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Hong Kong: what next?

I hope they throw Lee and Xi in quarantine and forget to feed them.


I've given up wallowing in fantasy, unfortunately.

Because it turns out, it was all I ever had.

Oh well. Take care Yoss. Be water.

Be nice peeps. It's too late.

But still ... Hurry. Hurry!

Come Bells. Bed time.

Night one and all.

Blessings.


Woof
 
"Anthem-gate" is gathering speed.

A local guy was arrested yesterday by NSL cops for “acts with seditious intents to incite others to … insult the national flag and national anthem”, in a word "sedition", under the old colonial laws. Apparently, he posted a copy of the offending video online and thanked Korea for playing the HK anthem.






And later in the day, the police's Organised Crime and Triad Bureau also sprung into action, swooping in on the HK Rugby Union, taking statements and seizing communication records.





Ummmmmmm ...


Woof
 
Ugh!


Brought to court more than three years after their arrest (on 1st October 2019,) and after pleading not guilty at trial, nine people were today (Tue 22nd November 2022,) convicted of rioting.

Let's see how their sentencing goes.

Ugh!


Come Bells. Enough for now. Sleep beckons.

Love each other peeps.


Woof
 
Update on ...

A local guy was arrested yesterday by NSL cops for “acts with seditious intents to incite others to … insult the national flag and national anthem”, in a word "sedition", under the old colonial laws. Apparently, he posted a copy of the offending video online and thanked Korea for playing the HK anthem.


He's been denied bail.



Woof
 
Hey Bella?

The Arabic, Stasi, weird, watchmaking, Nihilist, Orc-ish, meltdown-of-a-humanoid, that you (for some peculiar reason!) love and worship so deeply is here again the morrows eve.

Best get to bed now, girl, you just know it's bound to get messy. Come girl.

Rest well peeps. Be nice to each other.

Keep thinking. Quickly!

🐬

Woof
 
Three years ago yesterday (25/11/2019), were the District Council elections.

After months of massive peaceful demonstrations (and increasingly violent, late-night resistance - and revenge directed at the police - due to the skyrocketing intensity of police brutality against peaceful protesters,) the HK govt. was eager to hold these elections.

The administration was convinced that "the silent majority" would come out and vote en masse for pro-Beijing candidates who were all campaigning on "ending the violence".

The silent majority came out all right and there was an huge landslide for, predominately young, pro-democracy candidates (I voted for Ben Tam, a 21 year old fresh graduate democracy activist - he won).

Pro-democracy candidates carried a majority and won control - and the chairmanship - in 17 of 18 Districts (and one was lost only due to ex officio govt-appointed members in the District). Pan-dems won close to 90% of all the 400+ seats.

It was a stunning victory for democracy.

It was also looking increasingly likely that the pan-democratic camp would win a majority in the May 2020 Legislative Council (parliamentary,) elections, despite the gerrymandered system. The plan was to win 35 or 36 + 1 of the seventy seats and was eminently achievable.

With a majority, the pan-democrats could vote down the budget and (as detailed in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution,) force the Chief Executive to dismiss LegCo and call for fresh elections, whereupon after winning another majority, the pan-dems could again vote down the budget forcing the Chief Executive to resign (as per the Basic Law).

Beijing promptly shit its pants! The LegCo elections were cancelled and the National Security law was imposed. The District Councils were dismantled.



We were so close. The CCP cannot and will never tolerate a free society. Hong Kong had to be brought under complete control. And it was. And here we are.

All pro-democracy candidates are now either in jail (many awaiting trial for over two years), in exile, in hiding or otherwise silenced.




Happy anniversary peeps.


Woof
 
MUST READ ...

Every word and phrase is dynamite.

The final nail in the coffin to the rule of law in Hong Kong.

The political pressure on the Court of Final Appeal is unprecedented.

If the CFA uphold the law, Beijing will change the law and we're fucked. If the CFA fold, we're fucked. Essentially, we're fucked both ways.




The CFA ruling will be made on Monday 28/11/22.


Let's see which way we get fucked.


Come Bells. Bed.


Woof
 
And, as ever, tik tok, tik tok, in the background.

Another six youngsters (ged 18 - 23,) convicted of "rioting" today (26/11/22,) committed on the 17th of November 2019.

Sentencing is on the 10th of December 2022.




Enough now. Come Bells. Bed.


Woof
 
The CFA ruled appropriately.

A couple of hours later the government signalled its intention to overrule the CFA.

Trial starts on the 1st Dec 2022 (although the Govt. will move to adjourn).







Rule of law, eh?

Priceless!


Woof
 
And, of course, one of the strangest ironies of all this "rule of law" bullshit is that, just a few month back, the Govt. brought over the London Silk, David Perry, to prosecute a National Security case, before he was shamed into hightailing it back home before the trial, with his (high)tail tucked well and truly between his legs.

It's complete nonsense. Utter bollocks.

Shameful and shameless.


Woof
 
What's happening now there? Have there been any protests in HK in the last few days over the covid stuff?


Hey frogs.

If you mean with regard to the Covid stuff on the mainland, there have been one or two, muted, incidents involving a handful of people (or just individuals).

A couple of mainland graduate students were handing out leaflets at CUHK a few days ago in commemoration of those who died in the fire in Xinjiang. Police were called. The leaflets were confiscated. The students left.

Nothing to speak of. People here are scared.

There have been no protests of mention since mid 2020.



Woof
 
Occurred to me the other day when thinking about copyright theft....how likely is creativity and innovation in a population that's cowed ? Proper creativity not 101 ways to justify shit
 
I remember how, over the last few years, the authorities claimed that we didn't understand the Basic Law.

We did.

Now they claim that we don't understand the National Security Law.

We do.

You couldn't make it up.

They are.


Woof
 
Someone assaulted Grandma Wong. 😡

Man arrested after 66-year-old Hong Kong activist 'Grandma Wong' assaulted during Covid protest - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Police arrested a 22-year-old male on Monday for allegedly assaulting pro-democracy activist “Grandma Wong” during a rare protest in Central.

Over two dozen people had gathered on Theatre Lane during evening rush hour in solidarity with protests in mainland China against Covid-19 regulations.

66-year-old Alexandra Wong – who was often seen at the 2019 pro-democracy protests – was taken to Queen Mary Hospital.

Video footage appears to show Wong falling backwards to the ground and hitting her head on a ledge after the man flung a yellow umbrella out of her hands. The umbrella is a symbol of the 2019 protests.
 
Yeah,

My take below with some further detail.

She was out in Central last night, marching up and down the pavement with her brolly raised in the air and chanting: "Don't want authoritarianism! Don't want monarchy!"

Some nasty, miserable bastard of a pro-CCP young thug, walked up and roughly snatched away her umbrella. In the process he pulled her off balance and she tripped over his foot and cracked her head on a wall as she went down.

Others present were pretty pissed off with the guy and went after him but, before they could reach him, they were blocked by police who escorted the assailant away (later arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage, I understand).

Alex was taken to hospital and we await news, though hope she wasn't seriously injured - she's a tough old cookie.


Five second video.






Woof
 
How much freedom of speech etc does Hong Kong have or is it basically the same as the mainland now?
 
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How much freedom of speech etc does Hong Kong have or is it basically the same as the mainland now?


Hey frogs.

As I posted earlier: "All pro-democracy candidates are now either in jail (many awaiting trial for over two years), in exile, in hiding or otherwise silenced."

I am fully disengaged with Hong Kong politics at the moment and have been since @ mid 2020 (despite being deeply, passionately, actively, vigorously and vocally engaged for decades until then). The only place I engage is on this Urban thread. And that scares me too. It's risky. I'm monitored.

I'm not the only one that feels this way. Millions do. A two thirds majority. Self censorship is now a necessity for survival.

We're not quite "exactly" the mainland yet but, yes, we're basically the same and it's happened with mind-blowing rapidity and it's getting worse and worse on a daily basis. Everything has been swept away. Covid has been the perfect cover. There are no two systems. it's gone.

Be cool frogs. Be strong. Be well.

Be nice to each other peeps.


Woof
 
Jessiedog do you think that the covid stuff is now mainly/mostly about control than the virus itself? Not saying 'freedom day' was a 100% good thing but on balance I'd rather have our lack of restrictions than 0 covid if this is what it actually involves?
 
Jessiedog do you think that the covid stuff is now mainly/mostly about control than the virus itself? Not saying 'freedom day' was a 100% good thing but on balance I'd rather have our lack of restrictions than 0 covid if this is what it actually involves?


Aaaah froggy. That's a really complex question (I love your brain/mind!).


The US/UK/EU/world fucked up big time in 2020. Blase, arrogant, bullshit. Millions died. The biggest derogation of political duty in post WWII history. Sickening. A moment in time of Trumpism, Brexitism and general madness - and is rightly condemned.

China and (especially,) Hong Kong got it right until Omicron came along in Hong Kong and overwhelmed contact tracing which, up until that point was textbook, painstaking, meticulous, hugely labour intensive, telephone and door to door, both backward and forward tracing and absolutely world class and gold standard.

To some extent, it was too successful. Cases and contacts were traced and quarantined early and kept at a minimum and people went about their business almost as normal. This, along with vax-disinformation, led (particularly,) the elderly to avoid vaccines as "too risky" while the chances of contracting Covid were, essentially, extremely low.

But ... with the arrival in Hong Kong of the unstoppable transmission of Omicron in tightly-packed, high-rise housing estates and beyond in Jan 2022, during Feb/Mar 2022, we were absolutely battered due to the lack of vaccinations in the elderly and an overwhelmed healthcare system, as it ripped it's way through our elderly care homes with a case fatality rate of over 16% in un-vaccinated over 80 year olds.

Those two months have left Hong Kong with the highest per capita death rate for any country/region for the whole of 2022. A massive failure on the part of the HK Govt., when vaccines had been available for well over a year by then. A catastrophic failure.

In today's Hong Kong, like most advanced societies, Covid-19 is already endemic and circulating largely freely. The majority (probably 75%+) have contracted Covid and infections/reinfections have been recorded at 200,000 - 300,000 per month for many months (and there are probably an additional 300,000 - 400,00 cases a month that go unreported to the Govt). Deaths are steady at @ 10 - 15 a day. What happens here now is largely performative, ineffective, unnecessary and purely for the pleasure of Beijing, nothing more.


Xi has a big problem on his hands. He has staked his reputation here, to a point where it's hard for him to ease off on zero-covid. Ra! Ra! Ra! China is the best. We beat the virus. All hail the Chairman!

Omicron is ripping through the mainland and will soon be uncontrollable (if it's not already,) without hugely punitive Lockdowns on an unimaginable (and almost certainly impossible!) scale, across multiple provinces. But the populous is already getting antsy with the disruption, damage and harsh conditions this entails.

If Omicron really gets going (and I don't currently see how to contain it), Xi also has a massive elderly population on his hands (tens of millions), with far lower vaccination rates than those in Hong Kong in Feb/Mar.

If the same thing happens in the mainland as happened in Hong Kong, there will soon be at least 1.5 million dead pensioners across China - hard for even China to cover up! And the - already very patchy healthcare system, especially outside of major cities - will suffer a complete collapse, with all the concomitant knock-on effects on public health in general.

It's a clusterfuck of monumental proportions in the making and the strength of Xi's position - and potentially the CCP's itself - would certainly take a mauling.

This is a monstrous fucking rock and a diamond-hard fucking hard place and Xi is caught in the middle.

Big problem.



(Edit: For clarity about current HK infections.)


Woof
 
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A few handfuls of people have been appearing in public in small groups holding up blank A4 sheets of paper.

The Secretary for Security (another ex-cop,) has completely lost the plot.

He reckons that holding up a blank sheet of paper looks like the start of another "Colour Revolution" instigated or influenced by those ever-shady "foreign forces" and could well be against the National Security Law.

I mean ... What to say?




Woof
 
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