Hong Kong Protests: People's Power Makes the Authoritarian State Bend: A Visual Documentation and Other Reports/Comments
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Sukla Sen
Jun 17, 2019, 10:42:38 AM6/17/19
to foil-l
[<<The government had hoped to reduce public anger by announcing a pause in the legislation on Saturday.
That has patently failed, as even bigger numbers - close to two million, according to the organisers, took to the streets.
For the chief executive, the demonstrations will have taken on a particularly personal bent, as protesters chanted "Carrie Lam - resign!" throughout during the day.
The government is now trying to strike a conciliatory tone - in a statement, it said it understood the protesters' views "have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong". It promised the chief executive would adopt a more "sincere and humble attitude" towards public criticism.
But this is too little, too late for many protesters, who insist they won't settle for anything less than the bill being completely withdrawn.>>
(Excerpted from sl. no. II. below.)
Pls. visit the original sites - sl. no. I - III, for the visuals, especially.
The one at sl. no. IV talks of the perils in India emulation China.
In that context:
"The opposition to the BJP hold this view (that Modi will alienate minorities and fuel confrontation as an "autocrat" after he assumes the office) out of the need for partisan competition, while as for Western critics, their attack on Modi is out of ideological concerns, ***because Modi's governance style and philosophy are very close to Chinese practices*** (emphasis added)."
(Ref.: 'Modi ready to do business with China' by Liu Zongy, Global Times ("a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the People's Daily newspaper"), May 19 2014.)
]
I/IV
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48655634
Hong Kong protests: Scale of the march in photos
16 June 2019
Snipped
II/IV.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48656471
Hong Kong protest: 'Nearly two million' join demonstration
17 June 2019
Protests returned to Hong Kong streets following the suspension of the extradition bill
Nearly two million people have taken part in a mass protest in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill, organisers say.
If confirmed, it would be the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. Police said turnout was 338,000 at its peak.
The masses turned out despite the suspension of the bill - which would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China - on Saturday.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Sunday apologised for proposing the bill.
Many protesters, who fear increased Chinese influence over Hong Kong, are calling on her to resign over the unrest.
They are also demanding that the bill be scrapped, not just suspended.
Meanwhile, supporters of Joshua Wong - the student leader who became the face of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" democracy protests five years ago - say he will be released from prison later on Monday.
What happened at the protest?
"Today's march we had almost two million people," Jimmy Sham, from the Civil Human Rights Front protest group, told reporters late on Sunday evening.
See the scale of the march in photos
The protest was mainly peaceful, with police officers reportedly holding back to allow the throngs of people to slowly pass through the city. This contrasted to scenes at the last previous major demonstration on Wednesday, which saw clashes between protesters and police that injured dozens.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Protesters have been demanding Carrie Lam's resignation
The demonstration began early in the afternoon in Victoria Square, with many wearing black.
Many held white flowers to mourn a protester who fell to his death on Saturday from a ledge, where hours earlier he had unfurled an anti-extradition banner.
The progress of the march was slow, as the large numbers of people blocked many streets and crowded train stations.
Image Copyright @HelierCheung@HELIERCHEUNG
Report
As darkness fell, protesters started to take over major roads and crossings and surrounded the legislative council building.
They carried placards that read "The students did not riot", in response to police labelling last Wednesday's student protests a riot - an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
Media captionTimelapse footage shows the scale of Hong Kong protests on Sunday
All you need to know about the protests
Hong Kong-China extradition plans explained
There was scepticism among some protesters about Ms Lam's decision to suspend the bill.
"Carrie Lam has ignored the feelings of Hong Kongers," Mr Ma, a 67-year-old protester, told the BBC. He said Ms Lam had "acted like it was no big deal" after a reported million people marched last week.
"Secondly, we are marching for the students who were brutally treated by the police. We need to get justice for them."
Chloe Yim, 20, who had joined the protests for the first time, said: "If Carrie sees so many people come out, and still doesn't listen - she's being an autocrat who doesn't listen to people. Hong Kong people can't accept that."
'Too little too late'
Analysis by Helier Cheung, BBC News, Hong Kong
The government had hoped to reduce public anger by announcing a pause in the legislation on Saturday.
That has patently failed, as even bigger numbers - close to two million, according to the organisers, took to the streets.
For the chief executive, the demonstrations will have taken on a particularly personal bent, as protesters chanted "Carrie Lam - resign!" throughout during the day.
The government is now trying to strike a conciliatory tone - in a statement, it said it understood the protesters' views "have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong". It promised the chief executive would adopt a more "sincere and humble attitude" towards public criticism.
But this is too little, too late for many protesters, who insist they won't settle for anything less than the bill being completely withdrawn.
The new face of the HK protests
The scenes are reminiscent of 2003 - when half a million people protested against proposed national security legislation. The unpopular chief executive at the time, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned months later.
But even if Ms Lam resigns, there's no guarantee that protesters will be satisfied with whoever replaces her - especially as, under Hong Kong's political system, the leader is elected by a small panel filled with allies of the Beijing government.
What is the controversy about?
Hong Kong is a former British colony, but was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that guarantees it a level of autonomy.
The government had argued the proposed extradition bill would "plug the loopholes" so that the city would not be a safe haven for criminals, following a murder case in Taiwan.
Media captionThe BBC's Helier Cheung on why people are taking to the streets in Hong Kong
Critics have said the legislation would expose people in Hong Kong to China's deeply flawed justice system and lead to further erosion of the city's judicial independence.
Many fear the law could be used to target political opponents of the Chinese state. A large-scale march, which organisers said drew more than one million people, was held last Sunday.
On Wednesday tens of thousands gathered to blockade streets around government headquarters to try to stop the second reading, or debate, of the extradition bill.
China’s history of extraordinary rendition
Will the bill damage Hong Kong's star status?
There were clashes and 22 police and 60 protesters were injured. Authorities say 11 people were arrested. The police have been accused by some rights groups of excessive force.
Why the anger at Carrie Lam?
Much of the public anger has been directed at Ms Lam, the region's elected chief executive - who is firmly supported by Beijing.
Media captionHow Hong Kong demonstrators organised protests this week
Part of that anger comes from a tearful address after Wednesday's violence in which she labelled the protests "organised riots" – a label rejected by the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters.
Ms Lam remained hidden from public view for days, until her announcement on Saturday the she had heard the calls for her government to "pause and think". But she stopped short of saying the bill would be permanently shelved.
Profile: Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong
On Sunday, she followed this up with a statement apologising for "her government's work that has led to substantial controversies and disputes in society, causing disappointment and grief among the people".
Media captionCarrie Lam expressed 'deep sorrow' over extradition law controversy
There has been speculation among analysts about Ms Lam's future amid the continued protests, but China's foreign ministry publicly backed her on Saturday.
Is Hong Kong part of China?
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841, when China ceded the island to the British after the First Opium War - which had erupted over British traders smuggling opium into China. It remained a colony until sovereignty was returned to China in 1997.
It is now part of China under a "one country, two systems" principle, which ensures that it keeps its own judicial independence, its own legislature and economic system.
Beijing's struggle to win Hong Kong's young hearts
The Hong Kong handover in a nutshell
A timeline of Hong Kong's history
It is what China calls a special administrative region - enjoying a great deal of autonomy that has made it a key business and media hub in the region.
But it remains subject to pressure from mainland China, and Beijing remains responsible for defence and foreign affairs.
III/IV.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-protesters-adjust-tactics-with-lessons-from-2014-umbrella-movement-11560448247
Hong Kong Protesters Adjust Tactics With Lessons From 2014 Umbrella Movement
Organizers stay out of view, amass supplies to evade and defend against police
Protesters wore helmets and masks for protection and to shield themselves from surveillance during demonstrations in Hong Kong on Wednesday. PHOTO: KIN CHEUNG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Phred Dvorak and Natasha Khan
Updated June 13, 2019 2:08 p.m. ET
HONG KONG—When police broke out the tear gas on Wednesday, the protesters knew what to do.
They started handing out hundreds of bottles of sodium-chloride solution already prepared to pour into the burning eyes of comrades exposed to the fumes.
Other gear sorted into piles near the protest site included hard hats, plastic ties to secure metal barriers, plastic wrap to protect exposed skin and umbrellas and masks to ward off pepper spray.
“One thing we know is they are going to pepper spray us,” said protester Joyce Lam. Ms. Lam, 27 years old, got her education in confronting police five years ago, she said, during the last major demonstrations to rock Hong Kong.
The protests of the past week have been haunted by the ghosts of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, when thousands of people camped out nightly in central Hong Kong for 79 days to demand the ability to vote for the territory’s leader.
Protesters in 2014 didn’t get the reforms they wanted and some leaders were subsequently jailed in a Beijing-supported crackdown on political dissent. But the experience taught would-be organizers more sophisticated tactics—including the perils of publicity.
Hong Kong Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters
WSJ’s John Lyons reports from the streets of Hong Kong, where police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters demonstrating against a controversial extradition bill. Photo: Getty Images
This time, fliers calling for demonstrations and strikes on June 12 were anonymous. While some known activist groups such as the Civil Human Rights Front issued general calls for strikes, many protesters said they weren’t sure who was providing all the gear, and any organization appeared fragmented.
Most protesters on Wednesday wore masks, partly to shield their faces from government surveillance. Police said 11 people were arrested on various charges.
Protest participants say they got their information on demonstrations, and how to help, from Facebook posts and chat groups on messaging apps WhatsApp or Telegram that emerged without clear leaders.
As the protest was under way, Telegram suffered a major denial of service attack—an attempt to crash the app—originating largely from IP addresses in China, according to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
Hong Kong protesters came prepared and were provided equipment including umbrellas and gas masks for demonstrations on Wednesday. PHOTO: KIN CHEUNG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The demonstrations were sparked by a bill that would let China extradite from Hong Kong people suspected of some crimes, a move critics fear could be abused by Beijing for political aims. On Sunday, June 9, organizers said an estimated million people marched against the proposed law. Police put the number at 240,000.
Hong Kong lawmakers were scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday—but have now postponed this week’s debate. Activists have called for another mass demonstration this weekend.
The Umbrella Movement schooled thousands of Hong Kongers in the art of occupation and police confrontation, giving them hands-on experience in skills such as stockpiling food for sit-ins to administering first aid.
Hong Kong Indigenous, a local political group, posted on its Facebook page a “Confrontation Handbook,” with chapters on what to wear, when to charge and when to retreat, and how to divide responsibilities in the protest ranks.
“Write the phone number of your lawyer on your body using oil-based marker,” advises the handbook in a chapter on what to do if arrested.
Police fired toward protesters opposing an extradition law in Hong Kong on Wednesday. PHOTO: GONZALES/AVALON/ZUMA PRESS
A host of internet forums and messaging app groups, some with tens of thousands of followers, circulated calls for mass demonstrations on Wednesday.
Some anonymous fliers posted earlier in the week urged demonstrators to wear white shirts and bring rain gear. One group of four friends who came to the protest after work said they had heard they should wear black, bring masks and wear belts so others could pull them back if they got dragged from the front lines by police.
As people gathered on Wednesday, demonstrators wound through the crowd handing out face masks, helmets, goggles and water, as well as bags of McDonald’s hamburgers and cheeseburgers, said Arthur Suen, a fitness coach whose boss gave him the day off to join the demonstration.
Two protesters climbed atop a tram stop to coordinate, directing supplies to different places. Plastic zip ties were passed toward the front lines of the protest area to bind barricades, and medical supplies were sent to the side, where one of many makeshift first-aid stations was established.
A 25-year-old medic helped man another station equipped with masks and eye drops. Wearing a neon yellow vest and with a radio clipped to his shoulder, he said he was supposed to coordinate a few dozen responders with medical backgrounds who came together through spontaneous chat groups.
When police started firing tear gas to disperse the demonstrators during the afternoon, his team rushed through the crowds following reports of injuries.
Police managed to clear part of the protest area by evening. By midnight most of the demonstrators had started collecting their gear. One group piled an assortment of head coverings, including hard hats and bicycle helmets, into an empty phone booth.
“Umbrellas go here,” one protester shouted to another, pointing to a metal railing near the phone booth. Goggles were deposited in a bag nearby. Two other black-shirted demonstrators wound plastic wrap around the top of the booth, sealing it off for the next protest.
Two college friends who were among the final group on the scene said they joined the protest after hearing about it on a local internet forum. One said he had been disappointed by the leaders of the Umbrella Movement, so he was glad nobody was heading things this time.
Still, he said, “I hope to see a leader here because there is too much confusion.”
—Mike Bird, Wenxin Fan, John Lyons and Jacky Wong contributed to this article.
Write to Phred Dvorak at phred....@wsj.com and Natasha Khan at natash...@wsj.com
IV.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/mirage-of-a-strong-state-china-dazzles-many-indians-but-emulating-china-could-pave-the-road-to-catastrophe/?fbclid=IwAR2DlWAzJSbfjwPDqAQ-KMVt9pO_StL5G9WyukiCjbePkBVIdDa1glczNPg
Mirage of a strong state: China dazzles many Indians, but emulating China could pave the road to catastrophe
June 15, 2019, 2:00 AM IST
Arunabh Ghosh in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India, World | TOI
For many, the BJP’s resounding mandate of May 23 is a victory for the ideal of a strong centralised state. This is what India needs, it is being said. This is the only way to ensure maximum governance.
No one would dispute that India can benefit from improved governance. But what model of state can best deliver that? As our intellectuals look around, many have fixated on the success of China, a country that was comparable to India across most socio-economic parameters until the early 1980s, but which has far outpaced us in economic development since.
Chad Crowe
In trying to emulate China, those intellectuals – driven by an intoxicating mix of envy and strategic fear – locate the solution in its strong centralised state. This is a dangerous lesson to draw. It is dangerous because it indicates a rather shallow understanding of China’s historical experiences and an inattention to the vastly different contexts, historical and contemporary, within which the Indian and Chinese republics operate.
An assessment of China that cannot balance the spectacular growth of the past four decades against equally devastating missteps is bound to produce a simplistic view of the past and lead to solutions that will only generate deep structural problems in India.
Those who are able to study Chinese history with a critical eye may well see their enthusiasm for state centralisation dimmed. China’s dramatic progress has come at significant cost to large sections of its people. An excess of state capacity certainly provides the ability to execute policy effectively; but it often does so regardless of whether the policy makes sense or not.
I offer here only the most well-known examples. From 1958 to 1961, China was set down a radical path of economic and social reorganisation known as the Great Leap Forward. It resulted in arguably the worst man-made disaster in history – a famine that killed, by broad scholarly consensus, at least 30 million people.
The One Child Policy that came into effect in 1980, fundamentally altered China’s demographic composition and has generated a host of social problems. How China adapts to becoming an ‘old country’ in the coming two decades remains to be seen.
Since the 1980s, restrictions on rural to urban mobility have created a floating migrant population nearly the size of the United States. This floating labour is the engine of China’s economic boom, but it has not seen the benefits of that boom.
A few days ago was the 30th anniversary of the crackdown in and around Tian’anmen Square, when units of the People’s Liberation Army opened fire on peaceful protesters – students, workers, and other civilians – killing hundreds. Tian’anmen was not only about quelling dissent among the people but also within the party, concentrating power among only a handful of people.
Most recently, the Chinese state is building a system of surveillance that incorporates an individual’s facial and biometric data, online activity, physical movements, and purchasing habits. Once perfected, the technology can be used just as easily to provide services or to curtail them, to “dissident” and “patriot” alike.
Central to the Chinese state’s success is its ability to crack down on any dissenting voices and to rewrite history. It continues to expend considerable resources to elide embarrassing missteps from school curricula and from public consciousness. Today, most Chinese students have to travel abroad and enroll in foreign universities to engage critically with their own history.
Among the first things many of them do is Google 6/4 (June 4, the date of the Tian’anmen crackdown). Even the basic facts of their common past have been denied them. This applies as much to contemporary developments: many in China remain unaware that their own state has over the past two years put over a million of their fellow citizens, Uighurs who reside in the western province of Xinjiang, into concentration camps.
The point is not that a powerful state cannot do good, but rather that in uncritically lusting for such a state we create the conditions for it to do tremendous harm. If that expansion in capacity is accompanied by a weakening of existing institutions, whether it is the election commission, the judiciary, the media, or a free and independent educational system, then we are complicit in the dissolution of our ability to check that state power. It remains axiomatically true: non-accountable systems generate abuses of power.
The Indian political experiment is built on accommodation of vast heterogeneity. It is a normative ideal, still well short of realisation, but one that says that a society’s norms ought not to be determined by the relative dominance of one group over another. This is what distinguishes it – warts and all – from almost all its contemporaries. Today, we seem hell bent on sacrificing that accommodative spirit at the altar of maximal state capacity.
The historical study of other parts of the world is a serious business and we have neglected it for too long in India. Tragically, current trends suggest we are becoming even more parochial in our approach to both ourselves and to the world. A little learning is a dangerous thing. To take pride in it can be catastrophic.
That has patently failed, as even bigger numbers - close to two million, according to the organisers, took to the streets.
For the chief executive, the demonstrations will have taken on a particularly personal bent, as protesters chanted "Carrie Lam - resign!" throughout during the day.
The government is now trying to strike a conciliatory tone - in a statement, it said it understood the protesters' views "have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong". It promised the chief executive would adopt a more "sincere and humble attitude" towards public criticism.
But this is too little, too late for many protesters, who insist they won't settle for anything less than the bill being completely withdrawn.>>
(Excerpted from sl. no. II. below.)
Pls. visit the original sites - sl. no. I - III, for the visuals, especially.
The one at sl. no. IV talks of the perils in India emulation China.
In that context:
"The opposition to the BJP hold this view (that Modi will alienate minorities and fuel confrontation as an "autocrat" after he assumes the office) out of the need for partisan competition, while as for Western critics, their attack on Modi is out of ideological concerns, ***because Modi's governance style and philosophy are very close to Chinese practices*** (emphasis added)."
(Ref.: 'Modi ready to do business with China' by Liu Zongy, Global Times ("a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the People's Daily newspaper"), May 19 2014.)
]
I/IV
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48655634
Hong Kong protests: Scale of the march in photos
16 June 2019
Snipped
II/IV.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48656471
Hong Kong protest: 'Nearly two million' join demonstration
17 June 2019
Protests returned to Hong Kong streets following the suspension of the extradition bill
Nearly two million people have taken part in a mass protest in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill, organisers say.
If confirmed, it would be the largest protest in Hong Kong's history. Police said turnout was 338,000 at its peak.
The masses turned out despite the suspension of the bill - which would allow extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China - on Saturday.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Sunday apologised for proposing the bill.
Many protesters, who fear increased Chinese influence over Hong Kong, are calling on her to resign over the unrest.
They are also demanding that the bill be scrapped, not just suspended.
Meanwhile, supporters of Joshua Wong - the student leader who became the face of Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" democracy protests five years ago - say he will be released from prison later on Monday.
What happened at the protest?
"Today's march we had almost two million people," Jimmy Sham, from the Civil Human Rights Front protest group, told reporters late on Sunday evening.
See the scale of the march in photos
The protest was mainly peaceful, with police officers reportedly holding back to allow the throngs of people to slowly pass through the city. This contrasted to scenes at the last previous major demonstration on Wednesday, which saw clashes between protesters and police that injured dozens.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Protesters have been demanding Carrie Lam's resignation
The demonstration began early in the afternoon in Victoria Square, with many wearing black.
Many held white flowers to mourn a protester who fell to his death on Saturday from a ledge, where hours earlier he had unfurled an anti-extradition banner.
The progress of the march was slow, as the large numbers of people blocked many streets and crowded train stations.
Image Copyright @HelierCheung@HELIERCHEUNG
Report
As darkness fell, protesters started to take over major roads and crossings and surrounded the legislative council building.
They carried placards that read "The students did not riot", in response to police labelling last Wednesday's student protests a riot - an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
Media captionTimelapse footage shows the scale of Hong Kong protests on Sunday
All you need to know about the protests
Hong Kong-China extradition plans explained
There was scepticism among some protesters about Ms Lam's decision to suspend the bill.
"Carrie Lam has ignored the feelings of Hong Kongers," Mr Ma, a 67-year-old protester, told the BBC. He said Ms Lam had "acted like it was no big deal" after a reported million people marched last week.
"Secondly, we are marching for the students who were brutally treated by the police. We need to get justice for them."
Chloe Yim, 20, who had joined the protests for the first time, said: "If Carrie sees so many people come out, and still doesn't listen - she's being an autocrat who doesn't listen to people. Hong Kong people can't accept that."
'Too little too late'
Analysis by Helier Cheung, BBC News, Hong Kong
The government had hoped to reduce public anger by announcing a pause in the legislation on Saturday.
That has patently failed, as even bigger numbers - close to two million, according to the organisers, took to the streets.
For the chief executive, the demonstrations will have taken on a particularly personal bent, as protesters chanted "Carrie Lam - resign!" throughout during the day.
The government is now trying to strike a conciliatory tone - in a statement, it said it understood the protesters' views "have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong". It promised the chief executive would adopt a more "sincere and humble attitude" towards public criticism.
But this is too little, too late for many protesters, who insist they won't settle for anything less than the bill being completely withdrawn.
The new face of the HK protests
The scenes are reminiscent of 2003 - when half a million people protested against proposed national security legislation. The unpopular chief executive at the time, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned months later.
But even if Ms Lam resigns, there's no guarantee that protesters will be satisfied with whoever replaces her - especially as, under Hong Kong's political system, the leader is elected by a small panel filled with allies of the Beijing government.
What is the controversy about?
Hong Kong is a former British colony, but was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that guarantees it a level of autonomy.
The government had argued the proposed extradition bill would "plug the loopholes" so that the city would not be a safe haven for criminals, following a murder case in Taiwan.
Media captionThe BBC's Helier Cheung on why people are taking to the streets in Hong Kong
Critics have said the legislation would expose people in Hong Kong to China's deeply flawed justice system and lead to further erosion of the city's judicial independence.
Many fear the law could be used to target political opponents of the Chinese state. A large-scale march, which organisers said drew more than one million people, was held last Sunday.
On Wednesday tens of thousands gathered to blockade streets around government headquarters to try to stop the second reading, or debate, of the extradition bill.
China’s history of extraordinary rendition
Will the bill damage Hong Kong's star status?
There were clashes and 22 police and 60 protesters were injured. Authorities say 11 people were arrested. The police have been accused by some rights groups of excessive force.
Why the anger at Carrie Lam?
Much of the public anger has been directed at Ms Lam, the region's elected chief executive - who is firmly supported by Beijing.
Media captionHow Hong Kong demonstrators organised protests this week
Part of that anger comes from a tearful address after Wednesday's violence in which she labelled the protests "organised riots" – a label rejected by the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters.
Ms Lam remained hidden from public view for days, until her announcement on Saturday the she had heard the calls for her government to "pause and think". But she stopped short of saying the bill would be permanently shelved.
Profile: Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong
On Sunday, she followed this up with a statement apologising for "her government's work that has led to substantial controversies and disputes in society, causing disappointment and grief among the people".
Media captionCarrie Lam expressed 'deep sorrow' over extradition law controversy
There has been speculation among analysts about Ms Lam's future amid the continued protests, but China's foreign ministry publicly backed her on Saturday.
Is Hong Kong part of China?
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1841, when China ceded the island to the British after the First Opium War - which had erupted over British traders smuggling opium into China. It remained a colony until sovereignty was returned to China in 1997.
It is now part of China under a "one country, two systems" principle, which ensures that it keeps its own judicial independence, its own legislature and economic system.
Beijing's struggle to win Hong Kong's young hearts
The Hong Kong handover in a nutshell
A timeline of Hong Kong's history
It is what China calls a special administrative region - enjoying a great deal of autonomy that has made it a key business and media hub in the region.
But it remains subject to pressure from mainland China, and Beijing remains responsible for defence and foreign affairs.
III/IV.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-protesters-adjust-tactics-with-lessons-from-2014-umbrella-movement-11560448247
Hong Kong Protesters Adjust Tactics With Lessons From 2014 Umbrella Movement
Organizers stay out of view, amass supplies to evade and defend against police
Protesters wore helmets and masks for protection and to shield themselves from surveillance during demonstrations in Hong Kong on Wednesday. PHOTO: KIN CHEUNG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Phred Dvorak and Natasha Khan
Updated June 13, 2019 2:08 p.m. ET
HONG KONG—When police broke out the tear gas on Wednesday, the protesters knew what to do.
They started handing out hundreds of bottles of sodium-chloride solution already prepared to pour into the burning eyes of comrades exposed to the fumes.
Other gear sorted into piles near the protest site included hard hats, plastic ties to secure metal barriers, plastic wrap to protect exposed skin and umbrellas and masks to ward off pepper spray.
“One thing we know is they are going to pepper spray us,” said protester Joyce Lam. Ms. Lam, 27 years old, got her education in confronting police five years ago, she said, during the last major demonstrations to rock Hong Kong.
The protests of the past week have been haunted by the ghosts of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, when thousands of people camped out nightly in central Hong Kong for 79 days to demand the ability to vote for the territory’s leader.
Protesters in 2014 didn’t get the reforms they wanted and some leaders were subsequently jailed in a Beijing-supported crackdown on political dissent. But the experience taught would-be organizers more sophisticated tactics—including the perils of publicity.
Hong Kong Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters
WSJ’s John Lyons reports from the streets of Hong Kong, where police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters demonstrating against a controversial extradition bill. Photo: Getty Images
This time, fliers calling for demonstrations and strikes on June 12 were anonymous. While some known activist groups such as the Civil Human Rights Front issued general calls for strikes, many protesters said they weren’t sure who was providing all the gear, and any organization appeared fragmented.
Most protesters on Wednesday wore masks, partly to shield their faces from government surveillance. Police said 11 people were arrested on various charges.
Protest participants say they got their information on demonstrations, and how to help, from Facebook posts and chat groups on messaging apps WhatsApp or Telegram that emerged without clear leaders.
As the protest was under way, Telegram suffered a major denial of service attack—an attempt to crash the app—originating largely from IP addresses in China, according to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
Hong Kong protesters came prepared and were provided equipment including umbrellas and gas masks for demonstrations on Wednesday. PHOTO: KIN CHEUNG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The demonstrations were sparked by a bill that would let China extradite from Hong Kong people suspected of some crimes, a move critics fear could be abused by Beijing for political aims. On Sunday, June 9, organizers said an estimated million people marched against the proposed law. Police put the number at 240,000.
Hong Kong lawmakers were scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday—but have now postponed this week’s debate. Activists have called for another mass demonstration this weekend.
The Umbrella Movement schooled thousands of Hong Kongers in the art of occupation and police confrontation, giving them hands-on experience in skills such as stockpiling food for sit-ins to administering first aid.
Hong Kong Indigenous, a local political group, posted on its Facebook page a “Confrontation Handbook,” with chapters on what to wear, when to charge and when to retreat, and how to divide responsibilities in the protest ranks.
“Write the phone number of your lawyer on your body using oil-based marker,” advises the handbook in a chapter on what to do if arrested.
Police fired toward protesters opposing an extradition law in Hong Kong on Wednesday. PHOTO: GONZALES/AVALON/ZUMA PRESS
A host of internet forums and messaging app groups, some with tens of thousands of followers, circulated calls for mass demonstrations on Wednesday.
Some anonymous fliers posted earlier in the week urged demonstrators to wear white shirts and bring rain gear. One group of four friends who came to the protest after work said they had heard they should wear black, bring masks and wear belts so others could pull them back if they got dragged from the front lines by police.
As people gathered on Wednesday, demonstrators wound through the crowd handing out face masks, helmets, goggles and water, as well as bags of McDonald’s hamburgers and cheeseburgers, said Arthur Suen, a fitness coach whose boss gave him the day off to join the demonstration.
Two protesters climbed atop a tram stop to coordinate, directing supplies to different places. Plastic zip ties were passed toward the front lines of the protest area to bind barricades, and medical supplies were sent to the side, where one of many makeshift first-aid stations was established.
A 25-year-old medic helped man another station equipped with masks and eye drops. Wearing a neon yellow vest and with a radio clipped to his shoulder, he said he was supposed to coordinate a few dozen responders with medical backgrounds who came together through spontaneous chat groups.
When police started firing tear gas to disperse the demonstrators during the afternoon, his team rushed through the crowds following reports of injuries.
Police managed to clear part of the protest area by evening. By midnight most of the demonstrators had started collecting their gear. One group piled an assortment of head coverings, including hard hats and bicycle helmets, into an empty phone booth.
“Umbrellas go here,” one protester shouted to another, pointing to a metal railing near the phone booth. Goggles were deposited in a bag nearby. Two other black-shirted demonstrators wound plastic wrap around the top of the booth, sealing it off for the next protest.
Two college friends who were among the final group on the scene said they joined the protest after hearing about it on a local internet forum. One said he had been disappointed by the leaders of the Umbrella Movement, so he was glad nobody was heading things this time.
Still, he said, “I hope to see a leader here because there is too much confusion.”
—Mike Bird, Wenxin Fan, John Lyons and Jacky Wong contributed to this article.
Write to Phred Dvorak at phred....@wsj.com and Natasha Khan at natash...@wsj.com
IV.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/mirage-of-a-strong-state-china-dazzles-many-indians-but-emulating-china-could-pave-the-road-to-catastrophe/?fbclid=IwAR2DlWAzJSbfjwPDqAQ-KMVt9pO_StL5G9WyukiCjbePkBVIdDa1glczNPg
Mirage of a strong state: China dazzles many Indians, but emulating China could pave the road to catastrophe
June 15, 2019, 2:00 AM IST
Arunabh Ghosh in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India, World | TOI
For many, the BJP’s resounding mandate of May 23 is a victory for the ideal of a strong centralised state. This is what India needs, it is being said. This is the only way to ensure maximum governance.
No one would dispute that India can benefit from improved governance. But what model of state can best deliver that? As our intellectuals look around, many have fixated on the success of China, a country that was comparable to India across most socio-economic parameters until the early 1980s, but which has far outpaced us in economic development since.
Chad Crowe
In trying to emulate China, those intellectuals – driven by an intoxicating mix of envy and strategic fear – locate the solution in its strong centralised state. This is a dangerous lesson to draw. It is dangerous because it indicates a rather shallow understanding of China’s historical experiences and an inattention to the vastly different contexts, historical and contemporary, within which the Indian and Chinese republics operate.
An assessment of China that cannot balance the spectacular growth of the past four decades against equally devastating missteps is bound to produce a simplistic view of the past and lead to solutions that will only generate deep structural problems in India.
Those who are able to study Chinese history with a critical eye may well see their enthusiasm for state centralisation dimmed. China’s dramatic progress has come at significant cost to large sections of its people. An excess of state capacity certainly provides the ability to execute policy effectively; but it often does so regardless of whether the policy makes sense or not.
I offer here only the most well-known examples. From 1958 to 1961, China was set down a radical path of economic and social reorganisation known as the Great Leap Forward. It resulted in arguably the worst man-made disaster in history – a famine that killed, by broad scholarly consensus, at least 30 million people.
The One Child Policy that came into effect in 1980, fundamentally altered China’s demographic composition and has generated a host of social problems. How China adapts to becoming an ‘old country’ in the coming two decades remains to be seen.
Since the 1980s, restrictions on rural to urban mobility have created a floating migrant population nearly the size of the United States. This floating labour is the engine of China’s economic boom, but it has not seen the benefits of that boom.
A few days ago was the 30th anniversary of the crackdown in and around Tian’anmen Square, when units of the People’s Liberation Army opened fire on peaceful protesters – students, workers, and other civilians – killing hundreds. Tian’anmen was not only about quelling dissent among the people but also within the party, concentrating power among only a handful of people.
Most recently, the Chinese state is building a system of surveillance that incorporates an individual’s facial and biometric data, online activity, physical movements, and purchasing habits. Once perfected, the technology can be used just as easily to provide services or to curtail them, to “dissident” and “patriot” alike.
Central to the Chinese state’s success is its ability to crack down on any dissenting voices and to rewrite history. It continues to expend considerable resources to elide embarrassing missteps from school curricula and from public consciousness. Today, most Chinese students have to travel abroad and enroll in foreign universities to engage critically with their own history.
Among the first things many of them do is Google 6/4 (June 4, the date of the Tian’anmen crackdown). Even the basic facts of their common past have been denied them. This applies as much to contemporary developments: many in China remain unaware that their own state has over the past two years put over a million of their fellow citizens, Uighurs who reside in the western province of Xinjiang, into concentration camps.
The point is not that a powerful state cannot do good, but rather that in uncritically lusting for such a state we create the conditions for it to do tremendous harm. If that expansion in capacity is accompanied by a weakening of existing institutions, whether it is the election commission, the judiciary, the media, or a free and independent educational system, then we are complicit in the dissolution of our ability to check that state power. It remains axiomatically true: non-accountable systems generate abuses of power.
The Indian political experiment is built on accommodation of vast heterogeneity. It is a normative ideal, still well short of realisation, but one that says that a society’s norms ought not to be determined by the relative dominance of one group over another. This is what distinguishes it – warts and all – from almost all its contemporaries. Today, we seem hell bent on sacrificing that accommodative spirit at the altar of maximal state capacity.
The historical study of other parts of the world is a serious business and we have neglected it for too long in India. Tragically, current trends suggest we are becoming even more parochial in our approach to both ourselves and to the world. A little learning is a dangerous thing. To take pride in it can be catastrophic.
Peace Is Doable
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