Another amazing experience in Admiralty. The movement is still going strong a month later, with no signs of letting up. Perhaps it will be a permanent fixture in Hong Kong, wouldn’t that be amazing!
Another amazing experience in Admiralty. The pro-democracy/Occupy movement is still going strong a month later, with no signs of letting up. A substantial community of sharing and donations, an authentic anarcho-commune collective in a modern metropolis. It is truly working. In some ways it actually reminded me of Burning Man, yet it is even less regulated and more organic. An inspiration. Perhaps it will be a permanent fixture in Hong Kong, wouldn’t that be amazing!
At 6:00 p.m. sharp I witnessed the umbrella-opening ceremony. I wandered and learned a lot. I saw tens of thousands of campers, infinite yellow ribbons, inspiring post-it’s along the Lennon Wall – You may call me a dreamer, but I’m not the only one – and recorded some more video which I hope to edit soon and share. I was blown away by the creativity. T-shirts, banners, sculptures Umbrella Man ad Spider-Man and more, with cute paper Totoros. Even a library. The KFC sign amused me. And I like the setup in the bathrooms, with toothpaste ad shaving cream and even has volunteers to clean up. Very nice. The most solemn moment was the ‘Dark Corner’ area where a recent incident of police brutality took place. Finally, the umbrella tree.
Recently, I’ve been reading the book “Why Nations Fail” and while I am not smart enough to understand economics on a complex level, the book explains in layman’s terms that civilizations tend to be extractive or inclusive economies. Extractive are always unsustainable and damage a country, but the elites prefer it because it is good for only them. It is very hard to change this. Throughout all of history, development in human rights (which in turn helps growth) never comes because elites politely give it away through their bureaucratic laws, but because the masses of people demand it. Period.
CY Leung’s recent comments about how democracy is bad because it will give poor people too much political power… That is straight out of the thesis of this book. Let me just say, in my own layman’s terms, fuck this guy and this system.
Meanwhile, the latest propaganda from the mainland purports that it is all a scheme from Western governments. I scoff at that, because if it was so easy for outsiders to start movements than why are the PRC-funded counterprotests so pathetic?! They keep coming up with new narratives, from it’s only bad for business to pretending it’s all about rule-of-law to now this. Of course, it is truly a matter of the elites…
Things will change. I know they will. It won’t be easy, and it’s always a struggle because an entrenched system cannot even comprehend positive change, but it does come eventually.
Ray-Comics 
It is great that you share information about the movement! In western media you don’t hear anything about it anymore and I am currently still not able to search on my own for own info due to too much going on here atm
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I wish I could be as optimistic as you! We had our own “occupy” movement in Spain in 2011, for months. Nothing changed. We still have the same corrupt politicians, rotten system and stupid laws. Oh and there is a new law which says you can’t record or photograph policemen. Very convenient for them (in our Occupy movement there were violent clashes).
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The original Occupy Wall Street movement didn’t seem to have much gains either, on the surface. However, I do try to be optimistic. The world does change in subtle ways, and it never seems as good as we’d like but very slowly the world does turn towards justice.
I still think this thing is more powerful in Hong Kong/China for a few reasons. Firstly, most people wouldn’t even expect this kind of movement here. It is a new concept in many ways. And, although I didn’t experience those other protests, the scale there is so massive it has blown me away! To me, nothing like those anti-war marches in the Bush era. On the one hand, the HK government simply can’t ignore it forever. And on the other hand, Beijing obviously hates it yet they cannot even directly do anything about it as the world watches with echoes of Tianenmen on people’s minds… Hence, things will slowly but surely change.
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David Graeber has written a wonderful essay called “The Shock of Victory” about the Occupy Wall Street protests. It is included in his anthology, Revolutions in Reverse. Graeber is an anarchist who has been amazingly active in successful anarchist moments. In fact, he coined the term “We are the 98%”. In “Shock” he makes the interesting and important point that most occupy movements don’t achieve short term goals, but often quickly achieve mid-term goals (such as the virtual disappearance of the IMF post Seattle) that leftists and progressives overlook while lamenting the failure to achieve short term goals (cancel 3rd world debt in Seattle). The long term result is a despair that works against Occupy movements despite successes. And despite the fact that these successes have elites scrambling.
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I agree. The movement will most likely lose the battle, but mid and long term goals will be achieved… it will take years though, and, maybe, more than a generation, but HK is not going to slip backward on this.
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Ongoing, persistent creative non-violent opposition –Just say yes!
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Wish I coulda gotten back before moving.
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