By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HONG KONG, China – “The Umbrella Revolution” has not ended. The number of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, which once dropped down to few hundreds, is re-growing as the meeting between the government and the protest leaders has been cancelled. Reportedly, the number is now estimated at tens of thousands, and tension is elevating with worry that violent clashes will soon ensue.

The Hong Kong Chief Secretary announced on Saturday that the government cancelled the meeting scheduled for Sunday. He said the government would not have any conversation unless the students accept the legal framework of the 2017 election announced by Beijing. There seems to be no way to reach an agreement between the two groups, the government and the student-led protesters, because Beijing’s decision on the 2017 election was the main trigger of the mass protest. The student leaders made it clear that they cannot disperse unless the Hong Kong government at least agrees to represent their views to Beijing.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who has been pressured by the protesters to resign, said the protesters are making “impossible” demands. This is because, according to Leung, there is “almost zero chance” that Beijing will revoke its earlier decision about the 2017 election. A Chinese state-run newspaper editorial described the protesters demand as “arrogant and ignorant.”

Beijing wants to nominate pro-Beijing candidates chosen by the Communist Party, but the Hong Kong people want an open and democratic nomination by the public. Leung also added that the police might have to use the least level of force since the protests have “spun out of control.” The current Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Leung, was elected by a small number of voters, about 1,200 who were mostly pro-Beijing.

The current situation in Hong Kong is becoming acute. Once, the protest seemed to be over when the protesters let government officials return back to their work places. This was to partially accept the government’s request. A few hundred students remained to continue the protest while police forces kept a distance not to provoke them. However, after the meeting was canceled, the number of protesters rose back to tens of thousands. According to Bloomberg and CNN, the police moved barricades out of the street. This was understood to be a gesture signaling to protesters that the police would be ready to take any immediate action as needed.

Conflicts between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing protesters have been alleviated to a degree. Accordingly, the pro-Beijing group gathered at several places opposite the “Occupy Central” movement. CNN reported on Monday that police had to stand between the two groups as they clashed when the pro-Beijing group attempted to remove barricades reinstated by the pro-democratic protesters. The pro-Beijing groups gave a deadline to clear the streets, the end of Tuesday, to both the students and the police, or they will clear the area by themselves.

For more information please see:

CNN – Scuffles as protest opponents try to tear down Hong Kong barricades – 13 October 2014

The Washington Post – Hong Kong chief says protesters are making ‘impossible’ demands – 12 October 2014

Bloomberg – Hong Kong Police Remove Some Barricades to Shrink Protest Site – 12 October 2014

The New York Times – Police Move on Barricades; Hong Kong Leader Rejects Protesters’ Appeal – 12 October 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, a fierce advocate for girl’s education in Pakistan and around the world. At 17 years old Malala Yousafzai is the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and Pakistan’s first Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Malala first came to attention in 2009 when she wrote an anonymous blog for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban rule in north-west Pakistan. Two years ago she was shot by Taliban gunmen for her advocacy while she was boarding her school bus in the Swat Valley.After recovering from life-saving surgery, she has taken her campaign for the right to education for all peoples, regardless of gender, to the international stage, giving a speech last year at the United Nations. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated Malala Yousafzai, calling her the Pride of Pakistan. “Her achievement is unparalleled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment,” he said in a statement.

Young students in Malala’s home region were thrilled with Friday’s announcement “There are not many people in this world — in fact, no one — who is as brave as Malala,” said Badrai Khan, 19, a college student from Swat, Malala’s home region. “This award is an achievement for all girl students of Pakistan.” Khan said”Tomorrow, when I go to school, I’ll be a different, more confident girl, thanks to Malala and this recognition.”

Malala Yousafzai learned that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while she was in chemistry class in England on Friday morning, she said. She wasn’t expecting to get the award. “I’m proud that I’m the first Pakistani and the first young woman or the first young person getting this award.” Malala has stated that she is happy to have been given the opportunity to go to school, thanking her father for not clipping her wings and allowing her to have the same opportunities as boys in her community.

The Nobel Peace Prize was also awarded to India’s Kailash Satyarthi. Both Nobel Laureates were cited by the Norwegian Nobel Committee “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” According to the Nobel Committee, Satyarthi has been known to participate in peaceful protests and demonstrations calling for an end to child exploitation. At the age of 26 he gave up a career in electrical engineering to devote his life to advocating for children, even raiding factories where child workers were held captive. In 1994 Satyarthi started a program called “Rugmark,” now known as GoodWeave International, in which rugs are certified and labeled to be child-labor free. Satyarthi started the program because of the high level of child exportation in the rug industry, children have been historically expatiated in several countries around the world where rugs are woven.

In 2004 Satyarthi said his home and office have been attacked, but he said the danger is worth it. “If I was not fighting against child labor, I don’t know what else I could do. It was always in my heart, I could not live without that,” he said at the time. “It’s really a kind of spiritual feeling which is difficult to explain,” Satyarthi said. “And the smiles come on the face of the children when they realize that they are free.”

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee commented on the theme of child rights that is the focus of the work of this year’s Nobel laureates, both from historically divided region. He explained that “children must go to school, not be financially exploited.”

For more information please see:

ABC News – 5 Things to Know About Nobel Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi – 10 October 2014
BBC News – Malala and Kailash Satyarthi Win Nobel Peace Prize – 10 October 2014
CNN International – Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Share Nobel Peace Prize – 10 October 2014
USA Today – Malala’s Nobel Is ‘For All Girl Students Of Pakistan’ – 10 October 2010

By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HONG KONG, China – Monday morning was the deadline that Hong Kong authorities gave to the pro-democracy protesters to clear streets. The number of protesters has dwindled down to a few hundred, and they allowed government workers back to return to their offices after a weeklong occupation of the streets. The workers went to the government complex through a small path that student protesters created.

Even though the protesters have not fully accepted the city’s request to disperse, as they let the government officials back in the building, the police force is trying not to provoke the protesters by keeping a distance.

The situation in Hong Kong seems to be turning into a stalemate. The student leaders of the protesters have different opinions about whether or not they will continue the protest. However, it appears that they at least agreed to strategically arrange the group, allowing the civil servants to enter the government buildings.

Some protesters have remained on the streets, defying the deadline. These protesters have said that they will not disperse unless the government makes a meaningful change and accepts their demands: promoting democracy in Hong Kong.

 

Schools in Hong Kong also re-opened on Monday. They had been closed since September 29, but students and teachers have resumed their work and study. Interestingly, elementary schools decided to remain closed for safety reasons. During the protest week, 30 to 40 bank branches in Hong Kong had closed, but now the number has been reduced to about seven.

According to the protest organizers, there was a conversation between the protest leaders and the government representatives on Sunday, but they failed to reach an agreement. They decided to continue their talks on Monday hoping to have a conversation with mutual respect.A protester sleeping in front of barricades (Getty Images)

Lester Shum, the Deputy Secretary General for the Students’ Federation, said that the dialogue must be ongoing and the student leaders must be treated equally. He added that actual political reforms in Hong Kong must be derived from the conversation. Those are the conditions for continuing to talk with the government.

The main requests of the protesters are resignation of current Hong Kong Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, and a democratic election to be held in 2017. Previously, Beijing announced it would appoint only pro-Beijing candidates for the election. Beijing worried about spreading the demand of democracy over to Mainland China since it is also facing similar issues in Tibet and Xinjiang. The Chinese government declared the protest in Hong Kong illegal, but left resolution of the issue to the discretion of the Hong Kong government.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – As authorities’ deadline passes, Hong Kong protest turns into stalemate – 5 October 2014

Reuters – WRAPUP 3-Hong Kong democracy protests fade, face test of stamina – 6 October 2014

The Washington Post – Hong Kong protests appear to be headed into a smaller but durable holding pattern – 6 October 2014

The Guardian – Hong Kong protest numbers dwindle as exhaustion sets in – 6 October 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

BEIJING, China – As Hong Kong’s youth take to the stress to defy Beijing’s attempts to reign in the former British Colony the Chinese government has been actively attempting to silence the demonstrator’s online social media presence. In the wake of Hong Kong’s Umbrella revolution the People’s Republic of China has ramped up censorship of social media and news websites inside of the China preventing real-time coverage of the events unfolding on the streets of Hong Kong. Like many modern democratic movements online social media has played an important role in the Hong Kong demonstrations as young people take to the streets armed with umbrellas to protect themselves from teargas and smart-phones to share their stories with the world. However, the majority of people living in mainland china will not have access to the posts of their countrymen.

Chinese state-run news outlets not covered pro-democracy demonstration except to call the demonstrators extremists. A story from the state-run news outlet Xinhua featured the Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung denounced the demonstrations as “unlawful.” The Chinese government has been actively working to ensure that the protests are not only kept in the dark by state-run media but by social media platforms as well.

The Chinese government has been using its online censorship program to scrub Chinese social media of pro-democracy posts from Hong Kong, especially on Weibo, china’s version of Twitter and one of the largest social media platforms in the world. The government, which has extensive control over Weibo posts, has removed posts containing key-words indicating a relationship to the Hong Kong demonstrations including pro-democracy phrases.

Photos of the protests and clashes between police and demonstrators have flooded the internet over the past two days. The flood of posts has come in at a faster rate than the Chinese can apparently handle and in response popular photo sharing websites like Instagram have been blocked in the country. “In the past two days, we can see a lot of people holding phones and taking pictures of different (Hong Kong protest) scenes on Instagram, Facebook and sharing it around,” King-wa Fu, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, said. China observers  have noted that while the app can’t be accessed in China for most citizens, the country’s First Lady Peng Liyuan’s official Instagram account posted a picture of her and her husband, China’s President Xi Jinping, on Monday.

Twenty five years ago Chinese youths took to the streets in Beijing to demand a movement towards democratization. Much like today the Chinese government actively worked to keep the majority of the Chinese populous in the dark by stomping stories of the Tiananmen Square protests and the government massacre that silenced them. It remains unclear what the future will bring for the Umbrella Revolution and the people of china but what is clear is that the proliferation of social media and internet access around china and the world has made it nearly impossible for the Chinese government to stop the signals coming out of Hong Kong and to keep its people in the dark.

For more information please see:

The Economist – HK Backspace, Backspace – 4 October 2014

CNN International – China’s Internet Firewall Censors Hong Kong Protest News – 30 September 2014

The New York Times – Chinese Web Censors Struggle with Hong Kong – 30 September 2014

Foreign Policy – In China, the Most Censored Day of the Year – 29 September 2014

By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter

HONG KONG, China – The democracy movement in Hong Kong has become a massive civil obedience display as tens of thousands of citizens gathered and rallied in the streets. The Hong Kong police used violent tactics, but the protesters refused to disperse.

Over the weekend, a significant number of protesters clashed with police forces, and the city spiraled into chaos. The protesters occupied central financial streets in Hong Kong as part of a planned action called “Occupy Central.” College students boycotted their classes as the number of demonstrators continued to grow. The protest was non-violent as they were merely “sitting.”

However, as the protesters refused to disperse, police engaged them using tear gas and pepper spray, and the protesters resisted with umbrellas and masks.

As time passed, the protesters became more outrageous. On Monday, the overnight clashes between the protesters and police seemed to escalate the tensions. The New York Times reported that Hong Kong police not only failed to disperse the protesters but also “motivated more people to join on Monday.”

A 30-year-old bank worker joined the protest during her lunch hour and said “what [police were] doing was not appropriate, especially the tear gas. The students were completely peaceful.”

Another protester, a mother of two, joined the protest for one hour to show her support because the protesters “are fighting for our future, for my children’s future.” She said she decided to participate after seeing tear gas fired at the protesters. To her, they were “so young.”

The protesters want political independence from the mainland of China. Hong Kong was supposed to have its own electoral systems that are independent and separate from the mainland starting in 2017. However, as Beijing had decided that it would allow only pro-Beijing candidates and exclude pro-democratic candidates for the election in 2017, citizens and activists in Hong Kong announced a large-scale civil protest.

“One country, two systems” was the promise made by the Chinese government when the U.K. returned Hong Kong to China after a 150-year colonial period. However, the recent political attitude of Beijing has scared Hong Kong citizens. Under one of the most advanced financial businesses in the world, Hong Kong has a high average income level per person ($53,203), which is close to the U.S. and more than four times higher than China ($11,904). They have persistent worries about different political and market systems between China and Hong Kong. Recent economic slow down contributed to that worry, and Beijing’s decision regarding the election was the final straw..

Beijing seems to be taking extraordinary measures to prevent reports from spreading outside, and the demonstrators called for others’ attention through foreign news media outlets.

According to Sinoshpere, a Chinese blog run by the New York Times, a directive order from the Central Propaganda Department in Beijing guided websites to delete any mention of the issue in Hong Kong. Only short articles produced by state news agencies were permitted in the mainland of China. The government also blocked popular social platform Instagram in fear of spreading pictures of the protest. The word “Occupy Central” and other related words were banned in Chinese SNSs, smartphone applications, and so on. Allegedly, some Chinese news organizations did deliver the news about Hong Kong, but under strict censorship or supervision.

On the other side, some people in Hong Kong expressed a different opinion about the student-led protest. A woman said in an interview with the ABC News that “those of us who came to the city 60 or 70 years ago had nothing and we worked and suffered so much to make Hong Kong the rich city it is today. And now the protesters have made our society unstable. For me, being able to eat and sleep is already a luxury.” She added, “I don’t need democracy. What does it mean?”

For more information please see:

USA Today – Hong Kong democracy protesters defy calls to disperse – 29 September 2014

The Boston Globe – What’s happening in Hong Kong? – 29 September 2014

Sinosphere (The New York Times) – Beijing Blocks Reports on Hong Kong Democracy Movement – 29 September 2014

The New York Times – Hong Kong Protesters Defy Officials’ Call to Disperse – 29 September 2014

The Washington Post – Hong Kong police try and fail to clear protesters with tear gas – 29 September 2014