1 July: March for democratic rights in Hong Kong
Monday, 29 June 2009.
End one-party rule! Mass struggle for democracy in Hong Kong and China
chinaworker.info
[1 July will again see a huge demonstration demanding universal suffrage in Hong Kong. This year the march may be bigger than for some years as a result of the economic crisis and political radicalisation that was manifested clearly in the 200,000 strong turnout for the June 4 commemoration of the victims of the 1989 Beijing massacre. The following is the text of the leaflet supporters of the CWI will give out in the demonstration.]
1 July 2009 - The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) says:
End one-party rule
Mass struggle for democracy in Hong Kong and China
Once again Hong Kong is staging a mega demonstration to demand full democratic rights, not the bogus democracy of today. And once again millions of people and especially youth in mainland China are eagerly watching what happens in Hong Kong despite the best efforts of the one-party regime and its vast censorship machine to block out this information. June 4 this year was a turning point in Hong Kong's recent history. It was also a political earthquake against the Chinese dictatorship and its systematic attempts to hide its past crimes. When a record 200,000 people marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody Beijing massacre, this ignited new expectations and determination to struggle for democratic control over society and against the delays, manoeuvres, and lies of the dictatorship and its local apologists like Donald Tsang.
The progress towards free elections based on universal suffrage in Hong Kong has stalled. China's so called 'communist' regime fears that a shift to universal suffrage here will awaken massive pressure in other parts of China for similar rights. So, while the struggle for democracy can certainly start in Hong Kong, it cannot be won here alone - it is part of a wider struggle on an all-China basis to end one-party rule and introduce fundamental democratic rights. The CWI fights for:
- Democratic rights in China, a free press and the right of assembly
- An end to one-party rule and police repression, release all political prisoners, for freedom of political and religious association
- Support the struggle of workers in China to organise, build independent unions and stop 'blood-and-sweat' exploitation.
Lessons from Iran
As the increased repression and censorship around June 4 shows, the Chinese regime lives in dread of a new 1989-style mass movement for democratic rights. They fear that not only students but also workers who today are suffering pay cuts and factory closures could throw their weight into such a movement. This would be an even bigger threat to the autocratic system because of the decisive economic power of the working class especially once it begins to organise independently, build its own democratic trade unions and a workers' political party.
The revolutionary movement unfolding in Iran shows what could develop in China in coming years. Today's demonstration in Hong Kong should show its support for the struggle of the Iranian masses against the corrupt religious-capitalist regime. That regime has to resort to electoral fraud to get its candidates installed. In Hong Kong, however, this is not necessary - only 800 people, mostly millionaires, are entitled to vote for the head of the government. In other words, Hong Kong's government enjoys even weaker democratic legitimacy than the vote-rigging dictatorship in Tehran!
Warning from Macau
In 2003, half a million Hong Kong people marched to defeat the Article 23 security law which seriously threatened the freedom of assembly and free speech. This showed the power of mass struggle. But it also shows that 'old' victories have to be won again and again. The passage of a similar security law in Macau earlier this year punishes crimes of treason, secession or subversion against the Chinese government, including what it calls "preparatory acts" of these crimes, and the theft of state secrets. Leaflets like this one would be illegal under that law! The charge of 'state secrets' is widely used on the mainland, for example against lawyers for the parents of schoolchildren killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
Beijing will surely try to impose a new version of this law on Hong Kong in future. They desperately need ways to further clog up the machinery of any plan for universal suffrage with undemocratic conditions, clauses and limits, allowing them to keep ultimate control. They want a vetting system for candidates for Chief Executive, for example, whereby Beijing can block any candidates it deems as 'unpatriotic'. Exactly the same system operates in Iran (where religious rather than 'communist' officials decide who can and cannot run for president).
Mass struggle is only way
Such manoeuvres and sabotage must be met head on. It is mass struggle rather than deft negotiators and 'compromises' that have secured victory for mass democratic struggles throughout history. Especially it has been workers' organisations - mass trade unions and workers' parties - that have played a decisive role. This was the case in South Africa in the struggle for one person one vote of 20-30 years ago.
Demonstrations like today's play a crucial part in exerting mass pressure on the ruling group and showing the depth of support for democratic rights. But demonstrations once or twice a year - even large ones - are not enough in themselves to achieve victory in this struggle. A more far-reaching strategy is needed in which the crucial issue is democratic mass organisation. To succeed the movement must root itself in every workplace, college and housing estate, with democratic committees formed to agitate, educate and organise.
Students and youth can play a crucial role as the events of 1989 showed. While students do not have the same economic strength or cohesion as the working class, they can show the way and inspire by their own example. School and colleges strikes and mass occupations have traditionally been a feature of revolutionary struggles for democratic rights as in Mexico 1968, South Africa 1976, China 1989 and Iran today. These are examples that Hong Kong youth should learn from: build school/college action committees and prepare for mass action to put more power into the struggle for democracy. This example should be consciously spread to workplaces and trade unions. A campaign of mass meetings at workplaces could be used to prepare the working class to take strike action in support of demands for democratic rights.
"Profits before people"
It is not only the 'communist' regime that fears mass pressure for democratic rights in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's tycoon class and their counterparts in mainland China are agreed on a tactic of delaying and blocking so as to prolong the current undemocratic system in Hong Kong, as the best complement to one-party rule on the mainland. The super-rich have benefited enormously from the capitalist policies of the Beijing regime and are not anxious for the present status quo to end. Despite repeated claims the capitalist 'free market' automatically means democracy, this has no basis in fact in Hong Kong or China. Spokesmen for big business are always warning that Hong Kong's 'prosperity' would be threatened by greater democracy. Capitalist politicians like Donald Tsang echo such arguments: full democracy would result in 'chaos like the Cultural Revolution' he has said. More recently he told us that economic growth rather than massacres and repression should be the basis for an 'objective view' of the Beijing regime.
But what 'prosperity' are the politicians and tycoons talking about? There is little sign of this today as their system, capitalism, slides into an acute crisis. Hong Kong's economy is set to shrink by six to seven percent this year. Unemployment has doubled in a year. For tens of thousands of young people there is now only unemployment or 'slave labour' at fast food outlets like KFC - which pays just HK$16 an hour (US$2.06). The poorest are getting poorer: 400,000 workers earn less than HK$4,000 (US$516) per month in basic wage. Today the situation is worse even than in the 1990s crisis. How can this be called 'economic prosperity'? And yet this is the 'reward', if we believe Donald Tsang and Co, for not demanding 'too hasty' democratic change.
The economic crisis is not a naturally occurring 'tsunami'. The crisis is the product of a diseased system that puts the short-term profits of the biggest companies before people's needs and a planetary environment that has reached breaking point. In the last 20 years especially the global capitalist system has relied on super-exploitation in low wage economies like China alongside unprecedented financial speculation to create a global financial bubble. This bubble has now burst with disastrous results. In just one year, 30 million workers in China have lost their jobs. One in ten Americans are now dependent on food stamps. As little else than a financial centre (thanks to the designs of successive unelected governments) Hong Kong is one of the most exposed economies amid the global storm.
This is why socialists don't just fight to end the undemocratic rule of Tsang and the Beijing regime. We demand thoroughgoing social and political change. We demand the replacement of the toothless Legco with an elected popular assembly that has real powers to transform living conditions for ordinary working people - implementing a 40 hour working week, a minimum wage of at least $7000 a month and a promise of guaranteed jobs for school and college leavers.
For democratic socialism
chinaworker.info
[1 July will again see a huge demonstration demanding universal suffrage in Hong Kong. This year the march may be bigger than for some years as a result of the economic crisis and political radicalisation that was manifested clearly in the 200,000 strong turnout for the June 4 commemoration of the victims of the 1989 Beijing massacre. The following is the text of the leaflet supporters of the CWI will give out in the demonstration.]
1 July 2009 - The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) says:
End one-party rule
Mass struggle for democracy in Hong Kong and China
Once again Hong Kong is staging a mega demonstration to demand full democratic rights, not the bogus democracy of today. And once again millions of people and especially youth in mainland China are eagerly watching what happens in Hong Kong despite the best efforts of the one-party regime and its vast censorship machine to block out this information. June 4 this year was a turning point in Hong Kong's recent history. It was also a political earthquake against the Chinese dictatorship and its systematic attempts to hide its past crimes. When a record 200,000 people marked the 20th anniversary of the bloody Beijing massacre, this ignited new expectations and determination to struggle for democratic control over society and against the delays, manoeuvres, and lies of the dictatorship and its local apologists like Donald Tsang.
The progress towards free elections based on universal suffrage in Hong Kong has stalled. China's so called 'communist' regime fears that a shift to universal suffrage here will awaken massive pressure in other parts of China for similar rights. So, while the struggle for democracy can certainly start in Hong Kong, it cannot be won here alone - it is part of a wider struggle on an all-China basis to end one-party rule and introduce fundamental democratic rights. The CWI fights for:
- Democratic rights in China, a free press and the right of assembly
- An end to one-party rule and police repression, release all political prisoners, for freedom of political and religious association
- Support the struggle of workers in China to organise, build independent unions and stop 'blood-and-sweat' exploitation.
Lessons from Iran
As the increased repression and censorship around June 4 shows, the Chinese regime lives in dread of a new 1989-style mass movement for democratic rights. They fear that not only students but also workers who today are suffering pay cuts and factory closures could throw their weight into such a movement. This would be an even bigger threat to the autocratic system because of the decisive economic power of the working class especially once it begins to organise independently, build its own democratic trade unions and a workers' political party.
The revolutionary movement unfolding in Iran shows what could develop in China in coming years. Today's demonstration in Hong Kong should show its support for the struggle of the Iranian masses against the corrupt religious-capitalist regime. That regime has to resort to electoral fraud to get its candidates installed. In Hong Kong, however, this is not necessary - only 800 people, mostly millionaires, are entitled to vote for the head of the government. In other words, Hong Kong's government enjoys even weaker democratic legitimacy than the vote-rigging dictatorship in Tehran!
Warning from Macau
In 2003, half a million Hong Kong people marched to defeat the Article 23 security law which seriously threatened the freedom of assembly and free speech. This showed the power of mass struggle. But it also shows that 'old' victories have to be won again and again. The passage of a similar security law in Macau earlier this year punishes crimes of treason, secession or subversion against the Chinese government, including what it calls "preparatory acts" of these crimes, and the theft of state secrets. Leaflets like this one would be illegal under that law! The charge of 'state secrets' is widely used on the mainland, for example against lawyers for the parents of schoolchildren killed in the Sichuan earthquake.
Beijing will surely try to impose a new version of this law on Hong Kong in future. They desperately need ways to further clog up the machinery of any plan for universal suffrage with undemocratic conditions, clauses and limits, allowing them to keep ultimate control. They want a vetting system for candidates for Chief Executive, for example, whereby Beijing can block any candidates it deems as 'unpatriotic'. Exactly the same system operates in Iran (where religious rather than 'communist' officials decide who can and cannot run for president).
Mass struggle is only way
Such manoeuvres and sabotage must be met head on. It is mass struggle rather than deft negotiators and 'compromises' that have secured victory for mass democratic struggles throughout history. Especially it has been workers' organisations - mass trade unions and workers' parties - that have played a decisive role. This was the case in South Africa in the struggle for one person one vote of 20-30 years ago.
Demonstrations like today's play a crucial part in exerting mass pressure on the ruling group and showing the depth of support for democratic rights. But demonstrations once or twice a year - even large ones - are not enough in themselves to achieve victory in this struggle. A more far-reaching strategy is needed in which the crucial issue is democratic mass organisation. To succeed the movement must root itself in every workplace, college and housing estate, with democratic committees formed to agitate, educate and organise.
Students and youth can play a crucial role as the events of 1989 showed. While students do not have the same economic strength or cohesion as the working class, they can show the way and inspire by their own example. School and colleges strikes and mass occupations have traditionally been a feature of revolutionary struggles for democratic rights as in Mexico 1968, South Africa 1976, China 1989 and Iran today. These are examples that Hong Kong youth should learn from: build school/college action committees and prepare for mass action to put more power into the struggle for democracy. This example should be consciously spread to workplaces and trade unions. A campaign of mass meetings at workplaces could be used to prepare the working class to take strike action in support of demands for democratic rights.
"Profits before people"
It is not only the 'communist' regime that fears mass pressure for democratic rights in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's tycoon class and their counterparts in mainland China are agreed on a tactic of delaying and blocking so as to prolong the current undemocratic system in Hong Kong, as the best complement to one-party rule on the mainland. The super-rich have benefited enormously from the capitalist policies of the Beijing regime and are not anxious for the present status quo to end. Despite repeated claims the capitalist 'free market' automatically means democracy, this has no basis in fact in Hong Kong or China. Spokesmen for big business are always warning that Hong Kong's 'prosperity' would be threatened by greater democracy. Capitalist politicians like Donald Tsang echo such arguments: full democracy would result in 'chaos like the Cultural Revolution' he has said. More recently he told us that economic growth rather than massacres and repression should be the basis for an 'objective view' of the Beijing regime.
But what 'prosperity' are the politicians and tycoons talking about? There is little sign of this today as their system, capitalism, slides into an acute crisis. Hong Kong's economy is set to shrink by six to seven percent this year. Unemployment has doubled in a year. For tens of thousands of young people there is now only unemployment or 'slave labour' at fast food outlets like KFC - which pays just HK$16 an hour (US$2.06). The poorest are getting poorer: 400,000 workers earn less than HK$4,000 (US$516) per month in basic wage. Today the situation is worse even than in the 1990s crisis. How can this be called 'economic prosperity'? And yet this is the 'reward', if we believe Donald Tsang and Co, for not demanding 'too hasty' democratic change.
The economic crisis is not a naturally occurring 'tsunami'. The crisis is the product of a diseased system that puts the short-term profits of the biggest companies before people's needs and a planetary environment that has reached breaking point. In the last 20 years especially the global capitalist system has relied on super-exploitation in low wage economies like China alongside unprecedented financial speculation to create a global financial bubble. This bubble has now burst with disastrous results. In just one year, 30 million workers in China have lost their jobs. One in ten Americans are now dependent on food stamps. As little else than a financial centre (thanks to the designs of successive unelected governments) Hong Kong is one of the most exposed economies amid the global storm.
This is why socialists don't just fight to end the undemocratic rule of Tsang and the Beijing regime. We demand thoroughgoing social and political change. We demand the replacement of the toothless Legco with an elected popular assembly that has real powers to transform living conditions for ordinary working people - implementing a 40 hour working week, a minimum wage of at least $7000 a month and a promise of guaranteed jobs for school and college leavers.
For democratic socialism
The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), with members across the globe, is fighting against autocracy, capitalism and war. CWI members have been active in struggle against dictators from Pakistan to South Africa, and against war from Sri Lanka to USA. In the June 5 elections to the European Parliament, CWI member Joe Higgins was elected for the first time on a surge of support as a result of many years of struggle against corruption, privatisation and neo-liberal attacks on working people. His example is an important one for Hong Kong: Joe Higgins will continue to live on an ordinary worker's wage and not accept the lavish lifestyle that parliamentarians are accustomed to. The struggle for democratic rights in Hong Kong and China is part of a wider struggle to change the world.
The CWI fights for:
- Free elections now, not in 2017 or 2020!
- Replace the rubber-stamp Legco with a genuine people's assembly elected on the basis of universal suffrage with the power to eradicate poverty, reverse privatisation and end unemployment.
- A voting age of sixteen years. Votes for all residents including migrant workers.
- All elected representatives to be paid only the wage of the average skilled worker in Hong Kong - stamp out corruption and official abuse
- Full support to the struggle of mainland workers against sweatshop conditions and for democratic rights.
- A mass workers' party to advance the struggle for a democratic socialist alternative to capitalist and authoritarian rule.
Join our struggle: cwi.china@gmail.com
Visit our website: www.chinaworker.info
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