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.
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.
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?
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.