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As the Hong Kong protests near the six month mark, it still seems as if there is no stop in sight for both sides. The protests drew in more support this week as bankers, lawyers and other white collar workers from the Hong Kong business district took to the streets to help protest with others. The clashing between protesters and police forces have made umbrellas and face masks a common image as tear gas and rubber bullets are returned by the police. The police even stepped past another boundary of going into universities as they stormed the University of Hong Kong, proving universities were not a fully secure location and prompting universities to tell students to not come back for the semester.
This conflict started with the Hong Kong government introduced an extradition bill in June that its citizens saw as a violation to their freedom. This sparked massive protests all over the city and eventually the bill was pulled back, but the protests had gone for long enough that the people wanted more than just the bill to be repealed and wanted a stronger promise that their rights would not be taken away.
With a protest dragging on for this long and violence on both sides, it would appear that the protesters are fighting an uphill battle because the Chinese government has the power in the situation. President Xi Jinping is letting the protests go on so that they lose popular support, but with events like a protester being shot earlier this week and unjust arrests, the protesters are able to find more support. But the protests have also caused unintended casualties, like an elderly man being killed by a brick intended to be thrown at police. However, with the Hong Kong District Council elections nearby, the protests could facilitate a swing in the Hong Kong District Council in favor of democracy.
Questions:
Do you think that the protesters will continue to gain popular support?
Do you believe that the protests are being conducted in the right way?
7 comments:
I believe that so long as there appears to be police brutality and unfair treatment to peaceful protesters, the protesters will continue to gain support. Just as with any movement in opposition to the government, popular support tends to increase when it seems like the government is being cruel to peaceful protests. Similarly, when the British colonies were attempting to gain their independence from Britain, the protesters gained support when it appeared like Britain was supporting cruel methods to stop the protests, like the Boston Massacre. Nonetheless, it sounds like the protesters are completely stopping daily life in Hong Kong, as they are blocking major streets and causing universities to send students away. This is not ideal but this method definitely is gaining the government's attention. The protesters appear to be using peaceful demonstrations however, so it does not seem logical that they are receiving such violent treatment from police.
I also think that the protests will continue, because the people of Hong Kong realize what is at stake if they do not fight for their freedoms. However, China has no reason to comply with any of their demands: despite their clear attempt to suppress freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, they have received little to no consequences from the outside world, leaving them with no good reason to give up Hong Kong. While I don't necessarily agree with the methods that the protesters use, however ingenious (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html), any protests that did not interrupt daily life in Hong Kong would simply be overlooked. In my opinion, the protests in Hong Kong will come to a battle of attrition -- either the protesters will tire of the constant violence and unrest, and begin to retreat back into their previous lives, or China's government will decide that the resources they are expending and condemnation from the rest of the world is not worth violating the "one country, two systems" rule, and withdraw. Right now, both options seem unlikely.
I think the protests could be handled better from both sides. From the government's side, they shouldn't fight fire with fire; instead, they should listen to the needs of the protesters and act peacefully. From the protester's side, they should focus on drafting ways to implement the policies they want, as that would be more helpful to the government. The fact that innocent bystanders, like the elderly man and the university students in Cameron's summary, are impacted and getting hurt is a signal that the protests have gone too far, and a new solution is needed. Despite this fact, I think that the protestors will continue to gain support, as Nick and Grace mentioned, because their causes for rebellion are values that speak to everyone.
As it stands, I have to wonder about either options. Let's presume the first option becomes a reality and the protesters lose their vigor. After all the animosity not only towards the government, but also towards the police given their brutality, would this not only create more tension surrounding an unresolved dispute? It makes one wonder if the status quo would prevail with "business as usual". There's also the option that those more extremist might become more violent as a result of being ignored. Regardless, let's then presume that the citizens continue with their protests. I agree with what Finke wrote on the matter when he made it out to be a battle of attrition. It depends on who breaks first, the government or the people. It begs the question though: how many martyrs must there be for the protests to continue, and will this even be enough to accomplish their goals?
I think it is hard to say how much the support for the Hong Kong protests will fluctuate. I feel, unless something major happens, after six months of opportunities, no one who hasn't already protested is going to start now. In fact, I think the opposite will happen, it is simply unsustainable to protest this long and attendance will go down (which as mentioned in the article, is exactly what Xi is counting on). Regardless, there is a lot on the line for Hong Kong and I don't think those that are already very deeply involved are going to give up out of laziness. Additionally, I think it is hard to conduct and fight these protests because of their size and duration. With the sheer number of people and days something is bound to go wrong, on both sides. This is seen to be true, as both the protesters and police have made regrettable decisions.
It's a complicated situation, because at this point, the original bill was pulled back and so there isn't one single motivation at hand for the people. Because of this, it feels like there is no end in sight. When the public was fighting off the extradition bill, it felt as though protests would end once this bill was ended. However, the bill is retracted now yet protests are still going on. This makes me wonder, what will it take for protests to stop? I think retracting the pull was a small effort on the government side, so will the protestor side do something to reciprocate this gesture? I think this conflict can only be solved with equal effort from both sides because if not, one side will always feel a loss and peace will not be attained.
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