Crux
23rd September 2011, 20:31
Hong Kong: Oppose political frame-up of ‘Long Hair’ and six other activists (http://www.chinaworker.info/en/content/news/1585/)
Friday, 23 September 2011.
Left-wing LSD legislator ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung and six others arrested and charged with ‘disorderly conduct’ after by-election protest
Socialist Action (CWI in Hong Kong) reporters
The arrest of Leung Kwok-hung in connection with the 1 September Tsim Sha Tsui forum, part of the government’s fake by-election consultation process, was predictable given the political climate of recent weeks. His arrest is part of a chain of politically motivated attacks by the police and judicial authorities that must be vigorously opposed.
Some news media have carried a stream of sensational articles complaining of ‘violent protests’ with endless speculation about the use of ‘V masks’ (from the 2006 movie ‘V for Vendetta’). The right-wing pro-government camp have been baying for blood – demanding the police make arrests after the disruption of the government-organised public forum. The aim of the establishment parties, media, and reactionary police leadership is to demonise street protests – especially involving the radical League of Social Democrats (LSD) – and justify increasingly heavy-handed policing, which reached a new level during the recent visit of China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang. This is an agenda for ‘mainlandisation’ of the political system in Hong Kong: to erode the territory’s partial democratic rights and assert more authoritarian methods – as apply in the rest of China.
Leung was arrested on Wednesday 21 September and faces a charge of ‘disorderly conduct’ and a second of ‘causing criminal damage’ – for allegedly damaging a glass door at the meeting hall.
Six other protesters were also charged with ‘disorderly conduct’. They are LSD member Yung Wai-tong, Hong Kong Federation of Students members Napo Wong Wing-chi, Daisy Chan Sin-ying and Leo Tang Kin-wah, and People’s Radio of Hong Kong presenter Wong Yeung-tat. Another LSD member, Penny Keung Ling-cheung, may be charged with ‘assault’ for throwing dog biscuits at Stephen Lam Sui-lung, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, who hosted the forum. The accused have all been released on bail, to reappear in court on 14 October.
By-election right under attack
Pro-government parties have been campaigning aggressively for these arrests to be made, hoping to use this issue in the ongoing district council elections with a propaganda blitz against ‘lawlessness’ and for tougher police measures against protests. They also hope to muffle opposition to the government’s discredited plan to abolish by-elections – an act of revenge for last year’s anti-government ‘referendum’ which utilized the tactic of simultaneously triggered resignations. This issue was a major ingredient prompting 238,000 to turn out on this year’s 1 July pro-democracy demonstration.
All five legislators who resigned in 2010 (known as the 16 May ‘516’ campaign) were overwhelmingly re-elected, garnering a combined total of half a million anti-government votes, in a protest against the government’s Beijing-approved electoral reform package. The LSD and ‘Long Hair’ himself were the driving force in the by-elections, which explains the pro-government camp’s eagerness to close the by-election ‘loophole’.
They argue that such ‘abuse’ of by-elections is wasteful of public funds, but this is hypocrisy. The same politicians defend the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars annually on exorbitant salaries and privileges for politicians and political appointees. The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, is paid HK$371,000 per month, more than the HK$225,000 paid to US president Obama! The 2010 by-elections cost HK$147 million to organize. But over the last three years the government has gladly spent HK$292 million of public funds on hundreds of consultancy studies, many of dubious value.
Anti-democratic agenda
The capitalist establishment wants to liquidate the right to hold by-elections as part of ongoing efforts to shore up the anti-democratic features of the current political system, which has some trappings of bourgeois democracy melded together with a dictatorial (Beijing-appointed) core. To the same end, the capitalists together with ‘communist’ Beijing are pushing for greater police powers (by reviving the ‘beast’ of Article 23 – a controversial national security law) and seeking to rein in Hong Kong’s vocal pro-democracy movement – first and foremost by striking blows against the LSD and similar radical protest groups.
These attempts at greater and more open repression, exemplified by outrageous police actions during the Li Keqiang visit, show the fear of China’s one-party dictatorship, but also the Hong Kong capitalist elite, as they see social discontent and demands for real democracy set to increase. The attitude of the Hong Kong capitalists is shown in their backing for the government plan to axe by-elections. The General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Hong Kong Federation of Industries and the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association have all spoken out in support of the plan.
Fake ‘consultation’
The massive 1 July protest threw a spanner in the works for the government’s plan. It was forced to give an appearance of ‘listening’ to public opinion, and therefore announced a sham ‘consultation’, which ends tomorrow. As in 2003, when Article 23 was forced off the agenda by an even bigger mass demonstration, it has been mass movements – of workers, youth, small business people and professionals – that have again and again challenged and obstructed the anti-democratic schemes of the Hong Kong and Beijing ruling elites.
Huge mobilisations – on 1 July, 4 June, in the by-elections of 2010 and on other occasions – have succeeded in forcing governments to beat tactical retreats. But because there is no mass party that can harness this mass energy and give it a clear programme to defeat the system (of authoritarian capitalism) each governmental retreat has been followed by new attacks and attempts to resurrect ‘defeated’ proposals in a new guise. This is what is planned for Article 23, probably after the appointment of a new Chief Executive in 2012 – if the ruling group is allowed to get away with this. This is also what the government hopes to do, in a much shorter timescale, with its plan to scrap by-elections.
The government wants to prevent by-elections like those in 2010 being used to trigger a new ‘referendum’ when they renew their push for Article 23. They fear a similar huge backlash as in 2003, and in such a climate a new ‘referendum’ unleashed by pro-democracy forces could gain a much greater echo than ‘516’, as part of a mass campaign of resistance. The abolition of by-elections is just a small but strategic step by the government in its attack on democratic rights in Hong Kong. On Saturday 24 September a new protest march is planned by a coalition of pro-democracy groups that includes Socialist Action (CWI) and LSD. A petition by 140 academics was published attacking the government plan would violate democratic rights. Legal experts have questioned the legality of abolition. They reject government claims of ‘abuse’ of the by-election mechanism pointing to international comparisons. In Britain for example there have been 20 occasions since 1919 when a member of parliament has resigned and then stood in the subsequent by-election. In Canada this has happened six times. Legal arguments are not unimportant, but ultimately it is the political struggle and mobilisation of mass protests that will decide the issue, rather than debates over constitutional praxis.
Step up the protests
“Shame on fake consultation and political persecution.” These were Leung’s defiant words at Wednesday’s court appearance. He told chinaworker.info, “I will not regret my actions even if they send me to prison. But if I failed to voice people’s anger over this issue, that is something I would forever regret.”
The Tsim Sha Tsui forum incident, described as ‘violent’ by the pro-government camp, arose because demonstrators were denied entry to the meeting hall despite several rows of empty seats. No one was actually injured despite jostling and the forcing open of the entrance doors. It is a significant fact, as Leung points out, that the seven accused have not been charged with assault, because evidently prosecutors do not have any evidence for this. “That means there wasn’t any violence. Those who have condemned us for using violence should apologise.” said Leung.
These issues – political arrests, attempts to smear the LSD, and the abolition of by-elections – will now feature throughout the district council election campaign. This can be one of the most political campaigns of its type (despite the efforts of establishment politicians to de-politicise these elections). The government will almost certainly wait until after the elections, on 6 November, before again trying to push through its plan to eradicate by-elections.
Big protests are needed against the political persecution of ‘Long Hair’ and the other defendants in this case. This must be linked to opposing worsening police repression and demanding the resignation of Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung. Socialist Action, which is standing in alliance with the LSD in the district council elections in Sham Shui Po, links these issues to the need for democratic control of the police and mass struggle against capitalism and the undemocratic political system it promotes.
Protest letter
Readers are urged to send protests to:
Office of the Chief Executive,
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen,
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China
Fax: (852) 2509 0580
e-mail: [email protected]
I/We wish to protest in the strongest terms against the increasingly undemocratic policies and actions of the Hong Kong government. Your proposal to abolish or restrict the right to hold by-elections, and the recent decorative ‘public consultation’ exercise called only after more than 200,000 people marched against your plan, are clear examples of your government’s anti-democratic approach.
I/We strongly protest the political persecution and arrest of those like legislator Leung Kwok-hung and his League of Social Democrats for publicly campaigning – and rightly so – against your government’s transparent attempts to undermine basic democratic rights.
Please also send copies to:
Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs, Stephen Lam Sui-lung: [email protected]
‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung: [email protected]
Friday, 23 September 2011.
Left-wing LSD legislator ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung and six others arrested and charged with ‘disorderly conduct’ after by-election protest
Socialist Action (CWI in Hong Kong) reporters
The arrest of Leung Kwok-hung in connection with the 1 September Tsim Sha Tsui forum, part of the government’s fake by-election consultation process, was predictable given the political climate of recent weeks. His arrest is part of a chain of politically motivated attacks by the police and judicial authorities that must be vigorously opposed.
Some news media have carried a stream of sensational articles complaining of ‘violent protests’ with endless speculation about the use of ‘V masks’ (from the 2006 movie ‘V for Vendetta’). The right-wing pro-government camp have been baying for blood – demanding the police make arrests after the disruption of the government-organised public forum. The aim of the establishment parties, media, and reactionary police leadership is to demonise street protests – especially involving the radical League of Social Democrats (LSD) – and justify increasingly heavy-handed policing, which reached a new level during the recent visit of China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang. This is an agenda for ‘mainlandisation’ of the political system in Hong Kong: to erode the territory’s partial democratic rights and assert more authoritarian methods – as apply in the rest of China.
Leung was arrested on Wednesday 21 September and faces a charge of ‘disorderly conduct’ and a second of ‘causing criminal damage’ – for allegedly damaging a glass door at the meeting hall.
Six other protesters were also charged with ‘disorderly conduct’. They are LSD member Yung Wai-tong, Hong Kong Federation of Students members Napo Wong Wing-chi, Daisy Chan Sin-ying and Leo Tang Kin-wah, and People’s Radio of Hong Kong presenter Wong Yeung-tat. Another LSD member, Penny Keung Ling-cheung, may be charged with ‘assault’ for throwing dog biscuits at Stephen Lam Sui-lung, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, who hosted the forum. The accused have all been released on bail, to reappear in court on 14 October.
By-election right under attack
Pro-government parties have been campaigning aggressively for these arrests to be made, hoping to use this issue in the ongoing district council elections with a propaganda blitz against ‘lawlessness’ and for tougher police measures against protests. They also hope to muffle opposition to the government’s discredited plan to abolish by-elections – an act of revenge for last year’s anti-government ‘referendum’ which utilized the tactic of simultaneously triggered resignations. This issue was a major ingredient prompting 238,000 to turn out on this year’s 1 July pro-democracy demonstration.
All five legislators who resigned in 2010 (known as the 16 May ‘516’ campaign) were overwhelmingly re-elected, garnering a combined total of half a million anti-government votes, in a protest against the government’s Beijing-approved electoral reform package. The LSD and ‘Long Hair’ himself were the driving force in the by-elections, which explains the pro-government camp’s eagerness to close the by-election ‘loophole’.
They argue that such ‘abuse’ of by-elections is wasteful of public funds, but this is hypocrisy. The same politicians defend the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars annually on exorbitant salaries and privileges for politicians and political appointees. The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, is paid HK$371,000 per month, more than the HK$225,000 paid to US president Obama! The 2010 by-elections cost HK$147 million to organize. But over the last three years the government has gladly spent HK$292 million of public funds on hundreds of consultancy studies, many of dubious value.
Anti-democratic agenda
The capitalist establishment wants to liquidate the right to hold by-elections as part of ongoing efforts to shore up the anti-democratic features of the current political system, which has some trappings of bourgeois democracy melded together with a dictatorial (Beijing-appointed) core. To the same end, the capitalists together with ‘communist’ Beijing are pushing for greater police powers (by reviving the ‘beast’ of Article 23 – a controversial national security law) and seeking to rein in Hong Kong’s vocal pro-democracy movement – first and foremost by striking blows against the LSD and similar radical protest groups.
These attempts at greater and more open repression, exemplified by outrageous police actions during the Li Keqiang visit, show the fear of China’s one-party dictatorship, but also the Hong Kong capitalist elite, as they see social discontent and demands for real democracy set to increase. The attitude of the Hong Kong capitalists is shown in their backing for the government plan to axe by-elections. The General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Hong Kong Federation of Industries and the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association have all spoken out in support of the plan.
Fake ‘consultation’
The massive 1 July protest threw a spanner in the works for the government’s plan. It was forced to give an appearance of ‘listening’ to public opinion, and therefore announced a sham ‘consultation’, which ends tomorrow. As in 2003, when Article 23 was forced off the agenda by an even bigger mass demonstration, it has been mass movements – of workers, youth, small business people and professionals – that have again and again challenged and obstructed the anti-democratic schemes of the Hong Kong and Beijing ruling elites.
Huge mobilisations – on 1 July, 4 June, in the by-elections of 2010 and on other occasions – have succeeded in forcing governments to beat tactical retreats. But because there is no mass party that can harness this mass energy and give it a clear programme to defeat the system (of authoritarian capitalism) each governmental retreat has been followed by new attacks and attempts to resurrect ‘defeated’ proposals in a new guise. This is what is planned for Article 23, probably after the appointment of a new Chief Executive in 2012 – if the ruling group is allowed to get away with this. This is also what the government hopes to do, in a much shorter timescale, with its plan to scrap by-elections.
The government wants to prevent by-elections like those in 2010 being used to trigger a new ‘referendum’ when they renew their push for Article 23. They fear a similar huge backlash as in 2003, and in such a climate a new ‘referendum’ unleashed by pro-democracy forces could gain a much greater echo than ‘516’, as part of a mass campaign of resistance. The abolition of by-elections is just a small but strategic step by the government in its attack on democratic rights in Hong Kong. On Saturday 24 September a new protest march is planned by a coalition of pro-democracy groups that includes Socialist Action (CWI) and LSD. A petition by 140 academics was published attacking the government plan would violate democratic rights. Legal experts have questioned the legality of abolition. They reject government claims of ‘abuse’ of the by-election mechanism pointing to international comparisons. In Britain for example there have been 20 occasions since 1919 when a member of parliament has resigned and then stood in the subsequent by-election. In Canada this has happened six times. Legal arguments are not unimportant, but ultimately it is the political struggle and mobilisation of mass protests that will decide the issue, rather than debates over constitutional praxis.
Step up the protests
“Shame on fake consultation and political persecution.” These were Leung’s defiant words at Wednesday’s court appearance. He told chinaworker.info, “I will not regret my actions even if they send me to prison. But if I failed to voice people’s anger over this issue, that is something I would forever regret.”
The Tsim Sha Tsui forum incident, described as ‘violent’ by the pro-government camp, arose because demonstrators were denied entry to the meeting hall despite several rows of empty seats. No one was actually injured despite jostling and the forcing open of the entrance doors. It is a significant fact, as Leung points out, that the seven accused have not been charged with assault, because evidently prosecutors do not have any evidence for this. “That means there wasn’t any violence. Those who have condemned us for using violence should apologise.” said Leung.
These issues – political arrests, attempts to smear the LSD, and the abolition of by-elections – will now feature throughout the district council election campaign. This can be one of the most political campaigns of its type (despite the efforts of establishment politicians to de-politicise these elections). The government will almost certainly wait until after the elections, on 6 November, before again trying to push through its plan to eradicate by-elections.
Big protests are needed against the political persecution of ‘Long Hair’ and the other defendants in this case. This must be linked to opposing worsening police repression and demanding the resignation of Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung. Socialist Action, which is standing in alliance with the LSD in the district council elections in Sham Shui Po, links these issues to the need for democratic control of the police and mass struggle against capitalism and the undemocratic political system it promotes.
Protest letter
Readers are urged to send protests to:
Office of the Chief Executive,
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen,
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China
Fax: (852) 2509 0580
e-mail: [email protected]
I/We wish to protest in the strongest terms against the increasingly undemocratic policies and actions of the Hong Kong government. Your proposal to abolish or restrict the right to hold by-elections, and the recent decorative ‘public consultation’ exercise called only after more than 200,000 people marched against your plan, are clear examples of your government’s anti-democratic approach.
I/We strongly protest the political persecution and arrest of those like legislator Leung Kwok-hung and his League of Social Democrats for publicly campaigning – and rightly so – against your government’s transparent attempts to undermine basic democratic rights.
Please also send copies to:
Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs, Stephen Lam Sui-lung: [email protected]
‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung: [email protected]