What to do?
You’re a protester. You’ve been on the streets of Kowloon and Wanchai for the last year, marching and trashing. Fighting, as you see it, against “oppression” and Chinese “encroachment”. And all you’ve achieved is Beijing unilaterally imposing a National Security Law on us One that is so vague and all-encompassing that it’s truly scary. One that has already had effects: pulling books from libraries, cancelling demonstrations, chilling free speech.
In short, what you’ve achieved is the opposite of your aims. Where there was no oppression, we now have oppression. Where there had been no encroachment there is now encroachment.
So what to do?
Do you regroup and reconsider your tactics?
Not if you’re this lot.
What you then do is double down. You threaten to block every piece of government legislation. You threaten to go back in the streets. You vote in primary elections (last Sunday) for the most extreme candidates, ones that want independence for Hong Kong.
No doubt this makes the activists feel worthy and brave. But is it sensible?
If not, does that mean we have to do nothing? To appease the dictatorship in Beijing? To kowtow to the tyrant? No it does not. Deciding not to take actions that are sure to be counterproductive is just the first step. The next is be a rather more subtle and nuanced, about some clear and achievable aims. That is: to open discreet channels of discussion with Beijing about two issues (a) continuing the One Country Two Systems (1C2S) beyond 2047 and (b) restarting talks on universal suffrage, now that the Security Law is in place.
Sadly nuance and subtlety is not a strong point of the pan Dems. They’d rather plan to block all legislation of the government come September, when the polls indicate they may get a majority in the Legco.
It’s their old play book. It’s failed before and will fail again. We need our own Hong Kong-grown version of Deng Xiaoping. A visionary. The one who gave us 1C2S. Where is they?
You’re a protester. You’ve been on the streets of Kowloon and Wanchai for the last year, marching and trashing. Fighting, as you see it, against “oppression” and Chinese “encroachment”. And all you’ve achieved is Beijing unilaterally imposing a National Security Law on us One that is so vague and all-encompassing that it’s truly scary. One that has already had effects: pulling books from libraries, cancelling demonstrations, chilling free speech.
In short, what you’ve achieved is the opposite of your aims. Where there was no oppression, we now have oppression. Where there had been no encroachment there is now encroachment.
So what to do?
Do you regroup and reconsider your tactics?
Not if you’re this lot.
What you then do is double down. You threaten to block every piece of government legislation. You threaten to go back in the streets. You vote in primary elections (last Sunday) for the most extreme candidates, ones that want independence for Hong Kong.
No doubt this makes the activists feel worthy and brave. But is it sensible?
If not, does that mean we have to do nothing? To appease the dictatorship in Beijing? To kowtow to the tyrant? No it does not. Deciding not to take actions that are sure to be counterproductive is just the first step. The next is be a rather more subtle and nuanced, about some clear and achievable aims. That is: to open discreet channels of discussion with Beijing about two issues (a) continuing the One Country Two Systems (1C2S) beyond 2047 and (b) restarting talks on universal suffrage, now that the Security Law is in place.
Sadly nuance and subtlety is not a strong point of the pan Dems. They’d rather plan to block all legislation of the government come September, when the polls indicate they may get a majority in the Legco.
It’s their old play book. It’s failed before and will fail again. We need our own Hong Kong-grown version of Deng Xiaoping. A visionary. The one who gave us 1C2S. Where is they?
