Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Political Sciences 2014 The emergence of civil disobedience movements in Hong Kong Kwun Hong CHAN Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Chan, K. H. (2014). The emergence of civil disobedience movements in Hong Kong (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd/12 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Political Sciences at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. THE EMERGENCE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENTS IN HONG KONG CHAN KWUN HONG MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2014 THE EMERGENCE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENTS IN HONG KONG by CHAN Kwun Hong A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Sciences (Political Science) Lingnan University 2014 ABSTRACT The Emergence of Civil Disobedience Movements in Hong Kong by CHAN Kwun Hong Master of Philosophy Civil disobedience, as a specific means of protest, has drawn intellectual attention worldwide, but few scholars in Hong Kong have studied this means of protest in depth. Focusing on the reasons why civil disobedience movements have emerged in Hong Kong, this research has used a case study methodology. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with people that participated in many of Hong Kong’s previous civil disobedience movements, from the Yau Ma Tei Boat People Incident of the 1970s, to the Anti-Public Order Ordinance demonstrations and Citizens’ Radio Incident of the early 2000s. In addition to describing how the emergence of specific civil disobedience movements happened, this research also explores the sociopolitical conditions from which civil disobedience movements have emerged in the Hong Kong context. By interviewing key informants in each case (9 in total), a general pattern of the emergence of civil disobedience in Hong Kong has been found. Departing from the well-established studies on civil disobedience that have focused on the particular ideologies of participants or specific characteristics of movement leaders, this study contributes to the study of the sociopolitical conditions that led to emergence. All the cases studied point to the fact that the employment of civil disobedience as a protest means is a calculated response to delegitimizing effect, with the existence of civil society. DECLARATION I declare that this is an original work based primarily on my own research, and I warrant that all citations of previous research, published or unpublished, have been duly acknowledged. Chan Kwun Hong Date CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL OF THESIS THE EMERGENCE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN HONG KONG by CHAN Kwun Hong Master of Philosophy Panel of Examiners: (Chairman) Prof Cheung Yue-lok Francis (External Member) Prof Wong Hok-wui Stan (Internal Member) Prof Tam Wai-keung (Internal Member) Prof Park Jeongwon Chief Supervisor: Prof Tam Wai-keung Co-supervisor: Prof Wong Yiu-chung Approved for the Senate: ( ) Chairman, Postgraduate Studies Committee Date Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: EXPLAINING THE EMERGENCE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENTS IN HONG KONG ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RESEARCH QUESTION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Nature of Civil Disobedience ............................................................................................... 5 1.2.2 Justification of Civil Disobedience .................................................................................... 14 1.2.3 Studies of social movements in Hong Kong and the related theories of emergence of social movements .................................................................................................................................. 16 1.2.4 Definition of “civil society” ............................................................................................... 19 1.2.5 Delegitimation ................................................................................................................... 22 1.3 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 25 1.4 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 2 HYPOTHESIS BUILDING: THE CASE OF THE WHITE ROSE IN NAZI GERMANY AND THE CASE OF INDIA ............................................................................................................................... 28 2.1 ON NECESSARY CONDITION: THE CASE OF THE WHITE ROSE ..................................................... 30 2.2 ON SUFFICIENT CONDITION: THE CASE OF INDIA ........................................................................ 35 2.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER 3 CITIZENS’ RADIO INCIDENT .......................................................................................... 42 3.1 NATURE OF THE CITIZENS’ RADIO INCIDENT .............................................................................. 42 3.1.1 Illegality, publicness and conscientiousness/specified purposes ....................................... 43 3.1.2 Nonviolence ....................................................................................................................... 48 3.2 WHY DID THE CITIZENS’ RADIO INCIDENT EMERGE?.................................................................. 56 3.2.1 Institutional deficits ........................................................................................................... 56 3.2.2 Stronger constitutional ground .......................................................................................... 59 3.2.3 The Emergence of Delegitimizing Event ............................................................................ 62 3.2.4 Cleavage within the Democratic Party .............................................................................. 63 3.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER 4 ANTI-PUBLIC ORDER ORDINANCE (POO) DEMONSTRATIONS ....................................... 69 4.1 MINIMALIST CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: 1979 YAU MA TEI BOAT-PEOPLE INCIDENT ....................... 69 4.1.1 Origin: Why had it been “an incident”? ........................................................................... 70 4.1.2 Why is it a “minimalist civil disobedience”?..................................................................... 74 4.2 WHY DID CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE SELDOM/NEVER EMERGE IN THE EARLY-/MID-1980S? ................ 79 4.2.1 Opening of political system................................................................................................ 80 4.2.2 Issue of the Handover ........................................................................................................ 84 4.2.3 Absence of sufficient condition .......................................................................................... 84 4.2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 85 4.3 POST-1989 PROTESTS AGAINST PRC’S CRACKDOWN ON DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT ................... 86 4.3.1 A lesson from Mainland China .......................................................................................... 86 4.3.2 Government suddenly reemployed the law ........................................................................ 88 4.3.3. Factors affecting significance ........................................................................................... 94 4.4 REVITALIZING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: 2000 ANTI-PUBLIC ORDER ORDINANCE DEMONSTRATIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 96 i 4.4.1 A Calculated Response: “we have never planned to do so”............................................ 103 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 109 CHAPTER 5 IMPLICATION ............................................................................................................. 114 5.1 REVISION OF HYPOTHESIS ........................................................................................................ 114 5.2 THE EXISTENCE OF (QUASI-) CIVIL SOCIETY IN HONG KONG .................................................... 118 5.3 INSTITUTIONAL DEFICIT ........................................................................................................... 122 5.4 STRONGER CONSTITUTIONAL GROUND