Hong Kong’s Social Awakening
The streets of Hong Kong have been emptier as of late, from Mong Kok to Admirality. A movement for political reform that initially drew tens of thousands has been largely stifled by police presence and arrests.
“Success isn’t necessarily measured in result, but in the collective social awakening, and we’ve achieved exactly that,” says Jason Y. Ng, a University of Toronto law alumnus who moved back to his ancestral home of Hong Kong after working as a securities lawyer in New York.
In October and November of last year, Ng toured universities in both Canada and the US to talk about the movement. He was a regular fixture at these sites, penning the stories of fellow protesters for the South China Morning Post and his blog, As I See It.
He laments the Western media’s ignorance of the largely peaceful protests, attributing it to a lack of “sexy” scenes of violence that make for good TV.
“There was some interest in first week when the term “umbrella revolution” was coined. The fact that students were peaceful, organized, and polite grabbed headlines. Though in the absence of violence that you would maybe see in Egypt, the coverage has faded.”
Another reason could be the potential long-term nature of this movement. The demonstrators are fighting Beijing’s restrictive plan for the state’s 2017 executive election, which is years away. China plans to restrict nominees to those selected by its leading Communist Party, while protesters want a more open and democratic election.
But Ng believes the implications of these demonstrations are already being seen among a generation of people who are, for the first time, getting angry about their lack of influence in the political system.
“We have a generation of young people who don’t only care about video games, karaoke, and grades. They care about politics, which used to be a very uninteresting subject to most of them. Now they are participating in political movements.”
In a place like Hong Kong, politics has not historically been at the forefront of young minds.
“Hong Kong has a reputation among Asian countries to be materialistic and selfish. People think the students care only about jobs and money. We’re known to be very unneighbourly.”
These protests however have revealed a latent side of the younger population.
“The goodness is hidden within people, we just haven’t had the opportunity to show that. The environment for cultural and social climate in Hong Kong is such that you inhibit your own good intentions. It’s a super stressful and super competitive society. At the political site, all that peer competition, the need to show off your wealth, is absent. It removes this oppressive forces within you.”
There was some force on display, though. Some violence, mostly in what Ng refers to as the “rough and tumble” neighbourhood of Mong Kok. Despite the reports, Ng trusts what he’s seen in these young people and is convinced the violence was instigated by outsiders.
“These young people are very good in controlling their emotions. Every time they get hit, physically or verbally, they know not to retaliate. They know retaliation would turn into a brawl and give police a reason or convenient excuse to come and disperse the crowd. The moment one student thinks about doing something semi-violent, there will be 5 other students there to stop and talk sense into him.”
While it’s unclear who the instigators were, Ng has a few ideas.
“It could be local residents. Another theory is small businesses who have been affected by the movement. It could be hired thugs, which is not unusual in Hong Kong.”
Globally, there has been a lack of pressure on China to better the situation in Hong Kong. While Canada and the US have made comments, both have offered only calculated public statements that are protective of their business relationships with the global superpower.
Ng says he’s disappointed but understands why major Western trading partners would be unwilling to “stick their neck out for a tiny island.”
But the situation at home, Ng says, has to get better. In Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, there are seventy seats, only forty of which are democratically elected. The remaining thirty are largely elected by special interest groups and corporations in twenty-eight key constituencies across the state.
For now, Ng says the movement will go on. While democratic reform in the state may be a process that takes several months or years, he remains optimistic that this movement has awakened the next generation of residents in Hong Kong.
“Accountability is not something we have in the political system. But it’s something we can have.”