Graffiti on a bridge in Causeway Bay declares: “Get up, you who refuse to be slaves”.
Hong Kong, China:
Hong Kong people find creative ways to express their dissent after Beijing has covered the city with a new security law and police have started arresting people who display banned political slogans.
Faced with the sudden threat of prosecution for anything that could promote greater autonomy or independence for the busy city, the locals use the pun and even overturn the dogma of the Chinese Communist Party to express their frustration.
On a bridge in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay, a key location for pro-democracy protests over the past year, traffic is booming in front of newly smeared graffiti that says, “Stand up, you who refuse to to be slaves “.
The sentence is taken from the first line of the Chinese national anthem.
And although the graffiti could have been written by a patriotic nationalist, it is most likely a declaration of dissent.
Social media and chat rooms have been full of suggestions on how to find safer ways to protest after Beijing on Tuesday imposed sweeping legislation banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion.
In a semi-autonomous city used to expressing opinions, people will find ways to get around the law, said Chan Kin-man, a democracy veteran who has already been imprisoned for his activism.
“In a public space, one could either say nothing, or use” officially approved “language to protect oneself,” he told AFP. “But hidden language is something that cannot be prohibited by law.”
“Take back the banana”
The local government said on Thursday that the popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time” would now be considered illegal.
For some, the expression represents real aspirations to separate Hong Kong from China, a red line for Beijing, but for many others, it is a more general cry for democracy and an expression of growing frustration at the with regard to Chinese domination.
But coded language allows people to keep the slogan alive.
A “GFHG, SDGM” version uses English letters from the transliterated phrase “gwong fuk heung gong, si doi gak ming”.
Another more complex example mimics the tone and rhythm of the slogan using the numbers “3219 0246” in Cantonese.
The Chinese characters themselves also offer a large place for linguistic subversion.
One phrase that people have started to adopt online is “grab the banana”, a game about similar characters in traditional Chinese for Hong Kong and bananas.
Others have opted for English slogans that seem positive but are a clear dig in Beijing – for example the Trumpian phrase “Make Hong Kong Great”.
The very first arrest made under the new security law involved a deliberate language challenge.
During demonstrations the day after the promulgation of the law, the police announced that they had arrested a man carrying a flag marked “Independence of Hong Kong”, displaying a photo.
But eagle-eyed bloodhounds zoomed in on the flag and noticed that a man had written a small “No” before his much larger sentence.
The same phrase has since gone viral online.
White paper and quotes from Mao
Several pro-democracy restaurants and stores across the city have removed their “Lennon Wall” posters expressing support for the pro-democracy movement after some were warned by police that they could violate national security law.
The walls are often made up of colorful sticky notes with protest slogans.
A cafe has replaced its wall with blank memos.
“What is essential is invisible to the eyes,” the store wrote on Facebook, citing the popular children’s book “The Little Prince.”
Another symbol of challenge that has replaced some protest arts across the city is the blank white pages.
The gesture represents the inability to express oneself and also “white terror”, a Chinese expression used to describe the political persecution.
“Repression makes people fight back,” said Chan, who is also a professor of sociology.
He compared the situation to the way people in mainland China show their dissent or anger at the government with a wink and a nod.
“The Hong Kongers will certainly respond more actively, it’s just that it could happen in a gray area.”
A slogan that went viral this week was a quote from Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.
He said, “Those who suppress student movements will not end well.”
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
