Democracy Wall (City University of Hong Kong)

The Democracy Wall (Chinese: 民主牆) at the City University of Hong Kong is a venue for free speech. It is located on the third floor of Academic One, in a prominent position next to the university library. The original Democracy Wall, from 1978, was a focal point for democratic discourse in Beijing. It was demolished by the Communist authorities.

The Democracy Wall of City University of Hong Kong in March 2013

The Democracy Wall is a public bulletin board that allows students, alumni and teachers to freely express their personal opinions, exchange their views on school policies, political point of views or academic theories. The school will also post official responses on the wall according to some particular issues. It acts as a public forum for the university community. There are also tables in front of the wall with various leaflets and books on display, providing further information for those interested in particular issues.

There are also other Democracy Wall at other public-funded universities, including the University of Hong Kong,[1] Chinese University of Hong Kong,[2] and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[3] The famed Lennon Wall of the 2014 Hong Kong protests also played a similar role, but was removed by the government when the Admiralty protest site was cleared.

History

In 2003, the Democracy Wall was moved to its present location.

Users

The Democracy Wall of CityU is managed by the City University of Hong Kong Students' Union. Equality, mutual respect, judge on the facts rather than the people, and being responsible for what they have said are the rules of speaking. It is common for different societies to post declaration on the wall.

Staff

Faculty of the university are free to post posters and statements on the wall. For example, Dr.Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (Priscilla Leung), an associate professor of City University of Hong Kong School of Law, once posted a statement about the Legislative Council using Powers and Privileges to investigate the progress justice of examining the TV licence of HKTV. It is her right to post on the democracy wall. However, there are lots of critics because she used the member of Legislative Council but not the staff of CityU.[4]

Students

Students are allowed to post on the wall with their student ID. The content can be anything such as posters, comments or slogan. For example, many societies or clubs of the student’s union post declaration to allow the public, especially to the students of CityU to read. It is also possible for students to write comments on posted items, along with their student ID again.

Aims

Exercising Hong Kong's rights

In Hong Kong, freedom of speech is an essential right codified in the Basic Law. It is also considered as a core value in Hong Kong society. The Democracy Wall is a place for people to express their opinions and share their views, especially on some political issues. It is not compulsory for the issues being related to only CityU or Hong Kong society, it can also be related to some international issues.

People concerned about matters that are conflicting justice. Since justice is one of the core values in Hong Kong, the behaviours of government should follow justice, regardless of the process or results.

Student awareness of societal issues

The Democracy Wall aims to raise students’ attention towards different kinds topics and problems surrounding them. It is located in an eye-catching area where University students can easily view different kinds of opinions when they pass by. People can quickly get to know different kinds of issues in CityU, Hong Kong and the world. It can build up students’ attention towards caring our world, especially for some political issues.

The role of a university

Nowadays, money is very important in this world. The concept of economic-oriented in a society has a vital place in Hong Kong people’s minds, including the University students. People may not focus on political issues because they think it does not directly affect their lives. However, University students should not have this misconception. University is a platform for exchanging different kinds of opinions and knowledge. University students should have a rise of attention to show the role of a University. Therefore, Democracy Wall of economic-oriented provides a way for University students to connect to the world.

Management

The democracy wall is owned by the Student’s Union of the City University of Hong Kong, directly related to the Executive Committee of the Students' Union. The committee has the ability to put down the poster on the wall. Therefore, it raises a question about the fairness. If the executive committee can put down the poster when they want, the committee with different background may have a different interpretation.

Significant incidents

Libel lawsuit

In 1994 a City Polytechnic law student sued an accountancy student for libel after the defendant posted two posters to the Democracy Wall that claimed the plaintiff was a criminal, biased, and dishonest. The law student had sat on an arbitration committee that ruled over a case in which the accountancy student was part of a party that felt aggrieved. The accountancy student was ordered to pay $75,000, but claimed that she had allowed a fellow student to use her student number on the posters.[5][6]

Orientation camp conduct

In September 2013, there was a post on the Democracy Wall of CityU talking about one of the games in MCS orientation camps in Hong Kong torturing group leaders (students of Year 2 or above) in front of freshmen. This post was posted by a freshman who had joined the orientation camp, saying they could not accept the game they played in the camp because it was immoral: throwing noodles, water, and even leftover onto group leaders to punish the freshmen for not participating inactively in the camp. A few days later, the designer of the game posted a proclamation to clarify the meaning of the game was wanting freshmen to devote more in the camp, and only water and wetted paper were used to throw on group leaders.[7][8]

Taiwan Anti-Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement

In March 2014, there are some posts about the Anti-Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement to China issues which are happening in Taiwan. Students compare the situation in Hong Kong and Taiwan. They express their views of supporting Taiwan citizens to against the trade pact with China of holding Sunflower Student Movement. Rather than objecting the unfair situation of a trade pact with China, this is also showing that justice is being affected. This can show the inappropriate way of the Taiwan government when handling this issue. Through the views of Hong Kong students, they are also objecting to the way of Taiwan government. CityU Democracy Wall is a way to show social justice.[9]

Censorship attempts

In November 2015 a Mainland Chinese exchange student tore down part of a banner reading "Hong Kong is not China" and put up new text, changing it to read "Hong Kong is just a part of China of course". She struck and injured a student who filmed her actions. The footage went viral on Facebook, with commentators criticising the student for not respecting Hong Kong’s freedom of speech, which is codified in the Hong Kong Basic Law.[10]

A male student was also seen ripping messages from the wall the same month. He was also filmed and the video uploaded to Facebook.[11]

Vandalism of Goddess of Democracy statue

A replica of the Goddess of Democracy stands beside the Democracy Wall at City University. The original statue was erected by students at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, but was destroyed by the People's Liberation Army during the massacre of the protesters on 4 June 1989.

On 23 July 2019, against the backdrop of protests against the Hong Kong government's proposal to introduce a China extradition law, a young man was filmed tearing posters from the Democracy Wall and tipping the Goddess of Democracy over. The man was confronted by CityU students and university security, who called police. The suspect was taken away in a police van.[12][13] The Mandarin-speaking suspect was reportedly a mainland Chinese graduate of the university.[14][15]

The statue, though badly damaged, was subsequently righted by students. The students' union, which owns the statue, said it had contacted the original artist in hopes of repairing it. The university said it would set up a committee to investigate the incident.[14]

References

1. Dewolf, Christopher (29 May 2009). "Hong Kong's Democracy Wall". urbanphoto.net.
2. "Showdown at Chinese University campus over posters and politics". South China Morning Post. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
3. "PolyU president slams student union over 'arbitrary' rule change". South China Morning Post. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
4. Opinions of Priscilla Leung about TV license
5. "Student sues colleague over protest posters". South China Morning Post. 12 January 1994. p. 8.
6. Ng, Elizabeth (25 January 1994). "Student to pay $75,000 for libel". South China Morning Post. p. 1.
7. The “Insulting Groups leaders in Orientation Camp” issue
8. The “Insulting Groups leaders in Orientation Camp” issue
9. Taiwan Anti-Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement
10. Zeng, Vivienne (20 November 2015). "Mainland student caught altering 'Hong Kong is not China' banner on City U 'democracy wall'". Hong Kong Free Press.
11. "城大民主牆標語被毀片段流出網民：大陸學生「玻璃心」得可憐". Passion Times. 19 November 2015.
12. Cheung, Ka-man (23 July 2019). "【逃犯條例】城大民主女神像遭毀壞　學生會：涉事男子操普通話". HK01.
13. Shih, Gerry; Mahtani, Shibani (24 July 2019). "China hints at military options to quell Hong Kong protests". The Washington Post.
14. Cheng, Kris (26 July 2019). "Video: Hong Kong City University to investigate after man arrested for damaging democracy statue and message board". Hong Kong Free Press.
15. "毀民主女神像 城大校友被捕". Sing Tao Daily. 24 July 2019.