[liberationtech] What could we at Liberationtech do to help pro-democracy HK activists protest China's new security law?

Wed May 27 23:46:29 CEST 2020

Excellent point, Lee.
To wit, Annalee Saxenian said something similar of Chinese and Indian immigrant
engineers to Silicon Valley:
When local technologists claim that 'Silicon Valley is built on ICs' they refer
not to the integrated circuit but to Indian and Chinese engineers.[...]
The entrepreneurial contributions of these skilled immigrants are impressive. In
1998, Chinese and Indian engineers, most of whom arrived in the United States
after 1970 to pursue graduate studies, were senior executives at one-quarter of
Silicon Valley’s new technology businesses. These immigrant-run companies
collectively accounted for more than $16.8 billion in sales and 58,282 jobs in
1998. Moreover, Chinese and Indian immigrants started companies at an
accelerating rate in the 1990s.[...]
...they have created a rich fabric of professional and associational activities
that facilitate immigrant job search, information exchange, access to capital
and managerial knowhow, and the creation of shared ethnic identities. The
region’s most successful Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs rely heavily on such
ethnic resources while simultaneously integrating into the mainstream technology
economy.
These networks are not simply local. Silicon Valley’s new immigrant
entrepreneurs are building far-reaching professional and business ties toregions
in Asia. They are uniquely positioned because their language skills and
technical and cultural know-how allow them to functioneffectively in the
business culture of their home countries as well as in Silicon Valley. ... In
this process, Silicon Valley–based entrepreneurs benefit from the significant
flows of capital that these immigrants coordinate, as well as from the
privileged access that they provide to Asian markets and to Taiwan’s flexible,
state-of-the-art semiconductor and personal computer manufacturing
capabilities.
Saxenian warned:

Restricting the immigration of skilled workers, for example, could have
substantially more far-reaching consequences for economic development than most
policymakers recognize, affecting not only the supply of skilled workers but
also the rate of entrepreneurship, the level of international investment and
trade, and California’s economic growth.
R_699ASR.pdf · 216KB  Download  

On Wed, May 27, 2020 9:29 PM, Lee Alley lee at morganalley.com  wrote:
I have to admit I really, REALLY sympathise with the urge to *do something* and
undermine, hack, bypass, route around the damage and capabilities of the PLA and
friends. But can I add one bit of perspective?

Firstly, despite huge ongoing protests before the Covid, China decided to go
ahead with this anyway. They've upped the ante and they have (most of) the
power, including the will to act contrary to world opinion. 

Secondly, and more importantly, Something the PRC leadership seem to have
forgotten is the entirety of the value-add of HK walks home from the cars, buses
and subways in leather shoes every night and is literally contained between the
ears of every HK resident in the province. What HK'ers know and are capable of
doing doesn't necessarily have to be done there as the diasporas of Vancouver
and London have proven. They are the precious commodity; not the rock they live
on.

In my opinion, urging our leaders to adopt an open-door policy to any resident
of Hong Kong that wants to emigrate would be the most effective way to
concentrate the minds of the PRC leadership. A Pyrrhic victory of winning a few
buildings on a rock with some sycophants that stayed behind is not the look
Chairman Xi can successfully take back to the National People's Congress. 

I may be wrong, but if we welcomed the Anabaptists and Jews and Huguenots and
many others backintheday and gave them space to become some of the most creative
and productive people in their adopted lands, we can be prepared to do the same
for the people of Hong Kong today. Maggie Thatcher didn't give them passports
because she believed China was serious about wanting to make the 1 country/2
systems thing work and that HK would end up influencing China to the extent HK
would be happy to be united with the mainland. Clearly China (ironically) didn't
have the patience. 

I know this isn't The Way to some on the list; it isn't clever code; it's not a
great hack on the Great Firewall; it's not a heroic Neo-like denouement to save
the Gates of Zion, but it's a solution that gives them positive optionality and
it shows a huge, whopping-great bully he's at his weakest when he flexes his
muscles towards the vulnerable.

Maybe I'm a dreamer or a hopeless idealist, but the politics of appeasement
haven't worked and outright attack would be met with the same with HK being
collateral political damage. But this way seems to tick all the boxes without
violence and with little downside. I've read everyone's ideas with interest and
happy to listen to any others (preferably lacking the word "should" eg. "China
should respect HK..." Yes. We know.)

Thanks for listening,
Lee

(....and back to lurk mode!)

On 27/05/2020 19:56, Yosem Companys wrote:

This is an excellent follow up. Thank you. I will bring up to the topic with the
folks in Hong Kong and pose these questions to them as well.  

On Wed, May 27, 2020 6:32 PM, Robert Mathews (OSIA) mathews at hawaii.edu  wrote:

On 5/26/20 6:00 AM, lt-request at lists.liberationtech.org  wrote:
From: Yosem Companys <ycompanys at gmail.com>  Date: 5/25/20, 6:55 PM  To: Eric FU 
<fujunscnu at gmail.com>  CC: LT <lt at lists.liberationtech.org>  
Of course. But this is not a push model. Local actors have already asked for our
help. They have asked we brainstorm  ways in which Liberationtech could help
them do things that have not been done in the past. 

I present my apologies in advance for this quick penning,  and for presenting
the following multi-dimensional content to the group -- in the way that I
estimate the content must be, and has been presented below.

The question in the 'subject-line' of the original message Yosem had dispatched
to the list read: "What could we at Liberationtech do to help pro-democracy HK
activists protest China's new security law?"   Subsequently, Yosem shared more
information in a message to Eric Fu, stating, "They have asked we brainstorm
ways in which Liberationtech could help them do things that have not been done
in the past."

To this, some clarification might benefit all.  WHAT is the problem "in
reality," that Liberationtech could assist brainstorm-on, and possibly as a
"crowd-resource"?   Is it, to reveal more effective ways of "demonstrating" the
opposition's position, or are there "other" implied/undeclared objectives upon
which a "brainstorming" must be had?

I present the following open-source media reporting as a basis for asking the
aforementioned questions.  Permit me to further highlight the issues "on the
ground", as reported.

Since 9/11, police forces around the world have increasingly become
para-militarized.  Consequentially, in this and other instances, when
established instruments of "power-systems" meet/confront citizens-on-the-street
(as it has in Hong Kong), on such matters as the seemingly 'inexorable'
political condition there (as the AFP  story indicates below), the
confrontations with Police forces will increasingly become brutal and
destructive.  But, this is NOT just a post 9/11 condition, it is historical.  (
Comments Continue below the link)

Hong Kong police stamp out national anthem law protests
AFP
27 MAY 2020
https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/hong-kong-police-stamp-out-national-anthem-law-protests-doc-1sa9dv7

--->

Also, considering that the U.S. State Department has "hurriedly communicated" to
US Congress that conditions in Hong Kong are no longer tenable/in compliance
with findings and declarations under "22 USC Ch. 66 - Subchapter 1 - Policy
(United States-Hong Kong Policy)"  [ 
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title22/chapter66&edition=prelim
  AND   
https://www.state.gov/prc-national-peoples-congress-proposal-on-hong-kong-national-security-legislation/ 
 ]  and therefore, recommending that the standing US policy be revoked, only
complicates matters (enormously)  for ALL residents of Hong Kong.

Adjacently, in media reporting from the Sub-Continent, NDTV has noted the
sentiments of a Hotel Manager and a female protester as follows:
"I'm scared ... if you don't come out today, you'll never be able to come out.
This is legislation that directly affects us," said Ryan Tsang, a hotel manager.

AND

"Although you're afraid inside your heart, you need to speak out," said Chang,
29, a clerk and protester dressed in black with a helmet respirator and goggles
in her backpack.

Street demonstrations aside, how are the residents of Hong Kong to productively
determine their future, and can they?  Is "showing-up" on the street, the
adequate measure to be taken?

(Comments Continue below the link)

Riot Police Deployed In Hong Kong Over Protests Against Chinese Anthem Bill
The anthem bill is set for a second reading on Wednesday and is expected to
become law next month.
NDTV
May 27, 2020 11:37 am IST
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/riot-police-deployed-in-hong-kong-over-protests-against-chinese-anthem-bill-2235785

--->

Given the escalations we are witnessing, what is the strategy (if any) of/for
residents and their political future in Hong Kong?  What, if anything, can
Liberatontech do to support in that regard, is a question that could - more
concretely - be posed....  (personal view)...    External to that, WHAT
precisely must/can Liberationtech 'brainstorm', and with what goal for Hong Kong
in mind?

A few more recent open-source media reports that might bre more informational
for the membership....

Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing defends China's plans for security law
CNN Digital Rebranding 2013
By Michelle Toh, 
CNN Business
Updated 8:08 AM ET, Wed May 27, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/business/li-ka-shing-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html

-->

China's Hong Kong law set to bar foreign judges from national security cases:
sources
Yew Lun Tian
REUTERS
MAY 26, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-hongkong-security/chinas-hong-kong-law-set-to-bar-foreign-judges-from-national-security-cases-sources-idUSKBN2321CW

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing’s planned national security legislation for Hong
Kong is set to block its foreign judges from handling national security trials,
people familiar with the matter said, which would exacerbate concerns about the
city’s judicial independence.
-- 
Dr. Robert Mathews, D.Phil.
Principal Technologist &
Distinguished Senior Research Scholar
Office of Scientific Inquiry & Applications (OSIA)
University of Hawai'i
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