The Glory to Hong Kong injunction appeal continues, with government lawyers arguing that 32 YouTube links should be declared ‘illegal’…
Representing the secretary for justice, [Benjamin] Yu argued that the videos were seditious and secessionist in nature and carried the intent to distort China’s national anthem. If these videos continued to be disseminated, it would endanger national security, he said.
…The song … amounted to a “weapon” for people to threaten the authorities, [government lawyers] said.
As a practical matter – anyone can copy these videos and load them back onto YouTube (or any site) in five minutes, thus creating new links faster than NatSec sleuths can track them down. Fortunately for national security, the PRC’s weapons include nuclear missiles, aircraft carriers and a large army and air force, which should be enough to counter a three-minute piece of music.
And do the vids ‘carry the intent to distort’ China’s national anthem? They don’t feature March of the Volunteers, let alone attempt to distort it.
(Also in the courts – the government just can’t let go in fighting rulings that support basic rights for gay couples.)
Some patriots are having problems with potential constraints on freedom of expression arising from Article 23, or with each other. There was Paul Tse. Then newish FTU legislator Joephy Chan criticized DAB veteran Tsang Yok-sing for voicing reservations about the proposed new NatSec law’s sedition measures. And now…
A pro-Beijing activist has petitioned a visiting top Chinese official, urging for clarification on “soft resistance” and the “bottom line” of the national security law, and saying that a lack of certainty around what was allowed had left Hongkongers afraid to speak up.
“…we dare not speak up. We do not feel safe.”
Chan Ching-sum gained attention around 2014-19 as a firebrand pro-Beijing housewife and scourge of pan-dems. She was, of course, free to voice her opinions then.
There have always been figures in the pro-Beijing camp who were more outspoken than others, but with the pan-dems jailed or otherwise silenced, their comments are more noticeable. And there’s a new breed of ultra-loyalists waiting to blast them.
From RFA, Ching Cheong on the background to Article 23…
Why has the Article 23 legislation been described as the “sword of Damocles” over Hong Kongers’ heads?
Because essentially this law is the culmination of a long-running attempt to graft the ideology, political ideas, and behavioral patterns of the Chinese Communist Party’s totalitarian system onto a pro-Western capitalist society that respects universal values.
…this [subversion] provision reveals the central government’s extreme distrust of the Hong Kong government and its people, not to mention its own lack of self-confidence.
There’s some nostalgia for the old folks…
Hong Kong’s own Secretary for Security Regina Ip sneered at calls for universal suffrage, with the comment: “Hitler was elected under one person, one vote.”
Asked about whether Hong Kongers would get a chance to comment on the draft law, she sneered: “So I have to listen to what the aunty who washes the dishes in McDonalds has to say?”
Ip’s domineering attitude was one of the key reasons for the failure of the 2003 legislation.
The full China Media Project interview with CUHK journalism professor Francis Lee.
“I declare these Article 23 Consultations open. Let the denunciations begin.”
“ And there’s a new breed of ultra-loyalists waiting to blast them.”
The revolution always eats itself. Once the soft resisting patriots are purged or silenced, the ultra-loyalists will turn on each other.
Dishes at McDonald’s…further evidence the Vag is beyond clueless and is ridiculously out of touch with the “People” (not expecting her to be, of course, since she knows who she needs to cozy up to and rim job). “Sneer” really does sum up everything about the hag.
An aunty working at McDonald’s is at least doing something useful for the community, helping to feed people. If Regina deigned to listen to her, she might actually learn something about the real world outside her elitist circle.
Asked about whether Hong Kongers would get a chance to comment on the draft law, she sneered: “So I have to listen to what the aunty who washes the dishes in McDonalds has to say?”
My question: What does Regina know that I don’t know? I’ve never seen dishes at McDonald’s, much less a dishwasher.
But Regina simply shows her insecurity by disregarding the value and integrity of every human being. Apparently, “some are ‘more equal’ than others”……
It is telling, of course, that Ip plays the old, old tune of Hitler’s “democratic” “election”–it’s the standby retort of authoritarian ghouls everywhere (many of whom actually admire Hitler). And it is, of course, a distortion of historical fact. Hitler ended up in power because of the byzantine construction of the German electoral system. In the election that officially put him in office, the Nazis got 32% of the vote. The socialists won.
And the blatant elitism…. God, what a waste of breathable air she is.
Not quite sure why Ip is being so snobby, she and the aunty washing dishes in McDonalds have a lot in common: they’re both getting paid to do nothing. McDonalds aunty pretends to wash imaginary dishes, and ExCo grandma pretends to formulate imaginary policies.