Freedom Summer (自由之夏)

What is happening in Hong Kong?  There is the obvious.   Millions of people are upset enough with the government’s extradition bill that they march in the streets peacefully multiple times. In the ensuring months, police brutality has come to the front, perhaps superseding the issue of extradition to Mainland China. Thousands of people are determined enough to block streets, encircle police stations, block MTR stations and the airport. Many are feeling that the lack of democracy and open elections is the root cause of the police arrogance and government intransigence. Hundreds, perhaps, are so angry and desperate they throw stones and fir bombs. 

According to Prof. Chow Po-chung 周保松, the core issue is our quest for freedom - political freedom to be more precise.  I found myself agreeing with a lot of the things he said.  In fact, he is able to articulate a lot more clearly some of the things I have been feeling and thinking about.   He made 3 major observations, which I will try to summarise. 

1. Hong Kong people have been defending many important freedoms: of the person, of our property, to march and protest, to participate in politics, …, and from arbitrary arrest.  We are striving for a freedom that we do not have yet: the freedom to participate in politics.  Many people in business equate democracy with the rule of the mob, with massive welfare, with lost of business freedom, with the end of Hong Kong as a thriving city.  But political freedom is fundamental to all other freedoms, when politics is defined as the public affairs that affect the life of every person and all aspects of the life of a person.  Without the freedom to participate in public affairs that affect my life, I am not complete as a person.   
2. The term “HongKonger” is everywhere as in “香港人加油”.  It encompasses many aspects.  A large part of it is the sense of bitterness against oppression from outside - from the north, from the establishment with overwhelming and suffocating power.  It is also a sense of shared identify, based on shared values - a love of freedom  
3. Participation is so wide spread, not just in numbers, but also from so many different sectors of society.  It seems everyone feels they have a stake in the movement.  In the past, many people feel their role in society is restricted to their professional group: medicine, air transportation, information technology, finance, etc. Now they feel they are full members of society with a full range of rights and responsibilities.  This is an awakening that is unprecedented, beyond even what happened during Occupy Central in 2014.  This kind of awareness and thirst for political freedom will have far reaching consequences.  In the short run, the prospects are not optimistic given the stance of the national government.  But in the long run, the prospects are much more optimistic.  

I cannot guarantee that what I write here is exactly what he meant.  Because some of my feelings and opinions are likely to have seeped into the post.  On the other hand, his talk is so rich both in concrete observations about current events as well as conceptual foundations that I can only cover the main points around the concept of freedom.  I may cover other interesting points in future posts. 

Finally, I have read Prof. Chow’s writings but this is the first time I heard him speak in person.  He is able to make abstract concepts rather vivid. I can see why he is such a popular teacher.