{"id":20159,"date":"2019-04-29T23:58:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=20159"},"modified":"2019-04-30T03:36:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T19:36:56","slug":"hong-kongs-extradition-law-mass-anger-ready-to-boil-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong’s extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over"},"content":{"rendered":"

130,000 march on April 28 \u2013 now we need a one-day political strike!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dikang, Socialist Action (CWI in Hong Kong)<\/p>\n

The mass turnout of 130,000 people on Sunday April 28 against the government\u2019s repressive agenda has turned Hong Kong’s political situation around. This was the biggest demonstration since the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, the longest ever occupation of a major city, lasting 79 days.<\/p>\n

The protest against government amendments to Hong Kong\u2019s extradition law, but morphing into an all-encompassing mass \u201chate session\u201d against Carrie Lam\u2019s unelected administration, was called at just eleven days\u2019 notice. The new laws will allow Hong Kong residents and even foreigners transiting through the airport to be extradited to China where 99 percent of court convictions are based on “confessions”, torture and coercion is rife, and basic legal rights \u2013 such as choosing your own lawyer \u2013 don’t exist. This would effectively legalise the Chinese state’s kidnapping of political dissidents in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\"\"
April 28 demo was the biggest since the 79-day Umbrella Revolution of 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Article 23<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Civic Rights Front, a coalition of pro-democracy groups which successfully called the march, showed how mass pressure has built up on the various pan-democratic parties and groups to \u201cdo something\u201d. A previous protest on March 31 attracted around 12,000 people. Notably, the more moderate i.e. right-wing pan-democratic groups (who have been largely “absent-without-leave” during the past three years of escalating state repression) were skeptical to the idea of a new demonstration, expressing fears it would be \u201csmall\u201d and reveal \u201cweakness\u201d.<\/p>\n

These so-called leaders have never once during Hong Kong\u2019s three-decade-long democracy struggle been the initiators of mass movements for democratic rights, but rather are forced to run to catch up when they fear events will push them aside. This was one such moment.<\/p>\n

Establishment stalwart Regina Ip compared this huge demo with the historic 500,000-strong July 1 (\u201871\u2019) demonstration of 2003. She was forced out as security minister by that movement, her Article 23 national security legislation abandoned. Carrie Lam’s government is under increasing pressure from the Chinese dictatorship to pick up the dropped baton and introduce Article 23 in the next period, something Lam and Co. have hesitated to do precisely because this can revive the mass democracy struggle. The day after the April 28 protest, Ip said the government cannot afford to back down this time, warning this would \u201caffect governance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ip\u2019s comments, echoed by government ministers and Chief Executive Carrie Lam herself, show the ruling class realises \u2013 and fears \u2013 that the current struggle has a similar potential. 2003, was a historic defeat for the city\u2019s pro-China capitalist establishment and a setback for the Chinese dictatorship, which was forced to tread carefully in its management of Hong Kong in the years immediately afterwards. But today\u2019s battle has a different background, after three years of unprecedented political repression, disqualifications, show trials and bans on political parties. The stakes are higher.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Socialist magazine \u2013 our calls for strike action met with applause.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Siege of Legco<\/strong><\/p>\n

As countless protesters told us, especially the young who were out in force on the demonstration, \u201cjust demonstrating is not enough\u201d. Socialist Action\u2019s speakers drew applause again and again when we called for escalating the struggle, and pointed out that the government is so far not planning to retreat, even with 130,000 on the streets.\u2008As we said, the movement must answer with similar resolve: we will not retreat! But what then is needed to take the struggle forward?<\/p>\n

We say yes to a \u2018siege\u2019 \u2013 an occupation \u2013 outside the Legco, as raised by protest leaders (reflecting the huge pressure from the marchers) to start as soon as possible. But even this is not enough. To defeat the extradition law, win the release of political prisoners, bring down Lam\u2019s authoritarian regime and win genuine and full democratic rights, the Hong Kong struggle needs to upgrade to strike action.<\/p>\n

If 1,000 school students could do this on 15 March, as part of the global climate strike, imagine the response if the demonstration\u2019s leaders called \u2013 imminently, so the momentum is not squandered \u2013 for an initial one-day political strike of all workers and students in the territory. This is a step the 2014 Umbrella Revolution unfortunately never aspired to take and a major reason that movement ended in frustration without a single concession.<\/p>\n

This would be taking a leaf from the book of the revolutions today in Algeria and Sudan \u2013 where the masses have driven dictators from power. Workers\u2019 strikes represent something entirely different to the street protests of the past, important as they have been, because they hit the profits of the billionaire corporations directly and challenge the capitalists\u2019 control over the economy.<\/p>\n

The government is doubling down after the giant 28 April protest. \u201cWe will not retreat,\u201d says Carrie Lam. The same answer, backed by real organisation, must be given by the democracy movement \u2013 we are not backing down, we are escalating until Lam\u2019s authoritarian policies and their authors are completely defeated!<\/p>\n

\"\"
130,000 marched on Sunday April 28.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

130,000 march on April 28 \u2013 now we need a one-day political strike!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":20162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133,124],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hong-kong","8":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\nHong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"130,000 march on April 28 \u2013 now we need a one-day political strike!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Worker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Hong Kong’s extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":851,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Hong Kong\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"130,000 marched on Sunday April 28.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/29\\\/20159\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9801\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hong Kong’s extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u793e\u6703\u4e3b\u7fa9\u884c\u52d5\",\"description\":\"Solidarity, Struggle, Socialism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Chinaworker.info\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/logo-sa.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media1.chinaworker.info\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/logo-sa.png\",\"width\":120,\"height\":126,\"caption\":\"Chinaworker.info\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SocialistAction\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/socialistactionhk\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chinaworker.info\\\/en\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker","og_description":"130,000 march on April 28 \u2013 now we need a one-day political strike!","og_url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/","og_site_name":"China Worker","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction","article_published_time":"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Hong Kong’s extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over","datePublished":"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/"},"wordCount":851,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg","articleSection":["Hong Kong","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/","name":"Hong Kong's extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over - China Worker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg","datePublished":"2019-04-29T15:58:07+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-29T19:36:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2019\/04\/HONG_KONG-CHINA-POLITICS284_1556444772.jpg","width":900,"height":600,"caption":"130,000 marched on Sunday April 28."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2019\/04\/29\/20159\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9801","item":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hong Kong’s extradition law \u2013 mass anger ready to boil over"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/","name":"\u793e\u6703\u4e3b\u7fa9\u884c\u52d5","description":"Solidarity, Struggle, Socialism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#organization","name":"Chinaworker.info","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2021\/04\/logo-sa.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media1.chinaworker.info\/2021\/04\/logo-sa.png","width":120,"height":126,"caption":"Chinaworker.info"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SocialistAction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/socialistactionhk\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}