Oscar Parry
A fire that broke out at a Hong Kong apartment building and soon engulfed seven other towers has killed at least 146 people, with hundreds still missing. The scale of destruction has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, with revelations about safety lapses and possible corruption.
The renovation site had been examined numerous times over safety concerns, and the company responsible had a record of prior violations. According to The South China Morning Post, residents have reported that fire alarms had failed to go off even after locals smelled smoke.
Anger has spread quickly through the city, fuelled by the extremely undemocratic nature of the Hong Kong government. After the suppression of pro-democracy protests in 2019, a Beijing-imposed national security law effectively banned anyone who isn’t deemed a pro-China ‘patriot’ from holding political office.
On 1 December, officials said anti-corruption authorities had arrested 13 people over the disaster so far, including the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, and had “immediately begun comprehensive investigation along the lines of manslaughter”. In contrast, still no action regarding Grenfell has taken place eight years on. However, this is seen as an attempt by the Hong Kong government to try and cut across protest. But the ferocity of the fire, and how many people were unable to escape it, has raised significant questions and accusations of complacency, negligence, and corruption in the city’s government.
At a volunteer donation site, many young people ran various stalls, held cardboard information signs and offered support using collective action not seen at this scale since the 2019 protests. It appeared to be making the government nervous. After dark on 28 November, a squad of armed police officers walked laps of the donation site, and government workers took over from volunteers.
An online petition has listed ‘four demands’, echoing the 2019 protests’ ‘five demands’ for democratic rights, and calling for guaranteed care of victims and accountability for officials in any corrupt activity. The author of the petition, Miles Kwan, a Hong Kong student, was arrested on Saturday, for ‘seditious intention’. Local media also reported the arrest of Kenneth Cheung, a former district councillor. The arrests followed warnings by national security authorities that they would crack down on anyone deemed to be using the incident to incite ‘anti-China’ sentiment.
Hong Kong is days away from legislative elections. The vote is only the second to be held since the curbs on the current legislature in the wake of 2019 protests, and the last election had the lowest turnout in the city’s history, 30%, after most of the city’s formal opposition were in jail, self-imposed exile or out of office.
The simmering anger in society is a powder keg that could erupt in protest at any time. The demands for justice and safe, affordable housing linked to demands for basic democratic rights, like freedom of the press, the right to organise, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, as well as economic demands for the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy under democratic workers’ control and management, should be fought for by all socialists.
