Letters | Gaza war: US campus protests a lesson in the inevitable limits of free speech

Readers discuss the need to stop the anti-war demonstrations from escalating, the morally superior stance of the protesting students, and the difficult choice confronting the government

Israel-Gaza war

Letters

Published: 11:30am, 8 May 2024

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In times like these, when we in Hong Kong see on TV pro-Palestinian protests mushrooming across campuses and wreaking havoc in the US, it is tempting to mimic what Nancy Pelosi said of the Hong Kong protests of 2019, that they were “a beautiful sight to behold”.

But indulging in schadenfreude will not help shine a light on the real issues involved, and there are plenty. Western countries like to lecture others on the freedom of expression, but they should own up to the fact that such freedom is not absolute.

As the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and common law jurisprudence have clearly established, the freedom of expression carries special duties and responsibilities, and can be restricted in accordance with the law to uphold national security, public order, public health or public morals. Authorities everywhere draw a line between peaceful expression of opinions and mass demonstrations that disrupt public order and hamper other people’s freedoms.

From a security point of view, such campus demonstrations are potentially dangerous. They could easily be infiltrated by outsiders (as had happened in Hong Kong in 2019 during the Polytechnic University riots) and morph into violent confrontations. If any key campus facilities are sabotaged or any person, police officer or ordinary citizen, is killed, the demonstrations would escalate into a political crisis.

Police brutality must be roundly condemned, but President Joe Biden is right to stress that order must prevail. I hope American politicians will bear in mind the need to uphold public order and prevent the metastasis of youth demonstrations into a political maelstrom, and stop pointing fingers at others the next time they see protests flare up in other countries.

Regina Ip, member, Hong Kong Legislative Council

Youth are the moral conscience of society

True moral conscience guides not the actions of the learned and the elders in a society, but those of its youth and students.

It is heartening to see the protests in US universities in support of peace in Palestine. These students feel that the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza is not just being overlooked, but actively supported by the US while it makes a show of being against the war.

The sight of state troopers being deployed in addition to local police against the students evokes questions regarding fading freedom of expression in the world’s most celebrated democracy.

I am reminded of Albert Einstein’s statement in 1933 when he left Nazi Germany for America, that as long as “I have any choice in the matter, I will live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule”. If Einstein were alive today, would he make the same choice?

Sutinder Bindra, Discovery Bay

US must balance Israeli interests and popular opinion

The anti-war protests in American tertiary institutions in support of Palestine now engulf many prestigious universities, and have spread to other countries. These protests have garnered significant attention from the media in the West, and are prominently supported by college students, intellectuals and left-wing activists.

This type of anti-war movement could potentially serve as a turning point or offer a glimmer of hope for ending the war, as growing public disapproval of the conflict is likely to influence the government’s handling of the situation. Remember the significant role the anti-war movement played in America’s eventual withdrawal from the Vietnam War.

Ideally, the US government would feel pressured into reducing its support for Israel and helping to bring an end to the war. However, it has to be acknowledged that Israel is a crucial ally of the US’ in the Middle East, which is a politically significant region due to its vast oil resources.

Balancing the US government’s interests in the Middle East with the voices of its people will undoubtedly present an intriguing problem to solve in the coming months.

Alan Lim, Sha Tin