🌊 Free Tide: Crocodiles, now with COVID!

Would you like some censorship with your free speech?

Jun 15, 2021

Good morning

“I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.”
— “exile (feat. Bon Iver)” by Taylor Swift; also legislators reviewing local films and banning the ones that don’t comply with national security guidelines

Another song for today’s news. “You were my town, now I’m in exile seeing you out.”

~ Kyna

National Security in action

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai will stand trial at the High Court on national security charges. Lai was accused of perverting the course of justice by participating in anti-extradition protests, allegedly conspiring to help activist Andy Li flee the city and requesting that foreign powers impose sanctions on China for human rights abuses committed in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection is investigating two additional #COVID19 cases involving two women who arrived from Indonesia

news.gov.hk2 imported COVID-19 cases detectedThe Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating two additional COVID-19 cases involving two women who arrived from Indonesia.

Coronavirus in Hong Kong

New cases: 2 (imported)
Total cases: 11,879 cases so far (71 active cases, 210 total deaths, 11,598 total recovered)

The Centre for Health Protection says that among the environmental samples collected at the residence of a confirmed case, packaging from Thailand-imported crocodile meat tested positive for COVID-19. Precautionary measures for food imports were heightened earlier this year, with samples being taken at the Airport Food Inspection Offices.

In other news…

The Film Censorship Ordinance was recently updated in accordance with the National Security Law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam claims Hong Kong still enjoys free speech and this change does not impede on creative expression.

Antony Dapiran, author of City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong, examines the mounting censorship regulations and tightened freedoms from the past few days. In his newsletter, he notes that censorship is always externally imposed, as the very fear to act or speak – and the internalisation of this fear – is rooted in the threat of punishments for violating government guidelines.

“Self-censorship does not occur in isolation: it occurs within a context. We need to understand self-censorship in that context, not as an action, but as a reaction … The creation of that environment of fear is the act of censorship.”
— Antony Dapiran

Today concludes a series of historic anniversaries, marking two years since the two million marched in peaceful protest against the extradition bill.

Read now

The nuclear power plant the US investigated for leaks yesterday has been declared “not a major concern”. According to Luk Bing-lam, a nuclear engineering expert at City University, the plant seems to have employed normal procedures to handle the leak.

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Events

Visegrad Group (V4), a cultural and political alliance in Central Europe, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. A classical concert will feature compositions from Polish, Hungarians, Czech and Slovak artists. Find more information on the Polish Consulate’s Facebook page.

Knowledge of Design Week 2021: Reimagining Service Economy. 40 innovators from the world's top brands discuss what the post-pandemic service economy will look like. Check out the speaker lineup here.

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