Charmaine Carvalho

Opinion | As India finds, and Hong Kong’s protesters should learn, the good fight is fought over an inclusive moral vision

While Indians are standing up to their democratically elected government’s corruption of their nation’s founding vision, Hongkongers, too, should spell out their moral principles beyond a pursuit of the vote, especially in light of the chauvinism evident in the movement

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Two protesters join hands to form a human chain with others, during a rally in Tai Po, Hong Kong, last September. The Cantonese-centred localism that has fuelled Hong Kong’s anti-government protests since the 2014 “umbrella movement” targets mainland Chinese and does not address other minorities. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Charmaine Carvalho

Published: 9:00am, 8 Jan 2020Updated: 9:03am, 8 Jan 2020

When I flew from Hong Kong to India over Christmas, I found myself in another society experiencing large-scale protests. The similarities between the anti-government movements in both places are striking.

The unrest in both was sparked by a controversial law related to the movement of people across borders: in Hong Kong, the extradition bill, which would allow the transfer of prisoners to mainland China; in India, the Citizenship Amendment Act that offers citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists – but not Muslims – fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

In both cases, police treatment of protesters fuelled public outrage. In Hong Kong, the police dispersed protesters trying to stop the second reading of the extradition bill in the Legislative Council by deploying tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds, and making mass arrests.

In India, the police storming of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, where they fired tear gas and beat students, including in the library and a mosque, sparked a national outcry and mobilised the usually apathetic upper middle class.

In both places, some protesters had thrown objects at the police, which the police say justified their use of force. In response, protesters in Hong Kong and India have demanded an inquiry into police conduct.