關於 why should we fight for our rights ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

【Joshua Wong speaking to the Italian Senate】#意大利國會研討會演說 —— 呼籲世界在大學保衛戰一週年後與香港人站在同一陣線

中文、意大利文演說全文：https://www.patreon.com/posts/44167118

感謝開創未來基金會（Fondazione Farefuturo）邀請，讓我透過視像方式在意大利國會裡舉辦的研討會發言，呼籲世界繼續關注香港，與香港人站在同一陣線。

意大利作為絕無僅有參與一帶一路發展的國家，理應對中共打壓有更全面的理解，如今正值大學保衛戰一週年，以致大搜捕的時刻，當打壓更為嚴峻，香港更需要世界與我們同行。

為了讓各地朋友也能更了解香港狀況，我已在Patreon發佈當天演說的中文、英文和意大利文發言稿，盼望在如此困難的時勢裡，繼續讓世界知道我們未曾心息的反抗意志。

【The Value of Freedom: Burning Questions for Hong Kongers】

Good morning. I have the privilege today to share some of my thoughts and reflections about freedom, after taking part in social activism for eight years in Hong Kong. A movement calling for the withdrawal of the extradition law starting from last year had escalated into a demand for democracy and freedom. This city used to be prestigious for being the world’s most liberal economy, but now the infamous authoritarian government took away our freedom to election, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and ideas.

Sometimes, we cannot avoid questioning the cause we are fighting for, the value of freedom. Despite a rather bleak prospect, why do we have to continue in this struggle? Why do we have to cherish freedom? What can we do to safeguard freedom at home and stay alert to attacks on freedom? In answering these questions, I hope to walk through three episodes in the previous year.

Turning to 2020, protests are not seen as frequently as they used to be on the media lens, partly because of the pandemic, but more importantly for the authoritarian rule. While the world is busy fighting the pandemic, our government took advantage of the virus to exert a tighter grip over our freedom. Putting the emergency laws in place, public assemblies in Hong Kong were banned. Most recently, a rally to support press freedom organized by journalists was also forbidden. While many people may ask if it is the end of street activism, ahead of us in the fight for freedom is another battleground: the court and the prison.

Freedom Fighters in Courtrooms and in Jail

Part of the huge cost incurred in the fight for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong is the increasing judicial casualties. As of today, more than 10 thousand people have been arrested since the movement broke out, more than a hundred of them are already locked up in prison. Among the 2,300 protestors who are prosecuted, 700 of them may be sentenced up to ten years for rioting charges.

Putting these figures into context, I wish to tell you what life is like, as a youngster in today’s Hong Kong. I was humbled by a lot of younger protestors and students whose exceptional maturity are demonstrated in courtrooms and in prison. What is thought to be normal university life is completely out of the question because very likely the neighbour next door or the roommate who cooked you lunch today will be thrown to jail on the next.

I do prison visits a few times a month to talk to activists who are facing criminal charges or serving sentences for their involvement in the movement. It is not just a routine of my political work, but it becomes my life as an activist. Since the movement, prison visits has also become the daily lives of many families.

But it is always an unpleasant experience passing through the iron gates one after one to enter the visitors’ room, speaking to someone who is deprived of liberty, for a selflessly noble cause. As an activist serving three brief jail terms, I understand that the banality of the four walls is not the most difficult to endure in jail. What is more unbearable is the control of thought and ideas in every single part of our daily routine enforced by the prison system. It will diminish your ability to think critically and the worst of it will persuade you to give up on what you are fighting for, if you have not prepared it well. Three years ago when I wrote on the first page of prison letters, which later turned into a publication called the ‘Unfree Speech’, I was alarmed at the environment of the prison cell. Those letters were written in a state in which freedom was deprived of and in which censorship was obvious. It brings us to question ourselves: other than physical constraints like prison bars, what makes us continue in the fight for freedom and democracy?

Mutual Support to activists behind-the-scene

The support for this movement is undiminished over these 17 months. There are many beautiful parts in the movement that continue to revitalise the ways we contribute to this city, instead of making money on our own in the so-called global financial centre. In particular, it is the fraternity, the mutual assistance among protestors that I cherished the most.

As more protestors are arrested, people offer help and assistance wholeheartedly -- we sit in court hearings even if we don’t know each other, and do frequent prison visits and write letters to protesters in detention. In major festivals and holidays, people gathered outside the prison to chant slogans so that they won’t feel alone and disconnected. This is the most touching part to me for I also experienced life in jail.

The cohesion, the connection and bonding among protestors are the cornerstone to the movement. At the same time, these virtues gave so much empowerment to the mass public who might not be able to fight bravely in the escalating protests. These scenes are not able to be captured by cameras, but I’m sure it is some of the most important parts of Hong Kong’s movement that I hope the world will remember.

I believe this mutual support transcends nationality or territory because the value of freedom does not alter in different places. More recently, Twelve Hongkong activists, all involved in the movement last year, were kidnapped by China’s coastal guard when fleeing to Taiwan for political refugee in late-August. All of them are now detained secretly in China, with the youngest aged only 16. We suspect they are under torture during detention and we call for help on the international level, putting up #SAVE12 campaign on twitter. In fact, how surprising it is to see people all over the world standing with the dozen detained protestors for the same cause. I’m moved by activists in Italy, who barely knew these Hong Kong activists, even took part in a hunger strike last month calling for immediate release of them. This form of interconnectivity keeps us in spirit and to continue our struggle to freedom and democracy.

Understanding Value of freedom in the university battle
A year ago on this day, Hong Kong was embroiled in burning clashes as the police besieged the Polytechnic University. It was a day we will not forget and this wound is still bleeding in the hearts of many Hong Kongers. A journalist stationed in the university at that time once told me that being at the scene could only remind him of the Tiananmen Square Massacre 31 years ago in Beijing. There was basically no exit except going for the dangerous sewage drains.

That day, thousands of people, old or young, flocked to districts close to the university before dawn, trying to rescue protestors trapped inside the campus. The reinforcements faced grave danger too, for police raided every corner of the small streets and alleys, arresting a lot of them. Among the 800+ arrested on a single day, 213 people were charged with rioting. For sure these people know there will be repercussions. It is the conscience driving them to take to the streets regardless of the danger, the conscience that we should stand up to brutality and authoritarianism, and ultimately to fight for freedoms that are guaranteed in our constitution. As my dear friend, Brian Leung once said, ‘’Hong Kong Belongs to Everyone Who Shares Its Pain’’. I believe the value of freedom is exemplified through our compassion to whom we love, so much that we are willing to sacrifice the freedom of our own.

Defending freedom behind the bars

No doubt there is a terrible price to pay in standing up to the Beijing and Hong Kong government. But after serving a few brief jail sentences and facing the continuing threat of harassment, I learnt to cherish the freedom I have for now, and I shall devote every bit what I have to strive for the freedom of those who have been ruthlessly denied.

The three episodes I shared with you today -- the courtroom, visiting prisoners and the battle of university continue to remind me of the fact that the fight for freedom has not ended yet. In the coming months, I will be facing a maximum of 5 years in jail for unauthorized assembly and up to one ridiculous year for wearing a mask in protest. But prison bars would never stop me from activism and thinking critically.

I only wish that during my absence, you can continue to stand with the people of Hong Kong, by following closely to the development, no matter the ill-fated election, the large-scale arrest under National Security Law or the twelve activists in China. To defy the greatest human rights abusers is the essential way to restore democracy of our generation, and the generation following us.

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Brave the pain, Hongkongers (Lee Yee)

In his comments on my yesterday’s article, a reader left me a YouTube link to an English version of “March of The Volunteers”rendered by Paul Robeson, an American singer who was celebrated in my youthhood. The lyrics are as follows,
「Arise, you who refuse to be bond-slaves./Let's stand up and fight for/Liberty and true democracy!/All our world is facing/The chains of the tyrant./Everyone who works for freedom/Is now crying./Arise! Arise! Arise!/All of us with one heart/With the torch of freedom!/March on!/With the torch of freedom!/March on! March on!March on and on!」

Information shows that Robeson chanting this English version in a concert held in New York in 1941 was captured in the video. That year, Liu Liang-mo, a leftist conductor, was dispatched by YMCA to further study in America. Since the Pacific War broke out, Liu had been engaged in a propaganda war against Japan. Presented by Lin Yu-tang, an eminent Chinese novelist and philosopher, he met Robeson and sang in front of the American a few war songs of anti-Japanese invasion, including “March of The Volunteers”. A few weeks later, Robeson made an announcement that he would sing a song named “Chee Lai” for Chinese. He then vocalized in Chinese before belting out the English lyrics mentioned above.

In the English version, no “Chinese nation”, “the Great Wall”nor “enemies’ gunfire” is found, which makes “you who refuse to be bond-slaves” even more outstanding. Without distorting the original gist of the Chinese lyrics, the import of the English version, which encourages people to throw off the shackles of tyranny and fight for freedom as well as genuine democracy, is even more universal and perpetual.

Fights for freedom have been waxing and waning in succession throughout times and across lands for the fact that history has unequivocally manifested that people are being relentlessly enslaved by tyranny and freedom persistently suppressed by authoritarians.

Since 1997, after Hong Kong people had enjoyed liberty for more than one hundred years, freedom has been continually eroded and chipped away. In contrary to the authoritarian of gigantic power, Hong Kong is isolated and feeble. Being put in a vulnerable position, Hong Kong people used to have only three options: 1. Abscond from home, which means emigration; 2. Get used to living in a place with less and less freedom; 3. Haggle over protection for ourselves in an inferior position. The fourth one, “struggle to resist at the cost of one’s life” , had not even been contemplated until the anti-extradition amendment bill movement last year, in which young people were the vanguard and more than half of the population got embroiled.

Why did I put forward half of the population, but not a small minority figured out by the Chinese Communist Party? The reason is undisputed with just a glimpse of the mainstream opinion online, 2 million people in the demonstration and the ballot of the District Council Election.

Dragging on and on, the last year struggle, which tired Hong Kong people out, was to no avail. Since the Hong Kong version of national security law was tabled, the three options mentioned above have resurfaced. Confronted with the peremptory China, which has been legislating for Hong Kong in violation of the Basic Law, some legal professionals and democrats in town would rather succumb to the illegitimacy and counter-propose certain terms and conditions to safeguard the rights of Hong Kong people, including the provisions of retroactivity wiping off, interpretation of the law in accordance with common law, defendants tried in Hong Kong’s courts, stipulation of a sunset clause, etc.

When the US intended revising Hong Kong’s special status with regard to the Hong Kong version of national security law, some of them suggested that to preserve a firewall between Hong Kong and China, the US should conserve a little bit of the special status.

The haggling over protection for Hong Kong people in an inferior position, the third option, is surely not out of bad intention. Be that as it may, regarding what we have been experiencing in the past 20 years, showing the white feather would not stop the mighty authoritarian from seizing the overall jurisdiction of Hong Kong. Though conflicts might be alleviated, the plight of Hong Kong people would only worsen in front of the insatiable authoritarian. Worse still, Hong Kong people knuckling under to it would hinder the US from sanctioning China and Hong Kong.

Getting pained by uncompromising struggles has to be anticipated. The US sanctions on Hong Kong are definitely painful to Hong Kong people. In the past couple of days, Yuen Kung-yi said: To take this route, Hong Kong people should brave the pain.

Perhaps those who come to the middle ground intend Hong Kong people to reserve the minimum protection. Yet, meanwhile, I am reminded of the wisdom of a classic philosopher, Friedrich Hayek: Those who fantasize about trading their basic freedom off for minimum protection would eventually find out that they are given neither freedom nor protection.

Robeson’s husky singing is reverberating in my ears.

我今天早上在香港電台英文台的《給香港的信》，向香港人警告政府和保皇黨企圖以「假新聞」作藉口而引入對互聯網內容審查！

Beware: Hong Kong government and pro-establishment politicians are drumming up against "fake news" to justify introducing Internet censorship

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You may have recently seen a series of so-called government announcements in the public interest, or API, on TV, cautioning the public to be careful about the information they receive on the internet. The API tells the public to verify and fact-check before believing these information, and not to spread misinformation, or the consequences can be devastating.

The advice is reasonable. But the intention may be dubious. Why? It is because the government and especially the police force but have been one of the biggest sources of misinformation in Hong Kong, during the last six months of pro-democracy protests which followed the government’s attempt to ram through the extradition bill. Needless to say, government claims about the extradition bill must have been some of the best examples of spreading misinformation, or simply lies. Likewise, many of the recent claims made by the police about their actions in their almost daily press conferences since this summer must be also justifiably classified as misinformation.

So, it is quite clear to many that what the government is trying to do is to monopolise what is true and what is not. In recent weeks, more and more government officials and senior police officers, running out of arguments to justify their own versions as their truths, simply resort to attacking the other sides’ views as “fake news.”

Some may remember about two month ago, a letter from the police to Facebook was leaked on social media. In the letter, the Police requested the global social media company to remove a number of posts made by different users, based on the allegation that these posts were critical of the police and would potentially harm their reputation. Fortunately, the social media company did not comply with these requests.

The issue at hand is not fake news. The issue at hand is freedom of expression, disguised by the authority in the name of countering misinformation.
This week in the Legislative Council, in a written question put up by the Honourable Ted Hui, the police admitted to 621 removal requests made this year up to the end of November to local and international Internet and social media platforms, a whopping 18 times more than in 2018. The government response puts the blame on “a vast amount of fake news and baseless accusations that targeted the Police.” It is simply ludicrous for a government with the lowest approval and credibility ratings in history to say that. To many, this government which refuses to even allow an independent commission to investigate the police is itself the biggest source of fake news, and not to be trusted.

The government seems to be saying that truth must be approved by authority, and its version of facts cannot be disputed by anyone, especially those who hold a different political view.
So really, where do fake news come from? In August, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube removed over 200,000 accounts which were tied to the China government or state media, that were used purposely to smear the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests, and to spread misinformation about the protests.

Yet, it is now the Hong Kong government and pro-establishment political figures that are making noises about fake news, saying that in order to counter these so-called misinformation, legislation should be passed to ban fake news. They would point to such legislation in other countries such as Germany and France, or Singapore.

When I was in Berlin, Germany, two weeks ago, for the Internet Governance Forum, in a summit with legislators around the world, we compared notes about censorship attempts by different governments in the name of protecting the people, but in fact at the expense of curtailing freedom of expression. A German member of parliament told me in no uncertain term that, quote, misinformation is legal is Germany, end of quote. She said that freedom of expression is enshrined in the German Basic Law and not to be compromised by any other legislation. The new law was just an attempt to regulate contents that are narrowly defined such as relating to criminal defamation, hate crimes, or Holocaust denial. But, criticising the government is certainly a right that is legally protected at the highest level of their constitution. Even so, the legislations of such laws in Germany or France were still very controversial.

When I told this German legislator that pro-government politicians in Hong Kong are justifying removal of content on social media by quoting the German example, her response was — this must be an example of using misinformation to justify laws against misinformation, that is, plain censorship. Her conclusion, laws in one land cannot be copied to another, or there will be abuse.

Hong Kong, by comparison with Germany or France, does not have the democracy and the power vested in the people to protect our people’s own rights. One can reference the recent case of Singapore, where it also passed an anti-fake news law, and in recent weeks have started to enforce it against people posting messages on Facebook. When a member of the opposition party posted an opinion opposing certain government investment decisions, the Singaporean government decided that was fake news.

So beware of the government’s evolving attempts to censor the Internet and social media, by drumming up the negative side. The Big Brother wants to stifle opinions against it, because that is the rule number one of hanging on to the authority they wish to continue to dominate. We must continue to guard against Internet censorship because no one else will save us. It is our — the people’s own — free opinion vs the government’s version of the only truth — that is what it is all about. And it’s worth the fight.

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https://www.rthk.hk/…/progr…/lettertohongkong/episode/612602

#RTHK #LTHK #censorship #fakenews