Coordinated attacks on Hong Kong movement

As we go to press the official leaders of the mass movement in Hong Kong seem to have mistakenly called for the protests to end. Below is an update from last week's article in the Socialist and extract of an article available at www.chinaworker.info (where you can also find updates on the situation as it develops).

A Socialist Action forum at the 2014 Hong Kong democracy protests (Click to enlarge)

Dikang, Socialist Action (CWI Hong Kong)

On 3 October, the mass democracy movement suffered what were evidently coordinated attacks on several fronts. In the working class district of Mong Kok, where Socialist Action members have been very active in the 'Umbrella Movement' protests, criminal gangs and crowds mobilised by 'Caring Hong Kong Power' (a racist right-wing pro-regime group) attacked the occupation violently, tearing down tents and barricades and assaulting pro-democracy protesters while police largely stood back.

A simultaneous and identical attack, was mounted against the occupation in Causeway Bay, on Hong Kong Island, which provided a pretext for police to move in and clear barricades and tents, in an attempt to close down the occupation there.

Two days earlier, another attack had been carried out by a pro-regime rural organisation (Heung Yee Kuk) against a campaign stall run by the pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). Around 10,000 members of the HKCTU - in sectors such as transport, education and services - have been on strike since 29 September as part of the current protest movement.

At the main Admiralty protest site the police asked the occupiers to clear a corridor to allow in an ambulance for a sick policeman, only to use this to drive in truckloads of tear gas, rubber bullets, and other weaponry.

The violence against the protest movement makes the issue of democratic organisation extremely urgent.

This can only be solved by setting up action committees in every occupation, to coordinate mobilisation and especially to organise self-defence, with similar democratic bodies established in schools and workplaces to build the strike movement.

These committees must decide tactics and which political responses are needed through open and democratic discussions. Only a fully democratic movement is capable of defeating the government.

Socialist Action and the CWI fights for:

Down with CY Leung! (Hong Kong chief executive)
No more fake deals and negotiations: Full democracy now!
Support and extend the 'Umbrella Revolution' - build democratic action committees to decide the next steps and organise self-defence against government orchestrated violence!
Continue and build the schools strike! For a fighting independent school student union!
Down with one-party CCP dictatorship! Down with the capitalist tycoons that enjoy its protection!
The democracy struggle is also a class struggle - We need a mass workers' party to fight for socialism!

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.