An afront to freedom in Hong Kong and Worldwide

 

On 1 July, the Hong Kong Police Force twitted items that now run afoul of the newly enacted Hong Kong National Security Law. Among the items and slogans now prohibited is the word “conscience” (pronounced leong4 zi4 in Cantonese). For over a year, this Confucian notion of the innate awareness of the good has become the symbol of the resilience and resistance of the people of Hong Kong against daily police brutality and government refusal to back down from enacting draconian measures under the guise of stability and national security. 

With no input from the supposedly autonomous government of Hong Kong or the people of the city-state, Beijing enacted a law that was never been read or reviewed by anyone outside the 175-member strong Standing Committee of China’s National People's Congress. With one stroke, flouting condemnation and concerns from worldwide, including G7 members, all semblance of “One Country, Two Systems” and the rule of law have been erased.

The law criminalises the offences of secession, subversion, and the organisation and perpetration of terrorist activities. More relevant to Canadians, or anyone in the world, it criminalises collusion with “external elements to endanger national security”. What these terms mean remains to be seen. Is liking a social media post about Hong Kong demonstrations no longer safe? Is re-tweeting support for the rule of law in Hong Kong, highlighting the plight of millions of incarcerated Uyghurs, and speaking out against the persecution of Christians, democracy activists or coronavirus whistle-blowers now a crime subject to life imprisonment?

Though the provisions of the National Security Law are couched in legal niceties, the final power of interpreting the law lies in the very Standing Committee of China’s rubber-standing parliament that drafted and rushed to adopt the law in the first place. The law has extraterritorial reach, and is applicable to anyone, even if you are not resident in Hong Kong. Already, one person alleged to have run afoul of the newly enacted law was arrested on board a Cathay Pacific flight moments before departure for London. Any aircraft or ship registered in Hong Kong is an extension of the city’s territory, and police have powers to come on board and detain suspects. If deemed necessary, legal proceedings can be done without a jury to protect “State secrets” or the so-called “involvement of foreign factors”.

Further, the law establishes a so-called Committee for Safeguarding National Security, which enjoys sweeping powers to safeguard national security. The Committee’s work and powers are not subject to judicial scrutiny or to disclosure. In other words, a gestapo has been legalised and instituted.

The website hkleaks.pk (in Chinese) now lists the names, personal details (some including telephone numbers, and emails) and alleged crimes of over 1600 “thugs”. Listed are journalists, teachers and even businesses that have shown sympathy to pro-democracy protests. Newly added is the name, picture and names of the parents of a 16-year-old minor who is alleged to have tried to subvert Hong Kong by “wandering the streets” and failing to produce an ID when the police demanded it.

To add salt to injury, former HK Chief Executive Chun-ying Leung even advocated a handsome bounty to anyone able to provide clues leading to the arrest of “national security law offenders” or information on “anyone who has fled the city”. Such release of personal information to instigate mob-like social justice, and instil terror in the lives of ordinary citizens is a reminder of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. But this is in “Asia’s world city” Hong Kong, in the year 2020.

Canada has just heightened its travel advisory, and rightly suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong. Given China’s history of kidnapping foreigners and keeping them hostage for political bargaining, Hong Kong, and anyone who advocates justice and fundamental freedoms, is no longer safe.

Governments and peoples of the world must make a stand against tyranny and authoritarianism, and stand up for the basic rights and civil liberties in Hong Kong. And we must do so with a conscience.

Zooming in on our privacy and freedom of expression

 

Back in April, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab revealed that a Zoom meeting between users located in Canada and the United States was routed through China. The communications platform, which during the pandemic has become the go-to medium to connect with family, friends, and colleagues, admitted the diversion of data thousands of miles away was “mistakenly” done. The company quickly moved to assure users there are no implications for the privacy of communications, and that the company would take measures to rectify the mistake.

Now, Zoom is again in the news. On 4 June, accounts of Hong Kong- and US-based pro-democracy activists who used Zoom to hold an event commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre were shuttered. Zoom justified that as a company, its operations are subject to local laws. Even though the hosts of the meeting was outside of China, Zoom argued it simply complied with demands by the Chinese government the virtual meetings and accounts be terminated. After much (social) media backlash, some accounts were later reinstated. 

Curiously, just one day earlier, Zoom’s own security consultant declared “Zoom does not proactively monitor content in meetings and will not in the future. Zoom doesn't record meetings silently. Neither of these will change”.

Yet, how does Zoom know about the vigils held to remember the crackdown on democracy, and the users who were attending these online vigils? And whatever happened to those users in China and whose accounts have not been reinstated?

The latest news is evidence that the company is actively monitoring and censoring communications of its users inside and outside of China. These concerns have already been raised about the NASDAQ-listed company, and the likes of SpaceX and NASA, as well as governments around the world, including Germany, Australia, and Taiwan, have banned or restricted the use of Zoom for these very reasons. In highlighting the surge of foreign cyberespionage in COVID-19-related research facilitated through remote working platforms, Canada’s own intelligence agency, the Communications Security Establishment, singled out Zoom and the fact that user communications were routed through servers in China. 

Twitter, Facebook and Google are also in the business of connecting people and facilitating communications. Like Zoom, these corporations operate in the cyber domain that is arguably beyond the jurisdiction of any State. However, the Chinese government has made clear at the United Nations that together Huawei, they wish to “reinvent” the internet to give governments more control over content and user data. The latest debacle surrounding Zoom is a sign of things to come.

Zoom self-proclaims to “fully [support] the open exchange of ideas and conversations”, yet unlike other platforms, it willingly submits itself to demands of an authoritarian government. This is a concern for all Canadians, and we must think carefully before signing in and unwittingly signing away our privacies and freedoms.

I cant breathe

 

The days just slip by. Like a dream, or a nightmare, depending on who you are asking, and who is experiencing it.

It is almost six months into the year, a year that has to date been marked by and irrevocably changed by the pandemic that was first detected over two hundred days ago, and spread all over the world. Now, close to 7 million (official) infections and 400,000 (counted) deaths later, the world is still reeling from this all, trying to make sense of it all. What is clear is there will be an independent investigation into the response of the coronavirus, even though in recent days it has been made clear through leaked documents that the WHO, or at least leadership at the world body, colluded with China to hide or deliberately delay alerting the world.

The world is burning... tensions between China and the United States, which is led by an megamaniac and tyrant, is boiling over. the people of Hong Kong are facing a newly introduced security law aimed at cracking down on "any" act of secession, subversion, terrorism or activities by foreign foreces. Today, 31 years ago, was the watershed moment that seems to have led to nothing on Tiananmen. Only the people of Hong Kong, defying a pretext/ban on gathering due to coronavirus, and a handful of those who care and remember, will be remembering...

And in the midst of it all, racial tensions have again been thrust into the front pages after a black man was brutally killed by a policeman in Minneapolis, who knelt on top of the handcuffed man for almost 9 minutes till he suffocated and died.

"I can't breathe..."

Those were the haunting last words of George Floyd, a 46 year old man accused of using a fake $20 bill at a store, and was later pinned to the ground and killed by police. Race riots and demonstrations spread across the US, fueled by the angry tweets by the president and opportunists seizing the occassion to plunder and loot. To top it off, China, with its  glaring human rights record and respect for blacks, is using the opportunity to once again underline the failings of liberal democracies.

If anything, this shows that beneath the surface, race still matters, and that blacks and people of colour are still being treated unfairly. It shows that race matters, and that the system is predisposed to judge and be biased against (particularly) black people.

This horrendous killing, by the very force entrusted with the powers to serve and protect civilians, comes just days after a white "Karen" called the police on a black man  and falsely accused her for threatening her and her unleashed dog, when the man told her simply to leash her dog in a protected area of Central Park. His only "crime"? Telling off a girl who knows how to use her privilege and trigger words to call the police.  


For days and weeks to come, corporations and facebook/social media pages will change their profiles to show solidarity. But will things change as memories of those haunting images and the harrowing sound of those words "I can't breathe" fade?

I can't breathe

 

The days just slip by. Like a dream, or a nightmare, depending on who you are asking, and who is experiencing it.

It is almost six months into the year, a year that has to date been marked by and irrevocably changed by the pandemic that was first detected over two hundred days ago, and spread all over the world. Now, close to 7 million (official) infections and 400,000 (counted) deaths later, the world is still reeling from this all, trying to make sense of it all. What is clear is there will be an independent investigation into the response of the coronavirus, even though in recent days it has been made clear through leaked documents that the WHO, or at least leadership at the world body, colluded with China to hide or deliberately delay alerting the world.

The world is burning... tensions between China and the United States, which is led by an megamaniac and tyrant, is boiling over. the people of Hong Kong are facing a newly introduced security law aimed at cracking down on "any" act of secession, subversion, terrorism or activities by foreign foreces. Today, 31 years ago, was the watershed moment that seems to have led to nothing on Tiananmen. Only the people of Hong Kong, defying a pretext/ban on gathering due to coronavirus, and a handful of those who care and remember, will be remembering...

And in the midst of it all, racial tensions have again been thrust into the front pages after a black man was brutally killed by a policeman in Minneapolis, who knelt on top of the handcuffed man for almost 9 minutes till he suffocated and died.

"I can't breathe..."

Those were the haunting last words of George Floyd, a 46 year old man accused of using a fake $20 bill at a store, and was later pinned to the ground and killed by police. Race riots and demonstrations spread across the US, fueled by the angry tweets by the president and opportunists seizing the occassion to plunder and loot. To top it off, China, with its  glaring human rights record and respect for blacks, is using the opportunity to once again underline the failings of liberal democracies.

If anything, this shows that beneath the surface, race still matters, and that blacks and people of colour are still being treated unfairly. It shows that race matters, and that the system is predisposed to judge and be biased against (particularly) black people.

This horrendous killing, by the very force entrusted with the powers to serve and protect civilians, comes just days after a white "Karen" called the police on a black man  and falsely accused her for threatening her and her unleashed dog, when the man told her simply to leash her dog in a protected area of Central Park. His only "crime"? Telling off a girl who knows how to use her privilege and trigger words to call the police.  


For days and weeks to come, corporations and facebook/social media pages will change their profiles to show solidarity. But will things change as memories of those haunting images and the harrowing sound of those words "I can't breathe" fade?