Dear all,
There is now a bill in the "deliberation" process of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC"). This bill is named as "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of People's Republic of China National Security Law" (the "Bill"). This bill will probably be handed to the People's Congress ("PC") after the process.
If passed in the PC, it will be added into the Annex III of the Basic Law. At the same time, local approval will not be needed and will be applied in Hong Kong. This seems to be a Beijing response to the near year-long protests in Hong Kong.
The Board of Wikimedia Hong Kong User Group (the "Board") made a statement hereinafter regarding the current developments regarding such a bill, as this may possibly undermine the capability for Wikipedia to be accessed unrestrictedly in Hong Kong.
Below is the statement issued by the Board :
// We are currently very aware of Beijing authorities and local pro-Beijing party members pushing for a bill which may limit the freedom of speech within Hong Kong.
We are monitoring this issue closely, as it may affect the capability of the User Group to carry out its mission for ensuring uncensored and unrestricted access to Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia and Wikinews.
- The Board, Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong //
About the Protests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Hong_Kong_protests About the User Group: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Hong_Kong
Regards, William Chan (User:1233) Board Member, Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong *issued on behalf of the board*
Scary! Is there any way Wikimedians can help to get the message out to people?
On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 5:31 PM William Chan william@wchan.hk wrote:
Dear all,
There is now a bill in the "deliberation" process of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC"). This bill is named as "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of People's Republic of China National Security Law" (the "Bill"). This bill will probably be handed to the People's Congress ("PC") after the process.
If passed in the PC, it will be added into the Annex III of the Basic Law. At the same time, local approval will not be needed and will be applied in Hong Kong. This seems to be a Beijing response to the near year-long protests in Hong Kong.
The Board of Wikimedia Hong Kong User Group (the "Board") made a statement hereinafter regarding the current developments regarding such a bill, as this may possibly undermine the capability for Wikipedia to be accessed unrestrictedly in Hong Kong.
Below is the statement issued by the Board :
// We are currently very aware of Beijing authorities and local pro-Beijing party members pushing for a bill which may limit the freedom of speech within Hong Kong.
We are monitoring this issue closely, as it may affect the capability of the User Group to carry out its mission for ensuring uncensored and unrestricted access to Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia and Wikinews.
- The Board, Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong
//
About the Protests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Hong_Kong_protests About the User Group: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Hong_Kong
Regards, William Chan (User:1233) Board Member, Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong *issued on behalf of the board* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org