Americans could take a lesson from Hong Kongers who have taken to the streets in the thousands to fight for a fair election. Thousands now surround government buildings, even surrounding police vans trying to haul arrested demonstrators away. The main thoroughfare in Hong Kong is now blocked by protestors, stopping traffic in both directions. Connaught Road is also now blocked. Several pro-democracy legislators have been arrested and dozens of students were arrested last night before today's events even began.
However, I am increasingly afraid that Hong Kong police have taken lessons from the American police, responding with increasing force and tactics not seen in Hong Kong before but which Americans will find utterly familar. An hour ago the government declared an illegal assembly, and declaring that Occupy Central is now taking "unlawful actions" (that will carry legal ramifications). Pepper spray has been used with such frequency protestors are wearing goggles and raincoats and carrying umbrellas to fend it off. The real danger is if Hong Kong police get overwhelmed by protestors. The Peoples Liberation Army has its headquarters right across the street from the local government buildings which are under seige.
A lot of the local news is behind a paywall at the South China Morning Post. But some is freely available at thestandard.com.hk If you want extensive background, especially on the Occupy Central movement, see http://www.hktp.org which has a presentation and detailed report on Occupy Central.
Backstory:
Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 when it was restored to Chinese control. The terms of that reunification were spelled out in an international treaty, the 1984 Sino-British Declaration, and turned into local and national law in the Basic Law, which was passed by China's National Peoples Congress in 1990. The Basic Law contains the promise of increasingly democratic elections over time, with the "ultimate aim" being the "universal suffrage election" of the top official in Hong Kong, the Chief Executive. Implementing changes in the Basic Law requires a complex set of steps spelled out in 2007 by the Central Government, but the bottom line is that the Chief Executive who is elected currently by a tiny group of 1200 people elected mainly by a larger but still small group of 230,000 people, controls what is proposed to the Central Government, which in turn, then approves and stipulates parameters for the reforms, which, it says, must be taken step by step and not in one big jump.
In 2010 Hong Kong managed to take some small steps forward, adding about 100 directly elected members to the Election Committee, who joined 30 directly elected Legco members. That's still a tiny proportion of the 1200 members who answer to the vast majority of Hong Kong people. The rest were elected by small groups of elites and appointed by the government.
Just a few weeks ago, the Central Government, responding to the Chief Executive's "report" and recommendations, came back with a very restrictive paper spelling out how far and fast Hong Kong could move toward electing its Chief Executive by universal suffrage. The crucial bottom line is that Hong Kong must use an elite group, modeled on the current Election Committee, to nominate candidates for Chief Executive. More crucially, the Election Committee must vote "by a majority" on candidates before they can stand for election. That is, only 2-3 candidates may go forward for election, and only after they are filtered by a very undemocratically elected Nomination Committee (basically just the Election Committee renamed).
Back to the current events
This restrictive declaration is what has triggered all the demonstrations. The police are now (5:25pm Hong Kong time, 12 hours opposite the US East Coast) putting on gas masks. It looks like they will soon be using tear gas, escalating things from pepper spray. Students started a strike last Monday, skipping classes for teach-in type activities, but on Friday they assembled around the government offices and began to demand a meeting with the Chief Executive, C.Y. Leung. Over Friday night and Saturday morning, a number of students were arrested. That triggered larger demonstrations Saturday night, which were then transformed by Occupy Central organizers suddenly proclaiming OC had begun, about 1:45am Sunday morning, Hong Kong time.
Occupy Central
OC was started originally as a movement modeled on America's civil rights movement and Gandhi's Indian independence movement. Occupy Central with Peace and Love is the full title. Originally, the organizers did not want students and young people involved. The intent was, if necessary, that groups of professionals and elders would permit themselves to be arrested peacefully, and do so in large enough numbers to make their point. Meanwhile, they would cause recurrent blockages in Central, enough to make the point to the tycoons who dominate this place (think of several dozen Koch brothers controlling both politics and the economy and you're about on track--Hong Kong has never been the "free market" paradise imagined by Milton Friedman) that real democracy is a better deal than elections fixed to ensure the election of a corporate puppet. Communist China is not really so much Communist as it is Corporate China, with the state party running the place by, for, and via a carefully controlled, fully profit oriented elite. If you want to see the Koch's vision for America, just look at China, if you can see through the choking smog and survive the poisoned food and water.
OC has turned into a dissaffected assembly of the desperate, the idealistic, and the cynical. The government is determined to push through its very restrictive version of "reform" kinda of like how Americans got saddled with a healthcare reform controlled by the healthcare industry. While Obamacare has some outs that might lead (and have in some states already led) to widening not for profit or government provided healthcare, the possible outs for real reform and real elections with genuine choice under the Central Government's 2014 Standing Committee ruling appear few and far between. So just think of how frustrated Kossacks were about Obamacare when it first came out, and you'll be getting some idea of how frustrated people are here right now. (The author is in Hong Kong and a long time resident of Hong Kong). Frustration with the local government has reached a boiling point. And right now the steam is really at a peak.
This is very different from Occupy Wall Street in the US, which took place in a public park and never tried to shut down Wall Street, or occupy the stock exchange. The Occupy Central in Hong Kong is specifically pledged to shut down the economic center of Hong Kong, and to occupy government premises or at least surrounding parks and roads and cut off officials, in effect trapping them in their offices. It is much more confrontative than the Tiananmen occupation that eventually led to the Tiananmen Massacre of 1989. Events are moving in Hong Kong right now, perhaps toward a similar tragic end. It is highly unlikely that the Central Government will back down or issue an amended ruling permitting more democratic leeway. Much more likely is a real crackdown, more similar to that seen in the US, with police moving in strongly, people getting hurt, and people getting charged with serious charges, high bail, if any bail at all, and even people being detained for many hours without charge. But if the growing chaos in Hong Kong now extends into the business hours tomorrow, that is for about 13-15 more hours from this posting into Monday morning Hong Kong time, then things will likely escalate and police could turn ugly while demonstrators turn desperate. A new tragedy may be brewing in China--odds are very unlikely that events in Hong Kong will trigger a China wide reaction in sympathy with the people of Hong Kong. Many mainlanders have become very turned off by Hong Kong people's attitudes toward them, so don't expect Hong Kong to spark any kind of wider responses like those seen in 1989.
6:10 pm in Hong Kong-- Occupy Central organizers now say the demonstrators are "out of their control" that is, demonstrators are acting now without guidance or direction.
The author is the Director of the Hong Kong Transition Project. See http://www.hktp.org for more information.