Occupy Central – Umbrella Movement – Democracy Hong Kong Protests
On Monday night I finally found the time to go to Hong Kong’s protest site in Admiralty, and I was humbled by what I witnessed. It was remarkable; a much larger scale than I had imagined.
After some violence that morning, the protest movement turned out not to be flickering down but had escalated once again. What else could have happened? Lesson learned: violence doesn’t seem to be working.
The students built barricades on Queensland Road using public property, and then a truck also delivered bamboo with accompanying cheering of the crowds.
(The next morning, I sadly read, the police had brought chainsaws and tore down the barricades.)
It is all incredibly inspiring. In front of the corrupt government offices, the movement had completely rebuilt the landscape. Tents, notices, artwork, umbrellas, endless signs. They had taken over, without permission of the System. The people are truly taking over their own city.
I’m no expert, and I don’t know what will happen. It is very possible that no legal ramifications will be directly affected any time soon. But in a sense, I believe that doesn’t even matter. I believe the culture of Hong Kong has changed in subtle, more powerful ways. Mindsets have been altered forever. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle. The government will never forget, from now on, that they must be more accountable and more responsible or otherwise there will be pushback from the people…
Hong Kong, and China, will certainly never be the same. And that is amazing.
Ray-Comics 
Good reportage, Ray. The movement needs as much support as possible.
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Not that much reporting, but I hope this brief writing is worth it a bit
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Thanks for coming and writing about it. People have no idea how significant this is to our history. I grew up in Hong Kong and every day I am still in awe of the beauty of this movement. We just lost Mong Kok this morning but like you said, the seeds we sow in the past three weeks will grow into something strong. Thanks again.
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I’m surprised this hasn’t escalated earlier given the transition from British to Chinese rule. I doubt the rest of China will be affected. Are they even aware given how the government controls the media and censors the net?
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Of course they are aware of censorship! They aren’t that naive. Sadly though, most people seem to not care. The prevailing Chinese attitude isn’t even like blind nationalism or anything, it’s just total political apathy. As long as people can make money they don’t want to think about the government ever.
The mainland media response to the movement has been strange. At first it was totally censored, then they started with their own spin on it. The protesters are spoiled, it’s bad for business, rule of law, blah blah. I hope there is a spark of rebelliousness and free thought coming out of a few young people, not everybody but a growing number, and that will grow in the future. For now, I hate to say, most people in the mainland are very ignorant on these issues and it’s unfortunate.
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The Chinese are not oblivious to censorship, but are politically apathetic as long as they can make money. For a minute there I thought you were describing Western countries.
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Indeed, Western countries have their ignorance! Sadly, mainland China’s development is more often about copying the worst most shallow aspects of the West…
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