by Friends of Conscience, C Villeneuve

Maggie Wenzhuo Hou moved to Ottawa from Beijing six years ago as a political refugee. Eight months pregnant on arrival, she found a supportive and generous community for her and her son. A former activist and human rights advocate for the Empowerment and Rights Institute in Beijing, she continues her advocacy work supporting exiled Chinese dissidents who had family links in Canada through her grassroots, non-profit campaign Friends of Conscience.

Hou started Friends of Conscience 18 months ago in Ottawa. The campaign seeks to address many of the issues faced by political prisoners and their families in China. Its mandate is to advocate for the release of prisoners, raise funds and support for the families of prisoners in China, and raise awareness of the situation for those who fight for human rights in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Hou said she believes that through Friends of Conscience she can extend the generosity and support she received upon arriving in Ottawa to other imprisoned human rights activists and their families in China. She also said she hopes to raise funds to secure legal representation for the prisoners, and funding to provide stability and relief for the families who are praying and fighting for them on the outside. Her dream, she added, is to restore childhood happiness to the children of political prisoners.

RESPONSE TO RECENT EVENTS

The Friends of Conscience offers support to political prisoners, including those involved in the recent Umbrella Revolution, a civil disobedience campaign that saw protesters holding out their umbrellas to ward off police pepper spray.

Beginning in September 2014 and continuing until December 2014, the Umbrella Revolution saw tens of thousands of Hong Kong’s citizens fill the city’s center, block major streets and protest outside of major government headquarters. Over 100,000 people came out in support of universal suffrage for Hong Kong voters.
Human rights activist Wang Zang was one of the supporters. He is a now a political prisoner in Beijing after posting a picture of himself online with an umbrella and a flag of the Republic of China. He is married and has two children, a five year old boy and a two year old girl. His story is one among many.

The protests happened in response to Beijing reneging on an agreement called the Hong Kong Basic Law. This agreement allowed Hong Kong the right to choose its own Chief Executive and members of legislature in the 2017 elections. Hong Kong citizens could be nominated for election, choose who to nominate for election, and freely vote on those candidates.

Beijing announced in August, 2014 that it would not honour this law. Instead, it nominated a 1,200 member committee which then chose a handful of candidates for the rest of Hong Kong to vote on.

Beijing citizens took to social media to exchange information and show their support of protesters. The Chinese government responded with heavy media censorship. As a result, supportive Chinese communicated their support indirectly through poetry, art, and music. Many, including Zang, have been arrested for this and remain imprisoned today.

The families of the imprisoned suffer persecution, harassment by police, poverty that is made worse by repeated, forced evictions, and are even arrested with their children and detained in cells.  Many are not allowed to visit their imprisoned family members and often lawyers are also kept from visiting.

Many lines of communication and support have been severely compromised in Beijing and mainland China.  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are more heavily censored than ever before. Thus, those who show support for the Umbrella Revolution or for democracy in China risk facing imprisonment.

To learn more about the Umbrella Revolution, political prisoners in China and their families, or to find out how you can help out with the Friends of Conscience campaign, you can write to: foc_ca at hushmail.com

This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol.7, No.5 (Feb/March 2015).