Hong Kong society is increasingly concerned about the fact that thousands of young people and students in particular were arrested for various criminal offenses during illegal gatherings using the extradition law amendment bill as an excuse and that some educators have subjected many students to political indoctrination against professional ethics.
As court cases involving those arrested students and teachers proceed, we as a community should pay more attention to a serious threat to Hong Kong society - systematic radicalization of Hong Kong""s younger generations with political bigotry.
On Aug 11 last year, multiple police stations in Hong Kong came under firebomb attacks by masked, black-clad rioters during "anti-extradition law amendment bill protests". On the following day, Yang Guang, spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, described and condemned such acts as "a sign of budding terrorism". However, as the society was so divided at that time there was little room for public discussion over this issue. Instead, the term "terrorism" was considered an overstatement by the central government to discourage protestors and their supporters. In the following months, as local residents were repeatedly shocked by violent crimes during illegal protests, including arson, a sanitation worker killed with a brick in the head apparently thrown by a mobster and the emergence of a "Dragon Slayer Squad" tasked with eliminating police officers, more and more people realized radicalization is not budding anymore but taking roots now.
Young people under the influence of extreme ideology tend to do radical acts without thinking and it is not unique to Hong Kong but rather commonplace in the world. The international community has coined a term for it: radicalization, which naturally leads to countermeasures described as deradicalization. In order for deradicalization to be effective, we need to satisfy two requirements: government leadership and public participation.
The British government has issued a law requiring universities to take action against suspected extremist speakers while enhancing the guidance and support for students who may have been influenced by extremism. It also introduced a new counter-terrorism strategy in 2018 that lists "deradicalization" as an important task and includes a measure of public participation called "Prevent Referral". It allows any citizen to inform local authorities and the police of someone with extremist tendencies. The latter in turn will start a process of determining what kind of intervention is needed to deal with the suspect. Such prevention groups typically hold a meeting of police, health experts and social workers once a month to decide what preventive measures should be taken against a confirmed "threat" and to what extent.
France launched a nationwide "Plan Against Terrorism" in 2014 which, for the first time in history, includes preventing "radicalization" as an important part of counterterrorism effort. Paris set up a center that year at which veteran police officers were stationed to answer telephone enquiries and, when necessary, refer certain cases involving radical thoughts and behavior to psychologists. The Plan and the Center not only safeguard those close to the extremists but also have helped anti-terrorist departments find important clues in many extremist cases with positive results. In order to nip terrorism in the bud, the French government unveiled the "Action Plan Against Radicalization and Terrorism" in 2016 to extend its scope of work to organizations such as sports clubs, the Ministry of National Education, Family Allowance Funds, etc. Meanwhile, more funds and human resources have been allocated to training for the prevention of radicalism.
In Germany, meanwhile, the Federal Center for Political Education (Bundeszentrale fr Politische Bildung, BEPB) has launched a multi-dimensional education scheme to proactively prevent the spread of extremist ideology at schools, such as offering political education for primary and secondary schoolteachers, counseling services and municipal affairs training services for youth, etc. In addition, BEPB has taken the initiative to collaborate with youth welfare institutions to pilot a "Positive Behavioral Intervention Scheme" for schools in need.
Although the effectiveness of anti-terrorism efforts in different countries varies, all of them show an alarming trait - once radicalization takes root the effectiveness of deradicalization will be significantly reduced. This explains why some European countries experience terrorist attacks every now and then despite increased funding and training in anti-terrorism - they have been consistently late in recognizing radicalization as a real and present threat - once behind, always behind. This is precisely why prevention is crucial to deradicalization. It would be too late when even the public is aware of the threat and starts panicking. Europe has been ringing the alarm for Hong Kong for quite some time now and the latter must commit all efforts necessary to deradicalization immediately.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.