Hong Kong has announced its first arrests under a new security law - detaining six people for publishing social media posts which “incited hatred” against Beijing.
Five women and one man - including activist Chow Hang Tung - were arrested on Tuesday, it was announced.
Officials said the group were posting messages targeting a “sensitive date” - reported locally as the Tiananmen Square anniversary on 4 June.
If found guilty, the group could face up to seven years in prison under the harsher penalties brought in by the new law, known as Article 23.
The law, which was fast-tracked through Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing parliament in March, covers treason, sedition and state secrets, and allows for trials to be held behind closed doors.
It expands on the national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020.
No real argument there, the right-wing in the US is working to try to get there for sure.
Careful not to underestimate the authoritarian left. They seemed willing to go pretty far during COVID.
Spreading deadly disease to others is not a right, it is an attack on the freedoms and health of others.
Yes well, there is always a way to justify actions you support and condemn those that you don’t support. The only way to avoid an authoritarian regime of one kind or the other is to hold certain rights to be inviolable and above the scope of government. If you give the government power to remove your rights under certain circumstances then they will create those circumstances in order to use that power. Come on, you know this. And even if was for a cause you support this time, next time it might not be.
Nope, getting vaccinated so you don’t kill others is not to do with your rights. A million Americans died because of right-wing reality denial and disinformation. That was the actual massive betrayal of other people’s rights.
A million? How did you get that number? How many died directly as a result of covid? (Estimated 1.2 million total, depending on your source) And how many of them actually could have been prevented if everyone got vaccinated as soon as they could have? How many died from covid despite being vaccinated? It’s not like it was available or even as effective as everyone initially hoped. It actually blows my mind that everyone forgot how evil and influential the pharmaceutical industry is, the lengths they would go to, how absolutely filthy rich they got. I remember for decades they got in trouble for fudging efficacy data or even straight up fabricating, bribing politicians and doctors, and now years later we still got people like you going to bat for them. White knighting for big pharma… what a world.
I tried finding numbers on how many could have been saved if everyone got vaccinated who could have been, but they vary wildly depending on assumptions. Most of the answers to my questions above can’t even be found because nobody did the math besides sources you would diregard anyway. Boy do I ever wish we could have an honest conversation about it instead of political partisanship coloring everything about it.