FIVE DEMANDS, TWO SYSTEMS, ONE HONG KONG: The Story Behind the 2019-20 Protests Some protestors have romanticized Hong Kong’s British past and have taken its colonial flag to the IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS streets. One protestor displays a sign stating, “Sino-British Joint Declaration breached by CCP!” The 1984 declaration established the principle of One County, Two Systems. BY FRANK LUKENS It has not been an easy year for Hong Kong. Since bulent time in its history. Furthermore, the British “FREE HONG KONG—REVOLUTION NOW.” from a colonial ruler, as most postcolonial histories March 2019, protestors have covered the streets as authored the Hong Kong Constitution, known as This cry for freedom is manifested in Five Demands, have proceeded. Rather, Hongkongers are search- police officers fired tear gas at them. Thousands of the Basic Law, which outlines the “One Country, according to Davis: “(1) Complete withdrawal of ing for what they were promised when the Basic demonstrators have been injured, and thousands Two Systems” policy that has governed Hong Kong the extradition bill, (2) Re-characterization of the Law was put into effect twenty-two years ago—the more arrested. As the entire world focused on the since 1997, when the city was handed over—as if protests to not be riots, (3) Exoneration of arrested freedom to be Hongkongers neither in Britain nor chaos ensuing in Hong Kong, Hongkongers became it were a prize—from Britain to China. According protesters, (4) An independent investigation into in China, but in Hong Kong. even more focused on seeking what they truly to Davis, the “One Country, Two Systems” struc- police brutality, and (5) Universal suffrage.” want—democracy, liberalism, and human rights. ture gives Hong Kong the western, capitalistic Considering the intensifying backlash against What began as a protest in reaction to a controver- institutions—including the freedom of assembly— a potential increase in Chinese control over Hong Frank Lukens is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles College studying sial bill evolved into a movement that has strength- introduced during colonial rule that neighboring, Kong, full sovereignty from the People’s Republic History. He can be contacted at [email protected]. ened Hongkongers’ socialist People’s Republic of China does not give of China is not on the list of Five Demands. “For desire for freedom in to its citizens. the most part, independence is not something peo- Hongkongers are their unique home It is Hong Kong’s unique identity fostered ple are searching for. People want democracy, lib- searching for what they with a special identity. over nearly two centuries that is currently at stake. eralism, and human rights fulfilled,” Davis tells the In order to under- According to Yale sophomore Jamie Chan, also a Globalist. “No one is asking for something that is not were promised when the stand what has led to Hong Kong native, much of the controversy behind already promised.” Thus, what is at stake in Hong the ongoing protests, the ongoing protests stems from an extradition bill Kong’s protests is not necessarily independence Basic Law was put into it’s important to illus- proposed last February by the Hong Kong govern- trate Hong Kong’s ment. This bill would permit the transfer of crim- effect twenty-two years colonial past. Yale inal fugitives who are wanted in mainland China, senior Hana Davis, a which is currently not included in the extradition ago—the freedom to be Hong Kong native, law set up after British rule. Chan notes that “[the One of the Hongkongers neither in underscored the potential for China to have extradition privileges] mottos used in the importance of history specifically raises political concerns, because China 2019-20 Hong Britian nor in China, but to what is currently is known for abducting people who have diverging Kong protests. The happening in her political views from the government,” mentioning a demands of this in Hong Kong. beloved home. “Hong controversy in 2015 when Hong Kong booksellers motto—freedom Kong was given as a disappeared in mainland China for selling banned WIKIMEDIA COMMONS IMAGE: and revolution—are concession to the United Kingdom in 1842 after the books there. boldly printed in Opium War, followed by the 99-year lease of sur- However, both Chan and Davis tell the Globalist black and white. rounding territory in 1898,” Davis tells the Globalist, that the heavily youth-driven protests have moved giving credit to the U.K. for building up a fishing beyond simply wanting to withdraw the extradition village into the skyscraper-filled, global trading hub bill and toward a greater discussion of Hong Kong’s that Hong Kong is today. identity and what it means to be a “Hongkonger.” Along with their language, the British brought Pointing to a black sticker on the back of her phone human rights, liberalism, and civic freedoms that case, Chan reads me what is printed in bold, white Hong Kong cherishes, especially through this tur- Chinese characters and capitalized English words: 12 THE YALE GLOBALIST | CONTROL THE YALE GLOBALIST | CONTROL 13.