DOCSLIB.ORG

Hong Kong, La Protesta Degli Studenti Per La Democrazia Il Piano

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Hong Kong, La Protesta Degli Studenti Per La Democrazia Il Piano [email protected] Sinistra Universitaria - Pisa @sinistraunipisa Sinistra Universitaria Pisana Controcorrente Hong Kong, la protesta Dal trattato degli studenti di Maastricht per la al piano Juncker democrazia Il piano Le Start-up Juncker innovative in Italia Con il patrocinio del Consiglio degli Studenti dell’Università di Pisa ASIA Hong Kong, la protesta degli studenti per la Democrazia Studenti contro i limiti imposti da Pechino per le elezioni del 2017 di CALOGERO AQUILA Dal 31 agosto ad Hong Kong è partita una mobilitazione a cui hanno preso parte via via migliaia di studenti, coinvolgendo, successi- vamente, persone di tutte le età e trasformandosi in una protesta senza precedenti nell'ex colonia britannica. Tutto ciò è partito dalla decisione del Comitato permanente dell'Assemblea nazionale del popo- lo cinese, di porre forti limiti alle prime elezioni a suffragio universa- le del “Chief Executive" (il Capo del governo locale) previste per il 2017. C'è da dire che la Regione di Hong Kong è una realtà molto diversa dal resto della Cina e che non è sotto- messo che entro il 2017 anche il anche molti esponenti politici come posta alla medesima dittatura arbit- candidato alla carica di “Chief Exe- Martin Lee, il presidente fondatore raria che domina sul resto del Pae- cutive” sarebbe stato eletto de- del Partito Democratico che ha se. Nonostante il regime comunista mocraticamente. dichiarato: “Vogliamo un vero suff- di Pechino abbia esercitato uno A fine settembre 2014, il Comitato ragio universale, non una democra- stretto controllo su di essa, da quan- permanente ha deciso di limitare a zia di stampo cinese”. do il Regno Unito ha restituito defi- tre il numero dei candidati a questa Le azioni degli studenti, che hanno nitivamente i suoi territori al carica, che devono essere approvati disertato le lezioni nelle università governo cinese nel 1997, come pre- da un'apposita “commissione elet- e nei licei, hanno via via coinvolto visto dall'accordo siglato nel 1984, torale” di 1.400 persone, i cui tantissime parti sociali, migliaia di nel quale si garantiva infatti, per i membri vengono nominati dallo cittadini, soprattutto giovani e si 50 anni successivi, il mantenimento stesso Comitato di Pechino, impe- sono protratte per quasi due mesi del suo sistema sociale, inclusi la dendo di fatto lo svolgimento di con periodi di tensioni e scontri tra libertà di espressione e lo stato di elezioni libere, competitive e cor- manifestanti e forze di polizia. diritto contenuti nella Basic Law, rette. Il 19 novembre un gruppo di mani- (la Costituzione di Hong Kong) Sono queste le motivazioni che festanti ha tentato di fare irruzione adottata nel 1990 ed entrata in vi- hanno scatenato l'ondata di proteste nel Parlamento di Hong Kong e do- gore nel '97, con cui Hong Kong degli studenti che chiedono il pieno po essere stato bloccato dalla poli- divenne Speciale Regione Ammi- suffragio universale. Per "Occupy zia con manganelli, gas urticanti, nistrativa della Cina. Central", il movimento che con- cannoni d'acqua e dopo le minacce L'accordo, firmato dal leader cinese giunge le organizzazioni studen- di voler aprire il fuoco con proiettili Deng Xiaoping e dalla premier bri- tesche “Scholarism” e “Federazione di gomma, quattro dimostranti tannica Margaret Thatcher, pre- degli studenti di Hong Kong”, vengono tratti in arresto e dopo po- vedeva inoltre che questa Regione questa rappresenta una marcia in- che ore riprendono le cariche e le sarebbe diventata più democratica dietro rispetto alla promessa della azioni di smantellamento delle zone con il passare del tempo. Infatti nel Cina di instaurare una piena de- occupate da parte della polizia. '97 fu istituito un consiglio legisla- mocrazia politica. Al coro di tivo eletto, ma Pechino aveva pro- “Occupy Central” si sono aggiunti Segue ... 2 ASIA Nella notte tra il 26 e 27 novembre, Il Partito Democratico, il Partito dagli attivisti democratici. al culmine di un ennesimo scontro, Laburista e il Partito Civico, assie- Nei giorni successivi gli sconti con sono stati tratti in arresto Joshua me ai loro esponenti scesi nelle pia- la polizia sono continuati in diversi Wong, il 18enne leader del movi- zze, hanno subito espresso solidari- punti della Regione di Honk Kong mento studentesco “Scholarism”, età e vicinanza ai manifestanti e e sono stati arrestati anche degli arrestato durante lo sgombero di agli studenti arrestati. agenti per aver picchiato un attivis- Mongkok e Lester Shum, vice In contrapposizione ad “Occupy ta del movimento "Occupy Central" segretario della “Federazione degli Central” erano scesi in piazza altri lo scorso 15 ottobre. studenti di Hong Kong”. gruppi di manifestanti che si defi- Durante la notte del 1° dicembre Queste sono le due più grandi orga- niscono “pro-governo”. Sono infat- altre 58 persone sono state ferite e nizzazioni che stanno guidando il ti gruppi di patriottici di Hong altre 40 sono state arrestate. Il movimento di protesta “Occupy Kong e della Cina che, pur essendo governatore Leung Chun-ying ha Central”, che chiede più democra- in minor numero rispetto ai primi, esortato i manifestanti ad andare a zia ed elezioni libere nel 2017. si dicono ben organizzati. Alcuni di casa per evitare lo sgombero da Le altre due associazioni affiancate loro hanno dichiarato di essere stati parte delle forze di polizia. al movimento sono l'Unione degli coinvolti dai grandi gruppi industri- Nel suo discorso Leung ha detto: studenti dell'Università” cinese di ali cinesi, altri di aver ricevuto un “Non vogliamo arrestare persone Hong Kong e la “Lega dei Social- premio in denaro per la partecipazi- durante lo sgombero. Avranno la democratici”, di cui Jason Szeto e one alla marcia e altri ancora di es- fedina penale sporca e le loro pos- Raphael Wong, anch'essi fermati sere venuti da oltre frontiera con la sibilità di studiare e lavorare dagli agenti, sono i rispettivi promessa di un pasto gratuito. Ma, all’estero saranno compromesse. rappresentanti. nonostante ciò, si costituiscono in Da oggi in poi, la polizia svolgerà Gli altri scontri tra studenti e poli- un movimento chiamato “Alleanza il proprio dovere in modo risoluto. zia, durante le operazioni di rimozi- per la Pace e la Democrazia” e so- Chiedo agli studenti che stanno one delle barricate nei luoghi occu- no pronti ad accettare la proposta pensando di tornare stanotte nella pati, si sono conclusi con l'arresto del Governo Centrale di Pechino zona occupata di non farlo.” di altre 116 persone, perlopiù stu- per denunciare ed impedire, a loro denti. dire, la “minaccia” rappresentata Segue ... 3 ASIA A destra Joshua Wong, a sinistra Lester Shum Nel frattempo Joshua Wong, leader rilasciati poco dopo dalle forze ro della fame non significa che il delle proteste a Hong Kong, comin- dell'ordine.Alla protesta si ag- governo può ignorare le nostre cia lo sciopero della fame e la lotta giungono, nei giorni successivi, an- richieste”, ha precisato Wong al sembra continuare. che alcuni professori universitari New York Times, anche se i mani- Il 2 dicembre, fuori da ogni aspetta- che hanno osservato assieme a stu- festanti continuano ad essere semp- tiva, i tre fondatori originari di denti e altri manifestanti due minuti re meno. "Occupy Central" Benny Tai Yiu- di silenzio contro l'intervento della ting, Chu Yiu-ming e Chan Kin- polizia nei quartieri occupati dagli Il 9 dicembre arriva l'ordine di man, che si dicono pronti a conseg- attivisti pro-democrazia. sgombero forzato dall’alta corte di narsi alla polizia, esortano gli stu- Hong Kong per l’accampamento di denti a ritirarsi dai luoghi occupati Qualche giorno dopo, il 18enne Jo- Admiralty previsto per l'11 dicemb- dichiarando: “Per la sicurezza dei shua Wong interrompe lo sciopero re alle ore 9 (ora locale), ma i mani- manifestanti e in nome del nostro della fame su consiglio dei medici. festanti per la democrazia assicura- intento originale di amore e pace, ci “Il fatto che ho interrotto lo sciope- no di proseguire la loro rivolta. apprestiamo alla resa e chie- diamo agli stu- denti di ritirarsi per piantare profonde radici nella comunità e trasformare il movimento es- tendendone lo spirito”. La de- cisione è però in disaccordo con la federazi- one degli stu- denti, che an- nuncia di voler portare avanti la protesta, mentre i tre lea- der vengono 4 EUROPA Dal trattato di Maastricht al piano Juncker di ANTONIO RIZZELLO Il Trattato sull'Unione Europea, siglato a Maastricht il 7 febbraio 1992, ed entrato in vigore l'1 novembre 1993, segna una tappa principale nell'integra- zione europea, verso un' Europa più ambiziosa nel perseguimento dei suoi obiettivi e più solida nei mezzi e negli strumenti necessa- ri alla loro realizzazione. Esso fissa i criteri oggettivi sui quali si deciderà il passaggio di cia- scun Paese membro alla terza fase dell'Unione economica e monetaria: il requisito della sta- bilità dei prezzi si intende soddi- sfatto qualora il tasso di inflazio- sure (cinque regolamenti e una spettate. Si tratta di una golden ne del Paese non si discosti di direttiva) che intende modificare rule rafforzata in quanto il saldo più di 1,5 punti percentuali dalla e integrare il Patto di stabilità e di bilancio che deve essere in media dei tassi di inflazione na- crescita, costituito dai regola- pareggio include anche la spesa zionali più bassi; la situazione di menti 1466 e 1467 del 1997, poi per investimenti (quella classica finanza pubblica viene ritenuta con il Trattato sulla stabilità, sul prevede che la spesa corrente sostenibile quando il debito pub- coordinamento e sulla gover- debba essere finanziata con il blico non supera il 60% del PIL nance, meglio conosciuto come gettito delle imposte mentre la e il deficit pubblico attuale o Fiscal Compact, un accordo di spesa per investimenti può fi- programmato non eccede il 3% diritto internazionale sottoscritto nanziarsi con un avanzo del bi- del PIL.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dissenting Media in Post-1997 Hong Kong Joyce Y.M. Nip the De
    Dissenting media in post-1997 Hong Kong Joyce Y.M. Nip The de-colonization of Hong Kong took the form of Britain returning the territory to China in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Twenty years after the political handover, the “one country, two systems” arrangement designed by China to govern the Hong Kong SAR is facing serious challenge: Many in Hong Kong have come to regard Beijing as an unwelcome control master; and calls for self-determination have gained a substantial level of popular support. This chapter examines the role of media in this development, as exemplified by key political protest actions. It proposes the notion of “dissenting media” as a framework to integrate relevant academic and journalistic studies about Hong Kong. From the discipline of media and communications study, it suggests that operators of dissenting media are enabled to put forth information and analysis contrary to that of the establishment, which, in turn, help to form an oppositional public sphere. In the process, the identity and communities of dissent are built, maintained, and developed, contributing to the formation of a counter public that participates in oppositional political actions. Studies on the impact of media, mainly conducted in stable Anglo-American societies, tend to consider mainstream media as institutions that index1 or reinforce the status quo,2 and alternative media as forces that challenge established powers.3 In Hong Kong, the 1997 political changeover was accompanied by a reconfiguration of power relationships in line with China’s one-party dictatorship. The change runs counter to the political aspirations of the people of Hong Kong, and has bred a political movement for civil liberties, public accountability, and democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • Protest Geographies and Cross-Modal Icons in Hong Kong's
    ASIEN 148 (Juli 2018), S. 5–25 Refereed article Protest Geographies and Cross-Modal Icons in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement Sandra Kurfürst Summary In September 2014, thousands of people occupied the heart of Hong Kong’s state and corporate power, the central business district. This paper provides a snapshot of the first days of the events that resulted in what would ultimately become a 79-day- long occupation, which eventually came to be known as the “Umbrella Movement.” The paper first maps the protest geographies, focusing on the symbolism of place. It then proceeds to decipher the symbols employed by the protestors both in urban public and in digital space. The paper argues that the transformation of tangible everyday items like the umbrella into intangible digital icons demonstrates resilience in the face of state coercion in physical space. Acknowledging the symbolism of place and its inherent contestation, the paper, moreover, shows that the symbols that became cross-modal icons were those that were non-place-specific ones, and thus those shared by a wider collective. Finally, the article suggests it is important to reflect on the distribution of leadership across a wider collective and via different media forms. The data is drawn from participant observation on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon during the week of university class boycotts, from September 21–26, 2014, before the official start of Occupy Central — as well as from internet ethnography, newspaper analysis, and secondary literature research too. Keywords: Public space, social media, social movements, symbols, Hong Kong, Occupy Central Sandra Kurfürst is Juniorprofessor of “Cross-cultural and urban communication” at the Global South Studies Centre, University of Cologne.
    [Show full text]
  • Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students: Comparative Analysis of Their Developments After the Umbrella Movement
    Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal Vol. 2, No. 2, Aug./Sept. 2016, pp. 865-884 __________________________________________________________ Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students: Comparative Analysis of Their Developments after the Umbrella Movement Benson Wai-Kwok Wong* Hong Kong Baptist University Sanho Chung** Australian National University Abstract This article aims to examine the features of, and difficulties in, the development of Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students after the Umbrella Movement (2014). This article first introduces the emergence of both organizations, aiming to provide the necessary background to their features, notably student activism, politicization, and issue-based reasons in launching campaigns. This is followed by an analysis of the difficulties faced by both organizations with reference to leadership, orientation, organizational capacity and networking, as reflected in the disappointment and disillusionment of a significant number of participants during the movement. The article then moves on to investigate the possible methods adopted by both organizations to consolidate their strengths in light of the above weaknesses, focusing on 865 866 Benson Wai­Kwok Wong and Sanho Chung the buttressing of accountability and reform. In conclusion, the reorganization of student power is of key concern during the process in face of the increasing political intervention of the Beijing authorities and political decay of the Hong Kong government. Keywords:
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons in Dissent
    A SPECIAL SCREENING AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR MATTHEW TORNE Sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University LESSONS IN DISSENT Documentary, Cantonese with English Subtitles, 97 minutes, DCP, 2014 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2014 7:00 PM - ROOM 250, LORIA CENTER 190 YORK STREET, NEW HAVEN, CT FILM SYNOPSIS Filmed over 18 months, Lessons in Dissent 未夠秤 is a kaleidoscopic, visceral portrait of a new generation of Hong Kong democracy activists. School boy JOSHUA WONG dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of National Education. His campaign begins to snowball when an interview goes viral on YouTube, and with the new school year fast approaching, a showdown with the government seems inevitable. Microphone in hand, and still in his school uniform, he leads 120,000 protesters into battle. Meanwhile, former classmate MA JAI fights against political oppression on the streets and in the courts. Having dropped out of school and dedicated himself to the social movement, he endures the persecution suffered by those not lucky enough to be protected by the media’s glare. Lessons in Dissent catapults the viewer onto the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action: confronting the viewer with Hong Kong’s oppressive heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent. For complete film credits and more information, please visit: http://www.lessonsindissentmovie.com/. ____________________________________________________________________ JOSHUA WONG 黃之鋒 Fourteen year old school boy Joshua Wong founded the campaign group Scholarism in April 2011 in response to the lackluster opposition from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy political parties to the announcement that mainland style political education, known as National Education, would replace Civic Education from September 3rd, 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Street Occupations, Neglected Democracy, and Contested Neoliberalism in Hong Kong
    Street Occupations in Hong Kong 101 Street Occupations, Neglected Democracy, and Contested Neoliberalism in Hong Kong Miguel A. Martínez* he Umbrella Movement (UM) is the conventional label applied to the street occupations that took place in Hong Kong (HK) between September 28 and December 15, 2014. Many participants Talso called it the Umbrella Revolution (Veg 2016, 680). UM activists strove for HK citizens’ right to universal suffrage applicable to the election of the chief executive and the whole legislature. The HK miniconstitution, or Ba- sic Law, in force since the return of the former British colony to People’s Republic of China (PRC) sovereignty in 1997, expressed the same goal as an “ultimate aim” to be implemented “in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress” (J. Ng 2016, 56).1 However, despite the continu- ous pressure exerted by the pan-democratic camp, the HK government has postponed the regulation and implementation of universal suffrage to date. With these promises and pressures in sight, a process of electoral reform was launched by the HK Special Administrative Region (SAR) govern- ment in 2013. To the disappointment of the pan-democrats’ aspirations, the electoral reform was substantially constrained by two documents issued by the Chinese central government in June and August 2014. In a white paper issued in June, the central authorities asserted their absolute power to interpret the Basic Law. In August, the same authorities delivered their interpretation of the electoral reform and set up a nomination committee following the model of the already existing Election Committee.2 The only novelty introduced consisted of the public voting on the two to three candidates standing for the chief executive role previously nominated.
    [Show full text]
  • Protests in Hong Kong: the Umbrella Movement
    October 24, 2014 Protests in Hong Kong: The Umbrella Movement an estimated 100,000 people gathered in Admiralty, and A Brief History of the Protests hundreds rallied in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, protesting the use of tear gas and supporting the protests. Hong Kong’s protests, dubbed the “Umbrella Movement” by its organizers, began on September 23, 2014, when a Over the following week, the number of demonstrators at group of university students organized by the Hong Kong the three main locations—Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Federation of Students (HKFS) and another student Mong Kok—declined, but the Hong Kong government organization called Scholarism, marched through central appeared to make no overt effort to stop the demonstrations. Hong Kong to protest against the China’s National People’s In addition, anti-protest groups appeared, complaining Congress Standing Committee’s (NPCSC) August 31, about the economic impact and inconvenience caused by 2014, decision, which would restrict the number of and the protests, especially in Mong Kok. manner in which candidates for the city’s next Chief Executive may be selected. The NPCSC decision could lead On October 8, the Hong Kong government and HKFS to the election of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage, agreed to hold talks on October 10. Following the as provided for in Hong Kong’s Basic Law (which grants announcement of the scheduled talks, the demonstration Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy” under China’s leaders announced a rally on the afternoon of October 10. “one country, two systems” policy) and the NPCSC’s On October 9, Chief Secretary Lam told the press that she December 2007 decision.
    [Show full text]
  • Are Protests Games of Strategic Complements Or Substitutes? Experimental Evidence from Hong Kong's Democracy Movement
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES ARE PROTESTS GAMES OF STRATEGIC COMPLEMENTS OR SUBSTITUTES? EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM HONG KONG'S DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT Davide Cantoni David Y. Yang Noam Yuchtman Y. Jane Zhang Working Paper 23110 http://www.nber.org/papers/w23110 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2017 Helpful and much appreciated suggestions, critiques and encouragement were provided by Ned Augenblick, Doug Bernheim, Arun Chandrasekhar, Ernesto Dal Bo, Matthew Gentzkow, Peter Lorentzen, Muriel Niederle, Torsten Persson, and many seminar and conference participants. Glen Ng and Meggy Wan provided excellent research assistance. Cantoni acknowledges financial support from the LMUexcellent Junior Researcher Fund and the European Research Council. The research described in this article was approved by the University of California-Berkeley Committee for Protection of Human Subjects, Protocol ID 2015-05-7571; by the Stanford University Institutional Review Board, Protocol 38481; by the University of Munich IRB, protocol 2016-11, and by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Human Participants Research Panel, submission 126. The experiment is registered on the AEA RCT registry with ID AEARCTR-0001423. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2017 by Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, and Y. Jane Zhang. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Malaysian Chinese
    MAKING MALAYSIAN CHINESE: WAR MEMORY, HISTORIES AND IDENTITIES A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 FRANCES TAY SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Contents Introduction.............................................................................................................. 14 Identity: The Perennial Question ........................................................................ 16 Memory-Work and Identity Construction ............................................................ 17 Silence as a Concept .......................................................................................... 22 Multiple Wars, Multiple Histories......................................................................... 26 Ambiguous Histories, Simplifying Myths ............................................................. 30 Analytic Strategy and Methods ........................................................................... 34 Chapter 1. Historical Context: Chinese as Other .................................................... 38 Heaven-sent Coolies .......................................................................................... 39 Jews of the East.................................................................................................. 41 Irredentists and Subversives .............................................................................. 44 Overseas Chinese Compatriots .........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • “They Can Wash Away All the Posters and Protests, but They Cannot Wipe out the History …”
    “They can wash away all the posters and protests, but they cannot wipe out the history …” An interdisciplinary study of the collective identity of the Umbrella Movement Tamar Bruls (10289860) Bachelor thesis, Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam Supervisors: Yatun Sastramidjaja & Olga Sooudi June 22, 2015 Word count: 17.636 Content Foreword ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 6 2. Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................. 8 2.1. Social movements ................................................................................................................ 8 2.2. Identity ............................................................................................................................... 10 2.3. Collective identity .............................................................................................................. 12 2.4. Interdisciplinarity ............................................................................................................... 15 3. Problem definition .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • In Hong Kong: Creating a Yellow-Red Peril Discourse
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Digital Commons @ UM Law LOCALISTS AND “LOCUSTS” IN HONG KONG: CREATING A YELLOW-RED PERIL DISCOURSE Barry Sautman and YAN Hairong* Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION: TIME OF THE LOCUST .............................. 2 II. ANTI-MAINLANDER PREJUDICE IN HONG KONG ............ 12 III. CREATING A PECULIAR RACISM: COLONIAL MODERNITY AND RACISM IN SHANGHAI AND HONG KONG ............................................................................. 20 IV. HONG KONG INFESTED BY MAINLAND VISITORS? ........ 24 V. LICE! COCKROACHES! LOCUSTS!: INSECT LANGUAGE AND RACISM ...................................... 35 VI. THE ANTI-LOCUST CAMPAIGN AS ETHNIC VILIFICATION ........................................................................... 50 VII. LOCALIST LEADERS AND THEIR FRIENDS ....................... 66 VIII. CONCLUSION: PUNISHING THE VILIFIERS? ...................... 86 * Barry Sautman is a political scientist and lawyer at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. His main areas of research are China-Africa links, the Tibet Question and ethnic minority rights in China. YAN Hairong is an anthropologist at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and author of New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China (Duke University Press, 2008). Her research interests include China-Africa links and the agrarian transformation in China. Her intellectual interests include labor, gender, rurality and rural- urban relations, socialism and post-socialism, etc. (1) 2 CONTEMPORARY ASIAN STUDIES SERIES I. INTRODUCTION: TIME OF THE LOCUST “A vast army of locusts has invaded my land. It is a terrible army, too numerous to count. Its teeth are as sharp as the teeth of lions . Bring the leaders and all the people into the temple of the Lord your God and cry out to Him there.”1 The Old Testament’s Book of Joel (1:6-16) depicts locust swarms bringing ruin to ancient Israel and foretelling the “End of Days” for hu- manity.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Hongkonger?
    Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Hongkonger? The Construction of National Identity in light of the Anti-Moral and National Education Movement and the Umbrella Movement in Post-1997 Hong Kong A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2020 Chung Yan Priscilla Kam Department of Sociology School of Social Sciences List of Contents List of Tables 6 Abstract 7 Declaration 8 Copyright Statement 9 Acknowledgements 10 Chapter 1. Introduction 11 1.1. Introduction 11 1.2. The Main Arguments and Significance of this Thesis 12 1.3. A Historical Account of Hong Kong Identity 18 1.4. Significance of Scholarism, the Anti-MNE Movement and the Umbrella Movement 26 1.4.1. Significance of Scholarism 26 1.4.2. Significance of the Anti-MNE Movement 30 1.4.3. Significance of the Umbrella Movement 32 1.5. Methodological Approach 36 1.6. Clarifications of Terminology 38 1.7. Structure of the Thesis 38 1.8. Conclusion 42 Chapter 2. Literature Review: Theories of National Belonging in Hong Kong Context 43 2.1. Introduction 43 2.2. National Identity 43 2.2.1. The Emotional and Cognitive Components of National Identity 45 2.2.2. National Identity as a Social Identity 50 2 2.3. Ethnic and Civic National Identity 55 2.4. The Hong Kong Ethos 59 2.5. Conclusion 63 Chapter 3. Methodology 66 3.1. Introduction 66 3.2. Qualitative Study 66 3.3. Data Collection 68 3.3.1. Research Participants 69 3.3.2. Semi-structured Individual Interviews 73 3.3.3.
    [Show full text]
  • Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement in Search of Self- Determination
    No.3 2015 PUBLISHED BY THE SWEDISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. WWW.UI.SE Hong Kong’s umbrella movement in search of self- determination Tim Rühlig Executive summary In the latter half of 2014, the world watched the peaceful 2.5 months long pro-democratic occupation of Hong Kong by hundreds of thousands of young people. One year later, this paper summarizes the core demands of the “Umbrella Movement” and examines its successes and failures: While the world press focused on the Umbrella Movement’s core demand for electoral reform of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive selection, the demonstrations have to be seen in the broader context of the protesters’ desire for the city’s self-determination. Hence, the Umbrella Movement was not only a pro-democratic one but also one that aimed at more autonomy for Hong Kong from mainland China. While self-determination and democracy are closely intertwined, the protesters called not only for electoral reform but for (more) social and economic independence and autonomous political institutions holding a distinct Hong Kong identity. Evaluating the results and predicting the foreseeable future, this paper argues that the movement was partly successful in terms of electoral democracy and social issues. It failed with regards to institutional self-determination while questions of identity remain completely open to this day. About the author Tim Rühlig is a research associate and PhD Candidate at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany. In 2015, he is a visiting research fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) and the Department of Sinology at the University of Stockholm.
    [Show full text]