HONG KONG’S YELLOW UMBRELLA PROTEST - skyrocketing property prices and gaping income equality had fuelled widespread discontent, made worse by government policies that favoured the business elite.
Jason Y. Ng says the French president’s concessions to the violent protesters have reignited debate in Hong Kong about whether peaceful resistance is an effective route towards political change
The similarities between Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy movement in Hong Kong and the “yellow vest” protests in France are striking, not only because their insignia share a colour, but also because of how and why they happened.
Like Occupy, the French protests have been spontaneous, leaderless and self-organised via social media. Neither was tied to a political party, although the threat of it being “hijacked” by politicians was ever-present.
Four years after Occupy, whether violence is a necessary evil in protest movements remains one of the most divisive questions facing activists in Hong Kong
But the most poignant common thread is what engendered both uprisings in the first place. Both Hong Kong and France had been a political tinderbox before social and economic frustrations finally bubbled to the surface.
In Hong Kong, skyrocketing property prices and gaping income equality had fuelled widespread discontent, made worse by government policies that favoured the business elite. The controversial electoral reform bill, tabled by Leung Chun-ying’s government and subsequently narrowed by a Beijing interpretation, was merely the spark that set off an explosion years in the making.
In France, the fuel tax was the tipping point, but beneath the surface are more deep-rooted economic woes, including the widening rift between big cities and poor rural areas where working families have been left behind by globalisation and the urban elite who benefit from it.
These similarities notwithstanding, the two movements are also marked by stark differences. For starters, Occupy was largely nonviolent. Hong Kong protesters earned praise for exercising restraint and discipline, fending off police offensives with little more than umbrellas, cling wrap and eye goggles.
By contrast, the yellow vests responded to tear gas and water cannons with bricks and metal barricades. Hundreds have been arrested for looting, arson and vandalism, which resulted in four deaths. Some in Hong Kong believe that it was this violent escalation that compelled President Emmanuel Macron to temporarily suspend the fuel tax and offer to raise the minimum wage, among other concessions.
Indeed, four years after Occupy, whether violence is a necessary evil in protest movements remains one of the most divisive questions facing activists in Hong Kong.
https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2177366/what-frances-yellow-vests-can-teach-hong-kong
https://twitter.com/jasonyng/status/1072527245124755457