The Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong: A case of civil disobedience.
Written on the October 15 by Elizabeth Tang, General Secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation and former Chief Executive of HKCTU.
Today I leave Hong Kong for domestic workers activities in Africa. It is the 17th day of the “Occupy Central” movement in action. The Harcourt Road and Mongkok, the heart areas of the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon are still being occupied by thousands of people. I know I will definitely miss a lot leaving Hong Kong and the movement at this time.
The “Occupy Central” Movement (or the “Occupy”) launched action on September 29, a week after students at universities and some at secondary schools had boycotted classes. Towards the end of the first day, three key areas in the cities were occupied – Harcourt Road, Causeway Bay and Mongkok, after lots of tear gas and pepper sprays – much more than those used against the WTO protesters in 2005. But people were not afraid. More joined. On the second day, the Professional Teachers Union declared strike, followed by workers in other sectors – the Coca Cola workers, dock workers, bus drivers and social workers. On Sundays, even migrant domestic workers joined.
There is no accident or stroke of luck to arrive at this success. We have been working hard for almost two years to prepare for this day. The original idea was put forward by the “OC 3” – two scholars and one church minister. It was soon captured by the mainstream bodies in the pan-democracy movement such as the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the Labour Party, the Democratic Party, students unions, women organizations and others. We believe the best strategy to confront an authoritarian regime and in the context of Hong Kong is civil disobedience with massive participation. In the past months of intensive preparation, there were analysis of various democratic reform proposals, mobilizing of over 800,000 people to participate in voting on the various proposals, meetings, seminars and study groups, training on tactics to confront police arrests and crashes, etc.. Looking at what is happening today, we know the concept of the “Occupy” has taken root among the people and civil disobedience as a tactic has become a reality.
The success of the “Occupy” movement is also seen from the fact that unlike the annual democracy rally marches on July 1 which were often mixed with various demands of – labour, livelihood, environmental, gender, etc., this focuses on two key messages: “genuine universal suffrage” and “CY Leung Steps Down”. People may still have different concerns, but they see the root cause is lack of democracy. They believe the present Chief Executive keeps his head low in front of the Beiing government and hence neglects the wishes of the people in Hong Kong. Without the right to choose our leader, we would never have control over our own lives.
This year is the 30th anniversary of our fight for democracy. In 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed fixing the July 1, 1997 to return Hong Kong to China. We then began the long march to democracy. So much had been done in the last 30 years, lobbies, people education, campaigns, signatures collection and people mobilization to streets and with so much energy, patience and tactics. Finally on August 31 this year, the National People’s Congress of China ruled that Hong Kong people will have one-person-one vote when choosing their Chief Executive in 2017, but will and can only vote on the candidates approved by an electoral college controlled by the government. To us, it sounded like a death sentence. On the same day, the Federation of Student Unions announced class boycott on September 22, awaiting for the launch of the “Occupy” movement.
The government of Hong Kong is keeping its head low and the China regime is not prepared to give in anything to the people of Hong Kong fearing the impact on people in other parts of China. In the last one week, they have been fighting against us desperately, using dirty tactics. They employed gangsters and thugs to harass the “occupy” participants and provoke fights. When clashes burst, police came to smashed the crowd including the participants and cleared the site. That was how we lost the Causeway Bay site two days ago. Since the beginning of last week, they have begun to drum their theory of “foreign manipulation”. The same tactic was used in 1989 to demonize the sit-in students at the Tienanmen Square. This time, the target is the HKCTU. Actions have been systematically planned and launched directed at the HKCTU, specifically its General Secretary Lee Cheuk Yan who is also the leader of the Labour Party. On October 13, a group of people came to protest outside my apartment accusing us in colluding with “foreign forces” to disrupt Hong Kong. On the 14, several newspapers carried reports about the HKCTU having received funds from the Americans in the last 20 years. Today, pro-government demonstrators carrying placards came to the Mongkok “Occupy” site read : “Americans pay, HKCTU Operates , Hong Kong gets trouble”. The Beijing government knows where the people’s power is from. Even apparently the “Occupy” movement is led by students, the China regime chooses not to touch the students but the HKCTU which is leading the democratic labour movement which in the eyes of the Beijing government is most dangerous and must be destroyed.
This is sad because it means the governments – Hong Kong and Beijing — refuse to listen to the people: the two messages of the “Occupy” Movement. They are only concerned with how to break it.
How the “Occupy” movement will end is anybody’s guess. Facing an authoritarian regime such as the Chinese Communist Party, people think we will only win-it-all or lose-it-all. In the long run, we need to think of new tactics to keep the aspiration for democracy alive, sustain the spirit and energy to fight on and to strengthen the democratic forces, in particularly the labour movement under the HKCTU and its allies, both in and outside Hong Kong and China. We think “What our enemy hates, must be embraced”. The answer is short but lots of lots of hard work.