In Episode 83 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes signs of hope on the 76th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, with the city’s Mayor Kazumi Matsui calling on the world’s nations to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear… Read morePodcast: Hiroshima at 76
Satellite images have revealed that China is building two new nuclear missile silo fields. The Federation of American Scientists reports that the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) appears to be constructing new missile silos near Yumen, Gansu province, and… Read moreChina: rapid expansion of nuclear missile silo fields
In Episode 78 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a report and analysis of the “100 Years of Chinese Communist Party Oppression” rally outside the Chinese consulate in New York City, jointly organized by groups including Project Black Mask Hong… Read morePodcast: democracy or separatism for China?
Hong Kong police arrested 11 people for distributing “seditious publications” on July 1, as the force erected tight cordons across the city on the 24th anniversary of its handover to China. Citing pandemic restrictions, the Security Bureau warned that those taking… Read moreHong Kong police thwart Handover anniversary demos
For the second year running, authorities in Hong Kong banned the annual June 4 vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Citing the ongoing restrictions imposed to contain COVID-19, hundreds of police officers closed off Victoria Park, where the vigil has traditionally… Read moreHong Kong authorities shut down Tiananmen massacre vigil
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and three others pleaded guilty on April 30 to charges related to their participation in last year’s June 4 vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre. Wong, one of the city’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates, is… Read moreJoshua Wong pleads guilty to Tiananmen vigil charge
A rally in Tokyo on April 22 highlighted opposition to a proposed immigration law currently under consideration in Japan’s National Diet, seen as a yet further tightening of the country’s already highly selective refugee system. The rally, under the slogan… Read moreJapan: protest against restrictive immigration bill
Ten veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy activists—all aged 60 or older—were sentenced on April 16 for participating in two unpermitted demonstrations, both in August 2019. They include Martin Lee, 82, hailed as Hong Kong’s “Father of Democracy,” and former lawmaker Margaret Ng, 73, who… Read moreHong Kong: pro-democracy activists sentenced
A Hong Kong court on April 1 found seven prominent democracy activists guilty of unauthorized assembly for their involvement in a 2019 peaceful anti-government protest. The defendants, all 60 years or older, include media figure Jimmy Lai and veteran Democratic… Read moreHong Kong: pro-democracy activists found guilty
Li Qiaochu, a feminist, labor researcher, and human rights defender who has especially advocated for the rights of migrant workers in China, is being held incommunicado following her arrest for “subversion of state power.” Li was detained Feb. 6 in… Read moreChina: rights defender detained in ‘quarantine’
In Episode 63 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg draws a parallel between the self-determination struggles in Taiwan and Puerto Rico. Each is an island nation in the “backyard” of a great imperial power, struggling for its independence. Taiwan is… Read moreTaiwan & Puerto Rico: forbidden symmetry
Chinese rights activist and attorney Guo Feixiong was detained at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport Jan. 28 after border police prevented him from boarding a flight to visit his ailing wife, Zhang Qing, who is being treated for cancer in the Washington DC… Read moreChina: another human rights lawyer ‘disappeared’
