Li Yong, chinaworker.info
With 151 dead and 150 still missing the Tai Po fire is one of the most devastating disasters in Hong Kong’s history. As more evidence emerges, it is now clear this was a man-made and completely avoidable disaster. There is a clear picture of government negligence, corruption, collusion between pro-establishment (i.e. pro-CCP) DAB district councillors and maintenance contractors, and falsification of fire safety inspection reports for scaffolding and fencing.
The CCP and the Hong Kong government have immediately launched a full-scale crackdown, attempting to nip any discontent or protest in the bud as public outrage boils. The PLA garrison in Hong Kong has reportedly been put on alert to deal with unrest if needed.
Two days after the fire, Miles Kwan Ching-fung, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, launched an online petition and distributed leaflets outside Tai Po MTR Station, outlining four demands: continued support for affected residents, the establishment of an independent investigation committee, a review of the project’s oversight system, and accountability for government officials. But even these moderate demands were immediately met with an iron-fist crackdown by the CCP and the Hong Kong government – the local extension of the Chinese dictatorship. Within a day, Kwan was arrested by the National Security Department of the police on suspicion of “sedition”.
The National Security Office also issued a menacing statement calling such initiatives a “malicious attack on the Hong Kong SAR government’s rescue efforts” and vowing to “severely punish” those responsible. This reveals that in the eyes of the authoritarian regime, those to be “severely punished” are not derelict or corrupt officials, but rather the public seeking the truth. This is reminiscent of Zhao Lianhai, the parent of a child harmed by toxic milk powder in China, and Tan Zuoren, who drew attention to shoddy construction work after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Similarly, spontaneously set up supply stations and relief stations were forcibly removed and banned. Within half a day of the fire, a large number of people donated food, clothing, and winter supplies and personally delivered them to the vicinity of the disaster site, setting up supply stations and relief stations on the Guangfu Village platform to distribute aid to the victims. This was reminiscent of a similar scene during the 2019 mass movement against police brutality and authoritarian rule. As a result, the police were on high alert, and the government’s so-called care team took over the supply stations and threatened to call the police on charges of “illegal assembly” if people did not leave.
At 4am on 29 November, the police suddenly ordered the clearing of the area, leaving the volunteers no choice but to move the mountains of supplies overnight. By the afternoon of that day, the square, which had originally been providing supplies and emotional support to the fire victims, was completely empty. The CCP and the Hong Kong government sense that public anger is on the verge of erupting, and therefore are nervously trying to prevent any spontaneous or independently organised gatherings of the public in order to extinguish any “sparks”.
The iron fist of repression not only struck the people, but even the CCP mouthpiece, Ta Kung Pao. On the 28th, Ta Kung Pao published an article titled “Unveiling the Dark Secrets Behind Scaffolding Repairs”, reporting on exorbitant repair fees, bid-rigging and corruption involving bribery. However, the report was hastily taken down within a day, and the website link was deleted. This is ironic. Ta Kung Pao was of course not a neutral and innocent bystander in this disaster, but rather an indirect accomplice. On 28 February 2023, Ta Kung Pao published an article titled “‘Yellow Forces’ continue to infiltrate housing estates, residents’ safety threatened.” The article attacked residents dissatisfied with exorbitant construction costs and questioning bid-rigging as “smearing the corporation” and “inciting residents to overturn the repair project”. This is the same authoritarian mentality that punished and silenced Dr Li Wenliang in 2020, whose warnings, if heeded, could have helped to contain the global Covid-19 catastrophe.
Socialists and chinaworker.info demand an immediate halt to the state suppression of spontaneous mourning and mutual aid activities by the public and disaster victims, the immediate release of those arrested for speaking out or organising to support the victims, an end to censorship, the abolition of the National Security Law, and an independent and open democratic investigation into the fire.
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the latest crime perpetrated by the rotten system of authoritarian capitalism which masquerades as “communism”. Police repression will not forever succeed in holding back the tsunami of mass anger and discontent which needs to unite in organised mass struggle in Hong Kong and in China.
