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Occupy Central and… What’s Next…?

Yesterday night, the Occupy Central community organized a music festival to greet the eviction order handed to them by the High Court. Lots of youngsters vented their emotions via loud music.

Youngsters enjoy in the music festival.

At 10-month, it may be one of the longest continuously running Occupy movements in the world. Many others had been put to stop, gone into hibernation from time to time, or become protests that are being held at regular intervals instead.

The community members had vowed to stay, and the landlord had made clear that they’d not evict them from the public passageway, at least until a latter time.

Regardless, the movement seems to be running out of steam.

People pass by the campsite.

An act of civil disobedience, in my opinions, needs to be interfering with the public order, in other words, causes troubles for non-participants, in particular those in power, to get its message across. [*] Granted, they’re still occupying a section under the HSBC building, but I’m not sure if people are still paying much attention to them, except for the eviction order and the eventual act of eviction itself.

Besides, it’s been 10-month since the movement started, another question arises, if it’s indeed coming to an end—was it successful in getting its message across the public? Or, what was the message?

Photo exhibition at the campsite.

With the Lehman victims getting back part or most of their savings, have the Hong Kong people forgotten what started the global Occupy movement? Are we satisfied with the changes? Have we had adequate reflection and discussions on the laissez-faire style, both as individuals and as a society? Are we to continue on the neoliberalism pathway?

The question remains, what’s next for the 99%…?

Note: Although, technically, they might not have interfered with the public order until the arrival of the deadline of the eviction order, since it’s a public space after all, but it’s nonetheless seen as one.

Also available in Chinese on inmediahk.net.

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My Rohingya

Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Coalition for a Free Burma co-organized a film screening of a documentary named My Rohingya at Kowloon Union Church yesterday evening.

The documentary was produced by a female reporter (Thananuch Sanguansak) from Thailand and focuses on the Rohingya people, practically a “stateless” people living primarily in Burma/Myanmar, and also in nearby countries like Thailand and Bangladesh.

The hour-long video is also available on YouTube, but the version shown last night was provided by the local UNHCR office and came with Chinese subtitles.

What drew me to the event was the repeated mentioning of the recent atrocities being done unto the Rohingya people, which are largely ignored by the mainstream media, by a few friends.

According to a quick search on Ming Pao, it’s been reported exactly once (twice if a very short quote is to be counted), on 12-Jun, in the past 3 months. In contrast, a search on “Syria” yielded 73 results, “Iran”, 80 results, even (Aung San) “Suu Kyi” produced 25 results.

Also, I’d like to take it as a measurement, in general, of the Hong Kong people’s concern for human rights issue and international matters. There were more than 50 people, about half of them were internationals and a few of them were Burmese. According to the hostess, the attendance was larger than usual for an event like this, that’s, not a protest.

The film painted a grim picture for the Rohingya people—they’re not recognized as citizens by any of the governments, and few, if any, NGO are able to help them.

Perhaps one can imagine what follows, as a minority group in a country not renowned for its human rights history.

With the recent election and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, one would expect the situations in Burma/Myanmar improve. But it’s definitely marred by this ongoing sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims. According to official figures, 78 people have died and 70,000 displaced, while Human Rights Watch considered them to be grossly underestimated.

There was a discussion/Q&A following the film, of which several Burmese participated. One of them expressed that she didn’t even know the Rohingya before seeing this documentary, but those who spoke could attest that minority groups were systematically discriminated and denied citizenship by the state.

While having citizenship does not automatically guarantee one’s rights will be fully respected (just ask the Palestinians living in Israel proper), residing in a country where one’s born but without citizenship (or even refugee status) is probably something that stretches the imagination of many people.

The topic of the border issue arose from the raise of nation-states in the past century was also touched upon. It may sound strange to some, but the borders in many parts of the world are not as clear cut as denoted on the map.

A candlelight vigil will also be held in Tsim Sha Tsui tonight, in part to commemorate the 8888 uprising.