Hong Kongers under pressure from the Wuhan coronavirus, the government's anti-pandemic measures, and more political moves by the government!

Even the birds are social distancing in Hong Kong these days

 

If Hong Kong were a bird, it'd be this black-crowned night-heron:

missing one key limb but still standing and quite pissed off looking! :S*

 

For the sixth straight day in a row this week, there are areas in Hong Kong that have been subjected to "ambush-style" lockdowns.  Tonight, it's two separate residential buildings in To Kwa Wan and the Gold Coast.  Last night, it was a private housing estate in Yuen Long and a public housing block in Ma On Shan -- and yep, you guessed it: no positive cases of the Wuhan coronavirus were found once more.  Also, for the record, the total of new case numbers for today was 16: the lowest figure since November 19th's 12.  

 

In its determination to bring the coronavirus case numbers down further, the authorities have announced still lower criteria for compulsory testing to be triggered in a building.  Beginning today, residential buildings will be subject to a mandatory testing order if there is one new coronavirus case, whether or not the source of infection is traceable.  This comes less than a week after less than a week after the government specified that people living in buildings with one new case with an unknown source would be ordered to undergo coronavirus tests.        

 

Dr Ronald Lam, the new controller of the Centre for Health Protection, has described these actions as "very vigilant type of ring-fencing".  I'd wager that many Hong Kongers would feel it's more a case of a tightening of the noose around their necks; this especially since, at the same time as these "ambush-style" attacks -- whose name a medical expert has said "sounds awful, militaristic & hostile" -- are going on, Hong Kong has been reeling under still more political attacks unleashed by its own government.   

 

The Hong Kong government may want people to think that what's happening in Hong Kong is normal, okay and not that different from before.  But just consider how difficult and risky, and thus infrequent, large scale civil disobedience has become in this long time City of Protest.  (And how much more difficult the authorities want to make it.)  

 

Also, how the very proposals that prompted hundreds of thousands of regular folks (with regards to the security law back in 2003) -- millions even (to oppose extradition to China in 2019) -- to rally and march in the streets have now come to pass in this territory.  And although it hasn't officially come into being (with a one month "consultation period" scheduled to take place), notices sent out earlier this week by the city's Education Bureau outlining a dramatic overhaul of the education curriculum has sent chills down the spine of many parents, teachers and other Hong Kongers.  

 

Under the proposed curriculum, all students in Hong Kong, from as early as the age of six years, are to be taught to "understand the country's history and development, the importance of national security, the national flag, national emblem and national anthem." A measure of how wide-ranging national security issues are can be seen in the proposal for them to be taught across a range of subjects, from general studies and history to biology and music, as well as instructions given to administrators and teachers regarding how they should handle discipline issues and failure to respect the new guidelines.  In short: everything is national security if that's what the authorities want it to be.    

 

When faced with all this, it is really easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless.  But, in all honesty, I truly do feel that resistance is still possible.  (To this end, here's stating for the record that on the very same day -- today -- that the organisers of the annual June 4th candlelight vigil had their flower stall banned from Victoria Park (for the first time ever), I saw that the League of Social Democrats' were able to set up their "Free Hong Kong" booth installed in the middle of Causeway Bay again!)  

 

At the very least, there is, as characterized by Peter Baehr (of Lingnan University), "the potential of Hongkongers to remain self-respecting, self-possessed moral agents in the new order." And "[p]recisely because their situation is not without precedent, recalling how others withstood dictatorship may help Hong Kong people endure it too"; something which he proceeds to do in his piece on Dictatorship and Responsibility in Hong Kong.    

 

On a less rarified and more practical note, I've found a The Guardian article on "How to stay healthy, happy and combative in impossible times" which came out back in June 2019 to be helpful to read from time to time.  I've found a similar piece which came out in the same publication yesterday, this time dispensing tips on how to cope with lockdown stress, informative too.  And yes, just think: Hong Kongers have had the double pressure of dealing with political oppression as well as the pandemic for over a year now-- and, actually, have managed to cope a hell of a lot better than many others could expect to, and would, in the same circumstances; some times with that feisty sense of humor that I've come to see as so very Hong Kong!  

 

*Update: I've been told on the comments thread that night-herons have been known to look deceptively one-legged but actually have both legs intact.  In which case: if Hong Kong were that black-crowned night-heron in my photo, it'd actually be in better shape than it might seem to onlookers!  (Something I'd actually welcome...!)