Hong Kong activists push democracy through polling

[jimmy olsen]

I wish them luck. They're gonna need it.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/23/4196569/hong-kong-activists-push-democracy.html

Hong Kong activists push democracy through polling

By Stuart Leavenworth

McClatchy Foreign Staff


BEIJING --  Hong Kong's 3.5 million registered voters are making a statement that they want ballot choices in 2017. China's Communist Party is making a statement it wants to control those choices.

Those entrenched positions are clashing this week as Hong Kong democracy advocates conclude an informal poll on the ground rules for the 2017 election to determine the territory's next chief executive. Beijing has strongly condemned the grass-roots referendum, calling it "illegal" and a "farce." But the more the Chinese government fulminates, the more Hong Kong residents line up to register their wishes, both online and at ballot boxes.

As of Monday, more than 700,000 registered voters had participated, mostly by using smartphone apps or the Internet. That's seven times the number that Occupy Central, the group organizing the poll, originally expected. On Sunday, organizers also opened more than a dozen polling stations across Hong Kong. Media photographers showed long lines at some of the stations, even though there are still six days left for people to vote.

On Monday, an editorial in the Global Times, a Beijing-based mouthpiece for China's Communist Party, lashed out at the referendum, calling it a destabilizing invention that was "tinged with mincing ludicrousness."

"As a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong can't launch any referendum without the authority of the central government," the editorial said. "The country would fall into tumult if all regions conducted similar referendums."

The tumult in question involves how Hong Kong will select candidates who will vie to be its chief executive in 2017. The vote will be the first to pick Hong Kong's leader since China regained sovereignty over the former British colony in 1997, promising partial autonomy under a principle of "one country, two systems."

Hong Kong's Basic Law requires that "a broadly representative committee," acting "in accordance with democratic procedures," select candidates to go before voters in 2017.

Democracy advocates fear that, under this vague language, the committee will be stacked to ensure that only Beijing's hand-picked candidates are on the ballot. Advocates are pressing for public nominations of candidates, a demand that Beijing has rejected as illegal.

To drive that point home, the Chinese central government on June 10 issued a "white paper" on Hong Kong, asserting that the region's autonomy is completely at the discretion of Beijing. While many in Hong Kong recognize that political reality, the timing of the white paper was viewed as an implicit threat to punish Hong Kong should it continue push for political reforms.

That threat may be backfiring on Beijing. Angered at apparent bullying, popular opinion appears to be swinging toward Occupy Central. That group, formed by academics and an array of pro-democracy groups, has threatened to "occupy" the central part of Hong Kong's business district if China doesn't agree to an election system that meets international standards.

Even activists who aren't fully supportive of Occupy Central's tactics say that China seems oblivious to how its actions are being viewed in Hong Kong. "The most effective way for Beijing to calm resistance is to assert less control, not more," Michael C. Davis, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, wrote in a commentary in the South China Morning Post earlier this month.

Adding to the intrigue was a cyber attack last week that threatened to overload and shut down the website Occupy Central was using for the polling, popvote.hk. A cyber-security firm called CloudFlare described the "distributed denial of service" attack as one of the largest it had ever encountered, but its programmers ultimately were able to repel it.

A more successful cyber attack was delivered last week against Apple Daily, a Chinese-language news service in Hong Kong that has been strongly pro-democratic. Its servers were overloaded and the site was shut down for several hours June 18, the news service reported. Although the source of the attack could not be confirmed, the company's chief executive officer blamed it on Beijing.

Occupy Central launched its poll Friday night and will continue it through Sunday, hopeful that more than 1 million voters will send a strong message to Beijing and the Hong Kong government, which also has rejected the referendum's legitimacy.

In its editorial Monday, the state-run Global Times warned that activists already had gone too far in their street tactics aimed at influencing the Chinese government. "They should refrain from a gambling mentality by believing they could create overwhelming pressure on Beijing," the editorial stated.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/23/4196569/hong-kong-activists-push-democracy.html#storylink=cpy

[Josquius]

I thought hong kongers didn't care about such things

[Monoriu]

I thought hong kongers didn't care about such things

There are of course different kinds of HKers.

[Valmy]

I thought hong kongers didn't care about such things

There are of course different kinds of HKers.

Those who want Beijing to make all the decisions and traitors. 

[The Brain]

Well, they're not yellow.

[jimmy olsen]

March on!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28122434

Hong Kong police have arrested over 500 protesters who staged a pro-democracy sit-in at the city's business district.

The demonstrators were arrested for illegal assembly and obstructing police officers, police said.

The sit-in came after tens of thousands of protesters marched on Tuesday in what was described as the city's largest democracy rally in a decade.

The annual rally, marking the day Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, was to demand full electoral freedom.

Organisers said turnout at the rally was 510,000, while police said about 98,600 took part during the peak of the march.

After the main march had ended, hundreds of protesters staged a sit-in in the city's Central district.

Police said the sit-in was "unauthorised" and began removing some of the participants in the early hours of Wednesday.

Some demonstrators linked arms in an attempt to stop police from moving them.

Police said a total of 511 demonstrators - 351 men and 160 women - were arrested in the operation to clear the area.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Hong Kong leader CY Leung said that the government was trying hard to forge a consensus on political reform.

"Only by maintaining Hong Kong's stability can we sustain our economic prosperity. Only by sustaining Hong Kong's prosperity can we improve people's livelihoods," Mr Leung said.

Analysts say Hong Kong faces divided views on the city's democratic development, and growing tensions between activists and the Chinese government.

Pro-democracy activists want Hong Kong people to be able to elect the city's leader, known as the chief executive.

China has said it will introduce universal suffrage for the city's 2017 election - but wants a committee to approve the candidates.

In June, an unofficial referendum on how to choose Hong Kong's next chief executive drew close to 800,000 votes.

The Hong Kong government said the 10-day referendum had no legal standing. The Chinese government has described the referendum as an "illegal farce".

Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 following a 1984 agreement between China and Britain.

China agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems", where the city would enjoy "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs" for 50 years.

As a result, Hong Kong has its own legal system, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected.

[Ideologue]

tinged with mincing ludicrousness

[jimmy olsen]

I don't think Martinus was there.

[Monoriu]

It is one thing to march, but another to block roads deliberately.  I hope those guys get charged and get a criminal record. 

[Ideologue]

I hope you aren't forced to regret your complacency when the PRC comes down on you like a ton of bricks.  GET IT TON OF BRICKS.  (That's your hourly quota.)

[Monoriu]

I hope you aren't forced to regret your complacency when the PRC comes down on you like a ton of bricks.  GET IT TON OF BRICKS.  (That's your hourly quota.)

First of all it isn't like life is horrible.  My freedoms are intact, and I am not affected by the great firewall of China.  Well, a lot of people's lives are miserable, but that's because they failed their exams, not because the communist party locked them up. 

Secondly, personally I am not too thrilled about the prospect of a bunch of populist politicians whose only policy seems to be Greek-style financial management and buying votes with welfare becoming my boss in the government. 

[Monoriu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i25gcxobSfI

Took the police 5 hours to arrest all 500 of them and clear the road.  I know the job is difficult but if there are 5,000 protesters or more, I'm not sure if that is fast enough. 

[Monoriu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5mUqRi1mPE

It is really a tough job to be a policeman. 

[Razgovory]

I hope you aren't forced to regret your complacency when the PRC comes down on you like a ton of bricks.  GET IT TON OF BRICKS.  (That's your hourly quota.)

First of all it isn't like life is horrible.  My freedoms are intact, and I am not affected by the great firewall of China.  Well, a lot of people's lives are miserable, but that's because they failed their exams, not because the communist party locked them up. 

Secondly, personally I am not too thrilled about the prospect of a bunch of populist politicians whose only policy seems to be Greek-style financial management and buying votes with welfare becoming my boss in the government.

Hi Tamas!

[Josquius]

I hope you aren't forced to regret your complacency when the PRC comes down on you like a ton of bricks.  GET IT TON OF BRICKS.  (That's your hourly quota.)

First of all it isn't like life is horrible.  My freedoms are intact, and I am not affected by the great firewall of China.  Well, a lot of people's lives are miserable, but that's because they failed their exams, not because the communist party locked them up. 

Secondly, personally I am not too thrilled about the prospect of a bunch of populist politicians whose only policy seems to be Greek-style financial management and buying votes with welfare becoming my boss in the government. 

Plus you've that Canadian passport in your bedside cabinet ey what.