#PoliticalSuppression #Regime
Authorities Ban Tiananmen Massacre Vigil for the Second Year in Hong Kong

Since 1990, Hongkongers have been organizing a candlelight vigil annually on June 4th to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen Sqaure massacre and condemn the Chinese Communist Party for the brutal crackdown of pro-democracy citizens in 1989.

For the second year in a row, the Hong Kong police banned the June 4 vigil at Victoria Park, citing the pandemic as a reason. The authorities also banned the "lest we forget" protest planned on May 30, 2021.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the vigil convenor, pointed out that commemorating June 4 is part of Hongkongers' collective memory in the past 31 years. The Alliance said that they would file an appeal.

Meanwhile, the Secretary for Security John Ka-chiu Lee insisted that any person who join, promote and announce the two events can be sentenced to jail for up to 5 years.

Source: Stand News #May27
https://bit.ly/3bZIzeW

#June4 #TiananmenSquare #Massacre #FailedState #LetterofObjection #VictoriaPark #CandlelightVigil #CollectiveMemory

#Censorship #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong Authorities Warn Medical Workers' Union Over Film Screenings Related to Tiananmen Massacre

The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (#HAEA) has been warned by the government's Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (#OFNAA), when they organized screenings for the film "Conjugation" and the documentary "I Have Graduated".

Both films are related to the Chinese Communist Party's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy citizens at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, in Beijing.

The Union recounted that their office was visited by the film censors without prior notice on the evening of May 27, 2021. The authorities demanded the Union to answer whether approval has been sought to show the films. Responding to media's inquiry, the film censors claimed that they received "inquiry" whether the screenings had followed the Film Censorship Ordinance.

The Union condemned the film censors for not showing their identification cards and taking photos of the office.

Text: InMedia #May27
Image: HAEA

#PoliceState #PoliticalSuppression #PublicScreening #Conjugation #IHaveGraduated #June4 #Cinema #TiananmenMassacre #BannedFilms

#WolfWarrior #Disinformation
Chinese #ForeignMinister tells Germans ‘you know what #genocide looks like’

Source: Sydney Morning Herald #May27

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#WolfWarrior #Disinformation
Chinese #ForeignMinister tells Germans ‘you know what #genocide looks like’

//It is estimated that 1 million Uighurs have been detained in so-called re-education camps in Xinjiang.

China’s Foreign Minister #WangYi rejected academic research detailing the abuses, including forced labour and forced sterilisations of women.

#Uighur women who have been detained in the camps have detailed systemic rape, abuse and torture. China has refused to allow independent investigators into the camps and denies any abuses are taking place.

“There is no forced labour in China,” Wang said. “There’s no such thing [as] concentration camps in #Xinjiang.”

“And there’s no such thing as genocide - our European friends know what is genocide,” he said, referring to the Holocaust when Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews during World War II.

#Buetikofer, who leads the European Parliament’s China delegation, was one of the politicians sanctioned.

Buetikofer described as reckless Wang’s attempts to use the Holocaust to dismiss claims of crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

“Wang Yi basically tells us ‘shut up, you shouldn’t talk’.

“The Holocaust should not be used as a diplomatic football for rhetorical gains,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

“The fact of the matter is that it has been precisely because of our wretched history that we have built our democracies and European Union on the basis of adherence to human rights and the rule of law. For us it is an historic obligation.

“If this People’s Republic of China had nothing to hide, they would open up and allow a full independent investigation; no amount of aggressive wolf-warrior diplomacy will obscure the fact that they still have not done so,” he said.//

Read the article:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/chinese-foreign-minister-tells-germans-you-know-what-genocide-looks-like-20210526-p57vdy.html

Source: Sydney Morning Herald #May27

BBC: Xinjiang Police test emotion-detecting AI on Uyghurs

Source : Stand News #May27

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BBC: Xinjiang Police test emotion-detecting AI on Uyghurs

It was revealed earlier that Alibaba’s facial recognition technology can be used to identify Uyghurs. Afterwards, Alibaba announced that they have eliminated any ethnic tag in their products. However, a Chinese software engineer showed to BBC's “Panorama” programme that, Xinjiang police are testing emotion-detecting AI. Some human rights activists described the incident as shocking.

AI to analyses facial expression and skin pores of the tied suspect

The software engineer who did not disclose his company showed 5 photographs to BBC, saying that China is testing emotional recognition system. He claims that his job is to install such systems in police stations in Xinjiang. “The Chinese government use Uyghurs as test subjects for various experiments just like rats are used in laboratories”, he said, “We placed the emotion detection camera 3m from the subject. It is similar to a lie detector but far more advanced technology."

Source : Stand News #May27

https://bit.ly/3zgHfyi

#Alibaba #EmotionRecognition #Xinjiang #Uyghurs #Software #BBC #HumanRights #Panorama #China

Australian-Chinese writer who has been arrested for more than two years, was charged with espionage and tried in Beijing. His wife and Australian ambassador to China were refused to attend  
 
Source: Stand News #May27

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Australian-Chinese writer who has been arrested for more than two years, was charged with espionage and tried in Beijing. His wife and Australian ambassador to China were refused to attend 
 
Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun detained by the Chinese authority for more than two years and charged with espionage. The case was being heard in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court this morning, and it is expected that it will take at least one day for deliberation. Fu Guanhan, Australia ambassador to China attended but being refused to listen due to pandemic reason.  
 
Some reporters at the scene posted photos outside of court on the social platform Twitter before the trial, however there were multiple police being alerted. After Australia ambassador to China Fu Guanhan was refused to attend the court hearing, he told the out-of-court media, “Unfortunately, we have just been refused entry into the courtroom on the grounds of epidemic, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that the case involves national security, so we are not allowed to listen”. Reuters quoted the friends of Yang and stated, Yang’s wife Yuan Ruijuan was also being refused to enter. 
 
Source: Stand News #May27

 https://bit.ly/2SdNhz3
 
#Australia #China #writer #Beijing #Espionage #Pandemic #Trial #NationalSecurity #Reuters  

HongKongers Turn to Blockchain to Preserve Protest Archives

LikeCoin, a decentralized publishing infrastructure on the Cosmos blockchain, is being used to preserve media coverage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

As Quartz reported, people began backing up key episodes of the city’s current affairs program, Hong Kong Connection, earlier this month. The award-winning show is the property of public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong. The broadcaster announced in May that it would erase archive content over a year old; it has increasingly fallen under government influence.

Source: Decrypt #May27

https://decrypt.co/72057/hong-kong-media-turns-blockchain-preserve-protest-archives

#Media #Blockchain #Protest #LikeCoin

#ProtestArt
Pro-democracy documentary depicting Anti-ELAB movement in Hong Kong in 2019 sets for international viewing on Vimeo in June

The award recognised documentary, Revolution of Our Times will soon be released internationally on Vimeo, an online streaming platform, on June 1, 2022.

The team of the documentary told supporters on the Facebook page that they want to let the world witness the determination and courage of the Hongkongers in the pursuit of democracy and freedom.

"Never forget why we started this journey, we hope the documentary will travel far, and reach out to more people," the team wrote.

#KiwiChow #ANTIELAB #PoliceState #PoliticalOppression

Pre-order links:
English only subtitled version
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/revolutionofourtimeseng

Chinese and English subtitled version https://vimeo.com/ondemand/revolutionofourtimes

Source: Inmediahk; #May27

#Oppression #June4
Hong Kong authorities "blocked" venue booking for once-annual candlelight vigil for Tiananmen massacre victims for a third year running

Sources: Ming Pao; #May24, #May27

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#Oppression #June4
Hong Kong authorities "blocked" venue for once-annual candlelight vigil for Tiananmen massacre victims for a third year running

On May 24, a local daily, Ming Pao reported that the Leisure and Cultural Service Department (#LCSD), which administers the Victoria Park soccer pitches where the rally used to take place, has suspended any bookings on June 4, the 33rd anniversary of the #TiananmenMassacre, although bookings are available on other days in the same month.

Just 3 days afterwards, on May 27, the football pitches at Victoria Park were seen fully booked on June 4 from as early as 7am in the morning. No bookings, however, were seen for the rest of June. The same daily found. 

The vigil has been banned -- ostensibly for public health reasons -- for the past two years and the leaders of its organizing group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, arrested for colluding with foreign powers under a national security law imposed by Beijing from July 1, 2020.

Sources:
Ming Pao; #May24

https://bit.ly/3avt8NF

Ming Pao; #May27

https://bit.ly/3M00GjM

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Related news
Hong Kong Catholic group will not hold Tiananmen crackdown masses citing fears over national security law
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/32764
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As U.N. Rights Chief Visits China, Some Fear She’ll Become Part of the Spin

The news was given prime placement in Chinese state media: The United Nations’ human rights chief, on her long-awaited visit to the country, had spoken with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. An article plastered across the website of Xinhua, the state news agency, relayed Mr. Xi’s declaration that the Chinese people were enjoying “unprecedented” rights. Then the article quoted the U.N. official, Michelle Bachelet.

“I admire China’s efforts and achievements in eradicating poverty, protecting human rights and realizing economic and social development,” she said, according to Xinhua.

Source: NT Times #May27

https://t.co/oWlZsGvlSp

#China #UnitedNations #XiJinping #Spin

#XiJinPing Warned US President #Biden Democracy Is Dying: 'You Don't Have the Time'

Source: Newsweek #May27

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#XiJinPing Warned US President #Biden Democracy Is Dying: 'You Don't Have the Time'

//US president Joe Biden revealed that after being elected to the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping cautioned him that democracies are on the decline and that one day "autocracies will run the world."

"I've met more with Xi Jinping than any other world leader has. When he called me to congratulate me on Election Night, he said to me what he said many times before," Biden said. "He [Xi] said democracies cannot be sustained in the 21st century, autocracies will run the world. Why? Things are changing so rapidly. Democracies require consensus, and it takes time, and you don't have the time."

...Biden reiterated that he believed democracies would prevail against autocracies like China and Russia.

In recent months, many countries have moved to sanction Russia and supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid in an effort to support Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty. Russia has had few allies in the fight, although its most powerful has been China.//

Source: Newsweek #May27
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-naval-academy-speech-china-democracy-warning-1710966

#UN rights chief falls under wheels of China's propaganda machine

Source: France 24 #May27

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#UN rights chief falls under wheels of China's propaganda machine

Beijing's propaganda machine has outwitted the UN human rights chief on her visit to China, campaigners say, leaving the envoy accused of playing a role in whitewashing abuses against minorities in Xinjiang.

"She must have the political courage and integrity to speak out when her words and her visit are being distorted," said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute. "If she is not prepared and able to do so, she should not visit."

Michelle Bachelet's long-planned trip in late May has taken her to the far-western region where Beijing is accused of imprisoning over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, forcibly sterlising women and running labour camps that fuel global supply chains.

The United States and multiple western lawmakers have labelled the actions a "genocide", allegations vehemently denied by China which says it has only conducted necessary security operations to squash extremism and beef up development.

Bachelet has come under fire from rights groups and Uyghurs overseas, who say she has been suckered into a slickly choreographed Communist Party tour including a conversation with President Xi Jinping later portrayed in state media as a mutual endorsement of China's high ideals on rights.

It is "as clear as day" that China has so far used the visit "to promote its own narrative and defend its poor human rights record", said Alkan Akad, a China researcher at Amnesty.

The goal is "to show the world that it can bend a top UN human rights official -- and thus the very concept of human rights -- to its will," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

London-based Uyghur activist Rahima Mahmut slammed the visit as "window dressing".

"This is not the neutral, independent, unfettered investigation that we were promised," she told AFP.

Instead, Beijing was seeking "a free pass to continue carrying out repression, surveillance, torture and genocide against communities like mine", she added.

The hard details of what Bachelet saw and who she met during the visit have been largely withheld on a trip carried out in a "closed loop" by order of Beijing, ostensibly due to Covid risks.

China has filled the information vacuum, with state media running gleeful readouts of meetings between her and Xi as well as foreign minster Wang Yi.

They reported that Bachelet said she "admired China's efforts and achievements in ... protecting human rights" during the virtual call with Xi.

A spokesperson for Bachelet did not confirm whether the reports were accurate when contacted by AFP, instead saying the UN would not publish readouts of bilateral meetings.

A later, hurried "clarification" by the UN stopped short of denying that she had praised China's rights record. But neither side mentioned Xinjiang in their readouts.

Norway-based Uyghur activist Abduweli Ayup said he was "disappointed" that Bachelet had appeared to allow Beijing to "misinterpret" her words.
"They have already used (her) for propaganda," he told AFP.

Read the full article:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220527-un-rights-chief-falls-under-wheels-of-china-s-propaganda-machine

Source: France 24 #May27

#Uyghur #Genocide #UN #HumanRights #CCPPropaganda