Friday 25 October 2019

NYTimes: A Hong Kong Protester’s Tactic: Get the Police to Hit You

Police and protesters face off June 29
I just want to bookmark this article in the New York Times by one Fred Chan Ho-fai, "a Hong Konger" from back on June 30, immediately after the first of the demos against the Hong Kong Extradition Bill (返送中). An article I first mentioned on 8 October, having missed it in June.
In the article Chan promotes the so called "Marginal Violence Theory”.
Simply put: try to get the police to hit you — you'll get sympathetic media coverage. 
The "marginal" qualifier is "don't be more violent against the police than you need to be". Clearly this is a straight path to escalation: the more forbearing the police, the greater the need to increase violence "to get them to hit you". 
This article went viral on local social media (LIHKG and Telegram). To the protesters it showed both international support (the New York Times!) and suggested tactics to increase sympathy and exposure. It validated, encouraged and intensified.
The next day: attacks on the Legislative Council....
The NYT article has an internal link to an article on "Marginal Violence Theory" which I'm going to guess most Americans will not have read because it's in Chinese. I've read it. Turns out it's a Marxist concept.

Is it appropriate for the New York Times to publish an article promoting Marxist-inspired violence against the police of another country, a friendly jurisdiction?

The above is prompted by a writer today arguing "you made me do it". You deserve our violence because the government hasn't immediately and completely met every single one of our demands. And "not one less”. 
"It's you who taught me peaceful protest is useless"