{"id":207140,"date":"2020-02-22T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T09:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww-vb.mine.nu\/w108\/unfree-speech-by-joshua-wong-review-a-young-life-of-protest-in\/"},"modified":"2020-02-22T12:18:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T09:18:10","slug":"unfree-speech-by-joshua-wong-review-a-young-life-of-protest-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hameed.nwar.uk\/sa\/unfree-speech-by-joshua-wong-review-a-young-life-of-protest-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong review \u2013 a young life of protest in"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since June 2019 Hong Kong has been \u2013 first figuratively, then literally \u2013 on fire. What began as a \u201csummer of discontent\u201d has become a running street battle, marked by acts of violence by both police and protesters. In November, Hong Kong\u2019s university campuses were combat zones, bristling with makeshift barricades and petrol bombs; police responded with threats of using live ammunition.<\/p>\n

The protests had an immediate trigger: a controversial bill proposed by the chief executive, Carrie Lam, that would permit extradition from HK to the People\u2019s Republic of China. Activists in HK fiercely opposed it because they feared it would break down a barrier between the legal systems of the PRC and HK, making it possible for the mainland \u2013 which has become increasingly politically repressive over the past seven years \u2013 to extradite political activists and dissidents into China\u2019s opaque and Communist party-dominated legal system. Keeping the two systems separate for at least 50 years was a keynote of basic law governing the return of HK to mainland China in 1997.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s impossible to understand the vehemence of current rebellion without highlighting a string of longer-term grievances that have led to this crisis. Since HK\u2019s return to mainland government control in 1997, the island has simmered with anxiety about its government\u2019s relationship with Beijing. This unease has periodically erupted into mass demonstrations when the administration has attempted to pass legislation that would explicitly tighten Beijing\u2019s grip on local affairs.<\/p>\n

In 2003 (when the then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa tried to introduce an anti-sedition law extending mainland political control) and 2014 (when Beijing stalled attempts to democratise selection of HK\u2019s chief executive) hundreds of thousands took to the streets. Unease has intensified over the past six years, following the abduction by mainland agents of local publishers of Chinese political expos\u00e9s. Frustration at this string of encroachments on Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy led to the unprecedented violence of 2019. One piece of anti-government graffiti said: \u201cIt was YOU who taught us that peaceful protest doesn\u2019t work!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Carrie