Glutter: A blog by Yan Sham-Shackleton

Security law: An attempt to erase the memory of Hong Kong as it really was

In Yoko Ogawa’s novel The Memory Police, a new government takes over a small island off the coast of Japan and begins to remove objects from its residents’ memories. 

First, the residents must bring out a chosen item from their possessions and destroy it by killing, burning, burying, or discarding it in the rivers and oceans. Then, as time goes on, the people’s ability to remember begins to fade, until all is forgotten.

The chosen items start off mundane – such as bells, perfume, emeralds, and birds – but eventually grows to newspapers, televisions, and the ferry that takes people from the island to the mainland. 

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The way forward for a ‘humbly listening’ Hong Kong gov’t: an inquiry and amnesty for both sides.

Unsure of what defined a police state, I researched the answer. It seems there isn’t an agreed checklist or a threshold upon which a territory becomes a police state. The general agreement is that it is a place in which its government relies on the police to rule, rather than exercising its power through legal and political means – instead, using law enforcement, or secret police to stifle the opposition’s opinions and actions.

Refusing to approve planned peaceful protests, or tear-gassing demonstrations during sanctioned gatherings, ignoring acts of police brutality – as the Hong Kong government and police top brass have done – are undoubtedly indicative of a police state.

Refusing to approve planned peaceful protests, or tear-gassing demonstrations during sanctioned gatherings, ignoring acts of police brutality – as the Hong Kong government and police top brass have done – are undoubtedly indicative of a police state.

In a secretly taped recording of a closed-door meeting with business people, published by Reuters, Lam admitted that “all she has is the police” and, in fact, her government was “the weakest link.” In this confession, abdicating responsibility to govern and admitting that she relies on the police to maintain legitimacy is a policy that unquestionably contributes to, or indeed makes Hong Kong a police state.

In fact, police have taken on the role many militaries have historically filled in dictatorships across the world. As author Gerry Spence wrote in his book “Police State“: “… when the police become the military, then the people become the enemy.”

 

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What is White Terror? The slipping of norms in Hong Kong’s flawed democracy

"Until recently, Hong Kong had all the norms and a limited election system, which according to the Economist, made us a “flawed democracy.” The same category which the US is in. In fact, some scholars have suggested that the only place that has ever had unlimited freedoms but not a directly elected leadership is indeed our city — both under colonial rule and the SAR under the Basic Law.

But the undemocratic norms have been appearing in all sectors of society. Government organisations that should be neutral have become politicised. The business sector has been pressured to police their employees’ freedom of thought and the public’s ability to gather. Even illegal organisations such as gangs have been used to threaten the general public.

This is what is referred to in Hong Kong as “white terror.” A systematic attack on the norms without always directly dismantling the Basic Law. It is feared, with the implementation of white terror, totalitarianism will emerge from the background without the Chinese government ever having to send in the People’s Liberation Army."

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Hong Kong’s last stand? A gallant battle in the face of unspeakable sacrifice and overwhelming odds

Watching another press-conference with Chief Exec Carrie Lam, made me really frustrated and sad. It made me think we would not succeed, but I believed in our dignity. 

It seems more and more likely and Hong Kong people are increasingly aware of it. This Resistance is no longer about fighting the extradition bill, or for the Five Demands. What it is now, is an all-encompassing protest movement against simply not just encroachment but becoming fully a part of China. It is making people desperate, it’s pushing people to violence, as in many other moments in history.

There have always been groups of people who eventually lost but stood their ground in the meantime. The Lake of Blood in Ecuador against the Spanish, the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis, the Battle of Shanghai against the Japanese, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia against the Soviets, and recently the Ukrainians against the Russians in Crimea.

Those people despite knowing that they were facing a superior military power, remained steadfast in their beliefs, in their identity and their dignity.

Hong Kong's Last Stand? 

Hong Kong’s third generation of democracy fighters are not just rioters, they are last line of resistance

I wrote this piece to explain the factors that created the more confrontational protesters that have appeared. It covers briefly the 30 years of democratic movement in Hong Kong. 

Over social media it had nearly 1000 likes and was shared over 500 times. I'm really proud of this piece. 

It’s easy to dismiss this generation for being naive. For being reckless. That with their anger and actions, they are bringing the end of Hong Kong closer than it would have come if they just left it alone. But expecting them to stop by chastising them would be as effective as those who were there that early morning. Why should they listen? The criticism is mostly coming from people they despise or from those whose lack of success has directly influenced their mentality. After all, they know they cannot leave the cause of the resistance undone. Theirs is the last generation to fight for Hong Kong’s freedoms. There is no leaving it to the next, because it’s their children who will be silenced.

Hong Kong’s third generation of democracy fighters are not just rioters, they are last line of resistance

The Day When Hong Kong Protesters Stormed the Parliament.

I wrote this after the 22nd anniversary of the "Handover" when a group of protesters stormed the parliament. Hong Kong Free Press. 

For those versed in resistance movements, the storming of the parliament would not be shocking or surprising. Breaking into the chambers of power—a symbolic take-over of the people from the elites—has been used countless times in many different circumstances. 

The escalation of civil disobedience is common when the government does not heed public sentiment expressed by peaceful protests. The Umbrella Movement lasted an uneventful 79 days without achieving free elections of our leader. Two million people marched, according to the organisers—which meant over one in four of the population and the government still did not withdraw the extradition bill. Facing constant refusal, there will always be a tiny fraction of the population to radicalise: the Antifa which broke away from the Women’s March after President Trump’s election, an Agit Singh to a Gandhi, or a Malcolm X to a Martin Luther King. This process was succinctly described by the statement graffitied outside LegCo in Cantonese: “It is you who taught me that peaceful protests don’t work.”

Being polite and respectful is not an indicator of how worthy Hongkongers’ causes are

When six million Hongkongers were handed over by their colonists to a totalitarian regime

The Column I wrote for the 22nd anniversary for the "handover" of Hong Kong from British rule to Chinese rule. 

"Today is the 22nd anniversary of the “handover” of six million people by their colonists to a totalitarian regime. Although this sentence might make people uncomfortable, it is what happened on this day, and no amount of politeness can make this fact go away....

One may see this day as the end of 155 years of humiliating colonisation, a sad day as the sun finally set on the British Empire, or a grave violation of human rights. But beyond dispute, this is the day the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China was created. On this day, the former colony turned into a semi-autonomous city-state within the great expanse of the once-communist PRC."

When six million Hongkongers were handed over by their colonists to a totalitarian regime

Carrie Lam compares Hongkongers to children as a tactic to disenfranchise.

My first column for Hong Kong Free Press 

"[Chief Executive Carrie] Lam isn’t speaking just from a place of hubris. Political leaders calling the people they rule “children” taps into a long and oft used tactic to disenfranchise people. Women were denied the vote because men said they did not have the logic to interact with the wider world and should thus be relegated to the home along with the children. Black men in the US and South Africa were called “boys” by whites to remind them of their subservient status. Europeans justified colonising other parts of the world because the inhabitants were “primitive” and “childlike.” Philosopher Herbert Spencer, who coined the term “survival of the fittest,” wrote “the intellectual traits of the uncivilised… are traits recurring in the children of the civilised.”

Carrie Lam compares Hongkongers to children as a tactic to disenfranchise.