Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
Islamic State 37
Inside al-Hawl, Syria’s
vast camp from hell
Page 41Driven out
Prague’s faux vintage
cars taken off streets
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“Never in Hong Kong history
have you had people supporting a
political demand like that ,” he said.
Wong said that while low wages
and cramped housing had played a
part in fomenting discontent, they
were not driving the protests, with
many professionals and wealthier
people taking part, too. “Everyone
knows Hong Kong people are just
asking for fundamental rights .”
Wong was a student leader
who became the face of the 2014
movement and co-founded
Demosist ō. This time the protests
are leaderless and he is just one face
among many. Participants make
their own decisions on the streets or
via online voting.
But arresting him and Chow,
another leading fi gure in Demosist ō,
is a gamble. Many of the previous
attempts to turn up the pressure
have created further anger, and
sustained mass participation.
“Mistakes by the police and Hong
Kong government encourage people
to continue this movement,” he said.
Protest ers are under no illusions
about the likelihood of retaliation
once the movement is over, given
what happened after 2014.
Wong said: “One country, two
systems [China’s formula for
ruling Hong Kong ] was eroded
[systematically] after the umbrella
movement: there were jailings,
the disqualifi cation of legislative
council members, the booksellers
were kidnapped, a foreign
correspondent’s visa was not
renewed ... If we don’t continue, the
crackdown will be far worse .”
Many believe authorities will
crack down far more harshly if
there is no sign of the movement
dwindling. Mainland media have
shown paramilitary police drills
near the border with Hong Kong
and there is growing talk that the
government might invoke the
emergency regulations ordinance,
a colonial-era law giving sweeping
powers to the chief executive on
everything from censorship to arrest
and property seizures.
“I can’t imagine what would be
the outcome ,” Wong said. “ Of course
they’re trying to scare people. But
I think it also scares the world.
World leaders may not care about
the extradition bill or whether Hong
Kong people have the right to vote.
But the idea of troops in the CBD
[central business district] – that’s
what they worry about.
He said he believed that
international opinion was shifting,
citing the recent joint statement
from the G7 on Hong Kong, remarks
from the UK’s foreign aff airs select
committee and growing political
support among US politicians.
“People ask, how can we succeed?
Someone told me the state would
win. They’ve won for the last 22
years [since the handover] already.
We have nothing to lose.”Analysis
Ilaria Maria SalaUnable to conceive of
a leaderless movement,
China has been left
searching for an enemy
A
s Hong Kongers digested the news that
Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Andy
Chan Ho-tin had been detained, one fact
stood out: none have played a high-profi le
role in the current political strife. In fact,
the protest movement is purposefully
leaderless, and has assumed as one of its recognisable
slogans Bruce Lee’s motto of “being water”: adaptable
and mobile.
Commentators have been trying to fi nd a good label to
give to the protests: umbrellas play a less important role
than they did in 2014, even if they are still visible as a
protective tool against tear gas, unwelcome photographs
or security cameras. Some have tried to name this the
Hard Hat revolution, given the violence on the ground.
In 2016, a group of activists battled with the
authorities to stop them evicting unlicensed street
food sellers during Chinese new year, in what became
known as the Fishball revolution. Its leader was Edward
Leung, now 27 and serving a six-year prison sentence.
The founder of the group Hong Kong Indigenous, his
political awakening resulted from his fear that the local
way of life was being eroded by the
desire to integrate Hong Kong ever
more into China. Leung has given
the current movement its most
enduring slogan: “Reclaim Hong
Kong, Revolution of Our Time.”
Looking back through the 22
years since the handover to China,
a recurrent theme of dis content
has been the lack of channels
of meaningful communication
between the government and the
governed.
Authorities in Hong Kong
and in Beijing either don’t understand or don’t care
that their chosen interlocutors – a motley crew of
billionaires and pro-Beijing loyalists – are seen as
wildly unrepresentative of ordinary Hong Kongers. The
executive council is appointed by the chief executive,
elected by 1,200 people chosen out of the territory’s
7.5 million citizens. In 2017 Carrie Lam got just 777 of
those votes. Since 1997, every Hong Kong administration
has refused to engage in any signifi cant way with
the pro-democracy camp, in spite of how vastly
representative it is. Lam has been no diff erent.
In recent days there has been an increase in sabre
rattling from China , which has been putting its
military power on display near the border. An armed
intervention still seems very unlikely, but instilling the
fear of it is seen as a useful strategy. The detentions
overnight on Thursday off er a clue to Beijing’s thinking.
Ever since Beijing has had to admit it cannot control
the information fl ooding out of Hong Kong, it has
reshaped the events into a narrative it could spin: a small
group of “black hands” acting behind the scenes and
with international support has tried to sow discord into
Hong Kong. The “black hand” is an old Soviet trope still
shaping the Chinese Communist party’s worldview.
This view cannot conceive of a leaderless movement:
there have to be saboteurs behind it, whether
undermining China’s fi ve-year plan, or inciting the
disaff ected to ask for a responsive government.There has been a
rise in sabre-rattling.
Instilling the fear of an
armed intervention is
increasingly seen as a
useful strateg yHigh-profi le campaigners
Joshua Wong The 22-year-old was a student leader
during the 2014 pro-democracy protests that
paralysed parts of Hong Kong for 70 days, in what
came to be known as the “umbrella movement”. He
was released from jail in June after a serving a two-
month sentence in relation to those protests.Agnes Chow Another student leader from 2014,
the 22-year-old belongs to Wong’s Demosistō
organisation. She was blocked from standing in a
Hong Kong legislative council byelection last year
because of the party’s pro-democracy stance. Chow
had renounced her UK citizenship to run for offi ce.Andy Chan The head of the Hong Kong National
party addressed the city’s Foreign Correspondents’
Club in August last year, calling for independence
from mainland China. The next month his party
was banned and labelled a national security threat.
Chan, 28, withd rew from public appearances. A demonstrator is arrested by police
on Thursday in Sham Shui Po, a low-
income residential area of Hong Kong
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