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[Thread] All eyes on Asia as increasing trends of crony capitalism and ultranationalist authoritarianism have resulted in a reckoning as governments all attempt to use broad, punitive, and arbitrary national security and public order laws to target and eliminate dissidents.
![[Thread] All eyes on Asia as increasing trends of crony capitalism and ultranationalist authoritarianism have resulted in a reckoning as governments all attempt to use broad, punitive, and arbitrary national security and public order laws to target and eliminate dissidents.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfWMtYZXkAEHjs4.jpg "[Thread] All eyes on Asia as increasing trends of crony capitalism and ultranationalist authoritarianism have resulted in a reckoning as governments all attempt to use broad, punitive, and arbitrary national security and public order laws to target and eliminate dissidents.")
Governments in the region have taken strikingly similar positions by increasingly using the rhetorical strategy of tying political dissent and free press with "violence", "public disorder", "terrorism", "national security threats", "sedition", etc, exploiting vagueness and fear.
This has justified suspension of fundamental human rights, erosion of due process, expansion of surveillance and law enforcement powers, dismantling of accountability and oversight mechanisms, heavy handed raids, and extrajudicial violence.
In Hong Kong, the all-encompassing, all-reaching national security law has, in a matter of weeks, completely changed society.
Even the most innocuous expressions (signs, social media posts, chants) have been criminalized as subversion or succession. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3091335/hong-kong-national-security-law-flags-banners-and
Even the most innocuous expressions (signs, social media posts, chants) have been criminalized as subversion or succession. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3091335/hong-kong-national-security-law-flags-banners-and
Pro-democracy books have been pulled from libraries for fears of NSL violations. Legislators have been told that opposing budgets or vetoing may be illegal, while high-profile dissidents have been disqualified from elections and/or arrested and charged. https://hongkongfp.com/2019/08/30/breaking-hong-kong-activist-agnes-chow-arrested-pro-democracy-leaders-rounded/
The press has taken a beating. Apple Daily, the city's largest pro-democracy newspaper, was raided by 200+ police officers on vague legal grounds.
Jimmy Lai, owner of Apple Daily, his son, and an executive were arrested and charged under NSL. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3096887/apple-daily-police-raid-hong-kong-government-adviser-says
Jimmy Lai, owner of Apple Daily, his son, and an executive were arrested and charged under NSL. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3096887/apple-daily-police-raid-hong-kong-government-adviser-says
A similar playbook is unraveling in the Philippines:
Rappler, one of the country's most respected news outlets, has been targeted by the regime since 2017.
Founder Maria Ressa was convicted of "cyberlibel" in June and faces up to 6 years in prison. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/filipino-journalist-maria-ressa-a-thousand-cuts-documentary-film-1234726483/
Rappler, one of the country's most respected news outlets, has been targeted by the regime since 2017.
Founder Maria Ressa was convicted of "cyberlibel" in June and faces up to 6 years in prison. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/filipino-journalist-maria-ressa-a-thousand-cuts-documentary-film-1234726483/
Incredibly, since 2018, the government has filed 11 cases against her and Rappler over 14 months, resulting in eight arrest warrants for her.
Laws involving libel, defamation, national security, and public order are providing a legal scaffolding for crackdown on press.
Laws involving libel, defamation, national security, and public order are providing a legal scaffolding for crackdown on press.
Like the HK national security law, Filipinos face another all-encompassing law that silences dissent and impairs freedom of expression: the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 passed in July. The Act contains extremely broad offenses that can capture a whole host of political acts.
Under the law, persons who propose, incite, conspire, and participate in the planning, training, and facilitation an offence under the act, as well as those who provide support to "terrorists" could face life imprisonment without parole. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/philippines-dangerous-antiterror-law-yet-another-setback-for-human-rights/
Incredibly, a key lawyer for the Duterte administration has stated publicly that "terrorism is any form of dissent." Formal charges are supplemented by provisions which allow up to 24 days in detention without charge.
In Thailand, misuse and abuse of legal cudgels are taking the form of lese-majeste laws that criminalize criticism of the Thai royalty with up to 15 years in prison. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/world/asia/protests-thailand-king-monarchy.html
Pro-democracy elements, who have come out in thousands despite the pandemic to demand a rewrite of their constitution, resignation and disbanding of a military-controlled government and Parliament, have realized that true democratic reform requires curbing the King's powers.
The few brave activists who have read out statements in public criticizing the palace are now being targeted, including Panusaya, a 21 year old student, faces police surveillance and harassment. There are fears she will be jailed, disappeared, or killed. https://twitter.com/tracingtheworld/status/1293744330226556930
Yet the people have resisted! In the thousands, during the pandemic. Like others across the world, they are demanding respect for fundamental rights, more egalitarian distribution of resources and power, and the dismantling of carceral systems of violence.
They resist in their home countries, on the streets, online, and in the diaspora. They represent massive winds of change against establishment. And if those winds were to ever join, if they were to ever meet, build, and amplify in a common direction... https://lausan.hk/2020/revolution-everywhere-conversation-between-hong-kong-and-lebanon/
