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HONGKONG-CHINA-POLITICS
Democracy books disappear from Hong Kong libraries
HONG KONG, July 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Books written by prominent Hong
Kong democracy activists have started to disappear from the city’s
libraries, online records show, days after Beijing imposed a draconian
national security law on the finance hub.
Among the authors whose titles are no longer available are Joshua
Wong, one of the city’s most prominent young activists, and Tanya
Chan, a well known pro-democracy lawmaker.
Beijing’s new national security law was imposed on Tuesday and is
the most radical shift in how the semi-autonomous city is run since it
was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.
China’s authoritarian leaders say the powers will restore stability
after a year of pro-democracy protests, will not stifle freedoms and
will only target a “very small minority”.
But it has already sent fear coursing through a city used to
speaking openly, with police arresting people for possessing slogans
pushing independence or greater autonomy and businesses scrambling to
remove protest displays.
Wong said he believed the removal of the books was sparked by the
security law.
“White terror continues to spread, the national security law is
fundamentally a tool to incriminate speech,” he wrote on Facebook,
using a phrase that refers to political persecution.
Searches on the public library website showed at least three titles
by Wong, Chan and local scholar Chin Wan are no longer available for
lending at any of dozens of outlets across the city.
An AFP reporter was unable to find the titles at a public library in
the district of Wong Tai Sin on Saturday afternoon.
The city’s leisure and cultural services department said it would
provide a statement later on Saturday.
The national security law targets acts of subversion, secession,
terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.
China says it will have jurisdiction in some cases and empowered its
security apparatus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first
time, ending the legal firewall between the two.
Rights groups and legal analysts say the broad wording of the law —
which was kept secret until it was enacted — outlaws certain
political views, even if expressed peacefully.
Any promotion of independence or greater autonomy appears to be
banned by the legislation. Another vaguely worded provision bans
inciting hatred towards the Chinese or Hong Kong government.
On the authoritarian mainland, similar national security laws are
routinely used to crush dissent.
The new security law and the removal of books raises questions of
whether academic freedom still exists.
Hong Kong has some of Asia’s best universities and a campus culture
where topics that would be taboo on the mainland are still discussed
and written about.
But Beijing has made clear it wants education in the city to become
more “patriotic” especially after a year of huge, often violent and
largely youth-led pro-democracy protests.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1806hrs