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prplcdclnw@diasp.eu
David

[gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Nov/19/https---www.voanews.com-a-hong-kong-imprisons-pro-democracy-activists-in-landmark-national-security-case--7868919.html](gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/voaheadlines/2024/Nov/19/https---www.voanews.com-a-hong-kong-imprisons-pro-democracy-activists-in-landmark-national-security-case--7868919.html)

Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.

Hong Kong imprisons pro-democracy activists in landmark national security case

by William Yang

Taipei, Taiwan --

Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists
to up to 10 years in jail under subversion charges, marking an end to
the largest national security case in Hong Kong under a sweeping law
imposed by Beijing.

The defendants were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion for
taking part in an unofficial primary election aimed at selecting
opposition candidates to run in the 2020 legislative council election.

Authorities said the activists were planning to paralyze the Hong Kong
government and force the city's leader to resign by aiming to win a
legislative majority and use that to block government budgets.

The 45 defendants were given prison sentences between four years and
two months, and 10 years. Legal scholar Benny Tai, viewed as the
mastermind of the primary election by the government, received the
longest sentence.

In addition to Tai, other prominent activists involved in the case were
also given lengthy prison sentences. Journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth
Ho was sentenced to seven years in prison, and prominent Hong Kong
activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in
prison.

Analysts say Tuesday's sentencing reflects the rapid disappearance of
basic rights and freedom in Hong Kong since the imposition of the
national security law in 2020.

"Today's harsh sentences against dozens of prominent democracy
activists reflect just how fast Hong Kong's civil liberties and
judicial independence have nosedived in the past four years since the
Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the
city," said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch.

Some former pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong said the case has
already closed off space for substantive political discussion and
public participation before Tuesday's sentencing.

"Since their arrest in 2021, there are no more protests and there is no
more public discussion about anything in Hong Kong," Debby Chan, a
former pro-democracy district councilor, told VOA by phone.

Experts say the case will further restrain Hong Kong's civil society,
as it shows there is no longer room for meaningful political
participation in the city.

"The outcome would set a precedence for future attempts to organize
political activities in Hong Kong and it also shows that authorities
can arrest and try large numbers of participants at the same time,"
Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, told
VOA by phone.

## A more Chinese-style judicial system

Foreign governments have criticized the trial as politically motivated
and urged Hong Kong authorities to release the activists as they were
penalized for taking part in a peaceful political activity.

However, Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly
characterized the national security law as a means to restore order
following large-scale pro-democracy protests in 2019. They also said
the activists were [1]treated according to local law.

Poon said several defendants in the case were repeatedly denied bail
and endured years of pre-trial detention before court proceedings of
the case finally began, actions that show Hong Kong authorities are
adopting judicial practices that are often used in China.

"The lengthy pre-trial detention and denial of bail application are all
common practices in China's judicial system, so I think this case shows
that Hong Kong is becoming more similar to China in that regard," he
told VOA.

According to [2]data collected by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law,
173 individuals have been arrested under national security-related
charges and 94 individuals have been charged with national
security-related crimes since the law was implemented in July 2020.

Some defendants are reportedly suffering from chronic health issues and
others were not allowed to visit sick relatives.

"One defendant tried to apply for parole to visit his sick parents
multiple times but the correctional services department rejected his
applications. In the end, both of his parents passed away," Sunny
Cheung, an associate fellow for China studies at the Jamestown
Foundation and participant in the 2020 primary, told VOA by phone.

Despite the hardship over the last few years, Chan said Tuesday's
sentencing marks the end of a stage.

"The sentences mean we now have a date to look forward to and we
finally know when all of this suffering will end," she told VOA.

Poon said since Hong Kong has incorporated some Chinese practices into
its judicial system, it's important to see whether Hong Kong
authorities would deprive the detainees or their family members of
basic rights in the future.

"One thing I don't want to see is the authorities blocking relatives
from visiting the defendants, but since Hong Kong's judicial system has
become very similar to the Chinese system, it's really hard to say
whether this would happen in Hong Kong or not," he said.

As family and friends await the activists' release, years from now,
Chan said she will try to position herself in a Hong Kong society where
pro-democracy organizations no longer exist.

"The pro-democracy people are still there, but there are no
organizations to gather these people," she told VOA.

References

  1. https://www.voanews.com/a/hong-kong-convicts-14-pro-democracy-activists-in-city-s-biggest-national-security-case/7634597.html
  2. https://www.chinafile.com/tracking-impact-of-hong-kongs-national-security-law

#civil-rights #human-rights #democracy #hong-kong #香港 #china #中国 #election #subversion #conviction #sentencing

See also [gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/democracynow/2024/Nov/19/7](gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/0/feeds/democracynow/2024/Nov/19/7)
and
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/19/headlines/hong_kong_court_sentences_45_pro_democracy_activists_in_landmark_national_security_trial

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1 Shares
mlansbury@despora.de
Mark Lansbury

The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025

How an authoritarian president will dismantle our democracy and what we can do to protect it

Protect Democracy previously issued The Authoritarian Playbook, which provided a framework for understanding how modern strongmen around the world have consolidated power and subverted modern democracies. This report builds on that earlier one and places Trump’s promises, powers, and plans in that context.

https://www.authoritarianplaybook2025.org/

#authoritarian #America #democracy #Trump #playbook #protection #subversion #power #violence

The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025

How an authoritarian president will dismantle our democracy and what we can do to protect it

2 Likes
9octopus@sysad.org
The ninth of the octopus

Operation #Gladio: #CIA Network of “Stay Behind” Secret Armies

Take a look → https://themillenniumreport.com/2016/07/operation-gladio-cia-network-of-stay-behind-secret-armies/

These “stay behind” armies colluded with, funded and often even directed terrorist organizations throughout #Europe in what was termed a “strategy of tension” with the aim of preventing a rise of the left in Western European politics. #NATO’s “secret armies” engaged in subversive and criminal activities in several countries.

#terror #crime #usa #army #military #subversion #coldwar #politics #history #terrorism #fiance #intelligence

diggers@diaspora-fr.org
Diggers

New York’s Stylish Slide Into #Despotism - The Return of the Roaring #Twenties

Source: https://modernheretic.com/

The text is so fitting that this time I have to reproduce very long passages.

concern about the supposed risk posed by “the unvaccinated,” who apparently no longer merit consideration as human beings worthy of compassion; we’ve become in the minds of people like him just a filthy amalgam of contagion and stigma.

They are not, as they have styled themselves in their own delusional minds, the hip Cagney-esque mobster with a heart of gold making gin in the bathtub or the wild flapper dancing the charleston on the roof with a skirt short enough to scandalize the matronly landlady below; they are the scandalized landlady who will snitch to the #police the first chance she gets or the sanctimonious #politician who is building his profitable career on compelled temperance.

#Rebels and #Posers

Despite lusting after subversive non-conformity, these mere re-enactors are content to live in the shadows of their rebel icons, resigned to merely creating the palest imitation of the lives of truly adventurous people from the past instead of having the courage to live their own adventures today. With their obsession for safety, these people can only infuse their lives with the adventure they still crave by living vicariously through others more daring than themselves.

That is why when finally faced with the #opportunity to rage against the machine, these imposters got behind the machine and helped push it along instead. Lacking the moral courage to stand for their supposed convictions, they sublimate their own desire to be deviant into movies and make-believe. From the #punk enthusiast with a shaved head and ripped pants to the John Waters fan who identifies with the Drapes in Crybaby–many of these people who lust after subversive non-conformity and style themselves after countercultural icons are ironically, laughably, pathetically devoted to fitting in.

When it comes to the dichotomy of maestro versus tribal character types, they are #tribal people through and through. In essence, the tribal personality is the #conformist who is conventional, strives to fit in with others, and is great at tasks requiring unity and standardization. The maestro is the aloof non-conformist who is comfortably on their own wavelength, who is not afraid to think outside the box, and prefers to work independently. According to a popular career guidance book, the vast #majority of the population are tribal types, and maestros comprise a tiny minority.

It is easy to see this dichotomy illustrated in the #pandemic. We see it amply demonstrated in mask compliance, with tribal individuals basing the strictness of their mask-wearing, not on any supposed concern about germ prevention— but solely based on what others around them are doing. They are stringent about mask wearing when around others who also appear to be strict in their compliance. But when around others who defy the custom, they let their masks slip down to their chins or even take it off altogether because they know the risk of social ostracism is low. For most people, the mask serves as a social tool rather than a tool of supposed #hygiene.

Tribal people’s sense of values is relative and changes based on their social environments. All the societal evils that have taken place in the United States (and elsewhere) have occurred by the hands of an #establishment with the consent and complicity of masses of otherwise good, tribal-minded people who lacked the #independence and courage to be deviant. If it looks like the majority are going along with something, even something in retrospect that would clearly be deemed wrong or evil, the tribal person will go along with it as well by rationalizing their guilt and responsibility away. These rationalizations, collectively, become mass delusions that are later used to excuse the complicity in the wrong-doing. “We did not now any better,” or “it was a different time,” they will say. Hogwash. They knew exactly what they were doing, but they lacked the courage to stand apart from the crowd. For every mass atrocity that was committed, there was a strident minority that not only knew better but tried to hold the majority to task for its actions. These minorities were #historically and are currently dismissed, ignored, laughed at, socially ostracized, or even penalized.

Progressive #ideology teaches that we are better than previous generations, that we have learned our lessons from past mistakes, and that we will not repeat those mistakes. This is a load of crock, and the past two years have shown that humans are no more evolved now than they were at any previous period, that they are more willing than ever to persecute others for their differences and to subjugate people into #conformity. If nothing else, the pandemic revealed that most people today have no deep understanding of why various past persecutions were wrong, and if persecution today does not look exactly like a persecution of yesterday they cannot recognize it for what it is. Their understanding of persecution as a moral wrong is a reductionist list of rote memorization rather than an innate value borne of an underlying moral #philosophy.

These tribal-minded people, these supposed lovers of #rebellion and #subversion, are going to rationalize their culpability and cowardice away. They always do. They will say that they were operating on the best information they had at the time, that no one could have known, that even the experts were fooled, that they simply followed the leaders and experts.

We cannot let them get away with these lies.

Their complicity was not an innocent mistake as they will try to make us believe, but a willful effort to persecute the rebel #opposition.

Declared emergencies are the most expedient way for governments to seize power and the method by which many military dictatorships come into existence. A medical #dictatorship is a new twist on an old classic. Emergency powers enable politicians to do things they otherwise do not have the power to do and to severely trample on the rights of the citizenry

#history #society #today_like_yesterday

wist@diasp.org
WIST

A quotation by Huber, Ernst Rudolf

The parliamentary battle of the NSDAP [Nazi Party] had the single purpose of destroying the parliamentary system from within through its own methods. It was necessary above all to make formal use of the possibilities of the party-state system but to refuse real cooperation and thereby to render the parliamentary system, which is by nature dependent upon the responsible cooperation of the opposition, incapable of action.

Ernst Rudolf Huber (1903-1990), German jurist and constitutional historian

Constitutional Law of the Greater German Reich [Verfassungsrecht des Grossdeutschen Reiches] (1939)

#quotation #quote #legislature #obstructionism #opposition #revolution #sabotage #subversion

More notes and sourcing on WIST: https://wist.info/huber-ernst-rudolf/48679/

WIST - Huber, Ernst Rudolf | Constitutional Law of the Greater German Reich [Verfassungsrecht des Grossdeutschen Reiches] (1939)

The parliamentary battle of the NSDAP [Nazi Party] had the single purpose of destroying the parliamentary system from within through its own methods. It was necessary above all to make formal use of the possibilities of the party-state system but...

anonymiss@despora.de
anonymiss

#Hack the #Press - Clever Ways to get Free Media Coverage ...

1) Organise a fake press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI
2) Nudity is good for getting on the front page of the tabloid press. Femen
3) You don't necessarily have to be naked. It also works like this: Texas
4) If you get a traineeship, simply stand in front of the cameras at the right moment. Harper
5) ...

#journalism #hacker #news #knowledge #subversion #protest #politics #change #idea

Bhopal Disaster - BBC - The Yes Men
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