Hong Kong is currently suffering under one of the harshest Covid dictatorships in the world. Where the hell did all the "Free Hong Kong" activists go? Wasn't Hong Kong supposed to be a safe haven for "freedom" and "democracy?"
Who remembers the “Free Hong Kong” movement? I remember it quite well. During the latter half of 2019, a massive public uprising took place in Hong Kong in response to a security bill that would allow fugitives from the People's Republic of China to be extradited from Hong Kong, a quasi-separate autonomous region of China. Protesters viewed the bill as a severe threat to Hong Kong's legal system and its autonomous status. To Western observers, the crux of the conflict was that Hong Kong was a free and democratic society that had developed its identity based on British rule rather than Chinese rule, and that the security bill was an overt attempt by the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) to subjugate the region.
Consequently, the “Free Hong Kong” movement was framed as a struggle between the Western ideal of liberty and the Oriental model of tyranny. Thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to protest against the pro-Chinese Hong Kong government and against China itself. There were several videos that were circulated around the Internet in which “pro-democracy” protesters were shown smashing buildings, burning police cars, and storming into universities. There were other videos that showed demonstrators being brutalized by Chinese loyalist Hong Kong police and other law enforcement. In all, there were at least 4 deaths, 2,600 injuries, and 10,250 arrests. Western media, especially American media, obviously took sides and made a concerted effort to portray The People’s Republic of China as an evil force that wanted to eliminate Hong Kong’s autonomy and impose Communism on the people of Hong Kong.
Even though the mode of Communism in modern-day China is different from the classic Stalinist or Maoist style of Communism, the situation in Hong Kong was a political eye-opener for some people. Some for the first time started to consider what Communism actually means and how people’s lives can be directly impacted by different styles of governance. People around the world, especially in Europe and the United States apparently sympathized with the perceived struggle of the people of Hong Kong and vociferously spoke out against China. There were countless social media posts in the Western world advocating for the "liberation" of Hong Kong. In the United States, some people even went to NBA games and other sporting events and held up signs that that boldly stated “Free Hong Kong.”
Well, all of those violent demonstrations in Hong Kong and the displays of solidarity from Westerners against totalitarianism were all for naught because just two years later, Hong Kong is in far worse shape than it was back in 2019. At this very moment in late December 2021, the people of Hong Kong are being crushed beneath the steel boot of medical martial law.
Image of a Quarantine Camp in Hong Kong
I call this global medical reign of terror by the simple name of “Corona Communism.”
Corona Communism is the real pandemic infecting the globe right now. One could easily argue that the Corona Communism that is in effect right now in Hong Kong is significantly worse than the pre-existing form of Chinese Communism that they were protesting against back in 2019. Obviously, while China is by default a Communist-style country, the way of life there pre-Covid was pretty normal. Yes, the government monitored everyone’s every behavior with a social credit system, but as long as you didn’t speak out against CCP or violate certain social norms, you could live a nearly normal life in China. But in 2019, the people of Hong Kong apparently didn’t want that. They preferred to remain aligned with Western-style democracy and representative government. Of course that was a fine and noble desire, but ever since Covid hit, the people of Hong Kong have been living in a dystopian nightmare called Corona Communism that is leaps and bounds more terrifying than what they were fearing in 2019.
In part II, I will delve into the specifics of how Hong Kong has devolved from a mostly free and vibrant metropolis into a Kafkaesque hellscape.
Comments