What does the right to freedom mean in Hong Kong?
During this hard time in Hong Kong, the people have their own description of what freedom means to them. In this matter, freedom must mean that everyone must have opinion and expression. This right includes holding opinions without inference and to seek receive and impart information and ideas through any source of media regardless of any frontiers.
As you know, freedom is a very important right that everyone should experience throughout their lives but in Hong Kong this right isn't getting through to the Chinese president neither through to the people of China. Freedom is one of the most fundemental rights assured by India and is the thing keeping us happy and safe but at this very time in Hong Kong that's not happening.
Comments (49)
30 Sep 2019
Well done, artistic_leopard, for looking at the meaning of a word. We often forget to do this, but there's so much that can be discussed about a concept like 'freedom'. Can anyone else give their view on what 'freedom' means?
I think freedom is when your free not like locked up in a cage so there's so much space and air around you.
02 Oct 2019
Well the word freedom in Hong Kong means many different things. As artistic_ leopard suggested It can mean the right to an opinion or to be heard by the people that can make a change. It can also mean to be free and independent because in Hong Kong they have to be under China's rules .
Really good points and great ideas.
03 Oct 2019
good explanation
03 Oct 2019
your right, freedom is important and if i didnt have it i will suffer. Freedom is not only amazing you can explore.
03 Oct 2019
That is true the people of Hong Kong don't get there freedom and that is not right !
03 Oct 2019
That is very true splendid badger
03 Oct 2019
At this moment in time freedom would probably mean everything to the Hong Kong civilians and 'freedom' would also mean to be free and to have a free voice, to have their voices heard. This also means for them to have their basic rights.
04 Oct 2019
I agree with you grateful crab
06 Oct 2019
Yes I agree. Everybody should experience freedom at least once in their life, but Hong Kong has never felt this because their not an independent country. Us ruling over them, then handing them over to China. Everybody should also have the right to protest. If China is't letting people protest then what's the point in being a country/community if their not bothering to listen to Hong Kongers ideas. And although barging into Government buildings is wrong, they should at least stop being violent.
06 Oct 2019
freedom means that there not being ordered by people and they make the own decisions.
06 Oct 2019
I do agree with this post but i dont think freedom is something that should be experienced but i think that people should have it all the time. Also i think that freedom isnt just the thing that keeps us happy and safe but it is also the idea that every country should choose and have their own opinions. but well done artistic_leopard love the post.
A very clear description of what you think freedom means, succinct_leaves, showing open-mindedness and scepticism. But one thing it needs more of is reasoning - why should people have all the time and be for every country?
07 Oct 2019
Freedom means to have space to work or not be enclosed. China should not have the right to reject the people of Hong Kong that they don not agree with. Also, China are disrespecting the people of Hong Kong like they own them even though they do not because they share it with the UK. The people in Hong Kong, who want freedom, are not getting there human rights on what they need to do because of this they are going on the streets and injuring everyone trying to fight for freedom. The people of Hong Kong are entering buildings that belong to China and robbing them , while there trying to fight for freedom they are getting shot at by Hong Kong police with tear gas and rubber bullets also the Chinese army are interfering and injuring the people of Hong Kong in rants and robberys ang China will soon have injured a lot of people in Hong Kong.
sincere_piccolo, a very strong response with a clear idea! Could you give evidence for 'the people of Hong Kong are entering buildings that belong to China and robbing them'?
07 Oct 2019
The people of Hong Kong are robbing the Chinese building to get valuables (looting) because they are anyone's with China and trying to keep them away from there business and to stop them from influencing thier life's. Also Hong Kong are robbing the Chinese buildings to try and get themselves freedom and privacy. China need to stick to problems going in there country and not others because it is causing major problems and injuring thousands of innocent people who are just trying to do what they think is right, and for most people there is nothing wrong with that but for other people it is the opposite way round. Personally I think China should stay out of Hong Kong's lifestyle because it is not as important to them as it is to the people if Hong Kong.
Where did you get your evidence for this, sincere_piccolo?
I got this evidence from my lessons in class I also have heard about this on the news even though the news might be true it could just be gossip you can never be 100% sure on anything even though you might not belive this it is true.
07 Oct 2019
I strongly agree because nobody should have to come to a country where they can't share their opinion or do things for themselves. This is why democracy is used here in Britain. What one person wants won't be the same what
as what another person wants, it varies. Freedom has a definition and nobody can change that. Nobody should. An act of unfreedom is when China suspects an ordinary person and ships them from their homeland to a whole different country. They don't have any evidence! Yes the life-changing decision we have to make to intervene or not is still on the line, but we shouldn't focus on the future lets for once focus on now.
Overall, I think that it is really important to listen to every voice, even if it's a little one.
07 Oct 2019
The right to freedom in Hong Kong means they can go where ever they want to go without being stopped.If that is being separated from their lives,then the government has to do something about it.On the other hand,sometimes they can’t have freedom maybe because of violent protest,in that case,they should stay somewhere safe.
07 Oct 2019
I think freedom in hong-Kong is when you get a freedom of speech and you are not controlled by someone
07 Oct 2019
I think freedom can mean anything to an individual but I think the general idea in Hong Kong is the fact that people are able to express their opinions and not being able to live with the constant fear of the government. The people in China are like slaves of the government and it's like their mouths are being sown shut and if they break that thread, they will instantly be punished. However, with the people living in Hong Kong, they can live freely and can live with fact that they have freedom, they are respected by the Hong Kong's government and that they are able to speak out and possibly start something good instead of having to live strictly with the government's guidelines.
07 Oct 2019
I believe that Freedom(in this case)Is having the power to act speak or think without being forced to do it,in other cases this could be the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.The people of Hong Kong Deserve their Freedom and Human rights as for they are ordinary people who Protest in any way since all they want is their human rights.Freedom, generally, is having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is "free" if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state.Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.Human rights can also be declared as ''freedom'' in a way,Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.The citizens of Hong Kong Deserve all of their Freedom, Human rights and be able to Share their opinion without paying a fine or being charged for it.
08 Oct 2019
I agree
08 Oct 2019
In the past, Hong Kong was originally populated with villages with farms and areas for fishing; they were trading their products and with trade comes money. This escalated to turn Hong Kong into one of the world's most significant financial centers and commercial ports. It is the world's tenth-largest exporter and ninth-largest importer, and the Hong Kong dollar is the world's 13th-most traded currency. It has the world's most amount of ultra-high-net-worth individuals: rich people. Although many of the people are rich, there is a shocking amount of inequality amongst them. The country has the most amount of skyscrapers as a result of their high finance.
Hong Kong suffers from the problem of the gender pay gap just like anywhere else ( ie Korea ). They pride themselves, on a fair and open business environment, the city still sees its working women earn at least thousands of dollars less than the males amongst them. One example is a news editor there had resigned due to the fact that she wasn't getting aid equally. Many activists who have protested for this in the past say that gender inequality has been persistent for many years and that men are getting more management jobs whereas women are still housewives. Furthermore, many lawyers have said that women with the same jobs as men aren't getting paid the full amount and that it could be owing to the fact of gender. Iceland was the first place to give women and men equal pay, therefore people have begun to notice the inequality in Hong Kong.
'' An Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) spokesman says the 'significant difference' in the monthly earnings between women and men can be partly explained, 'by the fact that more men work as managers and professionals who have higher monthly incomes, while more women work in lower-end jobs'. '' This quote from my source makes me ask the question: doesn't that mean that the inequality there is worse than we think because women aren't offered or accepted for jobs in management and is it 'blaming' the women? Furthermore, I think that the fact that EOC said this a bit strange because shouldn't they be for equal rights? Now that I think about it more, this quote may be neither for good or bad: just to inform. It's had to tell as it isn't as specific enough to me.
The fact that this gender inequality in Hong is happening is straining many people there from getting the freedom they deserve. Therefore, it could cause a commotion.
Like succinct_leaves said freedom is something that should be experienced all the time. But not all the time. Some people could take this too far and start drug dealing and committing crimes. This may be one of the reasons why Hong Kong has limited freedom.
Whilst I was researching I found that people actually believe that they have good freedom. ''The Hong Kong government generally respects the human rights of the citizens.'' This may be true but the fact that China makes them do many things: not vote for their leader, pay taxes to them, etc. I read on and it said ''although there are core issues remaining''.
Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2129752/gender-pay-inequality-problem-hong-kong
Thanks for your contribution, balanced_singer. You have clearly done a lot of research - is everything you found from the South China Morning Post or did you use a few sources? Which of them do you think would be the most reliable? You show good scepticism about the quote!
Hi Tom : )
Thank you for the star.
I did use one other source which I had forgot to include ( most of my information from it came from the third paragraph ) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong
The source which I would trust more is The South China Morning Post. This is because it's a newspaper which informs people about important things and they covered some key details. For example, they covered the pay gap and they gave statistics: ''The third-largest pay gap, according to the report, was found in health and social work sector jobs where women were paid HK$8,000 less than men.'' To make sure, I looked it up on the internet. I went on a website and I found a graph which had shown that C suits ( corporate officers and directors ) were the third-largest pay gap. So perhaps the website was wrong? I am not too sure. Many people don't think that Wikipedia is trustworthy and I agree with them. This is because people can change the information on it to whatever they want. However, I find that when I type in simple things on Google - Hong Kong for example - most of the time the first result is Wikipedia. So it could actually be trustworthy because many people use it. Also, everything that is on Wikipedia gets checked by certain people to see if it's true. I decided to see if this piece of information on Wikipedia ''the Hong Kong dollar is the world's 13th-most traded currency.'' I went on another website and I discovered that the Hong Kong dollar is the 13th most traded currency.
In this case, I think that Wikipedia is more trustworthy. But this may not always be true.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/glassdoor-15-jobs-with-the-biggest-gender-pay-gap.html
Source: https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/most-traded-currencies.html
09 Oct 2019
Well everybody should have right to have freedom it's important not just to you but everybody. It might not be the same in Hong Kong but that's what I think
09 Oct 2019
I totally agree with you! Freedom must mean alot to Hong Kong. However, the fact that the president of China is completely ignoring Hong Kong is absolutely disgraceful. They own Hong Kong! They are supposed to be looking out for Hong Kong. Sometimes I feel like the president isn't fit to own Hong Kong because all he is doing disrespecting them. Everything that you have said artistic_leapord makes so much sense! I hope my comment makes sense. Thank you for understanding.
spirited_ant
09 Oct 2019
I think freedom is when you can do what you want when you want, but within the law otherwise things could get incredibly out of hand.
The law should be followed by the protestors and the police.
09 Oct 2019
Well as people say that freedom is being free but I think in my opinion that they get their voices heard and have the rights to do and say what you desire (not including the horrible things) and not all the countries and states have them so I consider myself lucky and I think you should too.
09 Oct 2019
Well I actually never thought about what there actually fighting for.
09 Oct 2019
First of all i wanted to say that Hong Kong should have their rights and freedom.This means that the economic goverment shall listen and respect what Hong Kong say and what they want.Freedom in Hong Kong consists of many rights.One of which is letting Hong Kong do what they want however they want.Also Hong Kong should be let to protest.China as you may have seen in the news have been saying that Hong Kong belongs to them and they can say waht they want.This shows that Hong kong has some sort of rights atleast.
09 Oct 2019
To add to my point,this means that China also let Hong kong run their own country.Also they should let Hong kong vote for who they think is responsible enough to run their country
11 Oct 2019
Freedom means to do what you want.
11 Oct 2019
Freedom is to do what you would like to do but it has to be within the law and it also means that you can have your human rights.
11 Oct 2019
human rights and freedom is so vital to the people of hong kong, and to anyone anywhere!
11 Oct 2019
I believe that the definition of freedom is living in such a way that means your voice is heard and you can hear other people’s voices. Freedom is the cooperative state of equality and not being denied your rights as a human (and your extra rights as a child of you are under 18).
Hong Kong is a very interesting example of the question of human rights. Some people would argue that the people of Hong Kong have the same human rights as in any country, because they define freedom as the right to vote, which is the most basic form of having your voice heard. However, as is more widely argued, many believe that freedom is not only living in a democracy but the right to express your opinion in any non-violent manner. Therefore, we have peaceful marches and community projects, literature and newspapers to spread the word.
This is my perception of freedom; an environment in which everyone is entitled to their own views and can discuss and debate these matters with higher authority and local councils.
A very well-argued point, lovable_writer, you have spoken up clearly and with good reasoning to support it. Could someone be allowed to make their voice heard, and hear other people's voices, yet not have freedom?
11 Oct 2019
I agree because we all say "Yeah we should have our human rights everyone should!" But really Hong Kong is fighting for theirs and known really understands that and China is taking over Hong Kong which they don't think is fair. Freedom means that you can basically do what you want and you are reckless against the rules and I think that everyone should have freedom in a way that you listen to the safe bits about doing a thing like playing a game you can't break the rules of it because if you do that is cheating.
Can you be stopped from being 'reckless against the rules' yet still have freedom?
14 Oct 2019
I think your comment is very good, outstanding_turkey, but I disagree with your opinion that freedom means you can do whatever you want. I think that true freedom are the rights to free speech, equal opportunities and free will as long as it does not infringe or offend others’ rights. Therefore, if anyone says anything homophobic, racist or sexist, it is not allowed by the rights of free speech because it would offend and upset many other people.
Yes lovable_writer your point was very good but the people in Hong Kong don't have as much freedom as we do.What do you think we could do to help?
14 Oct 2019
Yes because you can for an example you can climb a tree and if you fall down and hurt yourself you hurt yourself so that is why we have rules that keep us safe as well doing activitys which are safe and fun.
15 Oct 2019
I think you are right because the people of Hong Kong have a very good reason to be fighting against the rules but this is because the rules that have been made are not to keep people safe but to limit their rights and take away their voices. I think we firstly need to acknowledge that this is going on. We need to admit that Hong Kong is being treated unfairly and we should show our support for charities that aid the Hongkongers. Then, we will need to investigate as a country whether it would be sensible and safe to intervene with the Hong Kong crisis.
16 Oct 2019
I strongly agree because nobody should have to come to a country where they can't share their opinion or do things for themselves. This is why democracy is used here in Britain. What one person wants won't be the same what
as what another person wants, it varies. Freedom has a definition and nobody can change that. Nobody should. An act of unfreedom is when China suspects an ordinary person and ships them from their homeland to a whole different country. They don't have any evidence! Yes the life-changing decision we have to make to intervene or not is still on the line, but we shouldn't focus on the future lets for once focus on now.
Overall, I think that it is really important to listen to every voice, even if it's a little one.
26 Nov 2019
FREEDOM
Freedom stands for something greater than just the right to act however I choose.It also stands for securing to everyone an equal opportunity for life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness.
To most reasonable people,freedom means more than just 'free to do whatever I
want '.Taken literally,that aproach would produce anarchy-every man,women,child for himself or herself.Fortunatly no one has to live that way.
Certainly freedom does mean the right to do as one pleases-to think,believe,speak,worship (or not to worship),move about,gather,and generally act as you choose -but only until your choices start to infringe on another person's freedom.
This still leaves a great deal of latitude.There is a long list of things that one can say,and say freely,for example,that excludes shouting " fire!" in a crowded theatre.
This is what freedom means!
A thoughtful look at what freedom means!
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