Ethel mermania wrote:Bombadil wrote:We don't want to be part of
this Chinese state.
One aspect of how the CCP is essentially infiltrating HK is through language. Primary school students now learn Chinese in Mandarin not Cantonese. Walk the streets of any city in China and the predominant language is Mandarin, this is different to even just 10 years ago. TV channels now all broadcast in Mandarin.
Take away any individual sense of identity and it's easier to dominate society.
Yet mainly we would prefer to maintain our freedoms, of speech, of media and our rights. Why should we have to essentially regress from enjoying such freedoms to having them taken away from us.
Greater pressure needs to be brought on China to change, and that will take the combined effort of governments, institutions, companies and, most importantly, individuals to maintain pressure on those, to ask the question of whether it's right to turn a blind eye to repression, social control, a lack of rule of law and zero right to challenge authority all in the name of making a quick buck.
I think it's time everyone started to ask this question, of themselves and of those who profess in constitutions, mission statements and supposed values to stand for liberty, equality and mutual respect.
It is very hard to tell from over here because of the multiple layers of filtering, , but it doesnt appear the rest of china is on your side.
And as an American, what can I do for you? There is going to be a rally in support of HK in the city, I could attend that.
I have had chijese products removed from contracts because they violate "buy American", tbh, I did that before this HK issue, and just have continued to do so.
But what could I, as an outsider, do for HK?
Don't worry, there's a global campaign being set up that will outline exactly what can be done - so far the nature of the protests have led to a somewhat fragmented, if not successful, approach but at least in HK people are thinking 'what are my skills and how can I apply them to help'.
HK will deal with HK (or China will), but it might take a global effort to pressure China to move in a better direction in regards to freedoms and rights, which technically it's bound to do. That will take a clear and undeniable yet focused approach to the basic principles at stake here.
Ultimately, the fundamental question of whether individuals should retain the freedom to express their views and free access to information is compelling if framed correctly.
It's not just up to individuals, as I noted earlier.. why isn't there more call in the UN, given it's charter, to recognise Taiwan as a simple example. Yet this does take, to some degree, wider pressure from everyone to ask these questions about the difference between what's stated as important yet the actions that undermine this.
If nothing else, as individuals, we can make a choice about what we accept and the actions we take to support that. If your own contributions listed above were undertaken by more governments, institutions, companies and individuals then there'd already be a strong message going out.
It may be a large number of people in China don't see it framed this way, but certainly a large number get pissed off when links are removed, people are blocked, images suppressed.
And it's not just against China, it expands into a wide array of things where activism is already taking place, the hypocrisy of pretending to be concerned about climate change and yet barely a mention in Democrat primary debates. It's time people were held to account.
Technology causes its problems but also represents the ability to create a mass outcry for better representation.
Beyond all that I think, right now, what HK needs is a little hope.