In 2014, Hong Kong was rocked by the 鈥淯mbrella Movement鈥 鈥 an ongoing series of mass protests featuring sit-ins against a series of attacks on democratic rights.
Robin Lee, a British left-wing activist living in Hong Kong who is an editor of the Borderless Movement, was interviewed by 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Alex Bainbridge about the current situation.
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Can you make some comments on the current political situation in Hong Kong since the 2014 democracy uprising?
When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of 6 August, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, unforgettably. When I returned many years later, it was gone: taken away, 鈥渄isappeared鈥, a political embarrassment.
The existence of drug markets 鈥 and the struggles around them 鈥 raise a number of important sociopolitical and structural issues for analysis.
The expansion of markets for psychoactive substances was a strategic initiative by European companies in the development of capitalism, slavery and imperialism. Initially there were no illicit markets but the licit industries included the critical sugar (and rum) industry in Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia and other countries and the tobacco industry in the US South.
My heart breaks over Category 4 Hurricane Matthew鈥檚 slamming of Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.
When Hurricane Sandy struck New York City where I live, our entire neighbourhood was destroyed 鈥 every single house was uninhabitable.
The six richest countries in the world, who make up almost 60% of the world鈥檚 economy, are hosting less than 9% of the total number of refugees in the world, a July 18 report by British charity Oxfam found.
The dramatic slowing of China鈥檚 economy has significant consequences for world growth. Official statistics likely overstate China鈥檚 official growth rate of 7%.
Tianjin residents protest, August 20.
Capitalism with Chinese characteristics is in some strife. This is largely because the government鈥檚 attempt to keep growth at an unsustainable 7% a year is fuelled by equally unsustainable debt.
Corporate and local government debt has grown by 50% since 2009, and total debt, which includes household debt, is now close to 187% of GDP.
A new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found Venezuela cut its military budget by 34% last year, leading the region in arms spending cuts. In contrast, United States political allies Paraguay and Mexico led the region in upping military spending, raising military budgets by 13% and 11%, respectively.