After the resignation of hundreds of local elected officials

Civil society in Hong Kong is slowly dying

• Hong Kong protests will not stop soon.

  AFP

• Leaders of the pro-democracy movement who were arrested.

  Getty

picture

Civil society in Hong Kong is slowly dying as hundreds of local elected officials resign, associations dissolve, and citizens do not dare to engage in any dissenting movement, while Beijing reorganizes the city into its own version.

Days before China imposed a year ago on semi-autonomous Hong Kong a strict national security law to speed its takeover of the city, Wong Yat-shin set up a student movement called Student Politics.

It came a few months after the massive popular protest movement of 2019. By then Wong Yat-shin had finished his exams, and intended to become a dissenting voice in the city, where freedom of expression was still guaranteed on paper.

His idea was to promote debate about democracy or about prisoners' rights through temporary street stalls, such as those that were common during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, he has been arrested five times.

"Every day the red line approaches," says the twenty-year-old.

He explains that some places where he intended to set up his booth, graciously invited him not to do so, stressing that the police had explicitly reminded them of the restrictions imposed to contain the epidemic.

Electoral victory for the opposition

"Even the most peaceful and rational voices are no longer allowed, and many associations dissolve themselves," he says.

And he believes that civil society "is closed in on itself and withers away."

What is happening is the result of a harsh two-stage strategy by Beijing to crush dissent, at a time when local elections in late 2019 saw a string of victories for the pro-democracy movement in the provincial councils.

The National Security Law was initially imposed, under which more than 120 people were arrested, almost all for their political views.

Then emerged the campaign currently underway and led by local authorities under the title "Hong Kong led by the patriots."

This campaign aims to check the loyalty of government employees and local elected officials.

Currently, most leaders of the pro-democracy movement are either in prison, the target of judicial investigations or in exile.

More than 250 local council members preferred to submit their resignations rather than submit to a loyalty test, avoiding problems with the authorities.

The county councils were the only bodies in which all members were elected by universal suffrage.

Reimbursement of operating expenses

Resignations surged in recent weeks when official sources hinted that elected officials disqualified for "disloyalty" might be forced to reimburse operating expenses.

Among the people who submitted their resignations was Democratic Party Chairman Lu Kin-hee, one of the largest and oldest opposition parties.

"The repression, in its scale and speed of execution, exceeded everything we could have imagined, and left us all stunned a year later," he says.

During the two decades that followed Britain's return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, under the principle of "one country, two systems", opposition and political pluralism were accepted in Hong Kong, which was inconsistent with what was prevalent in the rest of China.

Now, "We're at a 30-year low," says Lu Kin-hee.

This slow death does not only mean the world of politics.

Moderate associations and unions of doctors, lawyers, and government employees have dissolved themselves over the past year.

Agence France-Presse counted at least 30 organizations that have closed their doors or ceased public communication in the past 12 months.

It got serious

One of the largest medical unions, the General Doctors Syndicate, also intends to stop its activity, according to its former president, Aricena Ma, who denounced the “losing space for expression and lack of influence.”

She said, "The matter has become really dangerous," adding that "before, the government was ignoring you if it did not like your positions, but now it can launch prosecutions."

A number of foreign diplomats also denounce the fact that many Hong Kong residents refuse to meet them, for fear of being accused of "collusion with foreign forces".

The authorities maintain that the National Security Law has allowed the stabilization of Hong Kong, and that the national campaign allows anti-Chinese forces to be neutralized.

Hong Kong's legislature no longer includes any opposition deputies, and all future deputies must prove their loyalty, given that less than a quarter of deputies are elected by universal suffrage.

Wong Yat-Shin does not hide that he often feels powerless and pessimistic.

But he asserts that he will continue to set up his kiosk in the street "to remind others that there is someone who has not given up."

• At least 30 organizations have closed their doors or ceased public communication in the past 12 months.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news