While we dwell in our ‘Exeter bubble’, our hungover ‘duvet-burrito’ or bury ourselves in books, it is undeniably easy to forget about what is going on in the ‘outside world’ when you’re a student.
It would, however, be difficult not to have the faintest idea about what CNN describes as Hong Kong’s “political earthquake”. Especially as last Thursday (2nd October), Exeter University hosted its very own peaceful sit-down rally, organised by Exeter Solidarity for Hong Kong, in order to express their support for the protests. ITV SouthWest and Exeter newspaper Express & Echo captured the successful protest, with students wearing yellow ribbons (a symbol of their democratic aspirations) and holding posters, banners and umbrellas. The umbrella has become the defining symbol of the demonstration as it was used to shield protesters from the tear gas and pepper spray deployed by police and symbolises passive resistance. It has also given the movement its name, ‘The Umbrella Revolution’. Protesters are providing umbrellas in bulk and distributing them for free, sleeping under their shelters and writing slogans on them.
The preceding day, (Wednesday 1st October), 3000 demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in London in order to show support for Hong Kong citizens and demonstrators. Members of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, “Umbrella Revolution” are protesting in response to the senior Chinese leadership who have restricted the voting rights of the citizens of Hong Kong by limiting the number of candidates who will run for chief executive (the leader of Hong Kong) in the 2017 election. Citizens will only be able to choose from two or three pre-approved candidates, nominated by a committee comprised of members in which the majority are loyal to China.
This contradicts Hong-Kong’s mini-constitution stating that the “ultimate aim” is to elect the chief executive by “universal suffrage”. In addition, the citizens of Hong Kong, a former British colony returned to China in 1997, were promised that they would be entitled to a democratic voting system. Protestors believe that China has, therefore, reneged on its promise to grant democracy to citizens of Hong Kong.
On 22nd September, student groups began a week-long boycott with more than 13,000 students taking part on the first day. On the 28th September, Occupy Central, a‘civil disobedience’ movement, joined forces with the student protests and took over central Hong Kong. Since then, demonstrators have essentially brought the city to a standstill, camping on roads around government buildings for several days.
Additionally, thousands of protesters have blocked a major road in the city. Security forces have used tear gas, pepper spray and detained dozens of demonstrators in order to deter the protestors. Conversely, this has, in fact, had the opposite effect, encouraging sympathising fellow citizens to join the protests instead. Furthermore, the demonstrators have received many donations of water, food and medical supplies highlighting the vast support that they are receiving.
China’s state media have denounced the protests, with China’s foreign Minister deeming them “illegal”. The Chinese government is further taking clear steps to limit information about events in Hong Kong by censoring internet search terms and forum discussions. Instagram has been blocked and the Chinese equivalent to Twitter has blocked people micro-blogging about the protests. Astonishingly, 20 people have been detained for expressing their views online. Social media has played a pivotal role in supporting, organising and spreading awareness about the demonstration. There have been over 1 million tweets about the protests with thousands of users tweeting #occupycentral #occupyHK and #yellowribbon. Joshua Wong, a teenage protest leader, encouraged supporters of the demonstration to download the app Firechat enabling users to communicate without internet access or cellular signal, instead using Bluetooth. Since then, the app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
A democratic voting system enables citizen’s views to influence the government’s legislation and decisions in order to maintain a fair and free society in which human rights are protected. China supposedly granting everyone in Hong Kong the right to vote, yet controlling whom they may vote for, is not “universal suffrage”. I commend the strength and resistance of the peaceful, inspiring demonstrators in Hong Kong, the majority of whom constitute the future generation who will ultimately contribute towards and even run Hong Kong, I hope that Hong Kong will soon achieve universal suffrage, which its mini-constitution has always upheld.
Image Credits: Pakistan Today, IB Times