I have to admit I really, REALLY sympathise with the urge to *do
something* and undermine, hack, bypass, route around the damage and
capabilities of the PLA and friends. But can I add one bit of perspective?
Firstly, despite huge ongoing protests before the Covid, China decided
to go ahead with this anyway. They've upped the ante and they have (most
of) the power, including the will to act contrary to world opinion.
Secondly, and more importantly, Something the PRC leadership seem to
have forgotten is the entirety of the value-add of HK walks home from
the cars, buses and subways in leather shoes every night and is
literally contained between the ears of every HK resident in the
province. What HK'ers know and are capable of doing doesn't necessarily
have to be done there as the diasporas of Vancouver and London have
proven. They are the precious commodity; not the rock they live on.
In my opinion, urging our leaders to adopt an open-door policy to any
resident of Hong Kong that wants to emigrate would be the most effective
way to concentrate the minds of the PRC leadership. A Pyrrhic victory of
winning a few buildings on a rock with some sycophants that stayed
behind is not the look Chairman Xi can successfully take back to the
National People's Congress.
I may be wrong, but if we welcomed the Anabaptists and Jews and
Huguenots and many others backintheday and gave them space to become
some of the most creative and productive people in their adopted lands,
we can be prepared to do the same for the people of Hong Kong today.
Maggie Thatcher didn't give them passports because she believed China
was serious about wanting to make the 1 country/2 systems thing work and
that HK would end up influencing China to the extent HK would be happy
to be united with the mainland. Clearly China (ironically) didn't have
the patience.
I know this isn't The Way to some on the list; it isn't clever code;
it's not a great hack on the Great Firewall; it's not a heroic Neo-like
denouement to save the Gates of Zion, but it's a solution that gives
them positive optionality and it shows a huge, whopping-great bully he's
at his weakest when he flexes his muscles towards the vulnerable.
Maybe I'm a dreamer or a hopeless idealist, but the politics of
appeasement haven't worked and outright attack would be met with the
same with HK being collateral political damage. But this way seems to
tick all the boxes without violence and with little downside. I've read
everyone's ideas with interest and happy to listen to any others
(preferably lacking the word "should" eg. "China should respect HK..."
Yes. We know.)
Thanks for listening,
Lee
(....and back to lurk mode!)
On 27/05/2020 19:56, Yosem Companys wrote:
This is an excellent follow up. Thank you. I will bring up to the
topic with the folks in Hong Kong and pose these questions to them as
well.
On Wed, May 27, 2020 6:32 PM, Robert Mathews (OSIA) [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
On 5/26/20 6:00 AM, [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
From:
Yosem Companys <[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>
Date:
5/25/20, 6:55 PM
To:
Eric FU <[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>
CC:
LT <[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]>
Of course. But this is not a push model. Local actors have
already asked for our help. They have asked we brainstorm ways in
which Liberationtech could help them do things that have not been
done in the past.
I present my apologies in advance for *this quick penning,* and
for presenting the following multi-dimensional content to the
group -- in the way that I estimate the content must be, and has
been presented below.
The question in the 'subject-line' of the original message Yosem
had dispatched to the list read: "What could we at Liberationtech
do to help pro-democracy HK activists protest China's new security
law?" Subsequently, Yosem shared more information in a message to
Eric Fu, stating, "They have asked we brainstorm ways in which
Liberationtech could help them do things that have not been done
in the past."
To this, some clarification might benefit all. WHAT is the
problem "in reality," that Liberationtech could assist
brainstorm-on, and possibly as a "crowd-resource"? Is it, to
reveal more effective ways of "demonstrating" the opposition's
position, or are there "other" implied/undeclared objectives upon
which a "brainstorming" must be had?
I present the following open-source media reporting as a basis for
asking the aforementioned questions. Permit me to further
highlight the issues "on the ground", as reported.
Since 9/11, police forces around the world have increasingly
become para-militarized. Consequentially, in this and other
instances, when established instruments of "power-systems"
meet/confront citizens-on-the-street (as it has in Hong Kong), on
such matters as the seemingly 'inexorable' political condition
there (as the *AFP* story indicates below), the confrontations
with Police forces will increasingly become brutal and
destructive. But, this is NOT just a post 9/11 condition, it is
historical. *(**Comments Continue below the link)*
*Hong Kong police stamp out national anthem law protests*
AFP
27 MAY 2020
https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/hong-kong-police-stamp-out-national-anthem-law-protests-doc-1sa9dv7
--->
Also, considering that the U.S. State Department has "hurriedly
communicated" to US Congress that conditions in Hong Kong are no
longer tenable/in compliance with findings and declarations under
"22 USC Ch. 66 - Subchapter 1 - Policy (United States-Hong Kong
Policy)" [
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title22/chapter66&edition=prelim
AND
https://www.state.gov/prc-national-peoples-congress-proposal-on-hong-kong-national-security-legislation/
] and therefore, recommending that the standing US policy be
revoked, only complicates matters *(enormously)* for ALL residents
of Hong Kong.
Adjacently, in media reporting from the Sub-Continent, NDTV has
noted the sentiments of a Hotel Manager and a female protester as
follows:
/"I'm scared ... if you don't come out today, you'll never be
able to come out. This is legislation that directly affects
us," said Ryan Tsang, a hotel manager.//
//
/AND/
//
//"Although you're afraid inside your heart, you need to speak
out," said Chang, 29, a clerk and protester dressed in black
with a helmet respirator and goggles in her backpack.//
/
Street demonstrations aside, how are the residents of Hong Kong to
productively determine their future, and can they? Is
"showing-up" on the street, the adequate measure to be taken?
*(**Comments Continue below the link)*
*Riot Police Deployed In Hong Kong Over Protests Against Chinese
Anthem Bill*
The anthem bill is set for a second reading on Wednesday and is
expected to become law next month.
NDTV
May 27, 2020 11:37 am IST
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/riot-police-deployed-in-hong-kong-over-protests-against-chinese-anthem-bill-2235785
--->
Given the escalations we are witnessing, what is the strategy (if
any) of/for residents and their political future in Hong Kong?
What, if anything, can Liberatontech do to support in that regard,
is a question that could - more concretely - be posed....
(personal view)... External to that, WHAT precisely must/can
Liberationtech 'brainstorm', and with what goal for Hong Kong in mind?
A few more recent open-source media reports that might bre more
informational for the membership....
*Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing defends China's plans for
security law*
CNN Digital Rebranding 2013
By Michelle Toh,
CNN Business
Updated 8:08 AM ET, Wed May 27, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/business/li-ka-shing-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html
-->
*China's Hong Kong law set to bar foreign judges from national
security cases: sources*
Yew Lun Tian
REUTERS
MAY 26, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-hongkong-security/chinas-hong-kong-law-set-to-bar-foreign-judges-from-national-security-cases-sources-idUSKBN2321CW
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing’s planned national security
legislation for Hong Kong is set to block its foreign judges from
handling national security trials, people familiar with the matter
said, which would exacerbate concerns about the city’s judicial
independence.
--
/Dr. Robert Mathews, D.Phil.
Principal Technologist &
//Distinguished Senior Research Scholar//
//Office of Scientific Inquiry & Applications (OSIA)//
//University of Hawai'i/
--
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