Student protesters should learn how to lose a battle to win the war

Alice Wu entreats the student protesters, who have won respect for their passion, to also show they have the acumen to stay in the game

Timing is of the essence. Cut your political losses, or people will cut you off. Photo: AFP

Dear Students, it is time to retreat, regroup and rethink. What you've come out to do, you have achieved with alarming success: raising awareness and proving how strongly you feel about the future of Hong Kong's democratic process. You've shown not only Hong Kong, but also Beijing and the world, how brightly your fire burns, how much you're willing to give up to fight for what you believe in. These are undeniable facts. You've earned major political "street cred".

The majority of you have handled your unrelenting critics graciously, and demonstrated to the world that you're a new political force to reckon with. For that, I, along with many, applaud you.

By now, you must have learned a few more things about politics. You have Benny Tai Yiu-ting to thank. You jump-started the Occupy Central movement - no amount of planning on Tai's part could have slowed the momentum you created, and that he fed off. You may have, at one point, felt that your efforts had been "hijacked". But timing, not a date circled on the calendar, and certainly not hurt feelings, is the key to politics.

The business of politics requires more than passion, vision and ideals. You've shown your willingness to sacrifice. You have, as some of your critics have rightly said, also sacrificed public support without a well-thought-out exit plan. And every day the disruption goes on, the more you will lose. As such, in the push-and-shove world of politics, expect to hear even your staunchest supporters publicly accuse you of hijacking the movement and not being able to represent Hongkongers in dialogue with the government.

You would have learned that anything is possible when interests align. When the momentum you created is on the up and up, the more sophisticated political players will fight you for ownership of the success. Yet the same people are also masters of spreading the blame, as you'll find on the way down.

Timing is of the essence. Cut your political loses, or people will cut you off.

Take the advice of one of your teachers, Polytechnic University's David Wan, who said that, when you are losing the support that you have worked so very hard for, and while public resentment is on the rise, you must cut your losses. When public resentment reaches a level that justifies the government doing something to disband you - in other words, when you allow retreat to be forced upon you due to public pressure - you would lose more than you can regain.

Retreat, review, reassess, rethink while you still have support from a critical mass to build upon - off the streets.

I urge you to show that your passion can endure the political pressure cooker. You have given the government a lot of heat. Now is the time to show that you know better than to self-combust. Inject Dr Wan's clear thinking into your movement, so that when you return, you can jump in with a heightened level of awareness. This would make more seasoned politicians think twice before they take advantage of you and burn you when they see fit.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Retreat, rethink

Dr Spencer Lai (賴鶴明博士)

2014年10月14日星期二