Red flags abounded in parts of Hong Kong this past weekend
one'd have thought of as the usual, prime (e.g., high traffic) places!
(Note the surprisingly blank advertising boards in the pic!)
A friend I spoke to this past Thursday told me that she wasn't planning to leave her apartment for even a single minute on October 1st and, for the most part, I was the same. At the very least, I definitely was not in a celebratory mood this past Friday; this even though October 1st is Sake Day (Nihonshu no Hi)!
Unexpectedly though, my mood actually improved over the weekend. It helped that I had pre-arranged to meet up with a friend for what turned out to be a pleasant lunch "date" on Saturday and that, when I took the bus over to our lunch spot, I saw that Hong Kong wasn't bedecked with China flags in as many places as I had actually thought would be the case; and, also, that I spent a good part of Sunday with two other people who reinforced my feeling that I f**king love Hong Kong.
Not that there didn't continue to be ominous, even outright sad, news to process this past long weekend. E.g., reports emerged on Saturday that the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is planning to remove from campus the Pillar of Shame, a sculptural installation that commemorates those who died on June 4, 1989 in Beijing which has been on the campus since 1997. If truth be told, this move, if effected, wouldn't be entirely unexpected -- given the authorities' crackdown on the memorialization of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in recent months and the organization that the Pillar of Shame was gifted to by its artist, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, having been disbanded in the wake of major pressure from the powers that be.
And if that weren't enough to cast a bit of a pall over the weekend, consider that yesterday (Sunday) saw the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions formally cease to exist. To be sure, it had already felt like we had bid the 31-year-old organization goodbye some weeks back already but the powers that be still had to rub it in by warning that it may not escape criminal prosecution, including on national security law charges, even if after its death had been declared.
Additionally, any hope that the authorities would be on holiday -- what with it being "Golden Week" over on the other side of the Hong Kong-Mainland China border -- into this week, today has brought reports that the disqualifications of pro-democracy district councillors elected back on November 24th, 2019 (in what can feel like another lifetime) is set to continue into this month. At the same time though, today also has brought reports that takes aim at the financial dealings of two of Hong Kong's former Chief Executives are covered in the Pandora papers: specifically, Tung Chee-hwa, and Leung Chun-ying.
Speaking of money: A book called Red Roulette has been causing quite the sensation with its inside portrait of wealth and power in the corridors of Beijing -- but, as Bloomberg's Matthew Brooker pointed out, "what [its author] Desmond Shum writes about Hong Kong should not be overlooked". Among the nuggets that Brooker has highlighted over on a Twitter: "what we do have here is a first-hand account of underhand manipulation and incitement of Hong Kong demonstrations by the Communist Party". And while many people have suspected this for some time, it's still good to get confirmation that, as fellow journalist Oliver Farry put it, "pro-China demonstrations in Hong Kong are largely astroturfed affairs. It always seemed thus - even among the city's pro-Beijing groups, flag-waving patriotism has never in day-to-day life been much of a thing."
In view of pro-Beijing demonstrators doing what they do for money rather than love, it makes sense that the rulers over in Beijing (and their Hong Kong proxies) can find it so hard to believe that Hong Kong's pro-democracy protestors would go out on the streets in the hot sun and heavy rain, and often in the millions. But read these two threads that were put out on Twitter just this morning (one by RazvenHK and another by the Niao Collective) for proof of the genuine emotion, passion and love for Hong Kong behind the anti-extradition bill-turned-pro-democracy protests that continue to rage in people's hearts even if many don't show it as openly these days as previously.
Speaking of the protests: Would you believe that today marks the two-year anniversary of the day that Carrie Lam introduced another disastrous piece of legislation to Hong Kong? Yes, come midnight, it will have been precisely two years since the Face Covering Regulation came into effect. And I think it's worth repeating here my final line of my Facebook post on it two years ago today: i.e.,
I realize it's entirely probable that the cops won't care in their present mood but it IS worth noting that: the sun is frequently blazing in Hong Kong during daytime (hence the need for sunglasses, etc.); the air is often more polluted than we would like (hence the need for face masks); and being in crowds increases the likelihood to being exposed to germs and viruses -- prevention against which is why A LOT of people in Hong Kong regularly wear face masks in spaces where it's likely that they'll find themselves surrounded by other people! (my emphasis!)
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