“When will you come out of the prison of your minds?”. In Hong Kong, the censorship of children’s books condemns 5 language therapists

In Italy we are struggling with the PeppaPigGate, for the episode in which a character from the animated series for children has two mothers, with the disordered reactions of Fratelli d’Italia, and associations such as , which requested that RAI remove the episode in question from the programming and web platforms. At the basis of this request is the belief that the episode has the intent to indoctrinate children to gender theories. «The problem is not Peppa Pig and even homosexuality, but the indoctrination of children, from the web to cartoons, to disperse their sexual identity. The problem is not the episode but the system »said Fabio Rampelli, vice president of the Chamber of Deputies yesterday. In Hong Kong they are faring even worse, with the Chinese regime continuing to rage against civil rights and freedom of expression, and to resort to uncontrolled censorship. At the center of the latest story that comes from the island off the coast of China there are also in this case some cartoons. Not animated for television, but illustrated in three books.

After more than a year in prison today five language therapists were sentenced for sedition to 19 months in prison, Lorie Lai, Melody Yeung, Sidney Ng, Samuel Chan and Marco Fong are between 26 and 29 years old and they are all members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapyst. Their books depicted a flock of sheep and a pack of wolves in an illustration that the inquisitors purportedly “against the government.” In one of these wolves can be seen attacking a village of sheep, with the sheep starting to react instead of being eaten. The books refer to the mass protests that took place in 2019 and 2020 in Hong Kong, and in particular the case of 12 protesters who managed to escape from the island aboard a speedboat before being captured by the Chinese coast guard. The collection of the three volumes was intended for children aged four and up with the intent, according to the district judge, Kwok Wai Kin, “to subject children to a brainwashing exercise to get them to accept their point of view and their values ​​”. The five pleaded not guilty to the crimes they are accused of, but the sentence was nevertheless harsh. Judge Kwon Wai Kin, aware of the fact that due to the laws of the island, they could soon come out for good behavior, he turned to them asking “when are you going to leave the prisons of your minds?”.

It is the first time since 2019 that a publication has been tried by the regime. In order to bring the five to court, the judge, chosen by the leaders of the city to deal with these cases concerning national security, had to appeal to a law against sedition that dates back to the colonial age. On behalf of the accused, Lorie Lai took the floor and was immediately interrupted with the excuse that “the courtrooms are not places for political speeches. We all have freedom of expression, but this is not the same as absolute freedom ». Before being interrupted, Lai had managed to say that the trial was against freedom of expression and “freedom cannot exist with limitations.” You had quoted Marthin Luther King, “a revolt is the language of the unheard”.