Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Hunger Strike Launched by the WTO Political Prisoners

solidarity | 06.01.2006 08:35 | Globalisation | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | World

12 of the 14 WTO Political Prisoners have decided to launch an indefinite hunger strike starting January 5 to not only highlight the injustice of their case, but more importantly highlight the reason for them coming to Hong Kong---to protest against the WTO. Their fight was not with the people of Hong Kong, but with the undemocratic institution of the WTO and the free trade policies implemented by the WTO without any real consultation with workers and farmers.

Call for Action
We are calling for the international community to express your outrage to the Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong police by calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTO political prisoners. We are asking individuals and organizations to participate in a variety of activities that we are launching in conjunction with the Hunger Strike by the WTO Political Prisoners.

(Sponsoring organizations: Korean Struggle Mission---Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean Peasants League, and Korean Catholic Farmers Association---Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Hong Kong People's Alliance, and Via Campesina)

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1.. International Support Letter Writing Campaign

Write to Donald Tsang calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTO
Political Prisoners. Please see the enclosed sample letter. Send copies of all letters to the International Committee for the Immediate Release of the WTO political prisoners at antiwto2005 at naver.com and hkpa.documentation at gmail.com.


2.. Coordinate an International Day of Action

We are calling for interested organizations and individuals to coordinate a
protest rally in front of the Chinese Embassy on Monday, January 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm. In addition to the rally, we urge people to meet with embassy officials calling for the immediate release of the 14 WTO Political Prisoners.

Please send all information of international day of actions to
antiwto2005 at naver.com and hkpa.documentation at gmail.com.


3.. Participate in an Internal Solidarity Mission to Hong Kong.

We are coordinating an international delegation consisting of key leaders from trade unions, human rights groups, civil society organizations, peasant's groups, and other social movements to participate in a solidarity mission to Hong Kong. The program will start with a local rally coordinated by Hong Kong support groups on January 8, participating in the international day of action and press conference on January 9, visiting key members within the Hong Kong government and the prosecution on January 10 and ending with observing the pre-trial hearing scheduled for January 11.

For more information about the International Solidarity Mission, please
contact Elizabeth Tang of the HKCTU at 852-9091-9088 and Jin Sook Lee of the KCTU at 852-6733-8395

4.. Solidarity Hunger Strike

We are calling for individuals and organizations to conduct a solidarity
hunger strike for either one meal or one day anytime between January 5 to 11, 2006.
Please send all information of solidarity hunger strike to
antiwto2005 at naver.com and hkpa.documentation at gmail.com.

5.. Financial Support

We appeal for financial support towards the expenses that the detainees have incurred as a result of the detention. Donations can be sent to HKBS 001-393248-001 or by cheques payable to Student Christian Movement of Hong Kong. Please send cheques to Mr. Chan Chiu Wai at 7/F Wing Wong Building 557-559 Nathan Road Kowloon, Hong Kong. Be sure to note on the cheque that the donation is "support for arrested WTO protestors".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Support Letter Writing Campaign



Dear Friends,

Please continue to show your solidarity with the 14 WTO Political Prisoners. A new sample letter is included below which reflects the most current information about the status of the 14 detainees, and specifically calls on the government to address human rights violations.

***

Sample Letter

Mr. Donald Tsang
Chief Executive
Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong
People's Republic of China

Via fax: 852-2509-0577 or Via e-mail  ceo@ceo.gov.hk

January 4, 2006

Dear Chief Executive Tsang:

On behalf of ________, I am writing to express our deep concerns about the arrest of 14 protestors from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China, who are facing charges of unlawful assembly for the events that transpired on the December 17, 2005 near the vicinity of the 6th World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference site in Hong Kong.

The 14 protestors charged were among more than 1,300 people arrested on the night of December 17 questioning the on-going negotiations within the conference site, which would undoubtedly be detrimental to the livelihood of farmers, workers, and people around the world. The protestors were attempting to voice their frustration and desperation at yet another round of the WTO Ministerial conference that yielded no measures to alleviate poverty or to address their concerns.

Although all fourteen are released on bail, it is our understanding that the
Hong Kong government has formally charged them with 'unlawful assembly' and they are considering adding new charges. We are very
concerned by the actions of the Hong Kong government and the police. Thus, we strongly call for the immediate release of the 14 protestors so that they can return home to their families.

We must also voice our serious concerns at the uncalled for and excessive use of force by the Hong Kong Police during the night of the 17th. Many were injured, and electric shock batons were used, while reports of 'beanbags pellets' being fired upon have also been confirmed. We have been told, that there were numerous instances of human rights violations during the process of detaining over 1,300 protestors that have been documented by human rights organizations. We urge that an impartial and thorough inquiry into the human rights violations and the violence used on the part of the Hong Kong police be pursued.

As concerned __________ regarding this matter, we would like to point out that a failure to properly investigate and rectify human rights violations would reflect negatively on the human rights standards of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. A harsh sentence for the 14 would also put into question the democratic tolerance of the region, taking into account that no foreigners have been arrested in previous cases of similar demonstrations.

We will continue to monitor closely the proceedings regarding the 14 protestors and again stress our call for the immediate release of the 14 activists.

We thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

(list of signatories)

CC: Pascal Lamy
Fax: 41-22-731-42-06 or  enquiries@wto.org

solidarity

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech