People are risking everything to be out on the streets. This is not the Hong Kong I remember. Arrested protesters snatched back from the police’s very hands by other protesters who didn’t exactly accomplish the task by pleading. Young people leaving for demonstrations fully geared up with homemade wooden shields, spray-paint cans in backpacks, ready to dig up the paved streets to hurl a few bricks.
This was not bringing change.įast-forward 10 years: Google “Hong Kong protests”, and what do we see? A city on fire. Year after year, we yelled a few chants and marched for a few hours, until we reached the pre-programmed destination, where we patted ourselves on the back for our fierce fight for change before returning home to our comfortable air-conditioned apartments. These rallies had become more of a dead routine than a real fight for freedom. My young self, on the other hand, was engulfed by a crushing sense of frustration as I watched complacent faces telling themselves that simply repeating this pre-set annual route for the Xth time was a good enough attempt to convince the Chinese officials (of all people!) to give Hong Kong genuine autonomy. Whenever another annual mass protest occurred on July 1, the people of Hong Kong were congratulated on their persistent efforts to fight for freedom by the international and local media alike. “The world needs to change – it needs to change right now, and it’s up to us to change it” was my vision of life shaped by the overwhelming feeling of urgency that haunted me all through my early twenties.
#80s photo police real life free#
2020 Vision: From the post-80s movement to 'Be Water,' Hongkongers' eyes are now wide open - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP Close
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