Fight back against capital hegemony

This is the statement for “Occupy Central”,the global solidarity action held on 15th October 2011Thousands of grassroot people are occupying Wall Street, the centre of global capitalism. By camping out, protests, assemblies and protests, they show disgust at the 1% rich who dominates of the rest of 99%.

On the other hand, Hong Kong plays an important role in the global financial market. It became the largest listing market by fund-raising size in the world last year, with about $445 billion raised. The financial system of Hong Kong is simply where the residual capital of global investments goes. By coercing the public to invest through the MPF system and zero deposit interest rate regarless of high inflation, ordinary workers risk losing their earnings at any time. Since most of their income is transferred to the pockets of capitalists, they suffer from oppression in the playground of capitalists and opportunists.
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December 16, 2011 – 4:03 am Categories: Statement | Comments (2)

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325 Movement of the people – boycott the small circle election!

 

We are furious!

For the future of Hong Kong, we are standing up together!

Movement of the people – boycott the small circle election!

 

 

The signatory organizations (in no special order):

Alliance for Universal Pension

Hong Kong Women’s Coalition on Equal Opportunities

People’s Alliance for Minimum Wage

CSSA Alliance

Civil Human Rights Front

Coalition for Social Protection for the Grassroots

Grassroots Housing Rights Defense Alliance

Youth Movement Against Property Developer Slavery

Alliance for Concern about Housing

Land Justice League

The Link Watch

Kwai Chung Residents’ Rights Concern Group

Grassroots Development Centre

Shamsuipo Community Association

Left21

Social Worker Students Federation

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions

Labour Rights Commune

Communications Workers General Union

Grassroots Neighbourhood Service Centre

Hong Kong Women Workers Association

Hong Kong Association for the Survivors of Women Abuse (Kwan Fook)

Industrial Relations Institute

Tong Gen New Women Arrivals League

The Forthright Caucus

Hong Kong Federation of the Blind

Hong Kong Women Worker Cooperative

Elderly Rights Centre

Tsuen Kwai Tsing District Elderly Council

HK Catholic Commission on Labour Affairs

Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church


Statement (1.3.2012)

 

In the past few months, the farce of the chief executive election has fully shown the ‘small-circle election’ is fundamentally no more than plutocrats and big business carving out their interests, while the real voice and demands of the public have been completely excluded and the well-being of all the millions of true grassroots has become a victim of the struggle between different interest groups. Today, labor, grass-roots groups, the elderly, women, youth, new arrivals, people with disabilities, and religious and regional groups, have launched a ‘Mass movement ─ boycott the small circle election’ press conference. Facts have proven that the Chief Executive election is just a game of ‘fight to kill, winner takes all’ among interest groups, which will not help resolve the deep-seated social contradictions of the disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong, the financial and real estate hegemony, and gender inequality.

 

Therefore, we call on the civil society, to launch a mass movement in March to issue a strong protest against those in power and wake the whole community: we have had enough! Let us not be deceived! ! We will never be able to entrust Hong Kong’s future to the mirage of this small circle election.

 

On March 25th, we will launch an assembly for ‘ People’s struggle for social reform ─ boycott the small circle fake elections’, to enable the people to take up their identity as the leaders of society, and to put forward demands for a comprehensive social reform, including the establishment of a universal retirement protection, reform of the tax system, increased supply of housing, repurchase of public utility services, expanded labor and social security protections, promotion of gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting policy development, a reasonable redistribution of wealth, and so on. We further call upon the public to use different means to boycott the plutocrat-led small circle election, and reject its legitimacy and acceptability.

 

Candidates have different interests, the privileged class sell out the interests of the grassroots
This year the Chief Executive’s election is just a farce. The candidates have advanced their platforms, but have not consulted in the process and instead have excluded the participation of the grassroots, and even more selectively, met with the powerful groups who have the votes. This highlights that regardless of who is elected, the Chief Executive would only serve a handful of the privileged class. Even more absurd is that the major candidates have been using mutual mudslinging as a political propaganda tool, which has not only show the lack of political integrity of those in power, but the candidates’ role as spokesmen for the interests of plutocrats and big business. Thus after the election they would only deliver benefits to financial capital and big business, and the social issues that civil society organizations and the general public have been fighting for would end up sinking down the drain.

Chief Executive candidates and electoral considerations are based on the choice of Beijing as well as personal political opportunities; even if they have lost their political integrity and have a terrible performance record, they can still shamelessly participate in the game of cutting up the pie. Therefore, regardless of how the candidates betray the interests of the grassroots, and become the enemy of all the people, as long as they stand under the shadow of the authorities, interest groups, and real estate developers, they are still able to get a large number of nominations into the ‘election’.

 

The small circle election is the continuation of the ‘big market, small government’ system – the source of unfairness

 

In the past the Hong Kong government implemented the ‘big market, small government’ policy, which has been precisely the source of the rich-poor gap and of economic inequality, and has also contributed to the formation of the property developer hegemony and monopoly of big business consortia. In the market, a small group holds the most wealth, and they hold the control and power; the ‘invisible hand’ is actually the visible large property developers and business consortia, controlling the market and monopolizing the distribution of profits. The government has pushed forward the privatization of public assets and public services, only leading to the situation that the large property developers and business consortia control more and more areas of our daily lives, more and more deeply, making our cost of living ever higher, and the assets of ordinary citizens harder and harder to save up. Social security has gotten worse, and finally the poverty of grassroots citizens is dire, while the middle class have all become mortgage slaves…and we should never forget the lesson of the privatization of The Link!

 

We believe we must solve the structural poverty and inequality of economic distribution in Hong Kong, starting with structured system reform. Thus we oppose the policy of ‘small government, big market’, and demand that the government fulfill its role of redistribution of social wealth, construct a philosophy of public assets to serve public benefits, relax the upper limits of public financial expenditure, reduce the accumulated financial surplus. We believe the tax system must be reformed first, increasing the tax income from the large business consortia and property developers, and through increase of the public financial expenditure, increase the daily social welfare expenditure, create good systematic institutions for promoting social welfare, increase the proportion of public utility services, etc., leading to a more reasonable redistribution of social wealth to all ordinary citizens.

 

However in the policy platforms of the main and backup candidates, there is not even a plan for change in this kind of policy philosophy, or policy change towards systematic reform. Thus we believe no matter which candidate wins in this small circle election, they would continue in the direction of big market, small government, and the social inequality and injustice would continue in the future.

 

Thus, for a more balanced distribution of wealth and power, and to establish true equality and democratic society serving everyone equally, we raise the following demands:

 

  1. Implement universal retirement pension, establish a seed fund
  2. Broadly expand public housing, regulate land according to people’s autonomy, guarantee citizens’ right to housing
  3. Increase the recurrent social welfare expenditure, implement long-term planning
  4. Return services to public management, stop privatization
  5. Increase labour protection: raise the minimum wage, establish the right to collective bargaining and regulation of working hours, and abolish the 4-18 rule
  6. Reform the tax system
  7. Carry out the women’s platform

We repeat that even if the new chief executive is elected in accordance with the rules of the small circle game, the public would never recognize the legitimacy of the new government, because no elected candidate would change the pattern of rule of Hong Kong by the rich and the bureaucrats, nor would he honour the commitments made to the grassroots during the election! As long as the government does not have a real mandate from the people, it is bound to be a weak government that has built its ‘house’ on quicksand. We are appealing to all Hong Kong people to stand up in different forms to boycott the small circle election, while letting the people who do have a vote to cast a ‘no vote’, and wash themselves of the dirty privilege. And we call on civil society groups to protest in March in wave after wave against the candidates, expressing the anger of civil society against this farce, to resist the oppression and domination of the ruling class over the grassroots! Our civil society forces must take action to tell the government, the people have changed, and we need structural changes!

 

Contact person: Koon Kwan Ng, 9011 5256

March 24, 2012 – 8:51 pm Categories: Statement | Post a comment

Globalized Capital, Keeping Women in the Home

Globalized Capital, Keeping Women in the Home

 Sa Law

In late 2011 to early 2012 one of the most contentious issues relating to women inHong Kong, apart from the mainland pregnant women issue, is that of right of abode for migrant domestic workers. In spite of aHong Kongcourt confirming that disallowing them from applying for the right of abode violated the Basic Law, politicians gained sympathy and votes by building up opposition to the ruling and creating fears of being overwhelmed by masses of poor foreign workers and their families.

However we should calmly reflect on the ultimate source of the sentiment against granting equal right of abode to migrant domestic workers, especially by seeing who benefits. In the end, it is private businesses, the very wealthy investing class, that benefit most from the continuation of fine hierarchies based on race and gender; and they defend their privilege and deflect attention from the injustice of it by stigmatizing the poor and unwaged and letting ordinary people fight amongst themselves. Understanding how capital and government benefits from our internal divisions, is the starting point for ending inequality and exclusion based on gender and race. Read More »

March 8, 2012 – 7:56 am Categories: Statement | Comments (1)

3.8 Women’s Day movie screening and sharing –

3.8 Women’s Day movie screening and sharing- 2.5 Billion Dollars for the State

- a documentary on howIndonesian migrant workers were sold to Hong Kong (2002)


in Bahasa Indonesian and English, with English, Bahasa Indonesian and
Chinese subtitles

Hong Kong has more than 300,000 migrant workers, and they are a group of
minority women who seldom get attention.  They come to work in Hong Kong
and are separated for years from their families, and become the
invaluable contributors to many middle class families.  Yet at the same
time they continue to suffer from discrimination, abuse and sexual
harassment.

Over the past six months, they have been further misunderstood because
of the right of abode issue.  Do you want to pour salt on their wounds?
Or should we try to understand why migrant workers policy has continued
to expand, why inequality continues to grow, even though all kinds of
discrimination and extortion cases continue to rise?

*Serving families in two places, exploited in both, but with little
protection*

Do not think that theirs is easily earned money or that they earn a lot.
They have to pay large sums to employment agencies, and their salary for
the first six months mostly end up in the pockets of these agencies.
Some even have to borrow in order to pay these fees, ended up
debt-ridder.  Is this a reasonable burdern for foreign domestic workers
to shoulder?

Consulates and agencies in Hong Kong are just as guilty, and seldom
offer much needed help to these workers.  Governments benefit from the
current arrangements where female workers are encouraged to work
overseas to gain foreign remittance.  The Hong Kong government also rids
itself of the responsibility in providing subsidies for the care of the
young and the elderly, which have now become individual families’
responsibilities.

Through this documentary, we can hear these workers’ voices, and
understand the views of agencies, consulates, government representatives
and labour unions.  Through this we will understand how capital and the
state work together to exploit women in developing countries, and the
importance of workers’ unions in breaking free of this situation.

Date: 4th March 2012
Time: 7-9pm
Venue: Hong Kong Federation of Students
9/F Waitex House, 7-8 Mongkok Road, Mongkok, Kowloon

For the discussion session, we have invited:

1. Several Indonesian migrant workers to share their experiences
2. Workers’  unions organizers to share how to strive for foreign
domestic workers’ rights, and the importance of support from local
unions and social movements.

Thanks to: all migrant worker sisters who are forced to leave their
families and work for our families
Subtitles provided by autonomous8a

_________

3,8 Hari Perempuan film screening dan sharing – sebuah film dokumenter
tentang bagaimana buruh migran Indonesia yang dijual ke Hong Kong (2002)


dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris, dengan Bahasa Inggris, Bahasa
Indonesia dan Cina sub judul

Hong Kong memiliki lebih dari 300.000 pekerja migran, dan mereka adalah
kelompok perempuan minoritas yang jarang mendapat perhatian. Mereka
datang untuk bekerja di Hong Kong dan dipisahkan selama bertahun-tahun
dari keluarga mereka, dan menjadi kontributor yang sangat berharga untuk
banyak keluarga kelas menengah. Namun pada saat yang sama mereka terus
menderita diskriminasi, penyiksaan dan pelecehan seksual.

Selama enam bulan terakhir, mereka telah lebih disalahpahami karena hak
dari masalah tempat tinggal. Apakah Anda ingin menuangkan garam pada
luka-luka mereka? Atau sebaiknya kita mencoba untuk memahami mengapa
buruh migran kebijakan terus berkembang, mengapa ketimpangan terus
tumbuh, meskipun semua jenis
diskriminasi dan pemerasan kasus terus meningkat?

* Melayani keluarga di dua tempat, dieksploitasi baik, tetapi dengan
sedikit
perlindungan *

Jangan berpikir bahwa mereka mudah mendapatkan uang atau bahwa mereka
mendapatkan banyak. Mereka harus membayar sejumlah besar uang untuk agen
tenaga kerja, dan gaji mereka untuk enam bulan pertama kebanyakan
berakhir di saku dari lembaga ini. Beberapa bahkan harus meminjam untuk
membayar biaya tersebut, akhirnya utang-Ridder. Apakah ini burdern wajar
bagi pekerja rumah tangga asing untuk bahu?

Konsulat dan lembaga di Hong Kong hanya sebagai bersalah, dan jarang
menawarkan bantuan yang sangat dibutuhkan untuk para pekerja ini.
Pemerintah mendapatkan keuntungan dari pengaturan saat ini di mana
pekerja perempuan didorong untuk bekerja di luar negeri untuk
mendapatkan pengiriman uang asing. Pemerintah Hong Kong juga rids diri
dari tanggung jawab dalam memberikan subsidi untuk perawatan anak muda
dan orang tua, yang sekarang telah menjadi tanggung jawab keluarga
masing-masing.

Melalui dokumenter ini, kita dapat mendengar suara-suara para pekerja,
dan memahami pandangan terhadap badan, konsulat, perwakilan pemerintah
dan serikat buruh. Melalui ini kita akan memahami bagaimana modal dan
negara bekerja sama untuk mengeksploitasi perempuan di negara
berkembang, dan pentingnya serikat pekerja dalam melepaskan diri dari
situasi ini.

Tanggal: 4 Maret 2012
Waktu: 7-21:00
Tempat: Hong Kong Federasi Mahasiswa
9 / F Waitex House, 7-8 Mongkok Road, Mongkok, Kowloon

Untuk sesi diskusi, kami telah mengundang:

1. Beberapa buruh migran Indonesia untuk berbagi pengalaman
2. Pekerja serikat penyelenggara untuk berbagi bagaimana untuk berjuang
untuk pekerja rumah tangga asing hak, dan pentingnya dukungan dari
serikat lokal dan gerakan sosial.

Terima kasih kepada: semua saudara buruh migran yang terpaksa
meninggalkan mereka
keluarga dan bekerja untuk keluarga kita
Sub judul yang diberikan oleh autonomous8a

we are the rising of the moon
we are the shifting of the ground
we are the seeds that takes root
and we’ll bring the fortress down

we are the colors of the world
we are arising from below
we are the seekers of the paths
of a world where all worlds fit

kita terbit bulan
kita pergeseran tanah
kita adalah benih yang berakar
dan kami akan membawa benteng ke bawah

kita adalah warna dunia
kita timbul dari bawah
kita adalah para pencari jalan
sebuah dunia di mana semua dunia sesuai

February 28, 2012 – 9:41 am Categories: Activity | Post a comment

Down with Corruption, Reclaim Our Land

In support of the people of Wukan’s struggle for democracy
“Down with Corruption, Reclaim Our Land” —Hong Kong
Calling for worldwide support for Wukan’s fight for democracy
On November 21st, 1927, under the leadership of Peng Pai, pioneer of the Chinese Communist revolution as well as committed socialist, the country’s first rural Soviet administration was established in area of Hailufeng, Guangdong province. Thus began the first chapter of the Communist movement in China.

On November 21st, 2011, less than a few kilometers away from the founding site, at Wukan village (part of Lufeng city in eastern Guangdong province), a few thousand villagers took to the street. Holding up signs that read ‘Down with dictatorship’, ‘Curb corruption’, ‘Down with government-business collusion’ and ‘Return land to the people’, villagers marched to the government headquarters at Lufeng city to protest against officials’ illegal land seizures and sales. Their demands were clear: to reclaim the land sold without the consent of the people, to release public accounts concerning the some 400 hectares of land seized and sold since 1978, to launch investigations into fraudulent elections and to enforce the Organic Law of Village Committees to hold fair and open elections. The demonstration ended peacefully after the acting mayor received the villagers’ petition.

Corrupt officials’ illegal land sales prompt villagers’ mobilization


Since the early 1990s, the villagers of Wukan had launched petitions at the local governments of Lufeng, Shanwei, and Guangdong province, yet only in vain. A proper reply from officials was never made. Without democratic elections, the secretary of the Communist Party’s local chapter , Xue Chang, has stayed in power for 41 years. Abusing its position as the so-called representative of Wukan, the village committee has sold and leased hundreds of hectare of land without consulting the villagers, and yet in the past few decades, villagers have only received less than 500 yuan in compensation.
The ongoing demonstrations were prompted by allegations that Hong Kong-based businessman Chen Wenqing, who is originally from Wukan, had colluded with the village committee to strike a private land sales deal with luxury home developer Country Garden, thereby gaining the 700 million yuan compensation which was supposed to be paid to the villagers. As the representative of Guangdong province and Shanwei city in the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the honorary president of the Confederacy of Hong Kong Shanwei Clansmen Ltd, as well as owner of various hotels and development companies in the mainland, Chen holds numerous official positions both in the mainland and Hong Kong. In recent months, as Country Garden began its construction work, villagers could no longer put up with the situation.
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December 17, 2011 – 1:45 am Categories: Activity, Statement | Post a comment

Charity events would not be out of place in a democratic socialist society

South China Morning Post
EDT16 | EDT 2011-11-03

Charity events would not be out of place in a democratic socialist society

During the Occupy Central protest last month, I gave my views on charity events like the Central Rat Race (Anti-Wall Street protest reaches Asia’s capitals, October 16).

The report prompted a critical response from Maggie W. C. Cheng (Restricted view of philanthropy, October 20).

I do appreciate people making the effort and contributing to charity events, including the Central Rat Race, which raises funds for a mental health charity.

However, instead of relying on personal goodwill through contributing to charity events, what we need are institutional mechanisms to ensure that disadvantaged people receive adequate assistance. Read More »

December 16, 2011 – 5:01 am Categories: Media Coverage | Comments (2)

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Reaching out to grass roots in society

South China Morning Post
EDT14 | EDT 2011-11-02

Reaching out to grass roots in society

I was disappointed by your (How We See it) editorial (“Protesters need to occupy their minds“, October 31).

I was a participant in the protest held on Sunday.

First of all, it was not an extension of Occupy Central to “Occupy Mong Kok”. There were no slogans that would have suggested this. In fact, it was a protest organised by Left 21 in support of, and in solidarity with, the Occupy Central movement.

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December 16, 2011 – 4:57 am Categories: Media Coverage | Comments (2)

‘Occupiers’ on the march in Kowloon

South China Morning Post
CITY3 | CITY | By Jennifer Cheng and Ng Kang-chung 2011-10-31

‘Occupiers’ on the march in Kowloon

Occupy Central morphed into Occupy Mong Kok yesterday.

With the Occupy Central campaign on Hong Kong Island showing signs of fading to irrelevance, a group of young activists in colourful costumes tried to revive public interest in their cause with a Halloween parade on the Kowloon side.

The three-hour parade, organised by the self-proclaimed socialist group Left 21, saw about 100 activists wearing festive costumes and holding Halloween props. They marched through the heart of the Kowloon Peninsula, along Nathan Road from Mong Kok to Tsim Sha Tsui.

The protesters resembled a crowd at a carnival, singing and clapping as they marched. Sunday shoppers and onlookers were treated to satirical skits that, the activists claimed, were meant to expose the hardships faced by grass-roots people under what they called the property hegemony.

Leading the parade was a replica hearse made from paper, symbolising the death of normal livelihoods if capitalism continued to develop in its current state. The protesters condemned corporate greed and financial inequality.

Despite the Halloween theme, though, not all onlookers found the parade amusing. A little girl yelled in fear upon seeing a “vampire” holding a “decapitated hand” that symbolised big corporations sucking people’s money out of the Mandatory Provident Fund.

A Left 21 spokesman, Kenneth Tong Yiu-keung, said: “Even the HK$6,000 cash giveaway by the government only offers short-term relief. The money will, at the end of the day, go back into the pockets of big business. It is not really helping the poor.

“We chose to start our march in Mong Kok because it is traditionally a more grass-roots district. We like to show that our campaign comes from ordinary people.”

The march was largely uneventful. The activists staged brief rallies outside shopping complex 1881 Heritage and the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui before taking the ferry to Central to join Occupy Central protesters at HSBC headquarters.

Activists in Hong Kong started the anti-capitalism Occupy Central movement on October 15, as a response to the Occupy Wall Street movement launched more than a month ago in New York.

A small group of protesters are still camping beneath the HSBC headquarters in Central. But mainstream media attention has been sparse, and fewer and fewer people seem to be paying attention to their activities.

December 16, 2011 – 4:52 am Categories: Media Coverage | Comments (4)

Protesters need to occupy their minds

South China Morning Post
EDT2 | EDT | HOW WE SEE IT 2011-10-31

Protesters need to occupy their minds

The people behind Occupy Central, now apparently expanding to Mong Kok, are in danger of inadvertently mocking themselves. As diverse as the protesters behind the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US and the so-called post-80s phenomenon in Hong Kong are, they have more or less clear messages. One group is against crony capitalism and the massive bailouts of large banks in the financial crisis. The other is opposed to the dominance of the local economy by a handful of large property developers and a few large corporations.

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December 16, 2011 – 4:51 am Categories: Media Coverage | Post a comment

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Class fight

The Standard
P26,P27 | Spree | By Bonnie Chen and Kelly Ip 2011-10-21

Class fight

Embers from the economic destruction caused by bankers three years back have triggered a new fire that has spread from Wall Street into Europe and Asia, finding its way to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, a disparate group of about 30 young protesters in the Occupy Central movement is trying to focus attention on inequalities from a “camp” beneath the headquarters of HSBC.

It’s clear people at different levels of society are in sympathy with them, but there are also those who see idealists wasting their time.

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December 16, 2011 – 4:49 am Categories: Uncategorized | Comments (3)

ANTI-WALL STREET PROTEST REACHES ASIA’S CAPITALS

South China Morning Post

EDT1 | EDT | headline | By Lana Lam 2011-10-16

ANTI-WALL STREET PROTEST REACHES ASIA’S CAPITALS

Hong Kong at the forefront in Asia-Pacific as anti-capitalist movement that began in New York’s financial district finds sympathisers and support around the world

From Wall Street to Exchange Square, the anti-capitalism movement that started a month ago in the US spread across the world yesterday and, compared with other Asian cities, the turnout in Hong Kong’s financial district was high.

Some 500 protesters demonstrated on a podium next to Exchange Square in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York on September 17 and has since spread to scores of North American cities. Police put the number of protesters in Hong Kong at 190. Organisers said there were 500.

Read More »

December 16, 2011 – 4:22 am Categories: Media Coverage | Comments (1)

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