World's democracies condemned the crackdown in Hong Kong, but did nothing to impose costs on the CCP dictatorship. Instead business (read: Chinese exports) only grew and grew. Gotta empower them despots! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hong Kong's pro-democracy struggle presented an opportunity for democracies to stand up against dictatorship, but we failed miserably.

Giving the #CCP yet another free pass (after its repressive occupation of Tibet in 1950-1951 and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre) surely emboldened #putin to invade #Ukraine in 2022.

Repression of Tibetans, Uighurs, South-Mongolians, Hongkongers... or a billion+ voiceless Chinese brought no consequences, but at least the invasion of *European* Ukraine gave us Europeans a limited wakeup.

It's not enough. We could have aided developing democracies when the Soviet empire fell in 1989-1991 and *not aided* repressive regimes. Instead we doubled down on doing business without limits and empowered the likes of Chinese dictatorship.

There are things I love about Europe, and things I am deeply ashamed of. Talking about human rights while empowering despots belongs in the latter category.

Some foreign individuals did "Stand with Hong Kong" though. At least one here in Mastodon is, as always, still busy fighting authoritarian takeover. Now in her homeland of the USA.

“Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.“
— Nelson Mandela

#Hongkong #Tibet #Uighurs #ccp #china #EuropeanDefence #AxisOfDespots

@noelreports in the logic of #ruzzia undertaking a genocide against #ukraine this makes fully sense. Like abducting and "reeducating" children and grown-ups.
As #prc is doing with the #uighurs.
Still, I really can not get my head around this. How you can assume yourself to be the #masterrace and it is your "holy right" to do so.
Not during the crusades, not in any colony, not in any of the americas, africa or anywhere else.

This is disgusting!

I hoped humanity was past that!

@harmonicarichard

I agree with all you've said.
However, #TikTok indoctrinates, too.
The #CCP is world-class in controlling the narrative on the internet, which OFC they do in the #PRC with the same app. #TikTok is pushing rightwing propaganda, just like the #DeadBirdSite: https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-recommendations-far-right-wing , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-5110-9_8.

And OFC, they control everything on it regarding #China. I'm positive that a #Short reporting on the plight of the #Uighurs would not be online for > 1 hour.

@VeroniqueB99