In early October 2021, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) student union disbanded after 50 years of service. The union stated that this decision was made primarily due to the university management’s dissociation from it eight months ago. The university cited that the student union’s political expressions would potentially breach the national security law.[1] The law has been highly influential in cracking down on the democratic movement by prohibiting any political speech that is subversive or secessionist. However, the clarity of the rule remains questionable.[2] Professor Ivan Choy Chi-Keung, the former president of CUHK’s student union in 1987, expressed his concern about the “domino effect” on other university groups as many may lose support from the school management.[3] Notably, the University of Hong Kong’s Student Union Council had also resigned, and four of its members were arrested for “advocating terrorism” in August 2021.[4] The disbandment of CUHK’s Student Union, which was prompted by political pressures, indicates the domino effect among student groups as the university continues to disassociate from these groups. Student organizations played an integral role in the 2014 Umbrella movement and the 2019 democratic movement. These movements demonstrated their capability to convey political ideas or even the ability to advance the political progress beyond the campus. As the current political environment only allows a thin margin of error for political expressions, student activists would be discouraged from publicly participating in civil society for legal concerns. Their downfall could lead to a concerning future for the democratic movement of Hong Kong.
Ever since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, student activists have played a prominent role in the Hong Kong democratic movement. Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), one of the most influential student groups, actively participated in the Central Occupation. For HKFS, their leaders were invited to a debate with the government high-ranked officers during the Occupation. The debate was centred on the proposal of a public referendum and calling for a reformation of the nomination process for the chief executive election. Although it turned out to be a fruitless conversation between the two sides, the leaders demonstrated their significant influence as public representatives to bargain with the government.[5] As HKFS was formed by student unions from different universities, their public debate with senior officials amplified the weight of the political speech from those student representatives since then. Since then, their political significance has become much more well recognized by the public.
Five years after, the political unrest occurred due to the official’s proposal to establish an extradition law between Hong Kong and China. Many feared that this law would be appropriated as a legal tool for Beijing to extradite dissents to Mainland China and prosecute them with the Chinese legal system.[6] Unlike the Umbrella Movement, the leaderless nature of this movement did not allow students groups to explicitly lead the protestors. However, the supportive forces they offered should not be underestimated. A representative from Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation, a student group formed by other student unions after the disbandment of HKFS, attended a United States congressional hearing session regarding the democratic movement in Hong Kong. As the series of protests effectively garnered international attention, many protestors saw the support from the global society as a vital resource to accomplish democratization.[7] The hearing session then resulted in the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that required the U.S. government to punish the Chinese and Hong Kong officials who violate Hong Kong citizens’ human rights. In this case, student activism was pivotal to advancing the social movement through international lobbying.[8] The international dimension of Hong Kong student activism was developed and brought tangible effects into the movement.
These student unions constantly provided financial resources for students to continue engaging in the movement. For instance, many student unions would provide funding to their student journalists. This allowed greater latitude for their journalistic practice than other news media companies that the government has partially censored.[9] Without the burden of any commercial or institutional concern, those student journalists tended to report police brutality with a complete picture.[10] This is particularly important to monitor and hold officials accountable for their misconduct. On October 1, 2019, a high school student was shot by a police officer in the chest. The spokesperson of the police department claimed that the policeman was at risk and had provided medical assistance right after the shooting. However, student journalists from different universities posted footage that showed the statement given by the police department was false. The officer did not follow the warning and medical guidelines for the authorized use of firearms.[11], [12] These videos were validated by The New York Times and proved the official’s misbehaviour. These student media outlets could often assure the circulation of information overlooked by mainstream media because of political or business constraints. If the student unions had not sponsored the student journalists, these critical pieces of evidence for monitoring the government would not have been covered in the media.
After the establishment of the national security law, these student unions have been withdrawing their involvement in fighting for democracy. The political pressure it imposed compelled the universities administrations to comply with the regulations of the Hong Kong government.[13] Nearly all the universities administrations cut ties with their student unions because they engaged with the pro-democratic movement.[14] Consequently, many of them disbanded or became ineffective without any institutional support. The remaining ones are less active in politics to avoid any legal punishment. Considering the role that those unions played in the Hong Kong democratic movements, they were the core of the momentum of student activism. The loss of these groups would exacerbate the current predicament faced by the pro-democratic protestors in Hong Kong. If the government and the school administrations remain repressive to student activism in Hong Kong, the damage cannot be reversed.
Wesley Cheung is a second-year student who is in the International Relations and Ethics, Society & Law program. His research interests include the development of democratic movement, international security, and nationalism in the Asia-Pacific region. As a contributor, he wants to take this opportunity to facilitate the discussion regarding East Asian affairs in an engaging and inclusive manner.
Bibliography
Cheng, Selina. “Hong Kong University Student Leaders Arrested by National Security Police over Mourning of Police Attacker.” Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, August 18, 2021. https://hongkongfp.com/2021/08/18/hong-kong-university-student-leaders-arrested-by-national-.
Cheung, Tony. “Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Student Union Disbands under Pressure.” South China Morning Post, October 7, 2021. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3151478/national-security-law-chinese-university-hong-kongs-student.
Ho, Ming-Sho, and Wai Ki Wan. “Universities as an Arena of Contentious Politics: Mobilization and Control in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement of 2019.” International Studies in Sociology of Education, (November 25, 2021), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2021.2007503.
Ho, Wing Chung, and Choi Man Hung. “Youth Political Agency in Hong Kong’s 2019 Anti-Authoritarian Protests.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, (April 20, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1086/709530.
Law, Vanessa. “Hong Kong Police Arrest Three Student Activists for ‘Inciting Subversion.’” Radio Free Asia, September 20, 2021. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/student-09202021153540.html.
Luwei Rose Luqiu. Covering the 2019 Hong Kong Protests. S.L.: Springer Nature, 2021.
S. Ku, Agnes. “New Forms of Youth Activism – Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in the Local-National-Global Nexus.” Space and Polity 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 111–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2020.1732201. Wong, Benson Wai-Kwok, and Sanho Chung. “Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students: Comparative Analysis of Their Developments after the Umbrella Movement.” Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: an International Journal, (September 1, 2016). https://doaj.org/article/e12baf4705554e9383224b7117ed43ce.
[1] Vanessa Law, “Hong Kong Police Arrest Three Student Activists for ‘Inciting Subversion,” Radio Free Asia, September 20, 2021, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/student-09202021153540.html.
[2] Law, “Hong Kong Police Arrest Three Student Activists for ‘Inciting Subversion.”
[3] Tony Cheung, “Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Student Union Disbands under Pressure,” South China Morning Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3151478/national-security-law-chinese-university-hong-kongs-student.
[4] Selina Cheng, “Hong Kong University Student Leaders Arrested by National Security Police over Mourning of Police Attacker,” Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, August 18, 2021, https://hongkongfp.com/2021/08/18/hong-kong-university-student-leaders-arrested-by-national.
[5] Benson Wai-Kwok Wong and Sanho Chung, “Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students: Comparative Analysis of Their Developments after the Umbrella Movement,” Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: an International Journal, September 1, 2016, https://doaj.org/article/e12baf4705554e9383224b7117ed43ce, 874
[6] Wing Chung Ho and Choi Man Hung, “Youth Political Agency in Hong Kong’s 2019 Anti-Authoritarian Protests,” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, April 20, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1086/709530, 303
[7] Agnes S. Ku, “New Forms of Youth Activism – Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in the Local-National-Global Nexus,” Space and Polity 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 111–17, https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2020.1732201, 115
[8] Ming-Sho Ho and Wai Ki Wan, “Universities as an Arena of Contentious Politics: Mobilization and Control in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement of 2019,” International Studies in Sociology of Education, November 25, 2021, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2021.2007503, 13
[9] Ibid.
[10] Luwei Rose Luqiu, Covering the 2019 Hong Kong Protests. (S.L.: Springer Nature, 2021), 59
[11] Ho and Wan, “Universities as an Arena of Contentious Politics: Mobilization and Control in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement of 2019,” 13
[12] Luwei Rose Luqiu, Covering the 2019 Hong Kong Protests. (S.L.: Springer Nature, 2021), 58
[13] Ho and Wan, “Universities as an Arena of Contentious Politics: Mobilization and Control in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement of 2019,” 18
[14] Law, “Hong Kong Police Arrest Three Student Activists for ‘Inciting Subversion.”