Chan’s ruling amounts to. As it turns out, in the Hong Kong of 2023—a city lurching into oppression while clinging onto the remnants of the rule of law—Beijing’s enforcers often aren’t all that good at their jobs.

In the aftermath of pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020, the Chinese Communist Party passed a draconian national security law that all but quashed dissent in the previously autonomous city. Since then, Beijing has leaned heavily on a team of hand-picked local officials to maintain an increasingly repressive status quo.

Indeed, in Hong Kong’s bewildering new political reality, strategic missteps now pass for official policy. Take the proposal to ban “Glory to Hong Kong.” Even before the judiciary’s intervention, the government’s misguided efforts had already brought more, not less, attention to the anthem. In a classic example of the Streisand effect, as soon as plans to restrict “Glory to Hong Kong” were announced, the song soared to the top of the city’s iTunes charts.

Other attempts at censorship have gone wildly overboard. In May, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ordered a crackdown on politically sensitive books with the potential to offend Beijing. Scrambling to comply, workers pulled titles such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm—both of which are widely available in mainland China—off library and school bookshelves. Even more inexplicable was the removal of works by Lu Xun, an early 20th-century writer lauded as a revolutionary hero and taught in the Chinese school system. “Lu Xun’s books were not censored even during the height of the Cultural Revolution, but they are censored in today’s Hong Kong,” a local editorial opined. “We’ve become a laughingstock.”

Then, in early July, Hong Kong sparked international outrage when officials placed bounties on the heads of overseas dissidents living in the United States, Britain, and Australia. The plan, which authorities acknowledged was a largely empty threat, quickly backfired: Instead of stifling opposition, the bounties emboldened the dissidents, who landed high-profile media appearances and brought renewed attention to Hong Kong’s authoritarian plight. The decision also upturned officials’ attempts to reassure Western businesses that the city was open for business as usual. “It’s confusing why you would do something like the bounties that create a news story about repression when it was kind of going away,” said Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian who studies modern China.

More of these ill-conceived measures are coming down the pipeline. The government announced in March that it plans to pass an amendment prohibiting discrimination against mainland Chinese visitors by the end of the year. How exactly authorities intend to monitor and prosecute discrimination between people of the same ethnicity and nationality remains uncertain.

To be clear, the Hong Kong government’s tendency to get in its own way is not for a lack of loyalty. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, whom Beijing hand-picked through a sham election, has pledged that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s directives have become Hong Kong’s “blueprint for governance” adding that authorities are “fully committed to live up to the mandate.” Over in the local legislature—which Beijing stripped of all pro-democracy parties in 2021—lawmakers frequently and enthusiastically invoke Xi by name.

Instead, the issue is that Hong Kong leaders have very little experience working closely with the mainland Chinese political system—and as a result, have very little idea how to implement Beijing’s directives.

Under Xi’s rule, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted an increasingly centralized, top-down governance approach in which senior officials issue directives to their subordinates, who are then expected to obey without question. Given that the directives can sometimes be notoriously vague—Xi has been known to issue one-sentence notes on major policy matters—subordinates have to scramble to correctly interpret directives from above.

In the mainland, this system (more or less) functions because Chinese officials spend years rising  through the ranks of municipal- and provincial-level governments, learning how to interpret the will of their superiors. At the upper echelons, leaders are promoted according to their personal ties to Xi, further ensuring that his directives are correctly understood. Plus, when it comes to regional leadership, Xi has a track record of choosing former scientific administrators—relatively technocratic officials with a proven ability to follow directions—to run prominent cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing.

Not so for Hong Kong. Despite his loyalty to Beijing, Lee is a consummate outsider and Hong Kong native who has never been a member of the CCP, let alone worked his way through party ranks. As a Cantonese speaker and practicing Catholic who spent 20 years working under the British colonial government, Lee is highly unlikely to share any kind of connection with Xi, nor does he have the kind of tightly built mainland networks that his CCP counterparts enjoy.

Lee is not even seen as a skilled politician or a competent technocrat. The chief executive spent four decades as a blue-collar, career police officer before being passed over for the department’s top job in 2011. The combination of these factors means that Lee and his colleagues are constantly overcompensating—although they have pushed hard-line policies aimed at building their credit with Beijing, their decisions have largely ended up backfiring.

Of course, the mainland government faces its own host of issues. Even without the involvement of faulty officials, Xi’s centralization of power has already led to a spate of unwanted consequences; the recent economic slowdown threatening China’s long-term growth is largely a product of Xi’s unwillingness to listen to his own policymakers and enact pragmatic reforms.

But it turns out that faulty officials are also pervasive throughout the mainland. Although Hong Kong’s dysfunction tends to attract more attention due to the city’s status as an international finance hub, the problem posed by loyal but incompetent officials is widespread in China. The disconnect between Beijing and regional authorities was especially prominent during China’s zero-COVID period, when local governments often imposed implausibly strict quarantine controls to demonstrate adherence to Beijing’s policies. (A small city in the western Yunnan province, for example, paid billions of yuan to set up a facial recognition camera system that tracked the precise movements of all 270,000 residents.) By mid-2022, even the central government was forced to admit some local officials had been too overzealous in setting zero-COVID policies and fired administrators involved in particularly egregious cases.

Unlike in the mainland, however, Beijing has no easy way to make large-scale course corrections in Hong Kong without attracting undue attention and looking weak. For now, the central government has little choice other than to stand behind Hong Kong and present a united front.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s judiciary, which has to rule on these decisions, is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The city’s courts, which maintain a common law system inherited from the British, ostensibly operate independent of both the Hong Kong government and the mainland; Hong Kong judges are acutely aware that international businesses rely on their courts to enforce the rule of law. Yet judges are also acutely aware that they must correctly interpret Beijing’s will—or risk being overruled by the CCP’s decidedly noncommon law system. Going forward, figures such as Chan, the judge in the “Glory to Hong Kong” case, will have the unenviable task of choosing between obeying Beijing or sustaining Hong Kong’s patchwork rule of law.

Beijing’s tolerance for Hong Kong’s flailing leadership could eventually change. Carrie Lam, Lee’s predecessor as chief executive, assumed that passing a contentious extradition bill on her own initiative would prove her loyalty to Beijing. Instead, the bill kicked off the 2019 pro-democracy protests and plunged Hong Kong into chaos. As punishment, Lam was forced to retire at the expiration of her first term and was denied a position on China’s central political advisory body, an honor awarded to all but one previous Hong Kong chief executive.

Lam’s successor hasn’t sparked widespread protests, but Lee’s policies—as overzealous, haphazard, and erratic as they already are—still threaten to draw the mainland’s ire. It’s impossible to predict under what circumstances Lee will exit his office, but the issues at play here aren’t endemic to Hong Kong’s current batch of officials.

Beijing may have wrested control of Hong Kong, but as long as the central government relies on local leaders to oversee even the most innocuous of policies, missteps and tensions will inevitably arise—which, in a place such as Hong Kong, can still prove to be deadly.

[keenywong]

Hong Kong Watch

香港監察贊助人、前港督彭定康勳爵（Lord Patten of Barnes）在7月1日發表錄影講話，回顧香港主權移交27年及《國安法》實施四年以來的變遷。

彭定康勳爵首先提到中國共產黨企圖改寫歷史，稱香港從來不是英國殖民地，而是「被佔領的土地」。他指出，事實上當時佔領香港的，絕大多數是為逃離中共而來港尋求自由的難民，香港由此成為這群人的避風港。

他又提到，中共將已向聯合國登記並生效的國際條約《中英聯合聲明》稱為「歷史文件」，印證中共已經毫無誠信可言。彭定康勳爵直指習近平為「中國國家主席獨裁者」，掌權後對人民日漸享有更大程度自由愈來愈不安，卻毫不明白香港所體現的自由和法治就是自由社會的基石。

他續指，自2020年當局強推《國安法》以來，香港迅速倒退成由昏庸警察管治的城市。包括行政長官在內的警察管治團隊只懂揮動警棍訴諸武力，卻不知人權為何物。在這樣的香港下，「六四」悼念活動被禁止，《願榮光歸香港》被禁播，包括英國公民黎智英在內的政治犯因追求自由和權利而坐監。

彭定康勳爵亦分享他在牛津與約千名BNO港人交流的點滴。當問到他們為何作出離開故土的艱難決定時，大多數人一再表示希望下一代能在自由社會中成長。他認為：「這是對中國共產黨最有力的控訴。我們要對未來抱存希望，因為只要人民一直強烈嚮往自由，中共這獨裁政權就沒有長遠的未來。」

彭定康勳爵最後寄語身處世界各地的香港人：「獨裁政權總沒好結局，中共也不例外。因此，我鼓勵留在香港的人明白，世界其他地方的人都理解你們正在經歷的事情，也理解你們渴望遲早成為自由公民，能夠在自由社會暢所欲言，能夠互相表達意見，而不必冒險被監禁。我們也想說，我們非常歡迎現正貢獻英國社會的離散港人。

你們離開了香港，我很難過。我希望有朝一日，你們想的話，能夠回去。但同時，我們非常感激你們對自由社會所作的貢獻。自由社會固然有自己的問題，但終究會讓平民解決那些問題。這就是為甚麼多元社會總運作得比共產獨裁社會更好。」

Lord Patten of Barnes, Hong Kong Watch’s Patron and the last Governor of Hong Kong, has recorded a video message marking the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover and the fourth anniversary of the introduction of the National Security Law.

Lord Patten opened his remarks with reference to the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to rewrite Hong Kong’s history as a former British colony, calling it an “occupied territory”. However, he pointed out how Hong Kong was once a safe haven occupied by refugees who fled from Communist China in pursuit of freedoms in Hong Kong.

The Chinese Communist Party, Lord Patten noted, has trashed the Sino-British Joint Declaration as a “historical document” despite its status as an international treaty registered at the United Nations. Referring to Xi Jinping as “China’s President dictator”, Lord Patten pointed out Xi’s increasing anxiety about the growing freedoms people enjoyed, and the CCP’s failure to understand that the values of freedom and rule of law embodied by Hong Kong are what constitute a free society.

Since the National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, Hong Kong has slipped into further decline as it came under the control of a “tinpot group of former police officers” who “wouldn’t know the difference between human rights and a truncheon”. Hong Kong had since seen the commemoration of the Tiananmen massacre prohibited, protest anthem ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ banned, and political prisoners, such as British citizen Jimmy Lai, behind bars for their pursuit of freedoms and rights.

Lord Patten also shared his experience speaking with BNO Hong Kongers in Oxford, many of whom made the difficult decision to leave their home in hopes that their children could grow up in a free society. “That is the most telling indictment of Chinese Communism,” said Lord Patten, “and it’s a hope for the future because as long as people feel that as strongly as they do, Chinese dictatorship, the Chinese Communist Party has no long-term future.”

Lord Patten closed his message with remarks for Hong Kongers around the world:

“Dictatorships always end badly, and that’s going to be no different in China. So I do urge everybody who’s left in Hong Kong to understand that the rest of the world understands what you’re going through, understands that sooner or later, your aspirations to be free citizens – individuals in a free society able to say what you want and able to express your views to one another without running the danger of being locked up – and that we also want to say how much we welcome those who are contributing to us as part of Hong Kong’s diaspora now.

I’m sad that you’ve left Hong Kong. I hope that one day you’ll be able, if you wish, to return. But in the meantime, we’re hugely grateful for the contribution you’re making to free societies, which of course have their problems but ultimately allow ordinary people to solve those problems. That’s why plural societies always work better than communist dictatorships.”

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hk_watch

Facebook: https://facebook.com/hongkongwatchorg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/hongkongwatchorg

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HongKongWatch

#HongKongWatch#香港監察

[mondonews]

Google Faces Pressure in Hong Kong Over Search Results for National Anthem

Google Faces Pressure in Hong Kong Over Search Results for National Anthem

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit…

[dystopianflowerhk]

Where do we go

The National Anthem Law, and the National Security Law for Hong Kong are coming rapidly, both going to take away a large part of our freedom, destroying “one country two systems”. China is strengthening their grasp, we may not be able to voice out our opinions anymore, sooner or later.

It brought us a sense of despair, admittedly. It’s a race of time, we once thought we could win democracy in months, now we expect years, but what if it takes decades, or if we become trapped under a totalitarian regime with no available means to fight?

It’s ok if we have to escape from Hong Kong, and reunite when we won our Hong Kong back, some say. Some of us uphold the believe that we would rather die fighting than living in compromise. Some believe that as long as we live, we can always confront the tyranny again.

But inevitably everyone has to make our own decision. Where to go, where to stand, what we want and what we give. Perhaps it is already too late, perhaps it is just the right time to know our answers.

The past one year completely reshaped our lives. As much as I hope our revolution to continue and be victorious, I also hope I know better how to live in time of our revolution.

[techihacks7750]

भारी बहुमत से नेशनल एंथम लॉ बिल पास, चीन की मनाही के बावजूद मनाई गई थियानमेन नरसंहार की बरसी लोगों को प्रदर्शन करने से रोकने के लिए तीन हजार सुरक्षाकर्मी तैनात अब चीन के राष्ट्रगान का अपमान करने पर आपराधिक कार्रवाई होगी

[vilaspatelvlogs]

भारी बहुमत से नेशनल एंथम लॉ बिल पास, थियानमेन नरसंहार की बरसी मनाने पर भी मनाही

भारी बहुमत से नेशनल एंथम लॉ बिल पास, थियानमेन नरसंहार की बरसी मनाने पर भी मनाही

[ad_1]

लोगों को प्रदर्शन करने से रोकने के लिए तीन हजार सुरक्षाकर्मी तैनात

अब चीन के राष्ट्रगान का अपमान करने पर आपराधिक कार्रवाई होगी

दैनिक भास्कर

Jun 04, 2020, 04:46 PM IST

बीजिंग. हॉन्गकॉन्ग विधायिका ने गुरुवार को नेशनल एंथम कानून को भारी बहुमत से पास कर दिया। इस कानून के तहत चीन के राष्ट्रगान का विरोध करने वाले पर आपराधिक कार्रवाई की जाएगी। उसको तीन साल की जेल और जुर्माना भरना पड़ेगा। इसी…

[newsaryavart]

हॉन्ग कॉन्ग: भारी विरोध के बावजूद चीनी राष्ट्रगान विधेयक पास, विरोध में केवल 1 वोट Edited By Priyesh Mishra | एजेंसियां | Updated: 04 Jun 2020, 05:51:00 PM IST हॉन्ग कॉन्ग की संसद में विरोध प्रदर्शन

[panicinthestudio]

Hong Kong’s national security law three years later, June 29, 2023

Three years after China introduced a national security law for Hong Kong that cracked down on anti-government protests, the city has changed. CBC’s Saša Petricic found a different atmosphere where dissent remains, but it’s a lot quieter. CBC News

[newscountryindia]

100 kids arrested over Hong Kong national anthem, security law unrest Image Source : AP 100 kids arrested over Hong Kong national anthem (representative image) Nearly 100 children were arrested during this week's protests in Hong Kong against China's plan to press ahead with a national security law for the city, and also the controversial national anthem bill, a media report said on Friday.

[keenywong]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63619702 Hong Kong calls for probe after rugby match protest song By Yvette Tan BBC News 30 minutes ago Protester in Hong Kong 2019 protests IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The song became the unofficial anthem of the 2019 pro-democracy protests Hong Kong officials have demanded an investigation after a rugby game where a protest song was played instead of China's national anthem. The city said it "strongly deplores... the playing of a song associated with 'violent protests'". The song, Glory to Hong Kong, is considered the unofficial anthem of the 2019 pro-democracy movement. And it has become increasingly controversial under Beijing's tight grip over the city. The song's lyrics refer to the "tears on our land", and mention "democracy and liberty". Although Hong Kong officials did not name the song, videos of the scene from Sunday's match have since been shared widely online. The song can be heard playing ahead of a match between Hong Kong and South Korea at the Asia Rugby Sevens, an annual regional tournament. The players don't appear to react to the song. The organisers said the mistake was caused "by human error of a junior staff", and that the Hong Kong team coach had submitted the correct song, according to a government statement. A government spokesperson said they had written to the Hong Kong Rugby Union on Sunday evening demanding that they "deal with this matter seriously [and to] launch a full and in-depth investigation". It added that the Hong Kong team noticed the mistake and China's national anthem, March of the Volunteers, was played during the prize ceremony after Hong Kong won the final. The Hong Kong Rugby Union on Monday expressed "extreme dissatisfaction" over the incident. It also said the organisers, Asia Rugby, have "expressed their sincere apologies and assured us it will not happen again". Booing and singing protests in Hong Kong Hong Kong man who attended Queen tribute detained Hong Kong's handover explained Hong Kong now has a law against disrespecting the Chinese national anthem. It was enacted in 2020 after years of the Chinese anthem being booed at duri https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck7zMf4P9a5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[khabrisala]

100 kids arrested over Hong Kong national anthem, security law unrest Image Source : AP 100 kids arrested over Hong Kong national anthem (representative image) Nearly 100 children were arrested during this week's protests in Hong Kong against China's plan to press ahead with a national security law for the city, and also the controversial national anthem bill, a media report said on Friday.

[dystopianflowerhk]

Today is going to be a difficult day for Hong Kong. I can only hope no one dies or gets seriously injured.

[news24fresh]

Security tight as Hong Kong set to debate China national anthem bill

Security tight as Hong Kong set to debate China national anthem bill

[ad_1]

Hundreds of riot police took up posts in and around Hong Kong’s financial district on Wednesday ahead of a debate at the city’s Legislative Council over a bill that would criminalise disrespect of China’s national anthem.

Protests have returned to the streets of the Chinese-ruled city after Beijing last week proposed national security laws that drew global condemnation amid fears they…

[albreehyde]

You know what the coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped? The Hong Kong protests.

In fact, the protests have ramped up bc the CCP has passed on today, May 28th 2020 (HKT), the death sentence for Hong Kong, i.e. the most sinister plan to take away Hongkongers’ freedoms while we're all busy dealing with the coronavirus. Remember the now-withdrawn extradition law amendment bill (ELAB) that sparked the anti-ELAB protests last year? This new plan not only does that, but it even unleashes a whole new range of assault power.

No, the CCP isn't gonna crack down on Hongkongers with visible violence. They've learnt from the disastrous PR management of the June 4th / Tiananmen Massacre. Also, they need a better excuse for interfering in Hong Kong, 1 of the largest international financial centres and the gateway for the CCP to gain foreign currency and break into global financial markets.

Instead, the CCP’s plan is to force a "national security law" in Hong Kong like what they've been using in mainland China, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature. The CCP leadership has already passed this law today, May 28th (HKT) and can sign it into effect as soon as early June.

We don’t know how much longer we can continue accessing international communication sites, which are banned in mainland China but freely accessible in Hong Kong, especially Google, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. If we suddenly go silent about our fight for democracy, you can assume the censorship resulting from the "national security law" has taken effect.

Who’s gonna define that "national security law"? Most likely the CCP. They have their own legal system, instead of the common law system that HK uses based on the UK system. The CCP has an abominable track record of arbitrarily defining the law to persecute dissidents, violating human rights in the process. They have various means of silencing dissidents even if they manage to escape China. Well known dissidents include:

LIU Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

HUANG Qi and TAN Zuoren, who advocated for an investigation into corruption in school construction following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

LI Wangyang, who took part in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, tortured while in jail for 22 years and even still kept under surveillance after being released from prison.

WANG Quanzhang, a human rights lawyer who defends political activists and victims of police torture.

LEE Ming-che, a Taiwanese rights activist who promotes human rights and democracy online.

HU Jia, who posted articles on social issues which criticises the CCP.

WANG Yi (pen name: WANG Shuya), a Christian pastor who founded and led one of the well known underground churches in mainland China.

Tashi WANGCHUK, a Tibetan language education activist.

Currently, Hong Kong is the only city among all technically CCP-ruled regions where your freedoms and human rights are protected in practice (though fast eroding) with judicial independence (also starting to skew) following international law. 

After the "national security law" passes, Hongkongers will lose all our fundamental freedoms and rights, including but not limited to:

Freedom of expression.

The right to peaceful assembly.

Freedom of the press.

Freedom of thought.

Rights against arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

The right against torture; and even,

The right to life, liberty and security of person.

Our fight against the CCP will become illegal, since we'll no longer be able to monitor and speak out against the CCP and CCP-backed HK government. Our very existence as Hongkongers could be seen as a rebellion. Hong Kong today, the world tomorrow.

Everyone, no matter your nationality, will no longer be safe from the CCP. The CCP threatens international law. The proposed law plans to allow CCP agents to work in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the largest international travel hubs. Whoever lives in, or simply passing through Hong Kong, could be kidnapped and transported to mainland China if the CCP thinks you’re a threat. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, bc that’s the exact potential loophole we criticised during the anti-ELAB protests. In fact, this kind of abduction already happened in 2015, in the Causeway Bay Books disappearances which include LAM Wing-kee and GUI Minhai. The booksellers were persecuted for selling books on politics, human rights, criticism of the CCP leadership, and any subject that the CCP leadership didn’t like.

After the "national security law" passes, we'll no longer have the freedom to raise the alarm to the world about new epidemics first popping up in mainland China, like the coronavirus now and SARS in 2003 (more from the WHO archive). Fun fact: Hongkongers have been managing the coronavirus relatively well precisely bc we don't trust the CCP-backed HK gov and we’ve been taking preventive measures way before it advises us to, based on previous experience with SARS.

We’ll no longer have the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty in the court, not even the right to fair trial and equality under the law, since HK will no longer have an independent judicial system under the separation of powers. Hong Kong is run on the rule of law but the CCP runs on the rule by law, and the CCP has increasingly pressured HK’s judges. Foreign judges will be banned from national security cases, likely bc they are more likely to uphold the rule of law and independent judiciary.

We'll no longer have the freedom to talk about the truth. Instead, we’ll be forced to censor ourselves and substitute the truth with CCP approved propaganda. The CCP knows who controls the truth controls society. The coronavirus? “No, it's spread to China by the US armed forces. It's a part of their plan to frame the CCP.” Banning TikTok and Huawei? “They don't cause security or privacy issues. There's no censorship on the platforms provided through these technologies. The ‘accusations’ are a part of an international plan to frame the CCP.” (Notice a pattern here?) Just 3 days ago (May 25, 2020), the Hong Kong exam board, which is independent from the Education Bureau, was forced to cancel a public exam question about Japan’s roles in the development of China from 1900 up to WWII bc it “hurts Chinese people’s” (aka CCP’s) “esteem and feelings”.

We'll no longer have the freedom to connect with the international community (Joshua WONG, Hong Kong activist) and different cultures with open minds, as the CCP looks down on the values and impacts of non-CCP-approved-Chinese cultures. It has an insatiable need to dominate the world through homogeneity, seizing natural resources, and economic expansion. Just look at how the CCP treats Uyghurs and Tibetans. Read about the Belt and Road Initiative especially in Africa - it's practically CCP colonialism. Then look at how the CCP, by building dams in upstream Mekong River, has caused a drought in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The CCP keeps claiming without proof that Hongkongers who want democracy are a minority (Spoiler: We aren't. At least 2 million residents out of 7.5 million, i.e. over 1 in 4 residents, marched for democracy on June 16, 2019. Remember?) are influenced by Western chaos agents, bc the CCP can't afford citizens thinking critically, criticizing and holding them accountable for their actions. Case in point: the June 4th / Tiananmen Massacre. The CCP-backed HK gov has extended the ban on social gatherings until (you guessed it) June 4th, which is rumoured to stop people from holding vigils, even though daily new coronavirus cases are in single digits and schools are reopening a week before.

We'll no longer have the freedom to maintain our identity of being Hongkongers, since according to CCP logic, being local / Hongkongers means identifying against CCP-controlled China → challenging and rebelling against the CCP → directly threatening CCP’s authority → enemy of CCP. The most conspicuous symbols? The Hong Kong anthem, Glory to Hong Kong. And Cantonese, the native language of over 90% of Hongkongers. A similar case has already happened with Tibetan culture and language: Tashi WANGCHUK, a Tibetan language education activist, was persecuted in 2018 simply for advocating to preserve his own heritage.

(Side note: If you ask if somebody speaks Chinese, it's like asking if they speak Asian or European. “Chinese” encompasses a group of languages which include Cantonese, Taiwanese and Mandarin, which currently many people refer to as “Chinese”. If you start talking in mainland-Chinese accented Mandarin to Hongkongers without asking, you'll get responses ranging from confused / pained replies in most likely English, often Cantonese, or rarely, Mandarin; the side eye; the silent treatment; or even a glare. We’re far more welcoming if you speak Taiwanese-accented Mandarin though.)

Hongkongers will keep fighting for our rights, and we need reinforced international support in our most urgent battle. So what can you do to stand with us?

1. Chris PATTEN, the last governor of Hong Kong under British rule, has led a joint statement to protest against the CCP’s move to force the "national security law" in Hong Kong. As of writing on May 28th, the day of passing the law, the joint statement's been co-signed by over 618 political representatives and academics from 33 countries, including the UK, the US, the EU, Canada, Australia, Russia and the rest of Asia. Please write to encourage your local policymaker to cosign the letter (template linked in-text).

2. Sign petitions that support our fight for freedom, e.g. international sanctions against the CCP, the CCP-backed Hong Kong government, and the Hong Kong Police Force.

3. Continue making posts in support of Hongkongers on your regular social media sites, esp Twitter, where there's a higher chance of politicians seeing your posts.

Yeah, like Matan EVENOFF, who tricked the NBA dance cam into streaming support for Hong Kong.

4. Report content spreading pro-CCP propaganda about the Hong Kong democracy movement; report both the comment / post and the account. Some common insults pro-CCP trolls use: “cockr**ch” (dehumanizing Hong Kong protestors); “sb” (initials of “d**chebag” in Mandarin); “nmsl” (initials of “Your mum is dead” in Mandarin); “biss” (a contraction of “must d*e” in Mandarin); and insinuating in any way that anyone in support of the protests is a “servant” or a “pet” of foreign politicians. People have mentioned that on Twitter, reports on pro-CCP troll content are more thoroughly followed up on and the content more likely to be removed. I've found that on Instagram, reporting as spam has a higher removal rate than reporting to other relevant categories.

5. Stay updated with the situation on HK by following independent and/or pro-democracy journalists in HK:

Hong Kong Free Press (In English. Official website / Twitter @hongkongfp / Instagram @hongkongfp / Youtube @hongkongfp / Facebook @hongkongfp)

The Stand News (Mostly in Chinese, but you don’t need to know Chinese to understand their infographics. Official website / Twitter @standnewshk / Instagram @thestandnews / Youtube @standnewshk / Facebook @standnewshk)

RTHK News (In both English and Chinese news; publicly funded. As of May 28th 2020, it has still maintained objective reporting, but this could change for the worse quickly bc the CCP-backed HK government has plans to interfere in its editorial independence. Official website / Twitter @rthk_enews / Facebook @RTHKEnglishNews)

Guardians of Hong Kong / Be Water Hong Kong (a volunteer page that translates news from Chinese to English; it updates quickly. Official website / Twitter @BeWaterHKG / Instagram @guardiansofhk / Facebook @BeWaterHongKong)

No matter what ultimately happens to Hongkongers, you're helping us make history. And even if Hongkongers still lose in the end, promise us that you'll continue fighting for us.

Remember us for centuries.

[the50-person]

BREAKING: Hong Kong passes law to criminalise insult of Chinese national anthem

HONG KONG UPDATE 4 JUN 2020