#NationalSecurityLaw #Books
Government Instructs Hong Kong Public Libraries to Remove Books For Review under the National Security Law
On July 4, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) started to review whether any book in the public libraries of Hong Kong has breached the newly enforced National Security Law.
Selected books by lawmaker Tanya Chan, former secretary-general of Demosisto Joshua Wong and scholar Chin Wan were removed from the shelves. Loan and reservation were suspended.
Stand News reporter went to the Tuen Mun Public Library to query related matters. A librarian said that they received instruction from the LCSD that some books including Joshua Wong's “I am not a hero”, Chin Wan's “On Hong Kong as A City-state” had to be reviewed under the National Security Law. It was, however, unclear whether all books by these authors have been removed.
Earlier, China state media including Wen Wei Po accused these books of “inciting riot and Hong Kong independence".
Source: Stand News #Jul4
Government Instructs Hong Kong Public Libraries to Remove Books For Review under the National Security Law
On July 4, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) started to review whether any book in the public libraries of Hong Kong has breached the newly enforced National Security Law.
Selected books by lawmaker Tanya Chan, former secretary-general of Demosisto Joshua Wong and scholar Chin Wan were removed from the shelves. Loan and reservation were suspended.
Stand News reporter went to the Tuen Mun Public Library to query related matters. A librarian said that they received instruction from the LCSD that some books including Joshua Wong's “I am not a hero”, Chin Wan's “On Hong Kong as A City-state” had to be reviewed under the National Security Law. It was, however, unclear whether all books by these authors have been removed.
Earlier, China state media including Wen Wei Po accused these books of “inciting riot and Hong Kong independence".
Source: Stand News #Jul4
#SelfCensorship #PublishingIndustry
Hong Kong Bookstores Refuse to Distribute Book by American Writer Residing in Hong Kong to "Stay Under Radar" of #NationalSecurityLaw
American writer Kent Ewing's new political title, "Hong Kong On The Frontline 1997-2020", was scheduled to come out in September 2020; however, Hong Kong English bookstore chain Bookazine refused to stock the political title over national security law fears.
Kent Ewing, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, said that he is always proud of Hong Kong being his home, and saddened to see that the implementation of the national security law has fueled self-censorship in the publishing sector.
Ewing said the "invisible hand" has become "ironclad" censorship: "it [national security law] wants to keep everyone's mouths shut."
Nevertheless, Ewing stated that he will not give up writing and criticizing social affairs, and plans to publish the book in Taiwan.
According to Ewing, he received an email from the publisher FormAsia in mid-September 2020, informing him that Bookazine wished to "stay under radar" because of the national security law, and refused to stock the book.
FormAsia also dropped out of their collaborative project, and stopped funding the book for publication. The Stand News has inquired with Bookazine and FormAsia and is waiting for their replies.
Source: Stand News #Dec16
#Books #KentEwing #FreeSpeech
Hong Kong Bookstores Refuse to Distribute Book by American Writer Residing in Hong Kong to "Stay Under Radar" of #NationalSecurityLaw
American writer Kent Ewing's new political title, "Hong Kong On The Frontline 1997-2020", was scheduled to come out in September 2020; however, Hong Kong English bookstore chain Bookazine refused to stock the political title over national security law fears.
Kent Ewing, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, said that he is always proud of Hong Kong being his home, and saddened to see that the implementation of the national security law has fueled self-censorship in the publishing sector.
Ewing said the "invisible hand" has become "ironclad" censorship: "it [national security law] wants to keep everyone's mouths shut."
Nevertheless, Ewing stated that he will not give up writing and criticizing social affairs, and plans to publish the book in Taiwan.
According to Ewing, he received an email from the publisher FormAsia in mid-September 2020, informing him that Bookazine wished to "stay under radar" because of the national security law, and refused to stock the book.
FormAsia also dropped out of their collaborative project, and stopped funding the book for publication. The Stand News has inquired with Bookazine and FormAsia and is waiting for their replies.
Source: Stand News #Dec16
#Books #KentEwing #FreeSpeech
#Censorship #FailedState
"A Pleasure to Burn": #Books disappeared from Hong Kong O
Public Libraries
After removing books written by prominent democracy activists in Hong Kong in July 2020, the Leisure and Cultural Department has once again suspended the lending of 9 books on grounds of “avoiding the violations of #NationalSecurityLaw”.
These books include "#Chinazi" by #YuJie; "Hong Kong Nationalism" publisged by Undergrad, #HKUSU; "Tanya's Sensitive Spots" by former pro-democracy legislator #TanyaCHAN; and "I Declare War on Tyranny" by former Chairman of the Democratic Party #AlbertHO.
Source: Stand News #May8
https://bit.ly/3h9q233
#BookBurnings #RightToRead #RighttoKnowledge
#Censorship #PublicLibrary
"A Pleasure to Burn": #Books disappeared from Hong Kong O
Public Libraries
After removing books written by prominent democracy activists in Hong Kong in July 2020, the Leisure and Cultural Department has once again suspended the lending of 9 books on grounds of “avoiding the violations of #NationalSecurityLaw”.
These books include "#Chinazi" by #YuJie; "Hong Kong Nationalism" publisged by Undergrad, #HKUSU; "Tanya's Sensitive Spots" by former pro-democracy legislator #TanyaCHAN; and "I Declare War on Tyranny" by former Chairman of the Democratic Party #AlbertHO.
Source: Stand News #May8
https://bit.ly/3h9q233
#BookBurnings #RightToRead #RighttoKnowledge
#Censorship #PublicLibrary
#WhiteTerror
#PublicLibrary Chief in Hong Kong is Subject to Discipline after Displaying #JimmyLai's Books
Under the National Security Law, civil servants and non-civil servants in Hong Kong are required to sign a "declaration" upholding the Basic Law, "devoting" themselves to the HKSAR, being "loyal" to their work and being accountable to the HKSAR government.
As of September 2021, around 180,000 civil servants have signed the declaration, only 129 have not responded or refuse to sign. Among them, 105 are in long-term employment terms, and the rest are in trial-term employment terms. 113 out of them are in civilian grade, and the rest are in discipline service grade.
Patrick Nip Tak-Kuen, Secretary for Civil Service in the Hong Kong SAR Government attended a Legislative Council (#LegCo) meeting on September 20, 2021.
When answering a question about the penalty for civil servants violating the declaration, Nip revealed that the government had already started the discipline procedure towards a public library chief.
The related librarian is the Director of #ShekTongTsui Public Library. He was suspended from his duty, after placing a number of books authored by Jimmy Lai, the founder of #NextMedia and #AppleDaily, in the "Librarian's Choice for Borrowing". Apple Daily was a pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong, which had to shut down due to the government's pressure in June 2021.
Source: InMedia #Sep20
https://bit.ly/3zzVRYB
#NipTakKuen #NationalSecurityLaw #CivilServant #BasicLaw #Declaration #Censorship #Books #Librarian
#PublicLibrary Chief in Hong Kong is Subject to Discipline after Displaying #JimmyLai's Books
Under the National Security Law, civil servants and non-civil servants in Hong Kong are required to sign a "declaration" upholding the Basic Law, "devoting" themselves to the HKSAR, being "loyal" to their work and being accountable to the HKSAR government.
As of September 2021, around 180,000 civil servants have signed the declaration, only 129 have not responded or refuse to sign. Among them, 105 are in long-term employment terms, and the rest are in trial-term employment terms. 113 out of them are in civilian grade, and the rest are in discipline service grade.
Patrick Nip Tak-Kuen, Secretary for Civil Service in the Hong Kong SAR Government attended a Legislative Council (#LegCo) meeting on September 20, 2021.
When answering a question about the penalty for civil servants violating the declaration, Nip revealed that the government had already started the discipline procedure towards a public library chief.
The related librarian is the Director of #ShekTongTsui Public Library. He was suspended from his duty, after placing a number of books authored by Jimmy Lai, the founder of #NextMedia and #AppleDaily, in the "Librarian's Choice for Borrowing". Apple Daily was a pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong, which had to shut down due to the government's pressure in June 2021.
Source: InMedia #Sep20
https://bit.ly/3zzVRYB
#NipTakKuen #NationalSecurityLaw #CivilServant #BasicLaw #Declaration #Censorship #Books #Librarian
獨立媒體
石塘咀圖書館館長放黎智英書籍 聶德權：已展開紀律程序 | 獨媒報導 | 獨立媒體
（獨媒報導）《港區國安法》生效後，公務員及非公務員僱員被要求簽署聲明，擁護《基本法》、效忠香港特區、盡忠職守和對香港特區政府負責。目前約18萬名公務員已簽署聲明，只有129名公務員未有理會及拒絕簽回聲明。公務員事務局局長聶德權今日出席立法會會議，被問到公務員簽署聲明後違反的懲處，提到石塘咀公共圖書館館長個案，指已啟動紀律程序。 拒簽聲明的129名公務員
#Censorship
Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves
Hong Kong's libraries now have 392 fewer copies of books about the June 4, 1989 massacre than they did in 2009, an HKFP review has found.
In June 2009, the Home Affairs Bureau made public a spreadsheet of 149 titles about the 1989 June 4 massacre that were in Hong Kong’s public libraries at the time, with a total of 1,162 copies available for lending or reference. By inputting each title into the current online catalogue for public libraries, HKFP found that 29 of the titles — 26 in Chinese and three in English — were no longer available as of November 9.
Twelve years on, the number of June 4 titles that can be borrowed — including those that must be retrieved from reserves or requested from library staff — has dropped to 34 per cent, or 41 titles.
Readers must make an enquiry with a librarian and wait for over 30 minutes to retrieve a title from on-site reserves, library staff told HKFP. For a HK$3.3 fee, readers may place requests for the titles in advance, but would have to wait about a week for delivery.
Among the June 4 titles now purged from public libraries are ones published by the Hong Kong Alliance, as well as works by a former leader of the group who was handed a suspended jail sentence for his role in last year’s unauthorised vigil, and by former leaders of the 1989 protests now in exile overseas.
The Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989 ended months of student-led demonstrations in China calling for democracy and other reforms. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died when the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to crack down on protesters in Beijing.
Information on the event has in the past three decades been heavily censored in mainland China, both on and off the internet. Hong Kong’s freedom to commemorate the event, report on it or read books about it is seen as a litmus test of whether the city can safeguard its freedoms after the handover from Britain to China in 1997.//
Read the full article:
http://hongkongfp.com/2021/11/21/hong-kong-public-libraries-purge-29-titles-about-the-tiananmen-massacre-from-their-shelves/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Nov21
#TianamenMassacre #PublicLibrary #MemoryWar #June4 #Alliance #Erasure #Books
Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves
Hong Kong's libraries now have 392 fewer copies of books about the June 4, 1989 massacre than they did in 2009, an HKFP review has found.
In June 2009, the Home Affairs Bureau made public a spreadsheet of 149 titles about the 1989 June 4 massacre that were in Hong Kong’s public libraries at the time, with a total of 1,162 copies available for lending or reference. By inputting each title into the current online catalogue for public libraries, HKFP found that 29 of the titles — 26 in Chinese and three in English — were no longer available as of November 9.
Twelve years on, the number of June 4 titles that can be borrowed — including those that must be retrieved from reserves or requested from library staff — has dropped to 34 per cent, or 41 titles.
Readers must make an enquiry with a librarian and wait for over 30 minutes to retrieve a title from on-site reserves, library staff told HKFP. For a HK$3.3 fee, readers may place requests for the titles in advance, but would have to wait about a week for delivery.
Among the June 4 titles now purged from public libraries are ones published by the Hong Kong Alliance, as well as works by a former leader of the group who was handed a suspended jail sentence for his role in last year’s unauthorised vigil, and by former leaders of the 1989 protests now in exile overseas.
The Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989 ended months of student-led demonstrations in China calling for democracy and other reforms. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died when the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to crack down on protesters in Beijing.
Information on the event has in the past three decades been heavily censored in mainland China, both on and off the internet. Hong Kong’s freedom to commemorate the event, report on it or read books about it is seen as a litmus test of whether the city can safeguard its freedoms after the handover from Britain to China in 1997.//
Read the full article:
http://hongkongfp.com/2021/11/21/hong-kong-public-libraries-purge-29-titles-about-the-tiananmen-massacre-from-their-shelves/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Nov21
#TianamenMassacre #PublicLibrary #MemoryWar #June4 #Alliance #Erasure #Books
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
Exclusive: Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves
Hong Kong public libraries over the past 12 years have removed 29 out of 149 books about the Tiananmen Massacre from their shelves, a total of 263 individual copies, a review by HKFP has found. Of …