IN HONG KONG since mass protests against the government broke out in 2019, more than ten thousand people have been arrested. More than 600 have been convicted of political offenses, including holding “illegal gatherings,” with many sentenced to prison terms of five years or more. The Chinese dictatorship (CCP) considers the protesters to be “terrorists” and “foreign agents” and has imposed a new national security law to crush the movement, legislation that allows for life imprisonment.
Hong Kong was previously the only region in China with some limited democratic rights. Since the national security law was imposed, the city has in practice become a police state. In addition to appearing firm in the context of deepening conflict with the US and Western governments, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping wants to eliminate the “virus” of democracy, which he fears will spread from Hong Kong to China as a whole.
Repression in Hong Kong
More than a hundred activists have been charged with serious crimes under the national security law.
Saying “For the end of one-party rule” – a central slogan of the democracy movement and demonstrations involving millions of people – is now punishable by life imprisonment.
June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Beijing massacre when hundreds were massacred by the army, is a forbidden theme in China. The last time June 4 was remembered was at the vigil with 180,000 people participating in 2019. In 2021, the event was banned for the second year in a row.
Hong Kong’s trade unions are targets of China’s crackdown. The Civil Servants Union, with 3,000 members, was disbanded in January. Two union leaders, Carol Ng Man-yee of the HKCTU and Winnie Yu Wai-ming of the HAEA, were charged with subversion.
Veteran leftist pro-democracy activist ‘Hairy’ Leung Kwok-hung is among those charged under the national security law. He has already been sentenced to 18 months in prison for participating in an “illegal assembly” under a British colonial-era law.
REPRESSION IN CHINA is even worse. Trade unions are illegal, with the exception of a fake government-controlled union, the ACFTU, which has never supported a workers’ strike.
Workers are often arrested for organizing strikes and protests. Workers’ leaders are accused of being “manipulated by foreign forces.” Feminists are also attacked as “unpatriotic.”
In 2018, in the Jasic company struggle, dozens of leftist youth who identify as Maoists were arrested and tortured for organizing solidarity with striking factory workers. The CCP dictatorship attacks and arrests communists and workers, not only liberal politicians and pro-democracy activists as in Hong Kong.
In Xinjiang, a region where 12 million Uighur Muslims live, horrible repression is taking place in the name of fighting “terrorism”. The Chinese dictatorship has supported the West’s post-2001 “War on Terror” policy and used it to facilitate its own repression against Muslims to ensure its control over this resource-rich region. The Uighurs are governed with discriminatory racist laws and mass internment camps.
Solidarity Against Repression in China and Hong Kong (SARCHK) is an international campaign launched by the International Socialist Alternative (ASI) and our comrades in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We have a history of fighting for democratic rights and supporting workers’ struggles.
Our campaign exposes the reality of the Chinese dictatorship – a regime that has more billionaires than the US and one of the world’s worst records on workers’ rights.
The US, the European Union and other Western governments are hypocrites – they and their big corporations have worked hand in hand with the Chinese dictatorship for many years. Together they stifled reports of human rights abuses and went so far as to help China’s police state develop some of its most advanced surveillance technologies. Their only concern was to profit as much as possible from China’s non-unionized labor force and exploit the growing Chinese market. The new Cold War marks the end of this close relationship between them giving way to growing hostility between Western and Chinese capitalism.
The struggle for democracy – for democratic rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to organize in unions and political groups, to strike, free elections – these rights were only won through mass struggle, especially the struggle of the workers.
Democratic rights were never simply granted by an established power. Nor were they ever obtained by a foreign government or the “international community.” This is because true democratic rights and the mass struggle necessary to win them pose a serious threat to the capitalist system where a small minority holds all the real power.
That is why the “Solidarity Against Repression in China and Hong Kong” campaign is building active, grassroots solidarity with the anti-authoritarian struggle in China and Hong Kong, and is firmly opposed to siding with or supporting any capitalist government. The workers’ movement, the social movements of women, youth, and all oppressed people are the only forces that can defeat repressive regimes.
TO SUPPORT OUR campaign, discuss actions and get information about our activities in your country and locality please contact hk.repression@gmail.com
DEMOCRACY VS. DICTATORSHIP?
The US gives military aid to 73% of the world’s dictatorships
Britain ruled Hong Kong for 156 years and never held a single election
WHAT WE STAND FOR:
No to the national security law in Hong Kong.
Freedom for political prisoners in Hong Kong and throughout China. Rebuild and expand the mass struggle for democracy.
End mass detentions, forced labor and discrimination against Uighurs and national minorities. For a unified multi-ethnic movement against the dictatorship.
For independent trade unions and the right to strike. Organize trade union solidarity with workers in China and Hong Kong.
International solidarity – no to nationalism, imperialism and the new Cold War.
Facebook: Solidarity Against Repression in China & Hong Kong
Instagram: solidarity.china.hongkong
Twitter: @SolidarityHKCN
Stop the repression in China and Hong Kong
IN HONG KONG since mass protests against the government broke out in 2019, more than ten thousand people have been arrested. More than 600 have been convicted of political offenses, including holding “illegal gatherings,” with many sentenced to prison terms of five years or more. The Chinese dictatorship (CCP) considers the protesters to be “terrorists” and “foreign agents” and has imposed a new national security law to crush the movement, legislation that allows for life imprisonment.
Hong Kong was previously the only region in China with some limited democratic rights. Since the national security law was imposed, the city has in practice become a police state. In addition to appearing firm in the context of deepening conflict with the US and Western governments, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping wants to eliminate the “virus” of democracy, which he fears will spread from Hong Kong to China as a whole.
Repression in Hong Kong
More than a hundred activists have been charged with serious crimes under the national security law.
Saying “For the end of one-party rule” – a central slogan of the democracy movement and demonstrations involving millions of people – is now punishable by life imprisonment.
June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Beijing massacre when hundreds were massacred by the army, is a forbidden theme in China. The last time June 4 was remembered was at the vigil with 180,000 people participating in 2019. In 2021, the event was banned for the second year in a row.
Hong Kong’s trade unions are targets of China’s crackdown. The Civil Servants Union, with 3,000 members, was disbanded in January. Two union leaders, Carol Ng Man-yee of the HKCTU and Winnie Yu Wai-ming of the HAEA, were charged with subversion.
Veteran leftist pro-democracy activist ‘Hairy’ Leung Kwok-hung is among those charged under the national security law. He has already been sentenced to 18 months in prison for participating in an “illegal assembly” under a British colonial-era law.
REPRESSION IN CHINA is even worse. Trade unions are illegal, with the exception of a fake government-controlled union, the ACFTU, which has never supported a workers’ strike.
Workers are often arrested for organizing strikes and protests. Workers’ leaders are accused of being “manipulated by foreign forces.” Feminists are also attacked as “unpatriotic.”
In 2018, in the Jasic company struggle, dozens of leftist youth who identify as Maoists were arrested and tortured for organizing solidarity with striking factory workers. The CCP dictatorship attacks and arrests communists and workers, not only liberal politicians and pro-democracy activists as in Hong Kong.
In Xinjiang, a region where 12 million Uighur Muslims live, horrible repression is taking place in the name of fighting “terrorism”. The Chinese dictatorship has supported the West’s post-2001 “War on Terror” policy and used it to facilitate its own repression against Muslims to ensure its control over this resource-rich region. The Uighurs are governed with discriminatory racist laws and mass internment camps.
Solidarity Against Repression in China and Hong Kong (SARCHK) is an international campaign launched by the International Socialist Alternative (ASI) and our comrades in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We have a history of fighting for democratic rights and supporting workers’ struggles.
Our campaign exposes the reality of the Chinese dictatorship – a regime that has more billionaires than the US and one of the world’s worst records on workers’ rights.
The US, the European Union and other Western governments are hypocrites – they and their big corporations have worked hand in hand with the Chinese dictatorship for many years. Together they stifled reports of human rights abuses and went so far as to help China’s police state develop some of its most advanced surveillance technologies. Their only concern was to profit as much as possible from China’s non-unionized labor force and exploit the growing Chinese market. The new Cold War marks the end of this close relationship between them giving way to growing hostility between Western and Chinese capitalism.
The struggle for democracy – for democratic rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to organize in unions and political groups, to strike, free elections – these rights were only won through mass struggle, especially the struggle of the workers.
Democratic rights were never simply granted by an established power. Nor were they ever obtained by a foreign government or the “international community.” This is because true democratic rights and the mass struggle necessary to win them pose a serious threat to the capitalist system where a small minority holds all the real power.
That is why the “Solidarity Against Repression in China and Hong Kong” campaign is building active, grassroots solidarity with the anti-authoritarian struggle in China and Hong Kong, and is firmly opposed to siding with or supporting any capitalist government. The workers’ movement, the social movements of women, youth, and all oppressed people are the only forces that can defeat repressive regimes.
TO SUPPORT OUR campaign, discuss actions and get information about our activities in your country and locality please contact hk.repression@gmail.com
DEMOCRACY VS. DICTATORSHIP?
The US gives military aid to 73% of the world’s dictatorships
Britain ruled Hong Kong for 156 years and never held a single election
WHAT WE STAND FOR:
No to the national security law in Hong Kong.
Freedom for political prisoners in Hong Kong and throughout China. Rebuild and expand the mass struggle for democracy.
End mass detentions, forced labor and discrimination against Uighurs and national minorities. For a unified multi-ethnic movement against the dictatorship.
For independent trade unions and the right to strike. Organize trade union solidarity with workers in China and Hong Kong.
International solidarity – no to nationalism, imperialism and the new Cold War.
Facebook: Solidarity Against Repression in China & Hong Kong
Instagram: solidarity.china.hongkong
Twitter: @SolidarityHKCN
