Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law is on China's wanted list. Here's why
From student activist to fugitive: Nathan Law’s fight for democracy in Hong Kong
Nathan Law was just 26 when he became a fugitive from his homeland of Hong Kong.
A former student protester and the youngest elected lawmaker in Hong Kong's history, Law is a pro-democracy activist now living in exile in the U.K. He left Hong Kong in 2020, after a new national security law — carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison for serious offences — essentially outlawed dissent.
The documentary Who's Afraid of Nathan Law? charts his rise from student leader to one of Hong Kong's most famous activists. It was shot in secret locations with anonymous local crew.
Part of China, but apart from it
Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years until it was returned to China in 1997. After the handover, Hong Kong was allowed to keep its capitalist economy, many freedoms not found in China, and significant political autonomy from China for the next 50 years.
"Most Hong Kongers or their parents had fled communist China," Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, said in the documentary.
"They knew how miserable the Chinese political system could be, how it could just grind people up. I mean, you had tens of millions of people dying of famine, and people in Hong Kong understandably worried that what had happened in Beijing in 1989 [the Tiananmen Square massacre] could happen in Hong Kong after 1997."
Hong Kongers have protested many of Beijing's moves: in 2012, planned changes to the curriculum in Hong Kong schools, which critics deemed propaganda; in 2014, a proposed framework for democracy that allowed voting only for candidates approved by Beijing; and in 2019, a proposed extradition bill, endorsed by Beijing, that would have allowed Hong Kongers accused of crimes to be tried in mainland China, where the Chinese Communist Party influences the courts.
The young protesters
Law was born in the early '90s, shortly before Hong Kong was returned to China.
"I don't think I'm a very special person," he said in the documentary. "I was born in China and I moved to Hong Kong when I was six years old.… My parents had a refugee mentality: go to college, get a good job, make a good living, keep your head down and don't rock the boat. But when I get into university, it was a time that massive changes was happening in Hong Kong."
When Law was in university, he met activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, both high school students prominent in the pro-democracy movement. In 2014, the three were among the leaders of the Umbrella Movement, a series of large-scale protests pushing Beijing to grant fully free elections for Hong Kong's highest office.
For 79 days, tens of thousands of protesters shut down parts of the city. It was called the Umbrella Movement because they used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and pepper spray. Law and Wong were imprisoned in 2017 on charges related to the protests. (The charges were dropped on appeal in 2018.)
The youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong's history
In 2016, Law, Wong and Chow went political. Along with fellow activist Oscar Lai, they formed Demosisto — a pro-democracy party led by Law — and at 23, he won a seat as a legislator, becoming the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong's history.
But Law's political career was short-lived; he was ejected from his position on a technicality. The Hong Kong courts disqualified him and several other lawmakers, deeming their oaths of office insincere. Law had quoted Gandhi before his oath and used sharply raising tones while swearing allegiance to China, which made it sound like a question. The establishment, it seemed, was fighting back.
'The biggest political crisis in modern Chinese history'
In June 2019, protests over Hong Kong's extradition law swelled into the millions. The bill would have allowed Hong Kongers accused of crimes to be extradited to China for trial.
"The Hong Kong people basically said, 'If we don't fight now — if we don't stop this extradition bill — it's game over for Hong Kong,'" Clifford said. "This kicked off the biggest political crisis in modern Chinese history."
The city's leader, Carrie Lam, announced on Sept. 4 that she would withdraw the extradition bill, but protesters still had other demands, including democracy for Hong Kong. And in district council elections in November, pro-democracy candidates overwhelmingly defeated established pro-government politicians. It was seen as a rebuke to China.
"There's been a fear that the example of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong could spill across the border," Clifford said. "The last thing China's leaders want to see is for Hong Kong to be a kind of launching pad for a democratic revolution in China."
The national security law, enacted in 2020, was the country's bluntest weapon.
"The legislation effectively criminalizes any dissent," according to an article on the Council on Foreign Relations website. The authors go on to say it uses broad and vague definitions of crimes such as terrorism and subversion, which could carry a life sentence.
"Overnight, the stakes became way too high to risk expressing anything that could be construed as being against the government," Hong Kong journalist Laurel Chor said in the documentary. "It essentially would give the government the power to charge anyone they wanted."
Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, agreed. "The national security law destroyed Hong Kong," he said in the documentary. "It put Hong Kong in handcuffs."
The new law was passed on June 29, 2020. And on July 2, Law announced he had fled Hong Kong, later revealing he was in London.
Chow was arrested and released after serving seven months of a 10-month sentence; Wong was arrested and remains in prison today. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers left their homes to live abroad.
But Law says his exile isn't permanent. He wants to tell his story and the story of Hong Kong, even with a bounty issued for his capture.
Law believes Hong Kongers will have democracy in his lifetime.
"I dreamed about Hong Kong," he said. "I dreamed about the neighbourhood that I grew up. I dream about friends. And we are here to say that we are not giving up. We all have the same pursuit — it's that we are going to come home."
Watch Who's Afraid of Nathan Law? on CBC Gem and the CBC Docs YouTube channel.
