Occupy Central
Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.
Umbrella Movement
The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 173:
Full coverage of the day’s events on 07-06
Backlash against Beijing's Hong Kong policies
【明報專訊】IN commemoration of the June 4 incident, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (the Alliance) organised a yearly candlelit vigil in Victoria Park yesterday night. But at the same time, the Hong Kong University Students' Union held its own memorial assembly at the HKU campus. Never over the past twenty-six years has Hong Kong mainstream society been in such disagreement about the issue. It is worth our attention what impact this development will have on the pro-democracy movement and Hong Kong as a whole.
The June 4 incident would not remain a burning issue but for the Alliance. Of course some are not happy with the organisation. According to former chairman of the Alliance Szeto Wah, who died of an illness four years ago, Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive, once asked him to disband the Alliance to improve Hong Kong-mainland relations. He refused. The Alliance has never stopped speaking up for human rights activists on the mainland and organising activities commemorating the June 4 incident. And it has set up the June 4 Museum. The Alliance's perseverance has over the years made remembering the June 4 incident one of Hong Kong's symbols. That is why those who are in power and were involved in the bloody crackdown are constantly on tenterhooks.
In recent years, a handful of radical politicians have attempted to take advantage of the June 4 issue. Their self-interested calculation is so obvious that they have received largely muted responses and have made little impact on mainstream June-4 memorial activities. And since last year's Occupy movement, various student groups have been claiming in the name of localism that "creating a democratic China" has nothing to do with Hong Kong and that the Alliance's memorial ceremonies are too formulaic. Citing these reasons, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) decided not to take part in the Alliance's vigil this year. Since the HKFS is the mainstay of Hong Kong's student movements, its position on the issue has a more substantial and farther-reaching impact on the Alliance's future than that of the so-called localists.
Hong Kong society is split on how to remember the June 4 incident. Some may think that is to Beijing's advantage. But those who take such an ill-advised view fail to see the forest for the trees. True, the Alliance's leadership in organising June 4 memorial activities is now challenged by localists and students. But their challenges are in essence a backlash against what the Chinese Communist regime has done. If they keep distancing themselves from China, they will move towards secessionism and separatism. Hong Kong is part of China. Seen in the light of this fact, young people's refusal to identify themselves with China is deplorable. And it is worrying how things may develop.
Hong Kong's future is in the hands of its young people. One may call them rebellious or misled, but the fact remains that they, unlike their fathers, do not feel a sense of connection with the mainland. Young Hong Kong people's upbringing has left them with a mostly negative impression of mainland China. Furthermore, the controversy over constitutional reform has in recent years intensified mainland-Hong Kong conflicts. These are reasons why they distance themselves from China and try not to have anything to do with it. Things having so developed, it must dawn on any cool-headed person that young Hong Kong people's rebellion has much to do with Beijing's increasingly heavy-handed policies towards Hong Kong. It is time for Beijing to pause and think, unless it is prepared to crack down on the army of rebellious young Hong Kong people.
紀念六四見裂變 折射政策反效果
今年本港紀念六四事件，除了支聯會繼續在維園舉辦燭光晚會，港大學生會在港大校園也另起爐灶辦悼念活動。這是26年以來，社會上就六四事件的主流認知首次出現裂變，事態發展對民主運動和香港整體帶來什麼影響，值得關注。
支聯會的存在，使六四事件持續燃燒，當然有人不樂見。據4年前病逝的前任支聯會主席司徒華透露，首任行政長官董建華曾經要求他解散支聯會，以改善本港與內地的關係，但是司徒華拒絕了這個要求。支聯會歷年來為內地民運人士發聲、舉辦悼念六四活動、組設六四紀念館等，相關工作活動持續不斷。這是多年來的堅持而使「六四」成為香港其中一個標記，也是使當年涉及血腥鎮壓的當權者寢食難安的原因。
近年，個別激進取態政客另立山頭，意圖切割六四政治資源，但是其利益考量過於明顯，迴響不大，對主流六四活動影響甚微。去年佔領行動之後，學生團體以本土之名，認為「建設民主中國」與香港無關，還覺得支聯會的悼念活動過於形式化，學聯因此退出支聯會今年的晚會；作為社會運動中堅力量的學生，學聯的取態對支聯會日後路向發展的影響，較諸所謂本土派的衝擊會更為實質和深遠。
香港紀念六四活動裂變，若認為此對北京有利，這樣的解讀似乎只見樹木不見森林，絕不足取。支聯會領導六四紀念活動的地位受到挑戰是事實，不過本土派與學生對支聯會的挑戰，實際上是對中共政權的反彈，他們與中國切割的傾向發展下去，將會是分離與分裂。年輕一代拒絕認同中國的取態，放在香港是中國一部分的框架檢視，是十分可悲的現象，其可能發展趨勢，使人感到擔心。
年輕人是香港社會的未來，這個群體的取態不論是年少輕狂，或是受到誤導，總之是他們與內地缺乏上一輩的無形紐帶。在成長路上，他們感知的多是負面的中國大陸，加上近年政改爭議激化了內地與香港矛盾，都是促成他們抗拒中國、要與中國切割的原因。事態演變至此，若冷靜思量則應有啟示：香港年輕人的逆反，與近年北京對港政策愈強力打壓有關；除非北京準備處理大批逆反的香港年輕人，否則現在應該是停下來想一想的時候。
Nothing new from officials: People Power
People Power lawmakers Albert Chan Wai-yip and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen said on Monday that they heard nothing new from their Monday meeting on political reform with government officials.
Albert Chan said he used the meeting with the Chief secretary Carrie Lam and other officials -- their first in three years -- to urge them to find a way to meet people's demands for genuine universal suffrage.
And he warned that the voting down of the 2017 proposal would mark a new beginning for political protests.
Pan-dems told to take calm look at reform
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday called on pan-democrat lawmakers to keep calm and further study the arguments of those who support the government's political reform proposal.
Leung said the pro-establishment camp also has a role in the passage of the proposal.
The Legislative Council will move the motion on the reform on June 17.
Leung said: "We hope that people, particularly those pan-democrat lawmakers who are opposed to the political reform, will keep calm and sift through the arguments given by the SAR government, central government and people who asked them [pan- democrats] to vote for the reform."
He was speaking at Hong Kong International Airport before leaving on a four-day visit to Toronto and Chicago to promote Hong Kong and meet political and business leaders.
Leung also said it would not be easy to get more than 40 pro-establishment lawmakers to support the reform proposal.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing said pan- democrats should show individual courage by not voting against the reform as a bloc.
Tsang said lawmakers should consider the opinions of those who support the reform. Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee member Peter Woo Kwong-ching said the opposition parties should realize what they can and cannot achieve through the reform process.
Woo denied claims the nomination mechanism is a disaster.
Veteran Democratic Party member Cheung Man-kwong said the pro- democracy camp must stay united or it will be fragmented.
Liberal Party lawmaker James Tien Pei-chun said the government should consider pushing back the Legco vote to early July, if a high-ranking Beijing official assures pan-democrats that the election method could be changed in the future to give pan-democrats more time to reconsider.
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