As the hordes of the totalitarian possessed try to overturn the Western world, in the East a much more sinister shadow stirs. You may cringe at my platitudinous words, but in the cliché-ridden society we live in, it might be the only way for you to listen. Because we must listen, since if we don’t, the forces of evil will creep further and its cold, clenching grip will become even more difficult to prise. It is very easy nowadays to collapse into our lovely liberal lifestyles. We can regard the international scene as if nothing will ever touch us, but if the advent of the global pandemic has proven anything, it has proven that no society is immune. Yet even as we sit: our protests heard, pleasures attended and wants for nothing, we should be reminded of our commitment to democracy and to liberty and to humanity…
One year ago, the watchful people of Hong Kong staged massive protests against the introduction of the infamous Extradition Bill, which would have made political dissent to Beijing’s regime even more difficult. The Bill was a result of a murder in Taiwan the difficulty for the accused to be extradited to Hong Kong and charged with murder. Beijing naturally seized this opportunity to take another crack at squashing dissent inside the free city. The Umbrella Movement, born in 2014 from the unrest caused by the Mainland’s meddling in the SAR’s electoral form, unfurled its gamps once again and took to the streets. After a mass protest outside the Government Headquarters in Admiralty, the standoff between the Hong Kong Police Force and demonstrators turned violent: rubber bullets and tear gas deployed by the police as civilians charged through barricades. These protests managed to stall the second reading of the bill in the Legislative Council, and the Five Demands from the Anti-Extradition movement were drawn up. The most shocking event took place on the 31st of August. Distressing footage of police indiscriminately beating and pepper-spraying protesters inside of the Prince Edward MTR Station emerged on the Internet. The cries of pain from the spray, the confused violence, and the eerily calm tannoy ringing throughout the station gives the entire event a distinctly dystopian savour; the police’s brutality was relentless. In the midst of the protests and the upcoming local elections in the November, members of the self-determinationist party Demosistō were disqualified from running, including Agnes Chow, who, having given up her British Citizenship to contest in the elections in 2018, found herself arrested and released on bail. Joshua Wong, the democracy activist student who is constantly in and out of jail (in the good sense) was also banned from running. Finally, after months of protests and civil disobedience, the unsettling bill was withdrawn by the Chief Executive Carrie Lam in the September. In the local elections, the pro-democracy camp slapped back at the pro-Beijing camp, winning 17 of the 18 district council seats. This is not the first time that Beijing has tried to interfere in the city’s system. In 2003, the CCP tried to implement a national security law which was met again by mass demonstrations and subsequently rejected by the Chief Executive. But now the Communist regime is trying something far more insidious. With the twice failure of trying to implement such a law, the National People’s Congress on the 21st of May passed another national security law. Bypassing the normal legislative process, the Mainland’s government is strong-arming the people of Hong Kong into being subjugated to its authoritarianism by forcing it through the compliance of Article 23 of the Basic Law. This national security law if implemented would outlaw seditious and separatist expression, and allow the government to essentially crackdown on any criticism of the regime on the mainland. This latest pernicious attempt from the People’s Republic to smother over those cherished civil rights the Hong Kongese so gratefully defend, the freedom of speech and expression which they are fortunate enough to enjoy, is yet another example for why the breakdown of the “one country, two systems” principle is a dark warning: that totalitarianism and democracy are incompatible with one another. The Chinese Communist Party, and especially its current form led by the despotic Xi Jinping, has a long record of violating basic humanity. If you want an idea of how a CCP-led world would look, perceive no further than how it treats its own citizens. From its defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949 to today, the CCP has exercised its totalitarian brutality over the Chinese people. From The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, to the malevolent Big Brother slave-state we see today, no one has suffered more from the persistence of this regime than the Chinese people. The masterful combination of the prophecies laid out in both Orwell’s and Huxley’s respective pessimisms only shows us what is in store for the rest of the world: mass state surveillance, incessant consumerism, and suppression of religion. Naturally, this is nothing compared to the treatment already experienced by those who fall out of line: the oppression of Tibet and the mass internment of the Uyghurs are just a taste. These are just some examples of the real civil rights violations we should be protesting against. Like Hong Kong, the gallant island of Taiwan has suffered from the hands of mainland oppression. Under orders from the central government, the People’s Liberation Army is to occupy or annexed Taiwan by 2030. China’s utilisation of sharp power towards the ROC’s democratic and liberal society is evident in the disturbing monitoring of its communication, and interference in its politics. The most recent presidential election in January this year saw DPP president Tsai Ing-wen maintain office with 57% of the vote, defeating the KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu. Despite her defeat in the multi-question referendum in November 2018, the development in Hong Kong and China’s increased aggressiveness in the region has brought into question for many Taiwanese the continuation of the One-China Policy. The Taiwanese have weathered their oppression well, from international exclusion from organisations such as the WHO, and to the economic and diplomatic cut-off threats made by the PRC, the people of Taiwan still maintain and continue to encourage their democratic commitment, and also their belief in civil society. Allowing the most recent Coronavirus to become a global pandemic is an indication of what this emerging superpower will bring to the world stage. The deceit, lies and threats towards whistle-blowers about the deadly nature of this virus have plunged the world into such social and economic disarray, only uncertainty rules the future; Beijing’s incompetence and cowardice make the crisis worthy to be held up as China’s Chernobyl moment, except, unless the international community act appropriately, it is naïve to think that this incident will result in any Sino-glasnost, as the CCP grip on the country is hardly at risk of relinquishment. In fact, the aggressive confidence of the regime will only increase from here. The Free World has a lot of shame in this. For the interests in capital and global finance, we have allowed this tyranny to turn itself into a world power. Depriving our own working classes, and moving our manufacturing jobs to the Chinese market was a reckless decision, which has only made us more dependent. We didn’t mind the cheating in trade and currency manipulation if it benefitted us with a flood of cheap goods and products into our economies, but even this hasn’t been worth the poor quality we get back. The entire idea of globalisation, of trying to make luxuries into rights, has ultimately been more destructive than positive, not to mention the additional suffering inflicted on the Chinese people, working in extreme conditions. Furthermore, and another example of the West’s misguided sense of security, The PRC’s Belt and Road initiative is making headway in a leaderless West. The strong investment in African, Asian and European infrastructure is a way for Xi Jinping to buy his influence across the world. We have certainly missed a trick and losing global leadership because of it. We are facing yet another new test, that is, the on-coming conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and our way of life. Like all the tests we’ve weather before it: Nazism, Stalinism and Islamism, it will again be critical in deciding if despair shall triumph or if duty shall prevail. The struggle of the people of Hong Kong should be a reminder that the battle against tyranny and totalitarian dictatorship is not just a condition which emerges every so often, but a part of the unrelenting commitment to the principles of democracy and liberty. We in the West have fostered and developed these sacred concepts. We live freely, say what we want, do as we please, and have our voices heard inside of a process where no one institution has total power. These facts of our lives are being steadily eroded, and if they were to disappear, then so would the last spark of esperance the world possesses. This reminder, as we see the Hong Kongers and the Taiwanese struggle against oppressive bullying, should evoke a rekindled spirit of internationalism and solidarity to those who share our principles and aspirations for our way of life. We shouldn’t hide from the darkness, but join those who will face it head-on alongside us. The CCP has a vision for the world too and we can’t let it win. The West must stand up properly to China because sooner or later, we’ll have to anyway. Totalitarianism and democracy are incompatible, and we should take this to heart. Delaying the inevitable conflict will only result in a worse one down the line. It’s not responsible to believe that we can appease this time. It’s not moral for us to abandon those who deserve our support. We need to take advantage of this crisis and recession to arm ourselves economically, militarily and spiritually for the storm which is coming. About the Author
David Tait is the founding editor of the La Konfederisto and has contributed a number of articles to the magazine. This post was originally published on his blog The Young Mazzinian
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