A Goddess of Democracy statue at Victoria Park
Today marks the day when Citizen News is no more. One day previously (i.e., yesterday), one more pro-democacy media outlet closed for business in Hong Kong. Founded by former legislative councillor Raymond Wong Yuk-man in 1996, Mad Dog Daily was originally a print publication before it moved entirely online in 2018. So it's painful to learn that it's not only ceased operations but also deleted its official website and social media pages.
The announcement was made by Raymond Wong on his Youtube channel, My Radio Hong Kong. Now based in Taiwan, he also announced that all of his Youtube channel's shows recorded in Hong Kong will be shelved temporarily. "I need to make sure my workers in Hong Kong can continue to work in a
safe environment. I am here [in Taiwan], a comparatively safer place,
and criticize [Hong Kong] on a daily basis, but they have to worry about
their lives everyday", he stated.
In an environment where injustice has become the norm and seasoned journalists (like Citizen News' last chief editor, Daisy Li) are unable to figure out where the (National Security Law's) red line lies, it stands to reason that the new to protect oneself and one's colleagues/staff has become such a big deal that some people no longer feel able to actually do their job. And yesterday, Daisy Li and former Citizen News chief writer Chris Yeung -- both of whom are former presidents of the Hong Kong Journalist Association -- echoed Raymond Wong's sentiments by disclosing at a press conference that the decision to shut down their media outlet was triggered by the raid on and sedition charge levelled on Stand News, leaving the folks at Citizen News to also feel threatened themselves.
Truly, it is the rare person in Hong Kong who doesn't feel some fear (at being persecuted). Ironically, one such individual is the woman who, today, was sentenced to more jail time after being found guilty of a second charge involving the (once) annual June 4th vigil at Victoria Park. 36-year-old lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to 15 months in prison for incitement for a banned vigil to commemorate those who died in Beijing’s crackdown in Tiananmen
Square in 1989. Last December 13th, she was sentenced to 12 months in prison on unlawful assembly charges related to the previous year's June 4th observances.
As journalist Laurel Chor succinctly put it: "She made a Facebook post urging people to light up their phone, a candle, or an electronic candle wherever they were in memory of the victims of the Tiananmen massacre." That's how ludicrous the charge that Chow Hang-tung faced actually is. Adding to the ridiculousness is that the Hong Kong government still is officially stating that the primary, if not only, reason for banning the June 4th vigils in 2020 and 2021 is pandemic-related. For the record: Last June 4th, Hong Kong recorded one solitary new coronavirus case; while June 4th, 2020, saw Hong Kong report a still pretty low six new coronavirus cases.
Another Hong Konger who's showing far more courage than should be expected, given her circumstance, is singer-actress-activist Denise Ho. Less than 72 hours after leaving police detention (post her Stand News-related arrest -- she's one of the now shuttered media outlet's former directors), she went ahead and staged an online concert, giving what one commentator described as "one hell of a performance" that included a bravura delivery of her mentor, Anita Mui's Song of Sunset.
More than incidentally, another song associated with Anita Mui is Bloodstained Glory. One of the songs sung/played during the June 4th vigils at Victoria Park, its lyrics include the following lines: "Perhaps I'll bid farewell and never to return, can you comprehend? Do you understand? Perhaps I will fall and never to rise again. Will you be forever waiting?"; and "Perhaps my eyes will shut and never open again, will you understand my silent emotions? Perhaps I will sleep forever, never able to wake up. Will you believe that I have been transformed into mountains?"
Commissioned by the Chinese government in 1987, it's been claimed by those who want democracy for China and Hong Kong. No matter who sings it, "what is recognized in Bloodstained Glory, is their unwavering spirit to
keep fighting for the cause they believe in, no matter the hardship
that has to be endured".
Back to Denise Ho: she disclosed that when she was being held for questioning post her arrest last week, she calmed herself by humming the songs of Anita Mui and her good friend, Anthony Wong Yiu-ming (who himself spent some time in custody before the charges against him were dropped). What's the bet that Bloodstained Glory was in that mix?
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