POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 47 (31-01-2015)

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.

Occupy Central site in Causeway Bay was cleared as police moved in  ...

POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 47: 

Full coverage of the day’s events

Rally organizers remain defiant 


Organizers struck a defiant note and said this Sunday's pro-democracy rally will go ahead despite their inability -- so far -- to find enough marshals as requested by the police.

The organizers were on Thursday told by authorities that they will need to hire 100 marshals for the event.

A spokesman for the Civil Human Right Front, Johnson Yeung, said despite this problem, the rally from the Victoria Park to Central will still go ahead.

The March will begin at two in the afternoon after which an assembly will be held before the event ends at midnight. 

Editorial Pan-democrats should advance the cause of democracy	明報社評 政府構思謀通過方案 泛民應藉機推進民主
THE GOVERNMENT, floating a trial balloon to test pan-democrats' reactions, has suggested stating in its constitutional reform proposal that specific improvements may be made to the arrangements for the election of the Chief Executive (CE) by universal suffrage in 2022, trying to gain their support for the proposal. However, the pan-democrats have reiterated that they will veto any constitutional reform proposal based on the framework adopted by the National People's Congress on August 31 last year.	政府拋出試探氣球，以在政改方案列明2022年特首普選安排可以具體優化，換取泛民議員支持通過政改方案。不過，泛民議員再度表明按全國人大常委會8．31框架而提出的政改方案，他們都會否決。
Despite the deadlock in constitutional reform, some committed individuals are still attempting to advance the cause of democracy. Albert Chen, a member of the Basic Law Committee and a professor at the HKU Faculty of Law, is still vigorously promoting his proposal of allowing the public to render the CE election invalid by casting blank votes. Ronny Tong, once dejected about the constitutional reform issue, has declared, once again, that if it is promised that all functional constituencies will be abolished and all Legco members will be returned by universal suffrage, he will try to persuade citizens to accept the constitutional reform proposal even if it is based on the August 31 framework. Meanwhile the government has proposed that, if pan-democrats support its proposal, it will consider stating clearly in the proposal that the arrangements for the 2022 CE election can be amended in line with the actual situation in Hong Kong (e.g. by expanding the nominating committee or increasing the number of candidates). The government's hope is that the pro-democracy lawmakers will reconsider their position.	政改陷於僵局，有心人仍然試圖推進民主進程。基本法委員會委員、港大法律學院教授陳弘毅積極宣講他的「白票守尾門」等概念，本來對政改已經心灰意冷的湯家驊議員，再度提出若爭取到立法會取消功能組別，全部議席由普選產生，則他會嘗試說服市民接受8．31框架的政改方案。政府提出若泛民支持政改，會考慮在普選方案列明2022年特首普選安排，可按本港實際情况修改，包括增加提名委員人數及候選人數目，目的是期望泛民議員回心轉意。
Chen's and Tong's suggestions have met with mostly criticisms from pan-democrats and apathy from establishmentarians. Still, their will to try to maximise democracy within the confines of reality should be commended. The trial balloon floated by the government, on the other hand, has been greeted with derision by pan-democrats. They queried why the government, instead of engaging in discussion with them in an open and above-board manner, should have made noises about those suggestions while staying behind the doors. They even rejected the government's suggestions later on the grounds that they were based on the August 31 framework. They have expressed, in a harsh tone, their unwillingness to engage in any discussion with the government concerning the August 31 framework, while some lawmakers are becoming more and more sarcastic, trying to incite citizens to oppose the constitutional reform proposal. Their thinking and arguments are becoming increasingly irrational.	陳弘毅和湯家驊的建議，在泛民陣營受批評的多，在建制陣營則遭遇冷對；即使如此，仍然不能抹殺他們在現實局限下，意圖爭取最大程度民主的心志。政府的試探氣球，先是遭到泛民揶揄，指政府為何躲在幕後放風，而非光明正大提出來討論，其後更以8．31框架為由而拒絕政府建議。凡是涉及8．31框架的討論，泛民議員都厲言峻拒，而且個別議員的言辭愈來愈尖酸刻薄，意圖藉此鼓動市民反對政改方案；如此操作，與理性思考、理性判斷，漸行漸遠。
The pan-democrat lawmakers' relentless attack on the August 31 framework can be interpreted as an attempt to seize the moral high ground and snatch political advantage. However, many surveys on the August 31 framework have shown that citizens who support the adoption of the framework outnumber those who think it should be rejected. Earlier this month, at a time when the government launched the second round of consultation on constitutional reform and the Occupy movement had just come to an end, a survey conducted by the HKU Public Opinion Programme and commissioned by this newspaper showed that 56 percent of respondents believed the framework should be adopted, as opposed to 34 percent of those who thought it shouldn't. Pan-democratic lawmakers might think that their opposition to the constitutional reform proposal is supported by the majority of Hong Kong people. These surveys have suggested otherwise.	泛民議員死盯8．31框架不放，或許他們認為此乃佔據道德高地，可攫取政治利益。然而，關於8．31框架，歷來許多的民意調查都發現，認同「袋住先」的市民都多過認為應該否決方案的市民。即使本月初政府啟動第二輪政改諮詢，時值佔領行動結束未幾，本報委託港大民意研究計劃所作的調查，認同「袋住先」的受訪者有56%、反對通過方案的為34%。從這些數字看來，若泛民議員認為否決方案是代表主流民意，民調顯示市民的抉擇取捨卻非如此。
If the constitutional reform proposal is vetoed, the election of the CE by registered or eligible voters in a "one person, one vote" manner will not be possible in 2017. And the return of all Legco members by universal suffrage will become impossibly distant. We won't see the day when democracy sprouts and takes root in Hong Kong. The government's hope is that the election of the CE by universal suffrage will be implemented in 2017. The pan-democrats should take this as a chance to advance the cause of democracy. As the government has put forward its suggestions, the pan-democrats can lay down some conditions in return. Things can move forward as long as both sides are willing to engage in concrete discussion of the matter.	若否決了政改方案，不僅無法於2017年實現已登記、或合資格選民一人一票選出特首，立法會普選也遙遙無期，根本看不到民主何時會在香港萌芽和落地生根。職是之故，既然政府期望落實2017年特首普選，泛民應該視之為推進民主的機會；政府提出了建議，泛民也可以開條件，只要雙方有意願去實質討論，就有可能推動事態向前發展。