Worrying far more about political repression than the Wuhan coronavirus in Hong Kong

The British imperial crown surrounded by various signs of Chinese 

financial power and political control in Hong Kong's Central District

 

The Falun Gong's still here in Hong Kong

Hong Kong reached the two week mark with regards to zero local Wuhan coronavirus transmissions today.  Okay, yes, there was one imported coronavirus case (from the Philippines) reported -- but there is very little doubt at all that the police's decision to ban this year's July 1st pro-democracy march -- which was officially announced this afternoon -- is pretty much entirely politically motivated.  

To be sure, the local constabulary's decision was not entirely unexpected -- seeing as they had already objected to protests taking place on the first year anniversary of last year's June mega marches and their disastrous actions on June 12th which resulted in the protestors making more demands than just the withdrawal of the extradition bill as well as the June 4th vigil to commemorate the Tienanmen Square massacre.  But the ludicrousness and hypocrisy of citing health concerns to ban these events is especially marked given that, as Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Bird Tweeted, "Hong Kong has had so few local coronavirus cases in the past 10 weeks that you could fit them all on a minibus."   

With so much repression already taking place before the draconian security legislation China's announced for Hong Kong has actually come into effect, some people have asked how much worse things will become after that happens.  Apart from the answer of "We'll know soon enough" (since this particular piece of law is expected to come into effect by the end of this month), the actions that a good number of individuals and organizations are taking signal that many people are expecting very bad things to happen indeed; with Joshua Wong's Demosisto having decided to set up a backup fund in the USA, and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (which has been organizing the June 4th Victoria Park vigils and operates the June 4th Museum in Mongkok) working to digitalize much of the photographic and documentary evidence of the Tiananmen Square massacre that they have managed to collect over the years.

The anticipation that the security legislation will be far reaching can be seen in owners of independent bookstores and other "yellow" commercial enterprises fearing that they will soon be unable to sell items they currently are free to sell, decorate their shops in the way they currently do and go about exercising these little but key acts that one expects to be able to do in a place whose residents are guaranteed many fundamental rights and freedoms.  At the same time though, one shop owner has voiced that, "What scares me the most is self-censorship" -- which, sadly, I already have seen quite a bit of evidence of in recent years, but especially notably since the announcement of the security legislation (which may be made retroactive). 

Another unpopular piece of legislation, the national anthem bill passed this June 4th, is responsible for filmmaker Evans Chan deciding to remove a scene featuring the playing of March of the Volunteers from his We Have Boots (at least when it's screened in Hong Kong).  Interestingly, the artist whose performance of the Chinese national anthem is the first casualty of this new law, appears remarkably sangfroid about this.  Furthermore, Kacey Wong has actually voiced his optimism that "the national security law will only galvanise creativity in Hong Kong"! 

I wish I could have a similarly upbeat perspective but about the best I can muster at the moment is to "prepare for the worst, hope for the best".  In the past, I often joked that you will know that Hong Kong has had its wings clipped on the day that the British imperial crown perched atop the heritage-listed Court of Final Appeal Building gets lopped off by the powers that be.  These days, I have what I think is a more reliable marker of when I should start to seriously panic: when the Falun Gong disappears from the streets of Hong Kong.  (The Mormons, on the other hand, left Hong Kong months ago -- because of coronavirus fears that turned out to be not all that well founded, particularly since the USA is the number one country that's been the most negatively impacted by the pandemic!)