Hong Kong’s democracy dream will not die

Hong Kong’s democracy dream will not die

Chinese authorities on July 1, 2020, began implementing in Hong Kong the National Security Law to stop the popular movement for democracy and freedom, which began on June 9, 2019, and mobilized the city for a whole year. The demonstrations reached up to two million citizens, in a city that has seven million.

The security law rendered meaningless the “one country-two systems” formula, which has governed Hong Kong since 1997. More than ten thousand women and men, young and old, were arrested. More than a thousand, including leading democracy leaders, are still in prison.

Hong Kong loves freedom and democracy, and has a surprising capacity for resilience, as seen in the case of the Apple Daily, a free and popular newspaper. The entrepreneur who founded it, Jimmy Lai, is in prison on charges that could result in life imprisonment. The editors of the newspaper have ended up in prison as well. On the last day of the newspaper’s life, June 24, 2021, one million copies were printed (compared to the usual circulation of 80,000), all sold before 8:30 in the morning. In December 2021, other journalists were arrested and other newspapers closed.

Marking the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997, the network of grassroots groups organized a demonstration in 2021. Hundreds of thousands paraded on the streets of Hong Kong on that day demanding democracy.

Memorable was the demonstration on July 1, 2003, when more than a million people took to the streets to say no to the first attempt to impose the National Security Law on the city. It was a success: for another 17 years, Hong Kong would remain free. Dozens of other initiatives, grassroots groups and political parties have been suppressed or self-acquitted, making such gatherings just part of history.

Another tradition that now stands broken is the vigil in Victoria Park that commemorated the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. For thirty years, on the evening of June 4, thousands were gathering with lighted candles to remember those who died for democracy. It became the motivational roots of the democratic movement of the young people, who gave birth to the ‘umbrella revolution’ in 2014 and the protest in 2019.

“A disproportionately high number of pro-democracy Hong Kong leaders sentenced or imprisoned are Christians”

Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow himself, in a 2020 interview released on Jan 1, 2022, to Italian Mondo e Missione, said: “The incident in 1989 really affected me. It put me in touch with my ethnic identity, with who I am; my plight and the plight of the Chinese people were connected through that incident.”

I have often noticed that a disproportionately high number of pro-democracy Hong Kong leaders sentenced or imprisoned are Christians. Some of them have strong ties with PIME missionaries. They have taken seriously the teaching of Jesus: freedom is an evangelical good and is the foundation of our dignity as children of God. They are committed to democracy because it is, as the popes and their social magisterium affirm, consistent with the Christian imperative of building human communities.

They are not in prison because they are Christians, but because they stood for democratic values. But they stood for democratic values because they are Christians.

Salesian Cardinal Joseph Zen, for two decades known as the ‘conscience of Hong Kong,’ and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha, have led the Catholic people in their social and civil commitment to freedom and democracy. We are discouraged by the disavowal, even in ecclesiastical circles, of the dimension of an evangelical witness offered by Hong Kong Catholics sentenced to prison for their ideals.

Hong Kong is not an isolated case. The contribution of Catholics to democracy in East and South-East Asia is a page of great value that seems to us so far underestimated.

Catholics were protagonists in popular movements for democracy in the Philippines in 1986, when Cardinal Jaime Sin led the people’s movement that overthrew the dictatorship for democracy.

“Myanmar is a land of Buddhist faith but Catholics are today alongside Buddhists to oppose the military brutality”

The following year, in Seoul in South Korea, the courageous Cardinal Stephen Kim protected the protesters, who took refuge in the cathedral. It was a fundamental moment for the victory of the democratic movement and the end of the bloody military dictatorship. Many, both Catholic and non-Catholic, consider Cardinal Kim the father of Korean democracy.

The Catholic defense of democracy continues as seen in Myanmar. Criminal military rulers deposed an elected government and took power on Feb. 1, 2021, destroying the path of freedom and democracy on which the country was set.

Myanmar is a land of Buddhist faith but Catholics are today alongside Buddhists to oppose the military brutality. Catholics are among the victims of brutal violence. The photo of Sister Ann Nu Thawng kneeling in front of a platoon of armed men in the city of Myitkyina has become the most recognized symbol of the non-violent resistance of the gentle Burmese people.

I fear that the general silence on the suppression of democracy and freedom in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020, provided a sort of confidence to the bloody Burmese military junta. It seems from Hong Kong it gathered the courage to go ahead thinking that it is possible to get away with impunity even if it destroys freedom, democracy, and massacres the protesters.

I would like to conclude from where I started: from beloved Hong Kong. The city, known in missionary circles as the ‘Pearl of the East,’ is experiencing the most dramatic moment since its beginning in the 19th century. Hong Kong was a great hope: for its people first of all, but also for China, Taiwan, Asia, and the whole world.

Melancholy grips me, but I don’t want pessimism to be the last word. The resilience of Hong Kong citizens, the testimony from the prison of its best leaders, and the unforgettable images of millions of citizens on the streets asking for democracy show that Hong Kong’s season for freedom and the dream of democracy cannot die.

One day, like the evangelical buried seed, it will bear fruit. Because it’s the people who make history.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.