Hope fades for the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, and Hong Kong itself

 

Spotted at Victoria Park two years ago

 

I hope many people continue to believe this two years on

 

Two years ago today, a pro-democracy gathering took place on the football pitches of Victoria Park. Unlike the June 4th candlelight vigils held at the same venue to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre, that which brought together football fans bedecked in the jerseys of their favorite clubs was a joyous affair.  Two weeks earlier, Carrie Lam had finally announced that she would be withdrawing the hated extradition bill that had caused protests to rage over much of the summer of 2019 (and would morph into a call for the rightings of many injustices along with genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong).   

There was so much hope then and I wish that could have continued to be the case.  But the fact of the matter is that, especially since the announcement and then coming into being of China's national security law for Hong Kong, the territory's pro-democracy movement has been largely on the back foot. And while there are some individuals and organizations trying to hold the line (or, at the very least, to their principles), many more appear to be folding -- with yesterday seeing confirmation that the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), a worker's rights organization that represents 145,000 members from 93 different groups covering a broad spectrum including aviation, construction, catering, retail and social welfare, is in the process of disbanding. 

 

On its website, the words "solidarity", "dignity", "justice" and "democracy" feature prominently, and the HKCTU lists its mission as "To strive [for] decent work and dignity for workers through the consolidation of collective strength and promotion of independent trade union movement and societal change.  Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy trade union, it was founded in 1990 by Lee Cheuk-yan, who remains its General Secretary despite currently being behind bars.   

Hong Kong Watch's Benedict Rogers was moved to Tweet the following yesterday: 

First they came for the protesters 

Then the legislators

Then the media

Then the lawyers and speech therapists

Then the trade unionists

Make no mistake about it: Hong Kong's civil society groups are crumbling. The HKCTU's impending disbandment comes amid growing pressure from Chinese-backed media on the city’s unions and mounting national security probes on pro-democracy civil society groups.  And earlier this evening came news that the HKCTU's Chief Executive, Mung Siu-tat, has left Hong Kong for the United Kingdom after, in his words, "A strong power forced me to make a painful choice between being a chief executive and being a father".  

As was noted in the Hong Kong Free Press's piece about the HKCTU disbanding: "Pressure on pro-democracy groups which have long been part of the city’s social fabric has prompted critics to accuse Hong Kong authorities of using the security law to dismantle civil society [but] Carrie Lam has denied such an intention."  This is in keeping with the line she's taken that that there's been no dismantling of civil society in Hong Kong taking place since the implementation of the national security law, which she told the United Nations back on June 30th, 2019, would affect only an "extremely small minority of people".  But when the HKCTU's membership alone numbers some 145,000, I think it should be plenty clear that this is not the case at all.