【新唐人北京时间2019年09月18日讯】美国国会及行政当局中国委员会星期二（9月17日）上午在华盛顿国会山，就香港动荡的局势及美国政策回应等问题举行了听证会。获得美国两党参众议员支持的《香港人权与民主法案》是听证会讨论的焦点。香港Demosisto党的秘书长、“雨伞运动”的领导人黄之锋（Joshua Wong）和香港民主活动家及粤语歌手何韵诗（Denise Ho））出席了这次会议，并在会议上就香港的民主运动作证。以下为何韵诗在这次听证会上发言的中英文全文。
何韵诗听证会发言中文版
多谢麦克高文主席、鲁比奥联席主席及各位委员会成员举行这个听证会，也多谢你们在香港这个关键时刻邀请我来到这里。我们希望我们的个人陈述能够帮助您们审视甚么事情是美国国会和美国人民可以帮助香港做的，特别是在我们的自由和自治在被侵蚀的时候。
至今已超过100天，香港青年带领我们的城市进行这场历史性的时代革命。这是一场“无大台”的运动，各行业各阶层人士广泛参与。这是争取民主的抗争、争取人权的抗争，而最重要的是，这是争取普世价值和自由的抗争。
最开始的时候，一百万人出来游行反对《逃犯条例》修订，运动后来转化成为坚定争取香港政治制度根本性改革的抗争。香港特区行政长官林郑月娥的错判和傲慢，导致北京政府对香港事务的全面控制，同时表现出两地政府不愿在香港全面实施落实“一国两制”制度。
由于林郑躲在警方后面几个月，拒绝以诚意解决政治问题，她已经给予警察不惜一切代价镇压抗争的绝对权力。
自6月以来，香港警方在无数次使用武力、逮捕和殴打和平抗争者方面表现得极度残忍。迄今已有1400多人被逮捕，甚至更多人（包括记者，医护人员和社工）受到催泪弹、橡胶子弹、水炮和警察无差别的使用警棍的严重伤害。从个人角度来说，远离家乡并观察人们远离城市是非常难受的，特别是在过去的周末，我们看到警察行为失控。
可悲的是，年轻人被强力按在地上，头部流血，脑部受重击，有些甚至被打昏，但仍被警察阻止接受治疗的现象，已成为一种新常态。
防暴警察和便衣警察在履行职责时一点也不克制。从最初的几个星期开始，他们故意隐藏警号，甚至在（面对示威者）要求时仍拒绝出示委任证，因此公民无法核实便衣警察的身份，也不能让任何警察对他们的违法行为负责。
上个月，一名拥有十枝观星笔的大学生被捕并被拘留48小时。一个护士被布袋弹射爆右眼，右眼有可能永久失去视力。 8月31日，特别战术小队（速龙小队）的警察冲进太子地铁站，随意殴打乘客。接着，他们关闭了车站24小时，拒绝为受伤者提供医疗服务，引起车站可能有人死亡的怀疑。他们最近被指控进入中学、商场和巴士，年轻人只要身穿黑衣就会被搜查甚至拘捕——即使警方根本没有正当理由。
简而言之，在我们今天的香港，年轻就是犯罪。我们现在正式成为一个警察国家，人们不断担心政治影响。
此外，在7月21日，在元朗地铁站发生的一宗臭名昭着的暴徒袭击事件中，警方未能及时抵达保护平民，警察在事件发生后39分钟才出现，尽管有数以百计的紧急求助电话。类似的情况在后来的抗争事件中也有发生，警方为暴徒和亲北京的支持者提供优惠待遇，帮助他们在袭击抗争者后离开现场，这显示出警方与三合会成员之间明显的勾结。
8月11日，警方阻挠义务律师为新屋岭控股中心的被捕抗争者提供法律援助，侵犯了54人的合法权益。警察局内还有女性抗议者提出性骚扰，以及多次身体虐待的指控。
自7月以来，警方已经有系统的否决了超过30个集会，发出了反对通知书。其中包括8月18日170万人民的集会，尽管警方发出禁令，抗争者仍在和平的集会和游行。根据香港《基本法》和国际标准，香港居民享有集会和示威的自由，和平的公共集会是公共空间的合法使用。香港政府禁止集会，实在是侵犯了人民和平抗议的权利。
随着警方违规行为每天不断的累积，香港人一直要求成立一个独立的调查委员会。行政长官林郑月娥拒绝这样做，声称我们“现时已有完善的（监警会）机制，正是为此而设立的”。这个现有的监管机构——独立警察投诉委员会，实际上完全由行政长官本人任命，没有法律权力传唤证人，也没有强迫警方提供足够的文件的权力，因此无法为这种情况伸张正义。
这场抗争始于一个《逃犯条例》修订法案。但在核心问题上，它始终是这两种截然不同的价值观之间的根本性冲突：一方面是中国模式，它不尊重人权和法治，只需要人民的服从；另一个是一个多元城市，在其存在的大部份时间里都享有这些自由，并对美国和其他西方社会所推崇的这些普世价值有着深刻的依恋。
不幸的是，随着习近平独裁政权的兴起，“一国两制”正在走向死亡。
香港代表着一种在世界上独一无二的东西。作为中西文化的十字路口，其一方面深深扎根于亚洲文化，并以其价值观和法治，透明的制度以及信息和言论自由而闻名。我们所代表的是随着民族发展而与普世价值接轨、每个独立个体无论身在何地都受到保护的希望。
这些保护措施是为甚么超过1500家跨国公司选择将其地区总部设在香港，而这些在港设立地区总部的公司最多来自美国。香港已成为全球互联互通最具金融价值的贸易经济体之一，通过金融和资讯、商品、思想、文化和人员流通，帮助各国更紧密的联系在一起。
但是，这个体系现在受到前所未有的威胁。像香港主要航空公司国泰航空（Cathay Pacific）这样的公司已经屈服于政治压力，由于他们的政治立场而解雇了数十名员工，其中一些仅仅是在Facebook上面写了一言半语。
商界人士被迫做出政治决定。我们的地铁公司由于中央媒体的压力，故意在集会和游行期间关闭车站，造成数百人被捕和不必要的伤害。
作为一名来自香港的歌手和活动家，我亲身经历了压制。
自从2014年的“伞运”以来，我被共产党政府列入黑名单。我的歌和我的名字都在中国互联网上受到审查，我被党国传媒全面封杀。在中国政府的压力下，赞助商纷纷退出，即使国际品牌也因为害怕与我联系而保持距离。在过去的五年里，近期则更趋严重，中国试图用他们的宣传机器和抹黑运动使我沉默，他们甚至虚构一些完全是子虚乌有的消息。现在，我面临来自共产党政府，亲北京支持者的威胁，并可能随时被捕、被逼害。
我不仅在继续在中国和香港的歌唱生涯中遇到了更多困难，而且自我审查现在已经蔓延到全球机构和城市。最近，由于“安全问题”，澳大利亚墨尔本国家胜利画廊否决了中国艺术家巴丢草和我自己的合作活动场地。由于类似的原因，2019年加拿大蒙特利尔的同性恋自豪大游行找一些无关痛痒的理由禁止香港活动家。来自香港，台湾和中国的名人都被迫选定政治立场，在社交媒体上表达他们对北京政府的一致“支持”，并可能因为保持沉默而受到谴责。即使是香港新的非官方“国歌”的词曲作者，也选择保持匿名，因为害怕未来的报复。
现在，香港人持续生活在恐惧中，不幸的是，我们失去了大部份的自由。对于一个以政治冷感而名声远播的城市来说，尽管有越来越多的无情镇压，年轻一代已经承担起保护我们家园的角色，勇敢的站在腐败的体制前。
他们唤醒了其他香港人，我们一起对我们的持续抗争感到震惊。
对世界其他国家而言，美国往往是自由和民主的象征。
美国人享有的自由是香港人长期以来所希望的。尽管我们的语言和文化不同，但我们的共同点是追求正义，自由和民主。
通过香港面对的挑战，西方正在意识到中国在全球范围内的影响力。香港以多种方式（体制、社会、经济、个人）与全球互联，但中国正试图孤立它以加强对其控制。如果香港沦陷，它很容易成为中国极权主义政权推动其海外规则和优先事项的跳板，利用其经济实力使其他人符合共产党人的价值观，就像他们在过去22年中对香港做的一样。如果美国及其盟友希望维持一个自由，开放和文明的世界，他们就应该对这发展感到害怕。
因此，我敦促美国国会支持香港，最重要的是，通过《香港人权与民主法案》。这不是呼吁“外国干涉”，也不是呼吁香港独立。
这是对普世人权的呼吁。
这是对民主的呼吁。
这是对选择自由的呼吁。
最后，容我引用你最钟爱的第一夫人埃莉诺罗斯福的一句话：“你通过各种经历获得力量、勇气和信心，你真正停下来看着脸上的恐惧。你可以对自己说，‘我经历过这种恐怖。我可以接受下一个挑战。’”
这是一场对我们都珍惜的普世价值的全球抗争，香港处于这场抗争的前沿。我们曾经害怕沉默会带来甚么，此刻我们变得无所畏惧！
何韵诗听证会发言英文版
Thank you Chairman McGovern, Co-Chairman Rubio and members of this Commission for holding this hearing, and for having us here at this very critical time of Hong Kong.
We hope that our personal accounts will be helpful in your deliberations on what the United States Congress and American people can do to help the Hong Kong people in face of the erosion of our liberties and autonomy.
For more than 100 days now, the Hong Kong youth has led our city into the historical fight of our times. It is a leaderless movement, with widespread participation from people of all walks of life. It is a fight for democracy, a fight for human rights, and most of all, a fight for universal values and freedoms.
What started out as a million people march against an extradition bill, morphed into a determined fight for a fundamental political reform in Hong Kong. Misjudgments and arrogance on behalf of Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong, resulted in a total clampdown of the Beijing government over Hong Kong affairs, at the same time surfacing the reluctance of both governments in fully implementing the “One country, Two systems” in Hong Kong.
With Carrie Lam hiding behind the police force for months, refusing to resolve political issues with sincerity, she has given police full authority to suppress the protests at all costs.
Since June, the Hong Kong police has shown excessive brutality in their use of force, arresting and beating up peaceful protesters heavily at uncountable occasions. More than 1400 people have been arrested up to date, with even more (including journalists, first aiders and social workers) severely injured by tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and the police’s indiscriminate use of batons. On a personal note, It has been extremely difficult to be away from home and to watch the people safeguard the city from afar, especially in the past weekend where we have seen police behavior getting out of control.
Sadly, it has become a common daily scene to see youngsters being pinned to the ground, with bleeding head concussions and some even knocked unconscious, but still refused medical care by the police.
Riot police and plainclothes officers have shown no restraint while performing their duties. From the early weeks, they have deliberately hidden their ID numbers, refused to show warrant cards even on request, therefore making it impossible for citizens to verify the legitimacy of plainclothes officers, nor to hold any police officer accountable for their violations.
Last month, a university student in possession of ten laser pointers has been arrested and detained for 48 hours. A first aider was shot in the eye by a bean bag round dispersed from above head level, risking permanent loss of sight. On August 31st, police from the Special Tactical Unit charged into Prince Edward MTR station, beating up passengers randomly. Consequently, they shut down the station for 24 hours, refusing medical care for those who were injured, raising suspicion of possible death in the station. They have recently charged into secondary school yards, shopping malls and on buses, where young people merely dressed in black clothing could be searched or even arrested without justified reasons.
In short, in our Hong Kong today, being young is the crime. We are now officially a police state, where people live in constant fear of political repercussions.
In addition, on 21st July, in an infamous mob attack that occurred in the Yuen Long MTR station, where a white shirt clad attacked civilians indiscriminately, the police failed to arrive in a timely manner, making their appearance only 39 minutes after the incident, despite hundreds of emergency calls for help. Similar situations occurred later in the protests, where police would give favorable treatment to mobs and pro-Beijing supporters, helping them leave the sites after having attacked protesters, showing clear and continuous collusion between police and triad members.
On August 11th, police obstructed pro bono lawyers from providing legal assistance to arrested protesters in the Sun Uk Ling Holding Center, violating the legal rights of 54 persons. There were also claims from female protesters of sexual harassment inside of the police station, and of physical abuses on numerous occasions.
Since July, more than thirty “no objection applications” for rallies and marches have been systematically denied, including the 1.7 million ppl rally on 18th August, where protesters gathered and marched peacefully despite the ban. According to Hong Kong Basic Law and international standards, Hong Kong residents have the freedom of assembly and demonstration, where peaceful public assembly is a legitimate use of public space. By banning the assemblies, the Hong Kong government is violating the people’s right to peacefully protest.
With police violations accumulating by the day, Hong Kong people have been demanding for an independent investigative council to be formed. The Chief Executive Carrie Lam has refused to do so, claiming we have “a well-established (IPCC), set up for exactly this purpose”. This existing watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is in fact entirely appointed by the CE herself, has no legal power to summon witnesses nor to force the police to provide sufficient documents, therefore is powerless in bringing justice to the situation.
On its front, it all started with an extradition bill. But at the core, it has always been about fundamental conflicts between these two very different set of values : on one side, the China model, which has no respect over human rights and rule of law, and demands for their people’s submission. And the other, a hybrid city that has enjoyed these freedoms for the most of its existence, with a deep attachment to these universal values that the United States and other western societies are also endeared to.
Unfortunately, with the rise of the present iron regime of Xi Jin Ping, the “One country, Two systems” is racing towards its death.
Hong Kong represents something very unique in the world. As a crossroads that is strongly rooted in its own Asian cultures, and yet has come to be known for its values and of the rule of law, transparent institutions, and freedom of information and expression. We represents the hope that as nations develop, they will evolve towards these universal values which protect individuals everywhere.
These protections are why over 1500 multinational companies have chosen to place their regional headquarters in Hong Kong, the biggest proportion of these by country, from the United States. Hong Kong has become one of the most globally interconnected, financially important trading economies in the world, helping bring countries closer together through finance and today, the flow of data, goods, ideas, culture and people.
However, this system is now under threat like never before. Companies such as Hong Kong’s major airline Cathay Pacific, has succumbed to political pressure, firing dozens of employees due to their political stance, some only over a mere Facebook post.
Business people are coerced into making political decisions. MTR corporation, our subway system, has deliberately shut down stations during rallies and marches due to pressure from a state newspaper, resulting in more than hundreds of arrests and unnecessary injuries.
As a singer and activist from Hong Kong, I have experienced the suppression first hand.
Ever since the Umbrella Movement in 2014, I have been blacklisted by the communist government. My songs and my name are censored on Chinese internet, and I have been called out several times by state newspapers. Pressured by the Chinese government, sponsors have pulled out, even international brands have kept their distances in fear of being associated with me. For the past five years, and even more so recently, China tried to silence me with their propaganda machines and smearing campaigns, making claims that are completely false. Right now, I am facing threats from the communist government, pro-Beijing supporters, and could face arrest and prosecution at anytime.
Not only have I faced increased difficulties in continuing my singing career in China and Hong Kong, but the self-censorship has now spread towards global institutions and cities. Recently, the National Gallery of Victory in Melbourne, Australia, denied a venue to an collaborative event of Chinese artist Badiucao and myself, due to “security concerns”. The 2019 gay pride in Montreal, Canada, banned Hong Kong activists due to similar reasons. Celebrities from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China are all pressured into taking a political stance, voicing their unanimous “support” for the Beijing government on social media, and could be condemned for keeping their silence. Even the songwriter of the new unofficial “anthem” for Hong Kong, has opted to stay anonymous, in fear of future reprisal.
Hongkongers are now living in constant fear, and have unfortunately lost the most part of our freedoms. For a city that has been infamously known as politically indifferent, the younger generations have took up the role to safeguard our home, standing up courageously to the corrupted system, in spite of increased and ruthless suppression.
They have awakened other Hong Kong people, and together we have taken the world by surprise with our continued fight.
To the rest of the world, the United States is often a symbol of freedom and democracy.
The freedom Americans enjoy is something the people of Hong Kong have long hoped for. Even though our languages and cultures differ, what we have in common is the pursuit for justice, freedom, and democracy.
Through the challenges of Hong Kong, the West is waking up to China’s insinuating power in a global scale. Hong Kong is connected to the world in multiple ways (institutional, social, economic, personal), but China is trying to isolate it to exert control. If Hong Kong falls, it would easily become the springboard for the totalitarian regime of China to push its rules and priorities overseas, utilizing its economic powers to conform others to their communists values, just as they have done with Hong Kong in the past 22 years. The US and its allies have everything to fear if they wish to maintain a world that is free, open, and civil.
I therefore urge the US Congress to stand by Hong Kong, and most of all, to pass the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. This is not a plea for for the so-called “foreign interference”, nor for Hong Kong independence.
This is a plea for universal human rights.
This is a plea for democracy.
This is a plea for the freedom to choose.
And lastly, may I quote Eleanor Roosevelt, your most beloved First Lady : “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”
This is a global fight for the universal values that we all cherish, and Hong Kong is in the very frontlines of this fight. We were once fearful of what might come with our silence, and for that, we have now become fearless.
（责任编辑：竺颖）
