The events of the last week spell the end of any formal political opposition in Hong Kong.
March 01, 2021
Supporters gesture as many people queue up outside a court to try to get in for a hearing in Hong Kong Monday, March 1, 2021.
Credit: AP Photo/Vincent Yu
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In Hong Kong, an ongoing crackdown on dissent is reaching new heights with mass subversion charges, new loyalty oaths, and large-scale plans to reform the city’s electoral system.
On March 1, hundreds of protesters gathered at a court to support 47 pro-democracy activists who were charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the national security law. Most wore black, the color of choice during the 2019 protests, and chanted slogans including the banned phrases: “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
HEADLINES & GLOBAL NEWS
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Mar 01, 2021 09:35 AM EST
(Photo : Getty Images/Anthony Kwan) HONG KONG - MARCH 1: Police officer holds up a warning flag as pro-democracy supporters gather outside the West Kowloon court on March 1, 2021 in Hong Kong. The protest took place during the court appearances by dozens of dissidents charged with subversion in the largest use of Beijing s sweeping new the national security law to date.
The Hong Kong government indicted almost four dozens of democracy advocates on Sunday. They were charged for contravening a national security law that bars conspiracy to commit subversion. The mass arrests were the most extensive roundup since the law was implemented the previous summer.
Police have detained 47 pro-democracy activists on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion. The activists angered officials by taking part in an unofficial primary election ahead of local polls.
It’s Time to Enact Japan’s Magnitsky Act
Such legislation would boost Japan’s credentials as a defender of human rights and practitioner of values-based diplomacy.
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February 27, 2021
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On January 27, a group met to discuss establishing a multiparty parliamentary group to enact a Japanese version of the Magnitsky Act. The proposed legislation aims to take punitive measures against individuals and organizations involved in human rights violations overseas. The meeting included former Defense Minister Nakatani Gen of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), former State Minister of Finance Toyama Kiyohiko of Komeito (the LDP’s coalition partner), Yamao Shiori of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, and Kushida Seiichi of the conservative opposition Japan Innovation Party.
February 25, 2021
Hong Kong no longer sees mass protests of the kind that swept the city in 2019, and under a sweepingly repressive national security law, it’s unclear that it will again anytime soon. But the body of knowledge citizens built over months of leaderless and “leaderful” protests lives on.
Now there’s an effort underway to crowdsource an archive of that invaluable know-how as a manual for future protests, before it fades from memory.
The project, dubbed “The HK19 Manual,” is publicly available on Google Docs. In the latest iteration of the #MilkTeaAlliance the solidarity campaign that took shape last year between activists in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan the protest manual has already been partially translated into Burmese and widely shared among protesters in Myanmar, who are demonstrating against the Feb. 1 military coup.