The "Crackdown" Picks up Pace

Denise Ho performed after Lancome cancelled promotion

 

The apparent "crackdown" on civil society groups continued today, a relentless flurry of announcements.

Canto-pop singer and activist Denise Ho Wan-sze announced on Twitter that the Hong Kong Arts Centre had informed her that it had cancelled its contract with her music company that had organized a concert there next week.

The termination came days after pro-Beijing newspapers accused her of taking part in anti-China activities and claimed she was on the police's radar.

Arts Centre terminated contract with Goomusic

Ho hit back, saying she did not agree with the cancellation of the contract and said the concert would still be live streamed next Sunday.

"We are very disappointed," her music company Goomusic stated. "We have thoroughly examined our released materials and show contents, but could not see where or how this performance or hiring has the possibility to endanger, or will endanger public order or safety at all."

The Arts Centre said it decided to cancel Ho's reservation for the space from September 6-12, citing the centre's terms and conditions. It said it would return Goomusic's booking fee of HK$127,800 (US$16,400).

Her show was supposed to run from September 8-12 and all the tickets -- which cost HK$680 each -- had been sold out by mid-August.

Ho invited to speak at UN Human Rights Council

In 2019 Ho was active during the 2019 anti-government protests and even went to the UN Human Rights Council to ask the UN to remove China from the body and convene an urgent session to protect Hongkongers.

Two months later she was invited by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in the United States to testify on the social unrest in Hong Kong. She attended along with now jailed Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and activist Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, who recently announced he is in the US.

Ho is also involved in the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which recently announced it will disband in October, is now being investigated by the national security police for possible collusion with foreign forces.

The fund, and the Alliance for True Democracy, which provided its bank account for the fund's trustees to hold donations, have been targeted by the national security department.

Police had obtained court orders to require the two groups to provide information of the donors, and the purpose of the donations.

Seven jailed for illegal march October 20, 2019

About two weeks ago the fund's trustees announced it would close in October after distributing more than HK$243 million to protesters facing criminal prosecution, or financial difficulties as a result of the 2019 protests.

Apparently as of May 31 this year, the fund had 2,554 monthly donors, who contributed over HK$1 million to the group each month.

If that wasn't enough news, seven activists were jailed today for up to 16 months for their roles in a banned procession in Tsim Sha Tsui on October 20, 2019. Six of them are already serving sentences for other convictions.

They include Civil Human Rights Front convenor Figo Chan Ho-wun, former lawmakers "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, Albert Ho Chun-yan, were each handed 16 months. Former lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan and activist Raphael Wong Ho-ming were jailed for 14 months, and ex-lawmaker Yeung Sum, and activist Avery Ng Man-yuen were ordered to serve 11 months.

Wong is the only one who up till today was not in jail.

Over 350,000 gathered in Tsim Sha Tsui

It is believed around 350,000 took part in the illegal gathering where they marched from Salisbury Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui up to the West Kowloon train station on Austin Road. 

Before the national security law Hongkongers were told the new legislation would not be retroactive and would only affect a small number of people. How things have changed...

More Convictions for Illegal Rally

The October 1, 2019 march was not condoned by the police

Today 10 pro-democracy figures including Jimmy Lai Chee-ying were jailed for up to 18 months for organizing an illegal rally on National Day, October 1, 2019. They had pleaded guilty to the charge.

District Court Judge Amanda Woodcock was critical of the group, saying they consciously decided to break the law and challenge public order during a time of civil unrest, referring to the anti-government protests that year.

Figo Chan was sentenced to 18 months in prison

"They did call for a peaceful, rational and non-violent procession, but how naive and unrealistic was that considering what was happening on a daily basis was the opposite," Woodcock said, noting that Molotov cocktails were thrown along or near the procession route, and other acts of damage, arson and violence were captured on video that day.

Lai was handed a 14-month sentence, part of it to be served consecutively with his sentences in two other unauthorized protests, making it 20 months in jail.

Figo Chan Ho-wun, 25, is the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front that organized many of the large-scale demonstrations in 2019. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison as Woodcock deemed him and three others to be most culpable because they held a press conference the night before National Day.

One of the defendants, former Democratic lawmaker Sin Chung-kai who was given a suspended sentence of 14 months, was disappointed to see his fellow activists jailed, calling the punishment "record-setting" and "unprecedented".

The march later led to violent clashes with police

"People should be aware of the consequences -- the court has changed," Sin said. "I think this is absolutely a setback for the democratic movement in Hong Kong and we have to rethink the overall strategies before we move forward."

The other convicted activists are former Democratic Party lawmakers Albert Ho Chun-yan and Yeung Sum; former Labour Party legislators Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho Sau-lan; former League of Social Democrats lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, and Avery Ng Man-yuen.

Another activist Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong also received a suspended sentence of 14 months for his passive role in the crime.

Leung's wife Chan Po-ying said he was convicted for the same offence in the 1990s and was fined only HK$500, and a few thousand dollars 10 years ago. Now Figo Chan, who has no previous convictions must spend almost two years in jail.

Sin Chung-kai had a suspended sentence

Samuel Chu, managing director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, said the group was outraged by the sentences, which he labelled as an attempt to create maximum terror and deterrence in the lead-up to the anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown. 

How much more bad news can people take? The insistence of Lai serving sentences consecutively instead of concurrently is very harsh. But the Department of Justice seems determined to punish him as much as possible, to punish the spirit of Hongkongers.

Opposition Parties Struggling Financially to Stay Alive

Political parties used to raise lots of money from stalls like this

 

With the implementation of the national security law last June that led to the arrest of 47 pan-democratic lawmakers and activists, and now the overhaul of the electoral system, the opposition in the Legislative Council has been decimated literally and also financially.

Opposition parties are losing their main sources of fundraising from participating in rallies, Chinese New Year flower market stalls, and holding annual dinners because of the coronavirus pandemic. And now there is the added pressure that crowdfunding online has led to people involved being arrested for money laundering, thus scaring donors away.

Leong says Civic Party can only last a few months

And now with so many pan-democrats charged with crimes including violating the national security law, much of the money is now being spent on legal fee to defend them.

"The problem is, if you're donating to a party which is accused of subversion, would you not think twice before digging into your purse?" Civic Party chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit said.

Several members of the party are being detained for alleged national security offences and have also recently quit the party, which is the second-biggest in the opposition camp.

Leong revealed the Civic Party now has just enough money to continue for another four or five months unless it received more funding.

Meanwhile the Democratic Party has launched its fundraising campaign by selling raffle tickets for HK$20 each with prizes ranging from an Apple iPad, Dyson purifier and Apple watch.

Democratic Party now holding raffle ticket sales

The party's fundraising chairman, Ramon Yuen Hoi-man said he expected to spend at least HK$10 million this year, much of it used to defend members in court.

To raise other funds, the Democratic Party sold property in Lai Chi Kok but still needs an additional HK$4 million hopefully from raffle ticket sales to stay afloat.

"When I look at the balance sheets, this is the worst of the worst I have seen since I joined the party [10 years ago]," he said.

Yuen added the mass resignation of the lawmakers in Legco also hit the Democratic Party financially, as they would usually contribute 10 percent of their salary, which made up 10 percent of the annual income. In 2019 the members donated HK$1.3 million.

Leong of the Civic Party can't even consider thinking about running for the Legco elections in December when the party may not financially survive until then.

Ng says street booths have fewer donations now

The League of Social Democrats is also facing money problems, as fundraising through street booths has resulted in much lower donations than during the protests.

"We could collect up to HK$400,000 to HK$500,000 on those occasions," said Avery Ng Man-yuen, vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats.

It's a sad state of affairs to see the opposition in such financial straits. This may be the beginning of the end of them being crushed financially and their donors either not having enough money themselves to donate or are concerned about getting into trouble making contributions.

Beijing must be pleased to see this happening, easily crushing the opposition by financially strangling them...

Picture of the Day: Freedom of Speech

So this front page ad appeared on the Apple Daily today, mocking CY Leung

Is freedom of speech dying in Hong Kong?

In the past 20 years I would say so, but perhaps today's edition of Apple Daily proved that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are still alive and well.

Today's front page featured a picture of a smiling Leung with a cartoon black hat drawn on top of him with a red star tho show his Communist leanings.

It suggested Leung head north quickly to replace Xi Jinping

The ad also suggests Leung should head north as soon as possible to replace President Xi Jinping and rule China. The ad also expresses concern for "Comrade Leung", wondering why he is so "lonely and bored" that he feels he needs to monitor Apple Daily's advertisements on a daily basis.

It also says Hong Kong is too small for Leung to shine and he would do better by becoming president, and locals would gladly fund his one-way ticket to Beijing.

Whoa. And wow.

The front-page advertisement was crowd funded by political activist Avery Ng Man-yuen, who was acquitted on appeal last month for throwing a tuna sandwich at the former Hong Kong leader.

Originally Leung had not only traded barbs with Ng, but also criticized Apple Daily for its negative coverage of mainlanders. Leung urged consumers to boycott companies that advertised in the local newspaper, even listing them on his Facebook page, which prompted the Hong Kong Journalists' Association to express "deep concern" over the impact that this might have on these advertisers.

The ad was the brainchild of political activist Avery Ng

And so Ng decided to retaliate by announcing a crowd-funding campaign last Tuesday to raise HK$120,000 (US$15,294) for the front page of Apple Daily. He made his goal 24 hours later and by Thursday 988 people had donated HK$167,000.

Looks like a lot of people were willing to help Ng make the ad a reality.

The leftover money will be used for a future advertisement, says Ng.

On Facebook, Leung "thanked" Ng for the coverage and claimed the full-page ad would only increase Hongkongers' awareness of Apple Daily's unfair reporting.

"You can find a lot of examples of advertisers boycotting the media in democratic countries in the West," Leung wrote. "I urge Ng to continue with his campaign. Next time it will be best if he runs an ad in English."

The ad today was the talk of the town on social media

Leung also took issue with the ad being sponsored by "Hong Kong People's Patience Limited" and questioned both Ng and Apple Daily if there really was such a registered company. It is a criminal offense for anyone not incorporated with limited liability to use, trade or carry on business under the name or title of a limited company.

Ng declined to say if the company was real or not and if his next advertisement would be in English.

"I reserve the right to respond with any means. But if Leung is taking the ad seriously, he should also respond to people's discontent over his interference with Hong Kong's freedom of the press," said Ng.

Things got really interesting today, and even better Apple Daily financially benefited from it. The paper is struggling these days with fewer advertisers willing to put ads in it. Seems like Leung is doing everything he can to kill the paper, but it's not done quite yet.

Where and when will Ng strike next? Stay tuned.