justlovebrum
- May 26, 2020
- 5 min read

THE CHALLENGE TO FREEDOM IN HONG KONG!

On Saturday, we heard from my wonderful friend Hayley as she took us through the history of the protests in Hong Kong. As I’m writing this post, I’m aware of a couple of things: that while it is really important for those of us in Western countries to speak up and write about justice issues like this, first and foremost the voices of those in the countries themselves should be heard. On the other hand, it can be difficult to find pieces written by Hong Kong citizens in English! So, before I start, I’d love to recommend Hayley’s blog to you, ‘The Hong Kong girl’. Other HK written English resources she recommended to us were the Hong Kong Free Press, and the social medias of Joshua Wong and Nathan Law. I’ll link all of these below!

In 1997, Britain returned Hong Kong to China. The agreement was that Hong Kong would still be able to have a high level of autonomy, including some democratic institutions. And yet, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is elected by a committee who are considered highly pro-Beijing. China had promised that Hong Kong would have direct elections by 2017. However, in 2014, China’s National People’s Congress announced that any candidates for the role would be pre-screened by another highly pro-Beijing committee. So began the largest civil disobedience in Hong Kong, with protestors occupying various areas of the city. They only dispersed after 79 days. During this time, the police would often use teargas to try and scatter the protestors, who used umbrellas to protect themselves. This gave the protests the title of the Umbrella Movement.

Jump forward to 2019, when the Hong Kong government proposed an extradition bill. Many feared that it would mean anyone could be sent to be detained and prosecuted in mainland China. On 12 June 2019, protestors surrounded the Legislative Council building, and the situation soon turned violent. One man fell to his death in the midst of the chaos, and a protest four days later paid tribute to him. Protestors argued that there had been police brutality during the 12 June protest, but this was never addressed by the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam. Furthermore, triad (gang) members who attacked protestors on 21 June were unofficially linked to the police, but this was also never investigated by the authorities. From July – August, there were weekly strikes, and on November 12, police and protestors clashed at the Chinese and then Polytechnic universities. The 12-day siege at the Polytechnic university ended with 1,377 arrested and 300 hospitalised.

Protests have continued since.

But how has the global pandemic changed the situation?

Of course, protesting in person has been made impossible because of social distancing rules. Some have argued that coronavirus has been used as a mask for arresting not just those still trying to protest, but well-known supporters of the movement such as Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai. These arrests have been seen as a crackdown on the movement at a time when it is hard for protestors to fight back. Furthermore, when a broadcaster produced a satirical show which was deemed to be insulting to the police, its 31-year-old programme was removed from public channels.

On May 22, Beijing announced a plan to introduce a national security law in Hong Kong. The law would make four areas criminal: secession (talk of breaking away from China), subversion of the government’s authority, terrorism, and foreign interference in Hong Kong. Most alarmingly, the law states that China would be able to set up agencies in Hong Kong to enforce the new legislation. Of course, this would massively undermine the autonomy of Hong Kong. China would be able to arrest anyone whose actions they believe fit into one of the four very broad categories – making it far easier for them to arrest protestors and stifle free speech. Lam has already said her government will co-operate with the proposed national security law, making it worryingly likely that it will pass.

“Three years ago, I’d never have believed what is happening right now,” Hayley says. “We do not trust China with justice, integrity, or freedom. We’ve heard of what happens across the border, and we don’t want to become a part of it.”

Hong Kong is beginning to open up again, and on Sunday, people took to the streets to protest the bill, and were once again deterred with tear gas by the police. The situation is bound to escalate. So, is there anything we can do, especially when stuck in lockdown? The most effective action we can take is to continue to raise awareness for Hong Kong and to make sure this news doesn’t get buried by coronavirus. We can write to our MPs. Although the UK government has expressed its ‘deep concern’ about the bill, we need to pressure them to do more than this. We can also write to major broadcasters like BBC and ITV, and to newspapers, pressurising them to put more focus on the situation.

Furthermore, Hong Kong is not the only place where protests have been causing chaos. In Lebanon, opposition to planned taxes triggered a movement of protests against, in part, corruption within government and rising unemployment. In Chile, rising privatisation and inequality sparked protests during which thousands have been injured and arrested. In both countries, protests began in October and have continued since. Iraq, Iran and Venezuela have also all experienced wide-scale protests leading into 2020.

It’s true that the news can feel overwhelming enough as it is. However, I would encourage you to take some time to think about what you’re staying updated on. By no means is it wrong to focus on coronavirus news – we all know how serious and important the situation is. But if you feel comfortable doing so, why not start expanding what you’re reading? It’s all too easy to get sucked into tunnel vision, even in normal circumstances, and to only read news that directly impacts us. This week, I’d encourage you to read up on the protests not just in Hong Kong, but in the other countries mentioned above. Below are some links you can follow to find out more, including the sources I mentioned above.

Once again, thank you so much to Hayley for leading our session on Saturday and helping me with this blog post. One thing I’ve been struck by during the protests in Hong Kong is how faith-led so many of the student protestors are. They have recognised God’s heart for justice and are standing up for their convictions, motivated by their belief that Jesus calls us to stand up for the oppressed. I’ll leave you with a beautiful video of protestors singing the hymn ‘Sing Hallelujah to the Lord’ during protests in June.