Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Art #Freedom
Italian city defies China bid to scrap dissident's art show
An Italian city is going ahead with plans to host an art exhibition by a Chinese dissident despite a request from China's embassy to cancel it.
The show, called "China is (not) near," is due to run from November 13 to February 13, 2021 in the northern Italian city of Brescia.
The exhibition by #Badiucao, a cartoonist also known as "The Chinese Banksy", is expected to denounce Chinese political repression and censorship of information on the COVID pandemic.
Brescia Mayor #EmilioDelBono told local press that his office would not comply with a request from the Chinese embassy in Italy to scrap it.
He said the friendship between the Italian and Chinese people "is not in question", but "I think it is important to show that you can stay friends while criticising some things".
The deputy mayor, #LauraCastelletti, earlier tweeted that "For us art and freedom of expression are an essential combination".
#Italy #FreedomOfExpression
Source: Stand News, #Oct23 https://thestandnews.page.link/PHgLpzQ5HDsT9fKR8
Italian city defies China bid to scrap dissident's art show
An Italian city is going ahead with plans to host an art exhibition by a Chinese dissident despite a request from China's embassy to cancel it.
The show, called "China is (not) near," is due to run from November 13 to February 13, 2021 in the northern Italian city of Brescia.
The exhibition by #Badiucao, a cartoonist also known as "The Chinese Banksy", is expected to denounce Chinese political repression and censorship of information on the COVID pandemic.
Brescia Mayor #EmilioDelBono told local press that his office would not comply with a request from the Chinese embassy in Italy to scrap it.
He said the friendship between the Italian and Chinese people "is not in question", but "I think it is important to show that you can stay friends while criticising some things".
The deputy mayor, #LauraCastelletti, earlier tweeted that "For us art and freedom of expression are an essential combination".
#Italy #FreedomOfExpression
Source: Stand News, #Oct23 https://thestandnews.page.link/PHgLpzQ5HDsT9fKR8
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#University #Admissions
Steep Drop in Applications to Political Science and Journalism Programmes in HK following China-imposed National Security Law
The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (#JUPAS) published its 2021 admission numbers. The number of applicants to faculties of Political Science and Journalism saw a significant drop this year.
Admissions to the Government and Public Policy in both Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) and City University had dropped by 20% last year, and by another 40% this year.
A 15% drop was seen in admissions to Journalism among Hong Kong universities last year, and a further 13% this year.
Ronson #ChanLongSing, chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association, said that the National Security Law has aggravated the political environment in the city, leading to the decline in these numbers. Students saw that becoming a reporter could lead to being sent behind bars; "It is reasonable for those with a rational mind to not choose Journalism."
Tommy #CheungSauYin, a Political Science graduate at Chinese University of Hong Kong and former President of CUHK Students Union, added more depressing facts.
Cheung noted that in 2019, 18 CUHK political science graduates won seats in the District Council election, but all of them have now been disqualified by the government. "There is no future for political science undergraduates," he said.
#PoliticalFreedom #WhiteTerror
Source: Stand News, #Oct23
https://thestandnews.page.link/um3G228riSQDNtRD6
Steep Drop in Applications to Political Science and Journalism Programmes in HK following China-imposed National Security Law
The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (#JUPAS) published its 2021 admission numbers. The number of applicants to faculties of Political Science and Journalism saw a significant drop this year.
Admissions to the Government and Public Policy in both Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) and City University had dropped by 20% last year, and by another 40% this year.
A 15% drop was seen in admissions to Journalism among Hong Kong universities last year, and a further 13% this year.
Ronson #ChanLongSing, chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association, said that the National Security Law has aggravated the political environment in the city, leading to the decline in these numbers. Students saw that becoming a reporter could lead to being sent behind bars; "It is reasonable for those with a rational mind to not choose Journalism."
Tommy #CheungSauYin, a Political Science graduate at Chinese University of Hong Kong and former President of CUHK Students Union, added more depressing facts.
Cheung noted that in 2019, 18 CUHK political science graduates won seats in the District Council election, but all of them have now been disqualified by the government. "There is no future for political science undergraduates," he said.
#PoliticalFreedom #WhiteTerror
Source: Stand News, #Oct23
https://thestandnews.page.link/um3G228riSQDNtRD6
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Court #RulebyLaw
Catch-22: Authority Rejects Reference Books Sent to Activist Lawyer Detained for Subversion, Due to Content about Subversion
Tonyee #ChowHangTung, the former vice-chairperson of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (#HKASPDMC), is in detention on charges of inciting subversion of state power. A lawyer by trade, she intends to represent herself in her upcoming trial, and is preparing her own defense while in custody.
In an article on her Patreon published on October 23, she mentioned that her relatives and friends recently tried to send books about the late activist Szeto Wah and the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989, but the Hong Kong Correctional Services (#HKCS) rejected them.
(Editor's note: Szeto Wah was the founder of the Hong Kong Alliance (#HKA) and was one of the most influential activists in Hong Kong who worked for decades to establish, preserve and protect Hong Kong people's democratic institutions, freedom and human rights.)
One of the books, she quoted an HKCS staff, "mentions behaviours of subverting state power". The decision could not be appealed, the staff added.
Chow questions whether the HKCS had assumed the role of the judge, making a fair trial impossible. The books are reference materials for her to prepare for her own defense in the trial, she said.
"If I can't have access to information about the Alliance and the June 4th incident, I would have no chance to find evidence to refute these accusations."
The Correctional Services have set up a perfect catch-22, she said of the arrangement. "This would guarantee the prosecution a win."
Source: Stand News #Oct23
https://thestandnews.page.link/Xwr8mUcpXtD6Q2MGA
#TonyeeChow #NSL #PrisonerRights #HongKongAlliance #HKASPDMC #June4th #TiananmenMassacre #SzetoWah
Catch-22: Authority Rejects Reference Books Sent to Activist Lawyer Detained for Subversion, Due to Content about Subversion
Tonyee #ChowHangTung, the former vice-chairperson of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (#HKASPDMC), is in detention on charges of inciting subversion of state power. A lawyer by trade, she intends to represent herself in her upcoming trial, and is preparing her own defense while in custody.
In an article on her Patreon published on October 23, she mentioned that her relatives and friends recently tried to send books about the late activist Szeto Wah and the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989, but the Hong Kong Correctional Services (#HKCS) rejected them.
(Editor's note: Szeto Wah was the founder of the Hong Kong Alliance (#HKA) and was one of the most influential activists in Hong Kong who worked for decades to establish, preserve and protect Hong Kong people's democratic institutions, freedom and human rights.)
One of the books, she quoted an HKCS staff, "mentions behaviours of subverting state power". The decision could not be appealed, the staff added.
Chow questions whether the HKCS had assumed the role of the judge, making a fair trial impossible. The books are reference materials for her to prepare for her own defense in the trial, she said.
"If I can't have access to information about the Alliance and the June 4th incident, I would have no chance to find evidence to refute these accusations."
The Correctional Services have set up a perfect catch-22, she said of the arrangement. "This would guarantee the prosecution a win."
Source: Stand News #Oct23
https://thestandnews.page.link/Xwr8mUcpXtD6Q2MGA
#TonyeeChow #NSL #PrisonerRights #HongKongAlliance #HKASPDMC #June4th #TiananmenMassacre #SzetoWah