Imagine living without the freedom to express your opinions. You can not speak out against the government, can not create certain art, or hum your favorite song. This is not a distant fear, but a harsh reality for the citizens of Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is portrayed as a democracy by the media, its laws are illegitimate and have rigorous limitations intending to only promote the government, at the expense of individual freedoms.
Contrary to what one would believe a newly-freed country would not fall amongst the same political beliefs as their old communist rulers; Hong Kong is if not, an identical replication of China’s political ideology. The Chinese Political Republic’s influence is conspicuous for its strive to strip civilians of their rights. China’s authority led to a series of harsh, and preposterous laws in Hong Kong to empower the government. These abhorrent laws are known as “Hong Kong’s National Security Laws’ prohibit ordinary everyday actions, which can be seen as treason.
In the last decade, Hong Kong’s National Security Laws have banned any possible form of speech that goes against the government’s beliefs regardless of its intention. For instance, on May 8th, 2024, a law was passed banning the song “Glory To Hong Kong”. This harmless form of expression was used in the past decade’s protests to unify the residents and had no ill intentions against Hong Kong’s government. The rally cry, however, was banned and perceived as a threat to national security, emphasizing the extent to which the state will go in order to stifle any speech that questions its legitimacy.
The reach of Hong Kong’s National Security Law not only restricts certain songs but also imposes prohibitions against art. For instance Glorious Fast Food Restaurant, a noodle shop located in central Hong Kong. This store once presented a mural of people, and animals eating noodles while wearing construction hats, and uniforms. This innocent artwork displayed on the restaurant’s wall’s main objective was to attract more customers. It was advertising their food and wasn’t vulgar or offensive. Regardless of this, in late 2023, the Hong Kong authorities demanded that the store owner take down this mural due to it contradicting the National Security Law. The reasoning behind this is that the yellow construction hats on these animals and people in the mural were a symbol of the protests that occurred in 2019. During the “Hard Hat Revolution” citizens would wear hard hats, to ensure that Hong Kong authorities were aware of civilians’ discontent with the extradition law which passed in 2019. Although this may be justifiable on why under this context, the government was so against Glorius Fast Food restaurant. However, this mural is over a decade old, thus meaning it was created before the “Hard Hat Rebellion”.The decision by authorities to try to remove this mural, raised concerns about the declining rate of expression in any form in Hong Kong because the National Security law seemed to target even the most innocent forms of art.
The National Security Law, not only erodes the freedom of Hongkongers but also escalates the government’s authoritarian control. It is a human rights violation to prohibit self-expression, and it’s shameful that Hong Kong, a country that should strive to be progressive and democratic has resorted to increasingly dystopian measures.
Written by Caroline Zera
