Like this, right? On Sunday afternoon, we're out and about when, once again, the police are out in force and the main road is cut off.
Mega police presence!
We're annoyed and saying very hissily "HK is beginning to overdo the protest march thing!" and "What's wrong with a good old fashioned rally in the park or a soapbox or something else that doesn't gridlock the traffic for hours!" ...
Backed up trams!
... which really isn't like us at all!
And then we start to wonder if maybe this is some sinister Mainland plot, because YES, here in HK, unlike in the rest of China, we are allowed by Basic Law - our mini-Constitution - to march in protest, but whereas, in the past, these marches used to occur only about two or three times a year, it's got so very bad recently it's like it happens every single day!!! So often, in fact, that it no longer seems paranoid to think it's all actually Mainland China's doing, trying to stop our Freedom of Speech/Protest by having-so-many-protests-all-the-sodding-time that the city says "ENOUGH!!!" and demands it's stopped forever!
And thus we lose our Right to Freedom of Speech and Protest! And is that a sinister evil bwahahahah I hear coming from somewhere up North?
But there's more:
On Sunday, despite the enormous police presence, this march is thankfully a piddly wee thing, maybe 900 to perhaps just under 1200 folks waving banners all in Chinese, which we find a tad odd because usually there's at least a few in English so those-not-Chinese have some idea what's going down! And also because protesters usually know that with a few in English, you could just get international coverage for your complaint.
Anyway, here's the march!
However, not this time, so I ask a few bystanders what's happening and they're all "They're angry about Lam!" and since I have no idea who or what Lam is I decide to wait for Monday's SCMP!
But, on Monday, I'm shocked to my core: the protest is against Stephen Lam's support of HK foreign maids' request to be allowed Right of Abode after 7 years residency - just like everyone else gets - instead of this current situation where they're immediately deported the minute they don't have a job any more, which makes them put up with a lot of really quite nasty abuse - like having hot irons shoved in their face - because they don't have a choice! Either endure or BE GONE!!!
It's a horrible situation and I really do feel for them ... yet this thankfully piddly wee march is demanding Stephen Lam be sacked!!! What is WRONG with these people?
But there's more:
Sacking a democratically-elected Councillor - oh OK, OK!, a semi-democratically-elected Councillor because we don't have a real democracy - only the super-rich Punti are allowed to vote - for having an opinion? Seems someone out there doesn't really understand how a semi-democracy works, yes?
But there's more:
Front page story in "China Daily" the Communist Party propaganda newspaper: "10,000 march to protest Lam" or something! No, seriously, that's what it says! Kinda! Let me check! In fact, I should take a photo to show you so you can see for yourself!
See it on the side there!
Meanwhile, here's the same story in SCMP:
Not at all the same thing at all, right?
I can confirm the story in SCMP because it tallys with what we witnessed ... yet here is the Mainland putting things out there that simply aren't true, and such an easily disproved lie too; one that can be easily checked out by an unbiased observer, so WHY DO THEY DO IT!! Also, HOW can they do this, yet still imagine they're to be taken seriously!
We in the Pacific used to deeply detest the Colonial French because they were forever doing stuff like this, yet here we see China doing it all the time and yet we're not hating them nearly as much as they richly deserve.
Perhaps we need to put a protest march together about it, yeah? (PLEASE, NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment