Benny Tai (戴耀廷), a leading Hong Kong activist who was jailed for his role in the 2014 pro-democracy “Umbrella movement,” says that campaign “revolutionized” youngsters and set the stage for the current protests in the territory.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Umbrella movement, Tai said that he watched from jail in disbelief as 1 million people on June 9 thronged the streets of Hong Kong to launch the latest bout of pro-democracy protests.
“The young people, in some ways, they have been changed by the Umbrella movement,” Tai said.
“We have revolutionized, in some ways, the hearts of Hong Kong people in preparing them for fighting for democracy in a more persistent way,” he said.
To mark the anniversary today, thousands of people are expected to rally at Tamar Park near government headquarters.
Tai, who was released on bail last month, said that while leaders of the Umbrella movement were in some ways unprepared for the massive response at the start of the rallies that paralyzed parts of the financial hub for 79 days, they helped to sow the seeds for future protests.
The sit-in protests, also known as the “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” campaign, were first suggested by Tai in 2013 and were later led by a core group, some of who remain in prison. It became known as the Umbrella movement after activists used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and pepper spray.
Colorful tents, art installations and music created an almost carnival atmosphere at times, in stark contrast with the current anti-government protests that have increasingly degenerated into running battles between activists and police.
“I think the tension now is how far we should go, especially the more radical protesters, how far they should go,” Tai said.
“Maybe after a few months the streets will become more quiet ... and when another triggering point [comes], you will rise again and the scale will be even bigger than the ‘Water revolution,’” he said, referring to activists using what they call a “be water” strategy that encourages them to be flexible or formless.
The current protests have no discernible leaders or structure, which Tai believes is a better strategy than the “top down” order of the Umbrella movement.
“It’s a more decentralized network way of coordinating action and it seems to be much more effective than the Umbrella movement,” the soft-spoken professor said.
Tai, who said that he read about 20 books during his three months in prison, said that he was hopeful about the future, although he expects more suppression from the government.
“Some protesters, they think this is the last battle, but I would say this may not be the last battle, because we have a long war to fight and no matter what happens to this particular battle, if we could not have democracy, the war will continue,” he said.
AFGHAN CHILD: A court battle is ongoing over if the toddler can stay with Joshua Mast and his wife, who wanted ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ for her Major Joshua Mast, a US Marine whose adoption of an Afghan war orphan has spurred a years-long legal battle, is to remain on active duty after a three-member panel of Marines on Tuesday found that while he acted in a way unbecoming of an officer to bring home the baby girl, it did not warrant his separation from the military. Lawyers for the Marine Corps argued that Mast abused his position, disregarded orders of his superiors, mishandled classified information and improperly used a government computer in his fight over the child who was found orphaned on the battlefield in rural Afghanistan
EYEING THE US ELECTION: Analysts say that Pyongyang would likely leverage its enlarged nuclear arsenal for concessions after a new US administration is inaugurated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the US, as he accused them of provoking North Korea and raising animosities on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported yesterday. Kim has issued threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as experts said that North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s US presidential election. In a Monday speech at a university named after him, the Kim Jong-un National Defense University, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack
STOPOVERS: As organized crime groups in Asia and the Americas move drugs via places such as Tonga, methamphetamine use has reached levels called ‘epidemic’ A surge of drugs is engulfing the South Pacific as cartels and triads use far-flung island nations to channel narcotics across the globe, top police and UN officials told reporters. Pacific island nations such as Fiji and Tonga sit at the crossroads of largely unpatrolled ocean trafficking routes used to shift cocaine from Latin America, and methamphetamine and opioids from Asia. This illicit cargo is increasingly spilling over into local hands, feeding drug addiction in communities where serious crime had been rare. “We’re a victim of our geographical location. An ideal transit point for vessels crossing the Pacific,” Tonga Police Commissioner Shane McLennan
RUSSIAN INPUT: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called Washington’s actions in Asia ‘destructive,’ accusing it of being the reason for the ‘militarization’ of Japan The US is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful” activities in the disputed South China Sea, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ASEAN leaders yesterday during an annual summit, and pledged that Washington would continue to uphold freedom of navigation in the region. The 10-member ASEAN meeting with Blinken followed a series of confrontations at sea between China and ASEAN members Philippines and Vietnam. “We are very concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea which have injured people, harm vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolutions of disputes,” said Blinken, who
RSS