Saturday, November 1, 2014

Hong Kong Protests: Democracy Can't Wait!

Demonstrators have been protesting China’s plan for Hong Kong’s 2017 elections. The elections will be less democratic than Beijing had earlier promised. On September 24, the student-led pro-democracy protesters moved to Hong Kong’s financial district, Central.


UPDATE: Fake democracy they call it, and it is: voters can chose between a number of Government vetted parties, like in Iran. Which again goes to show: there's more to self government than a ballot box. 




Oct. 15, 2014


The Hong Kong Protests: China Blocks BBC Coverage




Oct. 14, 2014

Police Dismantle Barricades





Oct. 10, 2014

The Hong Kong Protests : Don't Count Em Out




Oct. 5, 2014

Final Round For the Hong Kong Protests 

Last weekend, Hong Kong authorities used pepper spray and tear gas to scatter the remnants of a student protest of the decision to give Beijing veto power over candidates in future elections. The gassing was a blunder. Citizens poured into the streets in solidarity with the protesters. Hong Kong police lacked the nerve or numbers to remove them. The People’s Liberation Army stayed in its barracks. Crowds clamoring for democracy controlled the city. Now, on Beijing’s orders, authorities have adopted a “wait-them-out” strategy, assuming the silent majority in Hong Kong will get fed up with the Occupy Central protesters, as the Americans did with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Beijing, however, is understandably nervous.

To allow students to block the city center and impede traffic shows weakness. Hong Kong’s reputation as a financial center and tourist attraction will suffer. And Beijing cannot permit this to go on too long without risking supportive protests erupting on the mainland. Nor can the students be allowed to force Hong Kong to give up Beijing’s veto of candidates. To capitulate would expose President Xi Jinping as a leader who can be broken by street action. To permit that perception would imperil Xi’s standing with Beijing’s hard-liners, and potentially the regime itself. Thus if the protesters do not vacate Hong Kong’s streets soon, they may have to be removed. And Beijing is not a regime to recoil from force if it has run out of other options.  In the meantime theories like these abound:


Oct. 2, 2014

Why the Hong Kong Protests Are Not Arab Spring

It must be pointed out at this stage what is the stark difference between the Arab Spring and the HKG Protests. As the case of Egypt made plain, the Arab Spring merely swapped one dictatorship for another. As we explained at the time, democracy is not an end in itself. It is the conclusion of a number of other conditions, conditions which KHG has met, and most Arab societies to this day lack. (Source)



Boiling Point in the Hong Kong Protests 





Oct. 1, 2014

Hong Kong Protests Targeted by Trojan Virus





Sep. 30, 2014

Hong Kong's Protests Are An Example to the World

Hong Kong's creative and positive protests are an example to us all. It is perhaps not a coincidence these grass roots protests for liberty are taking place in one the most Capitalist places in world.



Sep. 29, 2014

Protests in Hong Kong Continue




Sept. 28, 2014



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