Remembering and sharing memories in order to fight against those in power who seek to rewrite history

Photo from June 16th, 2019 -- the day that 2 million and 1 Hong Kongers

went on to the streets to protest against the extradition bill

 

Yesterday was the third anniversary of the largest single protest event that Hong Kong has ever seen: one that involved an estimated 2 million (and one) Hong Kongers taking part in a protest march that actually often involved a lot of standing and taking baby steps because the designated march route and neighboring streets that the protest ended up spilling onto were so choc a block with protestors dressed in mourning black.  And okay, yes, the Hong Kong police have sought to lowball that number.  But those of us who were there can, at the very least, attest that "Whatever the number was, the whole area, plus all transport connections, were crammed – there was literally no room for more."

 

Expectedly, many people shared their memories of the protest march on social media.  And while there are some who fear that participation in that legal event will, one day, be considered a national security law offence, there are many more who wish to do their part (e.g., see here, here, here and here) to make sure that this historic protest will be remembered and not wiped from people's memories.

 

As many of us know full well: "Who controls the past controls the future" -- and yes, that is indeed a quote from George Orwell's 1984.  In addition, that quote continues, "who controls the present controls the past".  And like those in power over in Beijing, those currently in power in Hong Kong are trying to rewrite history too.

 

Earlier this week came the revelation that new textbooks for Hong Kong schools will state that Hong Kong was never a British colony and declare that the  British "only exercised colonial rule" in Hong Kong -- "a distinction drawn to highlight China's claims of unbroken sovereignty."  Almost needless to say, there's been quite the reaction to this; with Goose Lee's Tweeted comment that "Living through history being rewritten is a wild ride" being among the more understated ones.

 

This "development" has prompted Bloomberg's Matthew Brooker to pen a piece entitled "Hong Kong Was Never a Colony.  Who Knew?" which contains a number of choice points and sections that I reckon is worth repeating below:-

Hong Kong was never a British colony, schoolchildren in the city will soon be taught. That may come as a surprise to the many parents who remember British governors, the Queen’s head on coins and stamps, and numerous other relics of a 150-year colonial presence. Behind the apparent absurdity is a deadly serious program to inculcate youth with the Communist Party’s view of history...

China successfully lobbied to have Hong Kong and Macau removed from the United Nations’ list of colonies in 1972, after taking over the UN seat formerly held by Taiwan. Beijing’s concern was that colonial status might pave the way for Hong Kong to become independent. Under the UN’s Declaration on Decolonization, passed in 1960, colonized peoples were entitled to the right to self-determination via referendum over whether they would become an independent state, join with another country, or stay with the colonial motherland, as Ho-fung Hung, a political economy professor at Johns Hopkins University, recounts in City on the Edge: Hong Kong under Chinese Rule, published in April.

It’s a semantic distinction then, but a significant one... China’s post-Qing governments may have been morally right to reject the 19th century treaties as unequal. It is nevertheless a historical fact that the 1842 Treaty of Nanking ceded Hong Kong in perpetuity to Britain, and that the then-Chinese government continued to recognize and accept the treaty as valid for seven decades. Will pupils be given the full picture?

...At root here is a clash of world views, between the philosophical approaches of the open society and the Leninist system. Is truth an objective quality to be discovered through inquiry and rational discourse, or a political decision, a fact to be created by action and force of will? The reality that Hong Kong was a de facto British colony for 150 years is less important than making the city’s young people believe they have never left (and therefore never can) the Chinese family. (My emphasis)