It goes without saying that the tyrants crushing the populaces of China and Hong Kong cannot tolerate any hard resistance, presumably including armed invasion and humming pro-democracy protest anthems. But Hong Kong officials have also been stressing lately that they don’t want any soft resistance either.
But what’s that?
Hong Kong Free Press reports (“What is ‘soft resistance’? Hong Kong officials vow to take a hard line against it, but provide no definition,” August 5, 2023):
Although the national security law curbed “flagrant illegal behaviour” of pro-independence forces in the city, they did not “give up entirely,” [Secretary for Security of Hong Kong Chris Tang] said. He pointed to street booths set up by organisations advocating Hong Kong independence, documentary screenings and the sales of protest-related books as examples of “glorifying rioters” and “infiltrating violence through culture.”
”Therefore, we must remain vigilant and also urge the citizens of Hong Kong to stay away from activities that are hijacked by ‘Hong Kong independence’ advocates. They should not be used as a shield for the ‘Hong Kong independence’ movement,” Tang said….
The publication of a series of illustrated books for children has often been cited as an act of soft resistance. Five members of the speech therapists union behind the books were jailed last September after being found guilty of sedition….
“While it may seem to be harmless, in reality planting provocative ideas in the minds of children can have long-lasting harmful effects. This is a prime example of a signature case of ‘soft confrontation’,” [Edwina Lau, former head of the National Security Department] said.
The formal definition of soft resistance, if there is one, is probably as arbitrary and malleable as the rules governing the hard-on-dissent, soft-on-protection-of-individual-rights political system of China and Hong Kong. But in light of the jailing of authors for writing children’s books that “plant provocative ideas” and the stern warnings about street booths and books and other suchlike ominous means of “hijacking” discourse, it is safe to say that soft resistance to the China–Hong Kong state probably consists of all the resistance that is left over after all the hard resistance has been accounted for. Point being, don’t resist.
