On the second anniversary of the biggest ever protest march in Hong Kong

On the march with an unprecedently large number 

of Hong Kongers on a hot afternoon two years ago today

 

Day had turned into night when a group of friends and I

got to Admiralty that day -- and yet so many others weren't done yet!
 

Two years ago today, some 2 million people took to the streets of Hong Kong to demonstrate against Carrie Lam's proposed China extradition bill and Carrie Lam herself. I know that number sounds improbably large but look at this time lapse video of the June 16th, 2019 march and I think you'll believe it. And this especially when I tell you that it actually took around seven hours of real time for me to walk from Victoria Park to Admiralty that day as a result of the protest route being so jam-packed with fellow protestors.

 

On that day, as is often the case at Hong Kong pro-democracy (camp) protests, I saw young, old and middle-aged people in the crowd; pregnant mothers, fathers carrying their young children, people with walking sticks, people in wheelchairs, etc. I must admit that the sight of the people in wheelchairs out there almost invariably brings tears to my eyes. Truly though, I salute everyone who was out there that June 16th (and, for that matter, June 9th, etc.) -- and will say that these people and the Hong Kong spirit they embody are big reasons why I still do f**king love Hong Kong.

 

For those who are wondering: no, there were no commemorations of this event with a street protest in Hong Kong today.  But I'm sure many people did think back to the remarkable event that took place two years ago at some point today -- with a number of people recalling their participation in what really was a great effort on the part of so many Hong Kongers on social media (e.g., here and here).

 

I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing the many photos, videos and posts today about the biggest ever protest march in Hong Kong history -- one which was super peaceful to boot.  It warms the cockles of my heart to be reminded of a time not so long in the Big Lychee where freedom of assembly, protest and speech existed.  And I really don't want to give up on the possibility that those days will return.  

 

Just last night, I witnessed a friend of mine tear up as we passed by PolyU and memories of the 2019 protests that he took part in came flooding back -- not only because he was saddened by what had happened at that university but, also, because he was fearful that all our efforts have been in vain.  And I have to say that it was quite the mood dampener to see an article about Hong Kong in The Guardian this morning with "the fall of Hong Kong" in its title.    

 

Of course there's no doubt that Hong Kong is a far more oppressed society now than it was two years ago.  But, truly, I am getting fed up with all those headlines announcing the fall and/or death of Hong Kong.  The same article's headline also has the word "silence" in it, with the implication being that Hong Kongers have been subdued.  But less than two weeks ago, the same British newspaper had a piece on how Hong Kongers had found new ways to remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 4th, 1989!   

 

Speaking of remembering: Last night, a good number of people -- all of whom undoubtedly knew that they were risking being fined, even arrested -- went to Admiralty to pay tribute to pro-democracy protester Marco Leung on the second anniversary of his death; a testament to Hong Kongers' enduring collective memory and spirit of resistance.  I realize it may seem strange to some people but I'll state it again (just as I did so around this time last year): mourning is a form of resistance in a Hong Kong that is under siege but really should not be dismissed as fatally down and out -- not when we who love Hong Kong, and believe that our voices should be heard, remain the majority in this part of the world that we call home.          

A relatively quiet June weekend in Hong Kong

Agnes Chow was already a veteran political activist back in 2017...

 

Umbrellas raised -- initially against the rain -- back on June 12th, 2019

 

Yesterday was the second anniversary of a dark day for Hong Kong: one which saw the Hong Kong Police Force do things that damned them -- and the powers they protect as well as represent things -- as villains in the eyes of the majority of the Hong Kong people.  For much of it, the skies were gray, if not outright dark, and it rained quite a bit -- leading me (and at least one other Hong Kong resident) to imagine that the heavens were crying for what has befallen Hong Kong since, as well as in remembrance of, that fateful day.   

 

As it so happened though, there was a piece of good news to savor yesterday -- for the morning saw Agnes Chow emerge from the maximum-security Tai Lam Centre for Women after having served the prison sentence imposed on her for having played a part in a protest against police brutality outside the police headquarters in Wan Chai back on June 21st, 2019.  (A reminder: she, Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam pleaded guilty to the charges -- because they didn't think the courts would be fair to them -- but they were not the real organizers of that siege.)

Such has been the way things are these days in Hong Kong that part of me doubted that Agnes Chow would be allowed to walk free out of prison.  And the fact of the matter is that she still does have a possible national security charge hanging over her head.  This may account for her uncharacteristically not speaking to the press upon her release.  At the same time, it also is understandable that she needs some time to rest for a time to recuperate from her ordeal.  A reminder: the veteran political activist still is only 24 years of age and she had never been put behind bars before this multi-month incarceration.  And, as the photos taken of her yesterday show, she -- who already was on the thin side previously -- looks to have lost weight while in prison.     

 

I imagine that Agnes Chow was happy to spend much of yesterday resting quietly at home.  Due in part to the weather, lots of Hong Kongers stayed in too.  There also was the not small matter of some 2,000 police officers being deployed yesterday to specifically guard against assemblies taking place on one more key extradition bill protest anniversary.  

 

I went to Causeway Bay to do some food shopping yesterday afternoon and saw more cops than I felt comfortable with.  I know I wasn't the only one who had this reaction.  And this was even before we learnt of arrests having being made and the police casting their net so wide that they ended up exposing two of their plainclothes colleagues!  Frankly, I think it's only natural; and this particularly so if you are on the young side and favor wearing black attire -- the latter of which applies to the majority of Hong Kongers!  

 

Meanwhile, over in the likes of London, various American cities, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver, there were protests to mark what happened on June 12th, 2019, in Hong Kong.  When collated together, the pictures tell quite the damning story -- damning re Hong Kong and those that have denied the people the right to assemble to protest or even just plain remember, that is.  Ditto re video clips of Hong Kong on June 12th, 2019, and last night.                   

 

On a day when Hong Kongers had to be flexible -- "be water" in yet another way? -- and suck it up in order to live to fight another day, it was gratifying to see people standing up for Hong Kong elsewhere.  As far as people living in Hong Kong are concerned: With all due respect to the likes of Qu Yuan (the patriotic poet who the Dumpling/Dragonboat Festival commemorates), sometimes discretion is the better part of valor and it's wiser to be able to know when is a good time to fight and when is a good time to rest; this especially when one is feeling tired but still unwilling to give up.  Also, remember the declaration of many a Hong Kong protestor post arrest in 2019: "I will not commit suicide".  (And yes, I realize that it was frequently a reference to being a victim of the police but I also did see it, even then, as a defiant cry in favor of living.) 

Hong Kong movies can now officially be deemed threats to national security and subject to censorship on these grounds!

 

The best years?  Not for Hong Kong, including its cinema, it's not!

 

It's now official: "Hong Kong's film censors have been ordered to ban any movies deemed to be supporting or glorifying acts that could endanger national security.  The government has gazetted changes to the Film Censorship Ordinance to enable the required changes, saying this is part of its duty under the Beijing-imposed national security law."

 

To be honest, I rather this come out and be an open thing rather than the past pussyfooting around where screening venues "couldn't be found" for certain films and such even while, in an ideal world, there wouldn't be any such film censorship at all.  And for those who think that all this began to happen just this year, remember how difficult it was for the Umbrella Movement documentaries (including Evans Chan's Raise the Umbrellas and Chan Tze Woon's Golden Horse award-nominated Yellowing) to be screened and Ten Years too years before the first anti-extradition bill protests took place, never mind the coming into effect of China's security law for Hong Kong last June 30th.

Put another way: those of us who've been paying attention have seen what happened today as but a matter of time.  Consider that, in recent months alone, what was supposed to be the first ever local screening at a commercial venue of Inside the Red Brick Wall was cancelled just hours before the screening of the critically acclaimed PolyU siege documentary was supposed to take place, one of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's scheduled opening films for this year was pulled from the festival and a decision was made to not air the Oscars on TV this year (for the first time in 52 years).   

 

Also, in what in hindsight can be seen as "a clear precursor to today's developments", the film censors issued a warning to the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance over the hospital workers union's screening of two films related to the 1989 June 4 crackdown ahead of the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.  So, really, the newly revised guidelines for local film censors simply formalize “red lines” that had become increasingly apparent in Hong Kong.

 

The way that one academic, Kristof Van den Troost of the Chinese University of Hong Kong -- whose current research topics include "Colonial Censorship in 1970s and 1980s Hong Kong, and Its Relationship to Local Crime Cinema" -- sees it, film censorship in Hong Kong is still some way short of what's seen in Mainland China. “[I]t’s not like the mainland where you have to do some pre-censorship, you have to get approval for your scripts, and then the film has to get censored again after it has been finished", he asserts.  

 

One can but hope that he's right.  And, also, that the censors won't go through Hong Kong cinema's back catalogue and start banning old films left, right and center.  In addition, I am hoping that contemporary Hong Kong filmmakers can and will respond to these film censorship threats (which, still are on the broad and vague side -- like the whole national security law shebang -- thus requiring the film censors to "intuit what will displease Beijing") in ways akin to those that the best of Iran's filmmakers have done so over the years.    

 

Amidst the justified fears (witness Far From Home, a film about political divisions in Hong Kong following the extradition bill protests, getting pulled from the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival in the wake of the new censorship rules announcement), it is worth bearing in mind that Hong Kongers have shown remarkable -- and unexpected -- resilience in the past two years or so.  (And I'll include those of its filmmakers whose films make it clear that they love Hong Kong, of which there have been a number of examples in recent years).  Just two nights ago, signs asking Hong Kongers who want a free Hong Kong to keep the faith appeared atop Lion Rock.  At a time of great repression, this means a lot.       

 

Looking at the big picture, I have to wonder and ask: what kind of regime considers films to be possible national security threats?  Just last week, the individual who goes by the handle Pinboard over on Twitter observed that: "When police crack down on public dissent, people find subtler ways to express it. The cops can never win a game that pits them against the full creativity of a city like Hong Kong."  And I'd suggest that the following statement applies to the regime as a whole rather than just its armed enforcers: "Under full repression, the dissent will become so subtle it will tip the oppressors into paranoia".

 

And while paranoia is a dangerous thing (including in opponents), another of Pinboard's points rings true too: "The joy of successful subversion, of getting the authorities to play themselves, of subtext and double meanings, finding uncensorable ways to express dissent, all these school-like kicks against authority are no substitute for freedom, but they make the lack of it more tolerable."  The possibility does exist that this "latest move might also spark more creativity in self-expression – contrary to the authorities’ intention."  At the very least, don't count Hong Kong cinema out yet -- and, if you actually care about it, now's the time to support it rather than (continue to prematurely) lament its death!  

I Still Remember -- the June 9th extradition bill protest edition

Stand News photo of a portion of the

June 9th, 2019, anti-extradition bill march

 

South China Morning Post front page

for June 10th, 2019
 

Two years ago today, a whole lot of people -- some 1.03 million, according to the march organizers -- turned out to (peacefully) protest against a controversial, and obviously unpopular, extradition bill that was seen as clearly intended to erode Hong Kong's legal system.  The June 9th, 2019, protest march was not the first one against the extradition bill but it dwarfed the two others that had taken place earlier -- even though the previous protest march on April 28th had surprised many people (including me) with its large size too. 

 

Two years on from June 9th, 2019, what strikes me more than the event's mega scale was that there still had been so much hope then that people power and peaceful protest could make the authorities see the light.  Checking Tweets from Hong Kongers today, I realize I am by no means alone in remembering this key feeling from that day.    

 

For the record: the Hong Kong government did finally withdraw the extradition bill four months later, on October 23rd, 2019.  If only it had done so on June 9th of that year or even June 10th or June 11th.  But it didn't and 6.12 happened, and then 7.1 (documented in Taking Back the Legislature), 7.14, 7.21, 8.31 and so much more... 

 

An expatriate resident I spoke to recently blamed the extradition bill protest(or)s for what Hong Kong has become: a de facto police state that is more closely yoked to Beijing now thanks to the introduction of China's security law for Hong Kong.  What he failed to see was that it has long been the Chinese Communist regime's plan to Mainlandize Hong Kong and that pro-democracy protestors were reacting to this rather than responsible for it -- and I do think it's telling that he looked at me pretty blankly when I brought up such issues as the abduction of the booksellers (back in 2015) and China's reneging on its promise to give Hong Kong universal suffrage (back in 2014). 

      

It actually was at Occupy Admiralty during the Umbrella Movement that I saw a sign whose message I won't forget.  Basically, it's this: Whatever happens, do not forget why we started. Remember, remember, remember, and keep your eyes on the prize, people.  One day, as many an extradition bill protestor is wont to say, we'll meet again under the pot.

The Great Firewall of China has not descended upon Hong Kong... for now

  

What are the chances now of the Great Firewall of China 

descending on Hong Kong less than three years from now?

(N.B. The above photo was taken back in November 2019)

 

A massive internet outage occurred earlier today.  Imagine the relief of thousands, if not millions, of Hong Kongers upon realizing that it wasn't just them who (temporarily) lost access to global news sources and that the Great Firewall of China has not descended upon the territory, at least not just yet.  

 

I'm not going to lie in that this is a fear I've had ever since China's security law was announced as going to also being imposed on and in Hong Kong back in May of last year.  And I don't doubt that at some point in the not too distant future, the likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, WhatsApp, Youtube and websites belonging to the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, CNN, the British Broadcasting Coroporation (BBC) and NHK (AKA Japan Broadcasting Company) will be banned and inaccessible in "Asia's World City" as well as Mainland China.

 

For those who didn't realize: internet censorship has already commenced in Hong Kong though, just not on the mega, pervasive scale as in Mainland China.  Back in January of this year, the Hong Kong police ordered the city’s major telecoms providers to block access to an anti-government website.  The likes of the Hong Kong Broadband Network, China Mobile, Smartone and PCCW’s HKT complied and blocked HKChronicles, which collected information during the anti-extradition protests and operated as a pro-democracy doxxing platform, from being viewed in Hong Kong.  (On the other hand, a doxxing website targeting pro-democracy protesters, as well as journalists, remains viewable by Hong Kong-based internet users.)

 

Since then, a number of other websites -- all of them based in Taiwan (including Taiwan's Transitional Justice Commission, an independent government agency, and the Taiwan Presbyterian Church which reportedly launched a campaign to help Hong Kongers flee to Taiwan) -- have also been blocked off to Hong Kong internet users without a Virtual Private Network (VPN).  But it was in the past week or so that things appear to have stepped up a notch -- or, at least, there were attempts to do so. 

 

First, we had Nathan Law reporting on the 2021 Hong Kong Charter website launched in May by eight exiled Hong Kongers, including him and Ted Hui, having been taken down by its Israeli server, Wix, upon the request of the Hong Kong police.  And while Wix did end up reinstating the website after he Tweeted about it, it's still a frightening illustration of the willingness of the Hong Kong police to implement China's national security law for Hong Kong outside of Hong Kong (and the territories under the rule of the Communist Chinese regime).      

In a similar manner, Microsoft's search engine, Bing, blocked image and video results for the phrase “tank man” – a reference to the iconic image of a lone protester facing down a line of tanks one day after the Tiananmen Square Massacre took place – for several hours this past June 4th, citing "accidental human error" for the occurence.  Something worth noting when considering if this was a genuine mistake made: Microsoft Bing is one of the few foreign search engines that are accessible in China, because the company agreed to censor results for sensitive terms such as the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square or Falun Gong for searches made by its Chinese users. 

 

Also last week, the website of the US-based Hong Kong Liberation Coalition, co-founded by Hong Kong exile, Baggio Leung, was taken down by its American host, WordPress.  In this particular case, the website's erstwhile hosts deny that they had been asked to do so by the Hong Kong police and, instead, stated that it had content that violated WordPress's User Guidelines.  The upshot, though, is that the Hong Kong Liberation Coalition's website will be looking for another host (even while continuing to retain a (small) presence on Twitter).

 

Lastly, for now, it was reported today that Facebook has refused all 202 Hong Kong government requests for user data it received in the first six months after Hong Kong enacted the national security law last June.  This disclosure came from the company’s latest transparency report -- and we can but hope that we will learn that Facebook has continued to safeguard the privacy of its (Hong Kong) users in calendar 2021 when the transparency reports for the relevant time period is made available in the future.  

 

I am also fervently hoping that the likes of Facebook will still be accessible in Hong Kong through this year and into next.  Sadly, however, it is no longer a given that the Great Firewall of China won't descend upon, and envelope, Hong Kong in the (not so distant) future: just like it is no longer a given that Hong Kong will see another candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4th or (mega) protest march like that which took place on June 9th, 2019 -- not even two years ago today.

I Still Remember is a Hong Kong movie with pertinent messsages for its target audience (film review)

  

A movie poster where the film's Chinese title (

which translates as into English as "Second Life") 

is far more prominent than its different English one ;D

 

I Still Remember (Hong Kong, 2020)

- Ho Lik-hang, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Tony Wu Tsz-tung, Patrick Tam Yiu-man, Isabel Chan, Johnny Hui, Toby Choi

 

This is one of those Hong Kong films that probably won't get much playing time outside of its home territory.  A small scale film with a protagonist whose beloved mother's hope for her son was, very modestly, for him to be an ordinary person, it is very local in scope and could be perceived to be limited in ambition.  But with emotional messages that really hit home as far as this (re)viewer is concerned, I reckon that I Still Remember has much to offer those willing to overlook its structural problems (that I suspect came by way of its first-time helmer doing double duty as scriptwriter) and consider the big picture.    

 

Ostensibly a sports drama, I Still Remember has a number of running sequences and its most visually dramatic scenes involve its protagonist doggedly seeking to complete a 10 kilometer race that he was signed up for by his mentor and never was shown training for.  The movie's most affecting moments, though, aren't those that chronicle the loneliness of a long distance runner but, rather, valued relations in life that stand the test of time and also transcend death.

 

Chi (played by Tony Wu Tsz Tung) is a young man who loved his mother very much and seems to have lost his spark after she passed away.  Living alone in the flat she bequeathed him, he works as a property agent for his best friend (Johnny Hui), whose tolerance for Chi being the company's perennial under-performer is running thin.  

At dinner one evening, Chi is reunited with Mr. Wong (portrayed by the Patrick Tam Yiu-man), the charismatic elementary school teacher who took him under his wing all those years ago and even would drive him home after school -- or, rather, his loving wife Wai-ying (Isabel Chan) would after she picked both her husband and Chi up outside the school gate.  Now the owner of a sports shop, Mr. Wong still nonetheless remains a mentor younger folks (including an overweight schoolgirl valiantly essayed by Toby Choi) and, in the process, impart life lessons that inspire to be better people.  And it's Mr. Wong who ended up registering Chi, himself and two other people for a 10 kilometer race that proves to be quite the commitment  for them all.

   

Cinematographer O Sing-pui (who also is the film's producer) gives the movie's optics a beautiful polish.  And I love that I Still Remember makes great use of Hong Kong’s distinctive visuals, including colorfully-painted school exteriors, atmospheric older building interiors and not just its trams – the only ones in the world that are double-decker -- but also their tracks. 

What I like best though about what's really a motivational drama at heart is its messages – which strike me as so fittingly Hong Kong and can be uplifting for contemporary Hong Kongers to take in.  Among those I took to heart are the following: remember (don’t forget); care for others; keep your promises, even to ones that have gone/died; and don’t forget to remember to (also) cheer for yourself (rather than just others). 

My rating for this film: 7.0

Hong Kong remembers, and keeps the flame of resistance alive, on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

With the candle I got from the June 4th Museum in front of 

the statue of Anita Mui earlier this evening

 

It may not be obvious but one of the buildings 

in the background of this photo is that of the 

People's Liberation Army's Hong Kong headquarters!

The first piece of news that caught my eye this morning was that detailing the arrest of barrister and June 4th candlelight vigil co-organizer Chow Hang-tung who, in an interview last week, talked about how, "when people get arrested, when human rights abuses occur, we should speak up" and "compromising… will only in return see an infinite expansion of the red line".  Should anyone doubt that the authorities really didn't want people turning up at Victoria Park today, a lockdown also was imposed in the public park that effectively sealed off much of it to the public for much of today (the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, should anyone have forgotten).       

 

With Bruce Lee's "Be water" injunction in mind, I decided to head off to other, less police-infested parts of Hong Kong this evening to commemorate this dark day in China's not so distant history.  I must admit to missing taking part in a moving ceremony with many thousands of others and hearing the stirring music that I've come to associate with the once traditional candlelight vigil in Hong Kong (including Bloodstained Glory, an anthem I've come to also associate with the late Anita Mui, and that which I think of as the Wong Fei Hung theme song).  At the same time though, I consoled myself with participating in a new version of the candlelight vigil: one which many other people armed with candles (or, at the very least, mobile phones that they lit up this evening) were also doing at the same time as myself, just not in the exact same place.    

 

Should anyone have doubted it, the Hong Kong spirit of resistance remains alive -- despite the, frankly. crazy amount of police deployed to ensure that this would not be the case.  Yes, Victoria Park was empty of people (besides police officers) this evening but not far away from it, hundreds, if not thousands, of people did gather, complete with candles and lit mobile phones, and proceeded to walk around the park's perimeter.  In addition, a number of people on buses and trams that passed by Victoria Park lit up their phones to show their support and/or perform their own personal acts of commemoration while others contributed by doing such as leaving candles by the park or in MTR stations for others to take. 

 

Elsewhere in Hong Kong, a number of churches held special June 4th masses this evening and the Mass in Memory of the Dead was broadcast live in three churches.  And calls for people to get creative to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre did bear artistic fruit -- last night as well as tonight -- and more.  And, actually, I honestly think that the heavy police presence constituted the authorities' contribution to the June 4th performance art -- or, at the very least, made for the kind of optics that are a photographer's delight and propagandist's nightmare. 

Rather than end with a laugh (at the police's expense -- because, truly, things became so weird at times because of them that it did become funny on some level and, also, because what they seemed to have ended up doing was create scores of candlelight vigils and candlelit scenes all over Hong Kong even while keeping Victoria Park eerily empty tonight), here's going with something I hope you'll find inspiring, like I did: a neighborhood dessert shop decided to commemorate June 4th by lighting its space by candlelight alone this evening.  (See?  Yet another creative take on mourning as resistance.)  Of course, it's a member of the Yellow Economic Circle -- and well-patronized too (judging from what I saw when there this evening)!  And should it not be clear: of course those who want democracy for Hong Kong have fellow feeling with those who want(ed) democracy for China!