One of the biggest demonstrations in Hong Kong was held on Sunday 4 December.
The main demand of the march was universal suffrage. It was held to protest against the government’s reform package which doesn’t include any timetable for adoption of universal suffrage in Hong Kong.
China’s premier Wen Jiabao said after the march that he was ’very concerned’ about the political situation in Hong Kong. And was willing to make minor modifications to the reform package. But ruled out any adoption of universal suffrage in the next years.
Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang refused to speak to the protesters but said to media that ’he shared peoples’ enthusiasm for democracy’. However, he will not do anything to upset the Beijing government.
In mainland China the government has done its’ best to stop the news about the march to spread. The state news agency Xinhua didn’t mention the march at all, and news broadcasts from Hong Kong based TV stations where blocked with public service announcements.
The CWI supports the demands for universal suffrage. However, real democracy cannot be achieved on the basis of capitalism, where the big transnational companies lobby or threat governments to get their will through. Companies like Wal-mart have a bigger share of world trade than for example Bangladesh.
The Hong Kong Peoples’ Alliance which is organizing the anti-WTO protests next week handed out thousands of flyers on the demonstration. Calling people to protest against the neoliberal policies of WTO.
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