A LabourStart campaign in partnership with the International Trade Union Confederation, Building and Wood Workers’ International, the Education International, the International Federation of Journalists and Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor.
On 21 August 2026 the High Court of Hong Kong convicted Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung of incitement to subversion under the National Security Law (NSL). On 11 September, Lee was given a sentence of seven years; Chow received seven years and three months. Lee is a founder and leader of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the largest independent trade union confederation that was forced to disband under the NSL. His only crime has been his courage. Lee has stood up fearlessly for the rights of working people and for democracy. Our message — the message of millions of trade unionists from around the world — could not be clearer: Free Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung — now.
More content from this blog
- When the Mountain Breaks: Nepal’s Disaster and the Failure to Act Together, by Soumyajit Bhar – 29 August 2026
- The Rise of Neoliberal Public Finance, by Melinda Cooper – 2 September 2024
- The Monthly Review’s China Issue Reveals the Narcissistic Inward Gaze, Self-Flagellating Politics of the Western Left, by Brian Hioe – 9 September 2021
- Germany, Ukraine, and the Changes in German Memory Culture Since Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion. Interview with Franziska Davies – 9 May 2026
- Xinjiang Year Zero
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