Though this seems to have been a particularly pro-establishment year, Hong Kong people have been getting more vocal with their complaints each day. June Ng talks to the unsilent opposition.

It’s just another Wednesday, when Legco have their regular meeting. Fuel duties and domestic violence are on the day’s agenda, and the Legco hall is quiet and solemn as usual. But not outside. Here, more than 50 truck drivers are raising banners and shouting slogans to demand that motor vehicle fuel duties be cut. Nearby, 10 domestically abused women gather to urge passing-by legislators to vote for the domestic violence amendment bill, while a group of seven – including two grandpas – go down drop to their knees in the petition area to plead for better protection of local businessmen working on the mainland.

Hong Kong is a city of protests. Just take a look at the police figures – last year, the number of public meetings and public processions was 3,800, double the 2005 figure, with an average of 10 protests a day. Try visiting to the protest hotspots on a Sunday like Chater Garden or pedestrianized areas in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. Chances you’re bound to run into someone venting their concerns. Check the fax machine of any local media corporation and you’ll often find it jammed with invitations to cover such initiatives.

Of course, protesting is hardly a recent phenomenon. Hong Kong’s history of dissent goes back to our time as a colony. On April 4, 1966, a 23-year-old student named So Sau-chung started a hunger strike at Queen’s Pier, protesting against the fare hike of Star Ferry. A day later, thousands of people showed up to sign his petition, while 11 others joined him. It eventually led to the 1967 riots, the bloodiest acts of protest in Hong Kong’s history, with 51 deaths, 800 injured and almost 1,500 arrested.

But the 1967 riots seemed an anomaly, happening at a time when most Hong Kong people were more concerned with striving for a prosperous and safe livelihood, rather than challenging authority. Hong Kong people were thought to be complacent, accepting whatever came to the colony as long as their personal lives were unaffected. At least until 1989, when the student movement in Beijing eventually led to the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, prompting more than 1.5 million people to take to the streets in support here on May 28.

Then there was the July 1 protest of 2003. Only an amnesiac could forget that day, when 500,000 braved the heat and took to the busiest streets of Hong Kong Island, saying no to Basic Law Article 23 and the threat it posed to our rights and democracy.

These protests have awakened the need to voice our opinion. And doing so proves it can make a difference, such as when the aftermath of the July 1 protest resulted in the withdrawal of the Article 23 implementation. “When big issues come out, [the urge to protest] will be triggered,” says legislator Martin Lee, who founded the Democratic Party, which became one of the pioneers of protest.

Fellow legislator “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, more famous for being a veteran protester than a politician, thinks the protesting culture is undergoing a revival because of our unique social environment. “We’re living in a semi-open society,” he says. “We have freedom of speech and other civil rights, but the government still has more power than it should, and there are no monitoring bodies with the ability to control it. So when people want to demand something, they have to take it to the streets.”

That would explain why we average more than 10 protests a day. The public order ordinance only requires you to notify the police if your protest exceeds 30 people. The fuel tax example seen outside Legco on Wednesday fell into that category, but was quick to organize. According to protester Ah Fai, they spent merely a few hours getting the banners done, recycling the petition signs they used last time, and getting drivers to call their friends to call other friends to attend. “It’s a long fight, so we have to have reusable things, not one-off things, so we can be ready anytime anywhere,” he says (read p.11 to hear more protester’s thoughts).

Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, who organized the July 1 protest in 2003 and is working on the one for this year, says more people are emerging to voice their opinion because the legislature is simply ineffective – especially when it comes to minor improvements for the society. “People understand that media is a tool these days – you come out to protest in order to be heard and get things done.”

And here anyone can be a protester. Middle-class citizens have taken to the streets over everything from pets to negative equity properties. Then there are the barristers. “We were forced to do protest, it was our last stance after we’d done everything we could,” says barrister and Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong. “The government had turned a blind eye to us, they were deaf to our opinions. We had to organize a protest to get heard.” He adds that the July 1 protests helped make protesting more acceptable in general to mainstream Hong Kong.

Political commentator Li Pang-kwong says Hong Kong people have come to understand their right to protest by participating in events. “We recognize that as taxpayers we have a natural right to ask for things that we need,” he says. 
What about the younger generation? Everybody remembers Christina Chan, the 21-year-old student from the University of Hong Kong who managed to get her opinions across in support of the Tibetans during the Olympic torch relay – unfortunately, she also managed to become a target of the police and of the ruthless mass media. But Christina is a rarity these days.

There was a time when students political movements were actually exciting – the last major episode being in 2000, when the student union of University of Hong Kong successfully kicked vice chancellor Cheng Yiu-chung out of his office. Former student movement leader To Kwan-hang, now a Wong Tai Sin district councilor, says the number of new generation protesters seems to have dwindled, and young people do not have the same initiative and passion as before.

He admires Christina Chan’s courage in voicing non-mainstream opinions. “That’s the spirit of student movement. We need those kind of people. Sadly, not many university students nowadays are on a mission to change the world.”
Part of this is because many students believe getting their university degree is far more important than fighting for their rights. But another reason is that the latter might get you arrested, as Christina Chan found out back in May. “The police were the only people who acted against us in any physical way,” she says. Martin Lee has also had his fair share of scuffles with the police. “Even though we always have peaceful demonstrations,” he says. “I find the police behave annoyingly. Why do they have to record everyone’s face on camera? What for?” he asks. “It’s not like we’re breaking the law.”

Law Yuk-kai, the director of Human Rights Monitor, shares similar concerns. “The police have tightened control. They’ve put so many unreasonable restrictions on legitimate protests.” He points to last year’s July 1 protest, when the police allowed protesters only one lane to march on and had them wrap up by 5:30pm because of the fireworks display that evening. “Past experience told us that if we must finish by 5:30pm, we would need three car lanes plus the sidewalk to get it done. They were just using the fireworks as an excuse to make it more difficult for us.”

Columnist and broadcaster Chip Tsao believes that control over protests has tightened in the last year. “Protesters are treated like kindergarten students, and even the mildest actions like throwing a tomato are deemed ‘violent,’” he says. Yet he says that we shouldn’t fear arrest, and urges us to exercise our right to freedom of assembly.

Some worry that police attempts to make things difficult for protesters might only push the latter towards more radical approaches. Chinese University’s political analyst Ivan Choy Chi-keung points to the recent example of truck drivers blocking the roads. “It’s more aggressive, but it works, so it might set an example for the others,” he says.

However Professor Li Pang-kwong says he is not too worried about the influx of violent protests. “Hong Kong people are rational by nature,” he says. “I foresee more and more protests happening in the future, but it’s unlikely they will turn violent.”

As for Christina Chan, she is preparing for the July 1 protest – she will be carrying a wreath to symbolize the death of “One Country, Two Systems.” “I think there are things that need to be changed in this society,” she says.
Martin Lee has the final words: “We have fewer advantages to use to bargain with the government. If you don’t come out, the people’s voice will not be heard.”

See you on July 1.

Join the annual democracy march on July 1, 3pm, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. The organizers suggest wearing white and bringing your own banners.

The Angry Youth

Fenqing means “angry young youth,” the young mainland patriots fervently against anyone who holds a hostile view of China. During the May Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong, a large number of them were shouting and waving red flags to mask the voices of the protesters. Many of them were believed to be mainland students.

Though that may seem like a gross generalization, we did talk to several mainland students, asking them what they thought of the protest culture in Hong Kong. The general consensus seemed to be that our protests are ridiculous, stemming from blind anger towards the Communist Party, and that we should have started protesting for direct election in the colonial days if it really mattered to us.

Anderson Cheung, a 26-year-old member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), had organized a group through Facebook to protect the Olympic Torch during its jaunt through Hong Kong. Among the 200 people that turned up, one-third of them were mainland students. However, Cheung believes that the more “emotional” ones were locals. “The youth of Hong Kong can be extreme as well. Because we didn’t have much nationalist education growing up, older Hong Kong residents would probably regard them as fenqing as well.”

Protest Prizes

Biggest Protest: On May 28, 1989, 1.5 million Hong Kong people joined a global pro-democracy demonstration to support the student hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. It lasted 8 hours.

Most Violent Protest: A riot broke out on May 6, 1967, triggered by a five-cent fare rise of Star Ferry. The protest developed into scuffles with police. Bombs made by extreme leftists were scattered in the city. 51 were killed and over 800 people were injured.   
 
Oldest Protest:  Over 100,000 workers from different industries joined the Seamen Strike on Jan 22, 1922. The strike was over by Mar 8th, when capitalists agreed to raise the laborers’ salaries.

Sexiest Protest: It’s fast becoming a part of Hong Kong Fashion Week. Every year, representatives from People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) bare more than a little flesh to get their anti-fur message across.

What do you think of protests in Hong Kong?

Miriam Lau, Liberal Party legislator

“I don’t agree that protest equals unpatriotic. Hong Kong is an open city with freedom of speech, but I think you should only protest when you’ve got something to say. It’s not like joining a carnival.”'

Lau Kwong-wah, DAB legislator

“Protesting is very common in Hong Kong. It’s OK to voice your opinions at anytime on any day. The DAB organize protests very often as well.”

Ming Leung, 58, district councilor

“I really believe in protests. Sometimes the government makes decisions depending on the number of protesters.”

Liu Ngan-feng, 59, women’s rights advocate

“Women’s voices have always been treated as a minority. Society thinks it is not appropriate for women to fight for themselves.”

Wong Man-kam, 70, businessman

“I think protesting is a useful way of voicing out what we need. And it at very least, we can meet and speak to the legislators in person.”

Tseng, 23, university graduate

“I was born in the States and moved back to Hong Kong 10 years ago. I’ve joined the July 1 march practically every year since then. It’s great that we can protest here, because it’s the only place in China that you can without getting arrested. It’s a statement to show people that we care.”

Lala Kei, 20, student

“I’ve never joined a protest, and won’t join the coming July 1 rally. I don’t really concern myself with political issues, and protesting is not the best way to voice your opinions.”