Contrary to the narrative spun by the corporate media that COVID-19 is now “endemic” and a stable “new normal” has been reached, reality has come crashing down once again in the third year of this unprecedented crisis.
The sudden crisis in Hong Kong, previously protected under China’s Zero COVID policy, is among the worst in the world since the pandemic began.
The distressing scenes at hospitals are a distinct contrast with the systemic actions repeatedly being taken by the Beijing government to suppress COVID-19 outbreaks.
Striking Chinese taxi drivers demand lower contract fees; 95,000 Maharashtra state transport workers continue strike; Around 50,000 paramedical professionals protest in Sri Lanka; New Zealand rail workers vote for national strike.
India: Anti-malaria contract workers in Delhi demand permanency; CBS Bank employees strike in Kerala; Australian port workers strike
GM Korea workers strike for higher pay; thousands of Sri Lankan teachers continue national walkout; Australian tugboat workers resume rolling strikes
The attack on freedom of speech is ultimately directed at the Chinese working class.
The new legislation is a continuation of the attacks on democratic rights following mass protests in 2019.
Beijing’s primary fear is that the working class will start to fight for its own class interests in Hong Kong and opposition will spread throughout the rest of China.
Three opposition activists in Hong Kong were sentenced to jail terms this week on trumped-up charges for their part in a so-called unauthorised assembly during large-scale protests in support of democratic rights last year.
The conditions for the heightened attack on democratic and social rights have been created by the pro-capitalist opposition pan-democrat bloc.
Behind the string of detentions, the real fear motivating the authorities is a united movement of the entire Chinese working class.
Beijing is driven above all by fears that renewed protests in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland.
Washington’s increasingly shrill campaign is part of a US confrontation across the full range of issues—diplomatic, economic and military—that are leading to war.
The Tories’ aim is to open another front in US imperialism’s economic, diplomatic, and military-strategic offensive that threatens military war against the world’s second largest economy.
While Beijing has concerns about imperialist intrigues in Hong Kong, its chief fear is that unrest in the city over democratic and social rights will spill over the border into the rest of China.
US President Trump dramatically escalated his reckless anti-China campaign yesterday, making clear that a dangerous confrontation between the two countries is all but inevitable.
The determination by the US secretary of state that Hong Kong is not autonomous from Beijing is a further step in the Trump administration’s accelerating anti-China campaign.
Once again, US imperialism is using the banner of “human rights” to advance its economic and strategic interests.
Washington is attempting to exploit the arrests to further whip up tensions with Beijing and paint China as a threat.
