Untruth is truth; Ignorance is strength. Hypocrites are everywhere and we are accustomed to their existence as if it is no more than usual.

Pro-China camp claimed that almost 3 millions people ‘signed’ the petition to support the National Security Law of Hong Kong, but not a lot of people are interested in questioning its credibility. Beijing's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People Congress, passed the National Security Law of Hong Kong, declaring that 1.4 billion people agreed on it, yet nobody lampooned. Those government officials lied through their teeth, saying that they are not figureheads. They are so used to telling lies that they even fooled themselves. I heard that trying to win in elections is equal to seizing power; chanting slogans means treason and subversion; receiving support from foreign friends is equivalent to interfering in Hong Kong's internal affairs. Whilst gaining support for the Hong Kong National Security Law from a country being regarded as “axis of evil” are called words from friends.

The Communist state wants everybody to be as hypocritical as it is. Artists who are just imposters took the lead in supporting the evil law. Being on TV shows became the daily routine of the heads of the five disciplinary forces. Tycoons and magnates bowed their heads and embraced the “law” in order to protect their businesses. If you ever hesitated, you will be accused of turning a deaf ear and being a fence-sitter by the China state-media, just like HSBC. They force the President of all universities in Hong Kong to make known their positions and are not allowed to keep mum.

In the work “The Power of the Powerless” written by Václav Havel, a Czech writer and the last President of Czechoslovakia, he told a story of a grocery store owner. The slogan “Workers of the world, unite!” was hung on the window of that grocery store. Everyone took that act as innocuous and was used to it under the ruling of the Communist Party, though they might not agree with it. The owner declared his stand, hoping that obedience would bring him an easier life.

Havel stated that this type of “declaring ritual” is critically important to the totalitarian government. If you follow them and declare your position, it implies that you accept the rules of the game and are a part of the system. The declaration set an example to remind others to make “appropriate” decisions, which can be extremely influential. Ultimately, everyone will obey unconsciously which allows despot to live longer and longer, and become even harder to be overthrew. If this happens, we will all be victims, and at the same time, the tools of the system.

Havel said that if these “rituals” are abandoned, the despotic system will collapse. He recommended everyone to “live in truth.” If the owner of that grocery store had removed the slogan and stopped obeying, the world would have changed dramatically.

Does “living in truth” work? The “Power of the Powerless” was written in 1978, which was 10 years after the Prague Spring was suppressed and 11 years before the Velvet Revolution. As “Power of the powerless” was banned in Czechoslovakia, only a few literati knew about it. If anyone dares not to hang the slogan, totalitarians will take revenge on them. My Czech friends said that people ignore the 20 years between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution when they looked into the history of Czechia. After the suppression of the Prague Spring in the 70s and 80s, the society was in a dormant state. No one dared to take a single move. People were at their wits' end under totalitarianism though they were not willing to. Czechs often deride themselves that they were unable to do anything for 20 years, which has been such a long period.

We should learn from the story of Czechia: to fight against the tyranny as soon as possible, before the totalitarian power grows too strong, or else we might be put into darkness for God-knows-how-long.

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