Three months ago, on the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, I climbed some 500 metres to the top of Hong Kong’s Lion Rock. Made famous by a song from the 1970s, it embodies what locals call the “Lion Rock spirit” – a tendency for Hongkongers to persevere through hardship for a brighter future. It had seemed fitting, to scale the summit on a date that marked such sacrifice for political change.
I remember that moment clearly because I remember looking down at the city and thinking how insignificant it seemed. How unstable. Above all, I remember being struck by a sense of helplessness and defeat surrounding its future. A slap in the face of this so-called spirit.
Since the failure of the 2014 Occupy protests to bring about democratic changes at the legislative level, Hong Kong has become a city of extremes. On one end, there is pervasive fatigue. Turnout for the annual democracy protests, among others, dropped. On the other, radicalism: rising qualms over police brutality and protesters advocating violence, as well as calls for independence from mainland China.
New Legco street fighters will give the Hong Kong government a hard time
Hong Kong has also suffered intrusions on its civil rights such as the disappearance of those who sell politically sensitive books and the censorship of issues like independence. Such events have created rifts not only in our legislative system, but also the fabric of our community, tearing generations apart. In short, we’ve been through a lot. Which is what made this week so surprising.
