Service-Learning in Laos?

I have escaped to Laos from Hong Kong.  To be accurate, I am in Laos with two other colleagues and a friend, to explore opportunities for service-learning projects.  Today we are on the Bolaven Plateau to the east of Parkse, visiting a family of coffee farmers.  The elevation here is about 1,200 meters, the weather is warm with plenty of rain - said to be suitable for growing coffee.  A lot of people do make their living growing and selling coffee beans.

The quality of the beans, however, is not very high.  Laos is a land-locked country, with poor roads and no national railroad system - making transportation of the coffee expensive.  There is also no systematic regulation of the market for coffee beans.  Hence the farmers receive little money for their crops.  

The family of farmers that we visit today has 5 children. They live in a simple house with few furnishings.  They cook by burning wood in an open fire.   

They do have a flock of chicken and a big fat pig with a litter of piglets.  

The eldest son has only completed primary school and is helping out on the farm.  The rest of the children seem to be still in school.  A little girl, perhaps 6 years old, and her elder brother showed us the different types of coffee beans being grown on their property.  She is very friendly and playful.  Will she be able to acquire a proper education and fulfil her potential as a normal human being?  Much depends on her family’s coffee business. 

Our friend, S, is building a coffee processing factory and other coffee-themed businesses on the Bolaven Plateau.  He is trying to help the farmers improve the way they grow and process the coffee beans so that they can make more money.  

We are trying to figure out what we can do to help.  One possibility is to help them develop local tourism.  There are some beautiful natural scenery such as waterfalls and unspoiled forests in the area.  The local cuisine, based on natural ingredients, is also very good.  We may start with these elements.   

In a couple of days, we will be back in the cauldron that is Hong Kong.  Being in Laos reminds us that the world is so much bigger than Hong Kong.  And there are a lot more issues beyond the conflicts that we face in Hong Kong. It helps us to put things in proper perspective.  There are a lot of people in the world facing very urgent and severe challenges.  There are also many ways for us to lead meaningful lives.  It is up to us what to do with our lives.  

If God is willing, we will be back in Laos sometime. 

Surprise Us

Fire bombing, destroying MTR stations, burning things, … These destructive methods are not ways to create something of value. It is often said that breaking into the Legislative Council on July 1 stopped the proposed Extradition Bill, while multiple million people marches didn’t.  Yet it worked probably because it was a surprise.  Everyone, including the government and the police, were used to dealing with massive peaceful marches, and was not expecting a breaking-in at the Legislative Council.  It disrupted normal modes of thinking and the establishment have to change tactics.  

Now the violence and destruction have been going on for months.  The government has worked out a routine and they feel comfortable dealing with that.  In fact, by focusing on the violence, they are making some headway with the citizens on the street, who have to go to work, who have businesses to run, who have to do business with Beijing, who have to travel, who have to making a living, who want to continue with their normal lives.  

This is the time to change tactics again.  To return to peaceful but creative means.  To form impressive human chains, to create evocative songs, to use art to expressive feelings and demands, to call for attention to return to the issues.  When the establishment cannot point to violence from the protesters, the focus will return to the issues, to the excessive brutality of the police, to the institutional violence from the establishment. 

On the other hand, it is also time for the police to surprise us.  To show that you can stop beating people after they have stopped resisting, to stop obstructing the press, to stop use your power to harass peaceful protesters and bystanders, to control your emotions even under provocation.   When you do that, the extremists cannot use your brutality to justify their violence.  The neutrals will respect you.  You can then start to rebuild your image as a force for law and order, for good - rather than simply a tool of repression. 

The government, of course, can surprise us by making genuine attempts to move forward.  Bring in people who are genuinely independent and more objective, rather than obvious cronies.  It may be difficult to be perfectly neutral these days.  But there are still people who are perceived to be relatively objective.  It is often said that a general pardon violates the rule of law.  But in the early days of the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption), the then governor announced a general pardon of cases of corruption that occurred before 1977.  It was generally consider a brilliant move, removing a great obstacle so that the ICAC can move forward.  

Now that the violence has become routine on both sides, it is time to surprise us and each other.  Stop the violence and show some creativity.  

It is also the right thing to do. 

Perhaps both can be right?

P1: Freedom is a fundamental human right. Without democracy we cannot have real freedom. We should all have equal political rights in open elections.  Without democracy the government does not have legitimacy.  The government can and will abuse its power.  P2: Peaceful tactics have been proven not to work.  We must resort to extreme, even violent, methods now.  P1 represents a group who share a set of beliefs (similar to liberals).  P2 is a subset of P1 who are adopting a set of violent actions to pursue their beliefs. 

E1: Order is most important. People must respect established authority. Children must respect their parents.  Students must respect their teachers.  Citizens must respect the police and the government. Freedom and democracy are also important but order is the foundation.  E2: You must never use violent action even when you are fighting for freedom and democracy.  We must use greater force to suppress violent actions before we can talk about democracy.  E1 represents another group who share another set of beliefs (similar to conservatives).  E2 is a subset of E1 who are adopting a set of violent actions to pursue their beliefs. 

Let us ignore, for the moment, those selfish bastards who are only interested in preserving their own power.  Let us also put aside, for the moment P2 and E2 who are adopting violent tactics.  Let us just examine the beliefs of P1 and E1.  

Who is right?   If one side is right then the other side must be wrong?  Is there only one possible right side?  Is it possible there is actually a significant amount of shared values between P1 and E1?   Is it possible that the difference between the two may be more of a degree of importance each side puts on a shared set of values, rather than having fundamentally opposing values?

Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Righteous Mind - Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion” proposes that morality can be classified into a number of major dimensions.   All moral people believe that (1) care (for people) is good, (causing) harm (to people) is bad; (2) liberty is good, oppression is bad; (3) fairness is good, cheating is bad; (4) loyalty is good, betrayal is bad; (5) (respect for) authority is good, subversion is bad; (6) (respect for) sanctity is good, degradation is bad.   

Every moral person believes in these values.  Except selfish bastards.  But we agree to put them aside for the moment.  The major difference among major groups of people is a matter of emphasis among these major values.   

Liberals, in general, stress more on care, liberty and fairness.  

Conservatives, on the other hand, stress more on loyalty, authority and sanctity. 

Fundamentally, both sides believe in the same things.  Each group, however, places different emphasis on some of these values.   Hence the two groups P1 and E1 may be closer to each other than it appears - assuming that we can take violence out of the picture.  

Can we please put the violence aside so that we can work on the common ground? Instead of fighting each other to death?  

Is there Still Hope for Hong Kong?

Many people are considering moving away from Hong Kong.  USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, etc.  They are losing hope.  Can we blame them?

Perhaps not.  Millions of people march on the streets multiple times against the acts of the government.  In most other countries that would have been enough to topple the government.  Not so in Hong Kong.  They are not elected by the people and feel no obligation to listen to the people.  

A significant number of young people are so desperate that they feel forceful, violent action is the only way to fight, that if they lose this battle then Hong Kong is doomed.  I do not believe this is the final battle.  If we lose this one, there will still be other opportunities.  On the other hand, even if we win this one, there will also be other battles to come.  The fight for freedom is a long one.  But it is hard to talk with the protesters now.

The police is getting more and more brutal, more and more reckless, more and more biased, behaving more and more like the tools of a dictatorship rather than that of a civil society.  They are a classic case of the evil side of human beings running amok when effective restraint is removed.  That happens when the government is afraid to discipline the police when the police misbehaves.  

The government is afraid to discipline the police because the government has lost all moral authority.  The only power that remains in the hands of the government is the naked force of the police.  This is really sad because it does not have to be like this.  There have been many opportunities for the government to savage the situation.  Every time the government come back more intransigent.  

The situation is so depressing.  

However, despite all this, I still believe there is hope.  I believe the overwhelming majority of the people in Hong Kong do not want the violence.  The millions of marchers, like me, would prefer to lose (this round) in peace, rather than to win by violence.  We are determined to keep fighting no-violently. Because even if we win (by force), we end up losing. Because we then become like the enemy - relying on force rather than reason, making use of the ugly side of our nature rather than the good side.  Even if we lose this round in peace, we will have awakened a whole generation of young people to the possibility of fighting for political freedom, and they will continue the fight.  Eventually non-violent but determined and persistent action will win.  I hope those who feel violence is the only way to fight will come to accept that.  It is difficult.  But I believe it is the only way to fight for long term gain. 

I also believe it is still possible that the government and the police will come to their senses.  They may think they can suppress this round of uprising by beating up thousands of people and putting hundreds and thousands in prison.  But they will end up having to govern a population who hates them, who will not cooperate with them in all matters of life.  Hong Kong will become a police state.  The government will come to regret that.  Once the genie is out of the bottle it will be difficult to put it back. Their conscience will also haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Ultimately, I have hope because that is the only way to keep living.  Because I believe decency and justice and, ultimately, love does exist in this world, inside all of us.  Anger and hatred may smother love among some of the protesters for now.  Fear and hatred may smother love among the police and the government for now.   I have hope that, in time, both sides will come to their senses and realise that hatred will lead to a miserable world for everyone.  Peace is what all of us want in the end, and love is the only way to get there.  God help us.  

Human Chains

Students from the Polytechnic University participated in forming human chains all over Hong Kong on Monday, in the current protest movement.  

This one started from the fountain at the main entrance to the university.  Up the podium to the quadrangle in front of the library. 

Pass the Democracy Wall. 

Over the foot bridge to the MTR Hung Hom station. 

Through a tunnel to the Hung Hom side of the MTR station. 

Over a longer foot bridge leading towards Hung Hom.

Looking bright in the darkness of the evening. 

Over another walkway leading to the Hung Hom residence hall. 

Like the many other human chains, it is an impressive sight.  There are so many young people, sweating in the hot, humid evening, chanting, singing, encouraging each other.  So determined and passionate.  So peaceful and organized.  Yet also so fluid and innovative.  

Stay away from the violence, and the future is yours. 

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.  

Service-Learning - New Season

A new academic year has just started.  And so has a new season for service-learning.  We kick off with a Showcase of the Student Network.  

This year we showcase 6 projects that are organised by the students. These are not credit-bearing subjects; but projects that are either spurned off service-learning subjects, or are otherwise organised by students themselves. 

On of them is Heartfire.  They have been organising volunteer teaching projects in various far away places in Mainland China for many years now.  It is particularly popular among students from Mainland China.  They have been particularly successful in retaining graduates and building an organization.  

Another team focuses on helping handicapped children and young people in Yunnan province.  One young man in a wheelchair was stuck in his home because of a small step at the front door.  The team built a ramp so that be can get out.  The team also designed many other equipment and procedures for him so that we can gradually rebuild his strength and mobility.  The stories are very touching 

The Tech4D team was spurned off our service-learning subject that went to Cambodia.  As the name hints at, this team aims to use technology to enhance development in under-privileged communities.  They have installed solar panels, built learning centers, designed STEM learning tools, and many other innovative solutions.  They have also been able to engage graduates.  

There are several other exciting projects.  Come and have a look.  

This is also a recruitment drive.  Every years some students graduate and others may not be able to continue.  We need new blood to help these projects to continue to develop.  Come and have a look, and join something challenging, exciting and meaningful.