#ProtestinChina
Civil Disobedience in China?:
Online Videos Show Citizens Outside A Shop Being Destroyed

According to Free Radio Asia, online sources claim that Guangzhou citizens living in Haizhu district were discontent after the owner of a shopping mall removed a glass wall separating the shopping area and the residences. Citizens were worried about their health and livelihood during China's currently unclear situation with Wuhan pneumonia.

Source: RFA #Apr12
Video: Internet
#CivilDisobedience #Guangzhou

Guangzhou Protesting Citizens Set Up Roadblocks
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/19432

More videos
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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/19441

#Court #PoliceState
Police Press Charge on Former Student Union President and 4 Other People for Illegal Assembly in a March Half a Year Ago

In the "Kowloon March" initiated by the Civil Human Rights Front on 20 October, 2019, protesters tried to march on despite the police's refusal to approve the protest.

Half a year later, 4 more civilians were charged and the case would be merged with another case involving a former Student Union president, 4th-year university student from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The 5 people are facing 8 charges including illegal assembly, police assault, obstruction of justice and thd possession of weapons.

Source: InMedia #Apr8 https://bit.ly/3bZDq40

#IllegalAssembly #Oct20 #AssembleRights #CivilDisobedience

Singaporean activist charged with illegal assembly after inviting Joshua Wong to video conference

Jolovan Wham, a Singaporean Activist, invited Joshua Wong [formerly] from Demosisto to give a video speech in 2016 event through Skype. Wham posted on Twitter yesterday (20 August) that the court has rejected his conviction appeal. He refused to pay the fine, as a result, he will be jailed for ten days from today.

Jolovan Wham, aged 40, is a social worker who advocates for sexual minorities, freedom of assembly and free speech. He hosted a forum on civil disobedience and social movement in November 2016 and invited his 7,600 followers on Facebook to join. On the day, there were a few overseas activists who gave speeches, Joshua Wong also spoke in the meeting via Skype.

According to The Straits Times from Singapore in October last year, Wham’s lawyer pointed out in the trial that this event was not defined as an “assembly” under the law, but an academic discussion only, it did not have immediate threat to public order and safety. Yet, the High Court in Singapore rejected Wham’s appeal. The judgement stated that Wham promoted social reform through civil disobedience at the meeting; and that he invited Joshua Wong to the meeting, who was undoubtedly expected to promote civil disobedience. The court believed that Wham was telling the audience about how civil disobedience was practised in Hong Kong, and invited them to peruse civil disobedience in Singapore, which was enough to determine there was promotion of civil disobedience.

In the end, Wham was convicted of organising an unlawful public assembly and refusing to sign a police statement. He was sentenced to fines of $2,000 and $1,200 Singapore dollars respectively for the two convictions (approximately equivalent to $11,300 and $6,800 Hong Kong dollars). Wham made statement on Twitter that he refused to pay the charge of $2,000 resulting ten days imprisonment starting from today (21 August). He also expressed his appreciation of the support from everyone on Twitter.

#JolovanWham #Singapore #JoshuaWong #CivilDisobedience #IllegalAssembly #HighCourt

Sources: Stand News, The Straits Times
https://bit.ly/3cHbaVj (#Aug21)
https://bit.ly/36bS20y (#Oct25)

#PoliticalSuppression #Court
“I Plead Guilty, But I Have Done No Wrong”: Former Democratic Party Chairman in Hong Kong on Protest Charges

73-year-old Yeung Sum, former chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, was among the few who plead guilty to participating in an unauthorized protest in the city on August 31, 2019.

The trial began on April 7, 2021 in the District Court in Hong Kong. Below are snippets from Yeung’s guilty plea:

“Your Honor, I plead guilty to the charges related to participating in an unauthorized assembly on Aug 31, 2019, but I have done no wrong, and I will not plead for mercy. The following is my submission."

“I plead guilty to participating in an unauthorized and illegal demonstration, but I will not admit that I did anything wrong.

Although the police did not issue a letter of no objection for the march, I still came forward to participate in the march because I want to uphold the fact that demonstration is a fundamental right of every Hong Kong citizen and should be constitutionally protected.

It was also to protest against the police’s abuse of power, who arbitrarily banned peaceful demonstrations and marches and deprived Hong Kong people of their civil rights.

Therefore, I am willing to put myself on the line and engage in civil disobedience in a peaceful manner, and I am prepared to accept the criminal liability of the law.”

For the full version in Chinese: https://bit.ly/3cUam0Y

Source: Stand News #April7
https://bit.ly/3cW1CaR

#PoliticalPrisoners #YeungSum #CivilDisobedience #AntiELAB #HongKongProtests

#FailedState
HK Government suspected of un-shelving another 16 books involving topics of #CivilDisobedience and #Protests in #PublicLibrary

Source: Apply Daily #May29

Read more
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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30164

#FailedState
HK Government suspected of un-shelving another 16 books involving topics of #CivilDisobedience and #Protests in #PublicLibrary

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (#LCSD) of the Hong Kong Government is suspected of un-shelving 16 books from public libraries.

These include:

- The writings of pro-democracy activist and former law professor Benny Tai;

- Reverend Chu Yiu-ming's “Civil Disobedience and the Occupation of Central: Reflections on the Faith of Christians in Hong Kong” (公民抗命與佔領中環：香港基督徒的信仰省思);

- “To All of Those Who Have Worn Black Before” (給穿過黑衣的人) by Scholarism;

- Former legislator Raymond Wong Yuk-man’s book “I Wouldn’t Have Argued If I Did’t Have To” (予豈好辯哉).

In addition, the two issues of “#Breakazine!” about the Anti-Extradition Law (#AntiELAB) Protest, are also removed.

These 16 books were all published before the #NationalSecurityLaw came into effect, yet they are no longer available on the public library website.

So far, the government has removed at least 34 books in total.

Source: Apply Daily #May29

https://bit.ly/2R20IRR

#NSL #Censorship #BannedBooks #Regime #DissentLiterature

#Court
No Regrets to Civil Disobedience after "Watching my Fears Become Reality": #FigoChan and 7 Pro-Dem Leaders Plead Guilty to Unlawful Assembly

Figo Chan, former convenor of Civil Human Rights Front (#CHRF), pleaded guilty to participating and organizing an unlawful assembly on July 1, 2020, the day on which the National Security Law took effect.

Also charged were 7 other pro-democracy leaders, including former legislators Leung Kwok-hung (#LongHair), Wu Chi-wai, and Eddie Chu.

Their case was heard in court on October 7, 2021. Among the eight being charged, seven of them pleaded guilty to the charges, in obedience of the principles of civil disobedience.

In his petition to the court, Chan said that after watching videos of that day's protests, he felt that Hong Kong had become unfamiliar since that day.

"[Hong Kong] only permits voices that support the government, and continually suppresses those who do not," he said. "As a result, numerous political parties and civic organizations disband one after another, Hongkongers have left the city in droves, and freedom and rights due to citizens are gradually disappearing."

"Looking back and watching my fears become reality, how could I regret speaking up through peaceful civil disobedience and protest?"

"May Hongkongers keep hope in our hearts", he added. "Let's hang on to each other and get through these difficult times."

Source: Stand News #Oct7
https://bit.ly/3uQwy3m

#CivilDisobedience #NationalSecurityLaw #July1March #Solidarity

"Politically corrected" textbooks in the New Hong Kong Era

6 publishing companies amended their #LiberalStudies textbooks after "inquiring" the #EducationBureau for comments in August 2020. Journalists discovered that some contents are removed, including #June4th, #CulturalRevolution, #MongKokCivilUnrest, #LocalConsciousness and #HongKongIndependenceClaims.

In November 2020, then-Secretary of Education, Kevin Yeung, announced to reform the Senior Secondary Liberal Studies (LS) syllabus. Course content was re-organised, and some were removed in order to grow students’ national identity with a mainland visit opportunity.

Less than a year later, the new subject “Citizenship and Social Development” replaced LS in school curricula. However, its textbooks were only approved in June 2022. Journalists discovered that the new books did not only modify a few photos or comics, but completely overthrew statements made in past textbooks. Notable changes include stating that Hong Kong was “not a #colony”, and the #AntiELAB movement was “an illegal incident that is violent and endangers national security”.

In the new era of Hong Kong, are the textbooks becoming "politically correct"? InMedia found #LiberalStudies textbooks published between 2014 and 2020, and compared them to the new #CitizenshipandSocialDevelopment textbooks.

Under the new syllabus, concepts including "#CivilDisobedience", "Separation of Powers", "4 levels of the Rule of Law" and "Multiple identities" are removed. Topics that took their place are #NationalSecurity, #NationalIdentity, and #NationalAchievement. The topic of Rule of Law no longer covered #RestrictionofLaw, #HumanRightProtection without affecting others’ rights, social order and national security.

Additional materials are taken mainly from official government sources, such as Information Service Department and blogs of government officials. Students are no longer required to discuss topics with controversial views. They only need to answer questions such as “Why does the National People's Congress interpreting the law not affect judiciary independence?”

Source: InMedia #Sep04

https://bit.ly/3wUtMww

See also:
Hong Kong Schools Schedule National Security Education Activities, Mainland Exchange Tours
https://t.me/BeWaterHK/1006

#NationalSecurityLaw #NationalEducation #RewritingHistory