And then they came for Hong Kong's largest teacher's union...

 

Anti-extradition bill protest rally in Victoria Park

two years ago to the day today

 

Hong Kong may be the rare part of the world whose people currently worry less about the Wuhan coronavirus than political repression.  One reason is because -- touch wood -- we've currently on a six day no local infections streak (and recently went for 58 days without a single locally transmitted infection.)  The more negative one is that the political persecution that freedom-loving Hong Konger have been facing has been pretty darn unrelenting for more than a year now (at least) -- with even measures that are ostensibly to deal with the pandemic often coming across as politically motivated.  

 

Take, as an example, yesterday's announcement that by the authorities that several regulations under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance (Cap 599) will be extended to March 31st of next year.  Bearing in mind that Hong Kong currently has very few new daily coronavirus cases (never mind locally transmitted one) and that close to 50% of the eligible populace has received at least one coronavirus vaccine (and over 37% of the eligible populace have been fully vaccinated), it can seem like jumping the gun to decide what regulations need to be in place for a further seven months at this point, right?  

 

Also, when one of those regulations involves restricting public gatherings to no more than four people, it's easy for people to conclude that the reason for maintaining this restriction is political rather than health-related.  For the record: Back on September 15th of last year, Renaud Haccart predicted that "there’s a fair chance that group gathering rules will be the very last to go, as they provide the perfect cover for police to disrupt any public protest of any size or form and make arrests".  Fast forward to less than a week ago and you had another member of the Hong Kong Twitterverse, K, stating that: "It’s almost like a certain government is using the (currently actually subsiding) pandemic as an excuse to stop people from gathering and not for actual public health reasons".

 

Just because you can something bad is predictable, it still doesn't make it less upsetting when it happens though.  And I don't just mean the gathering ban having been extended through to (at least) March 31st of next year -- and thus making it so that there won't be an October 1st protest march this year, just like there wasn't a July 1st protest march and a June 4th candlelight vigil in Victoria Park.  For yesterday afternoon saw Hong Kong's largest union, the close-to-100,000-strong Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU), announce that it is disbanding.  

 

The HKPTU's decision came a little over one week after the government severed ties with the union, a move that was seen as a response to the HKPTU having come under attack by Chinese state media.  And even though the union that 90% of Hong Kong's educators belonged to had clearly been threatened by powerful forces, its decision to fold still did shock many people. 

We're talking, after all, about a union that had been in operation for 48 years and had a HK$300 million annual turnover.  The HKPTU (also) ran supermarkets, medical, dental and optical clinics, and a travel agency, and also offered insurance and organized many recreation opportunities for its members.  A reminder: it was Hong Kong's largest union, not just Hong Kong's largest teacher's union by a long chalk.   

 

But as South China Morning Post journalist Jeffie Lam was prompted to observe (evidently with so much shock that she forgot how to use caps and punctuation in her Tweet!): "it took the hk authorities less than a week to have apple daily closing shop and only 11 days for the 95000-strong professional teachers' union to disband[.  T]hings do not appear that fragile until we realise they are".

 

And the HKPTU is "just" the biggest and latest union to fall in recent weeks, not the first by any stretch of the imagination.  As an AFP piece from a couple of weeks ago noted: "Hundreds of elected community leaders in Hong Kong have resigned and dozens of civil society groups have disbanded as China remoulds the finance hub in its own image... and a wave of resignations has swept through the city as community leaders try to avoid receiving a knock on the door from [national security law] police."  In fact, that piece's author, Xinqi Su, pointed out on Twitter yesterday that: the HKPTU is the 33rd in the AFP's tally of Hong Kong political and professional groups disbanded since June 30th, 2020 (i.e., the day that China's security law for Hong Kong came into effect). 

  

More than by the way, here's a reminder that Article 27 of Hong Kong's Basic Law reads as follows: "Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions; and to strike." But the problem is that China's security law for Hong Kong looks to now supercede the Basic Law that's often described as Hong Kong's mini constitution.

 

A quick recap as to what Hong Kong has lost since the national security law (NSL) came into effect less than 13 and a half months ago: "• freedom of speech • freedom of assembly • a political opposition camp • representation in district councils • free elections • a major newspaper • prominent editorial voices • an independent public broadcaster • the largest union in town".  Pretty breathtakingly comprehensive, right?  And the scary thing is that I don't think Beijing, and those in Hong Kong who are taking their orders from it, are anywhere near finished yet with regards to their dismantling of Hong Kong civil society.

Already, there's speculation as to which pro-democracy group will be the next one that will be fall.  Some have suggested the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions; others the Hong Kong Journalists Association.  Representatives of both organizations are on the record as stressing that they will remain dedicated to serving their sectors "for as long as possible" -- but that could mean just a matter of days, never minds weeks or months.  There also is a report out that the Civil Human Rights Front, the umbrella group that organized massive 2019 rallies, will be disbanding shortly.  And whither the Bar Association?  In any case, ask yourself this: what kind of state is Hong Kong in when teachers, trade unionists, journalists, non-violent rally organizers and barristers are being considered enemies of the state (along with speech therapists, lest we forget)?