Times and Life by Lee Yee: The State of Being Silenced

The national security law immediately gags many. Not a single candidate in the pro-democracy camp primary elections explicitly expressed opposition to the national security law. Businesses which are yellow ribbon (pro-democracy) supporters changed their supporter labels one after another. People are apprehensive when speaking out including in social media. It is plain to see that social legislation that maximises the rights of the people reassures the people, and legislation that maximises the state power frightens people. As the calendar is flipped from 30 June 2020, we find the next page to be 1 July 2047. 

A unique characteristic of authoritarian politics is that once there is a will from above, the subordinates will err on the harsh side when it comes to implementation. Since 1 July, many incidents Hongkongers find shocking have happened, one after another.

The Hong Kong government said that the slogan "Glory to Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times" advocates Hong Kong independence. Soon afterwards many “vision tests” appeared online – a mishmash of black and white dots that seem to take on the shape of certain Chinese characters. Those with the will can naturally see the words within.

The anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" was accused of "propagating ideation of Hong Kong independence". Swiftly following this, “number songs” spread on the Internet: the same melody, with lyrics changed to: “05 432 680/04 640 0242/09 820 25374…”. Perhaps the next step would be to ban the melody outright.

Among the crowds on 1 July, a young girl was seen holding up a stack of blank paper; the police flashed their torches at her face from time to time, yet she did not dodge. “What is the purpose of the paper?” a reporter asked. She said that today is the first day the National Security Law comes into effect, and she does not know what she can display without breaking the law. All of a sudden she remembered a Soviet Union cold joke: There was a person distributing flyers at the Red Square, and an officer arrived to make arrests, but found the flyers were all just pieces of blank paper. The officer taken aback, thought for a while before saying to the person: Do you really think I don't know what you want to write? The girl continued, "I simply want to see if an absurd joke is now a reality". The days pass quickly. Compared to just half a month ago, Hong Kong now seems like a completely different place. Therefore, the day that displaying blank paper becomes a crime is likely not far off.

Recently updated guidelines issued by the Education Bureau state that kindergarteners should know about the National Security Law. Some netizens joked that the update tomorrow: "Fetal education should include the National Security Law ".

Ah Q’s (see note) head was infected with favus and thus he was sensitive to people saying “the word ‘favus’ and words sounding similar to, or suggestive of favus. Later the net was cast even wider to include ‘light’, ‘bright’ and as it progressed, words such as ‘lamp’, ‘candle’ were also taboo. “ So too is there an increasing number of sensitive words on mainland web pages, such that it can become difficult to construct a normal sentence without using unrelated homophones. When the ruling class adopts an “Ah Q mentality”, the effects are far-reaching.

At the opening of his Talk Show, Lam Yat Hey said a two-hour programme can now be finished in one minute because many topics have now become sensitive.

The ability to think differentiates humans from animals. We have thoughts because we have speech. Media veteran Annie Zhang Jie-ping said on social media: "These days, even conjecturing about ‘how scary the law could be’ has led to many words and ideas being withheld and swallowed in silence. After the law was made public, the common opinion of ‘worse than I imagined’ seems to have justified the initial apprehension, and any comments that were withheld before would now all the more likely be withheld forever. The fall of politics begins with the fall of free speech. When one cannot speak one’s mind truthfully, honestly and publicly, common ground will be lost and the basis for exchange, debates and thinking will be undermined”. Society has fallen into a state of being silenced. “Speaking one’s mind truthfully, honestly and publicly” seems too lofty. What follows silence will be endless lies and a decline of morality.

On 1 July, Lin Chih-Chieh, a law professor of National Chiao Tung University, said on her Facebook: "While waiting for the release of the articles (of the NSL) the night before, I fell asleep. I finally see the full text by the morning. Yes, it is more draconian than I thought before. It fully demonstrates Beijing’s breach of Hong Kong’s one country, two systems and its determination to fully control Hong Kong.” She said: “I am from the generation that has been deeply influenced by the culture of Hong Kong. I have a deep love for Hong Kong. When Taiwan was under martial law, there were only three black and white newspapers and only three television broadcasters. At that time, Hong Kong, among the countries/regions populated by Chinese, enjoyed the largest degree of freedom and rule of law. Hong Kong’s movies and television programmes, artistic creations have influenced an entire Chinese generation.... In my lifetime, I witness the devastation of Hong Kong, and my pain is indescribable."

As a member in the Hong Kong cultural movement in its prime era, my pain is even more indescribable.

Source: Apple Daily, 6 July 2020

https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/20200706/SL3U7RCGQAJ7URICBFSCC2DQ3M/

Editor’s note: Ah Q, the protagonist of the eponymous satirical novel “The True Story of Ah Q” by founding figure of modern Chinese literature Lu Xun, is a man from the rural peasant class and caricature of what Lu saw as character flaws of the Chinese national character: defeatist, self-deceiving, arrogant, a bully of lower social classes but willing appeaser to the upper class, oppressors and tyrants.