Hong Kong (Continuación)

MundoAsia, ,

The dramatic opening of the Occupy Central movement five weeks ago, complete with liberal use of batons, pepper spray and tear gas by the police against unarmed students, triggered a surge of support for the young pro-democracy protesters. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of demonstrators still occupy several of the city’s main traffic arteries, camping out in neat lines of colorful tents.

That police brutality unexpectedly heralded the amazing rise of a new socio-political force. Already dubbed the Occupy Central Generation, its members, drawn from the cohorts born during and since the 1980s, are mostly students and young workers, many of them professionals.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Tuesday night marked one month since the day Hong Kong’s police attacked peaceful pro-democracy protesters with tear gas and pepper spray, inadvertently inspiring thousands more people to occupy the streets for the right to freely elect Hong Kong’s leaders.

I was being detained by the police on that day, Sept. 28, for having participated in a student-led act of civil disobedience in front of the government’s headquarters. I was held for 46 hours, cut off from the outside world. When I was released, I was deeply touched to see thousands of people in the streets, rallying for democracy. I knew then that the city had changed forever.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

El movimiento democrático en Hong Kong ha ganado admiración en todo el mundo. Los principios, la decencia y la conducta de su vanguardia joven inspiran confianza en las cualidades de una generación que algún día gobernará la gran ciudad. Dicho eso, ya es hora de avanzar con inteligencia hacia la etapa final.

Mientras más tiempo dure el punto muerto entre el jefe ejecutivo de Hong Kong y los manifestantes, más daño sufrirán Hong Kong y sus ciudadanos. El gobierno hongkonese debería de mostrar un poco de sentido de Estado, que con seguridad correspondería la llamada “revolución de los paraguas” (Umbrella movement), que ahora tiene la ventaja moral y no desea perder el apoyo del público.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hong Kong’s Pop Culture of Protest

MundoAsia, ,

In the first few days of the pro-democracy protest here, haughty newspaper editorials branded the demonstrators as naïve dreamers. The students responded by daubing a quote from John Lennon’s “Imagine” over various parts of the main sit-in site in the Admiralty neighborhood: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

The line turned out to be prophetic: The protesters’ ranks soon swelled so much that journalists stopped trying to estimate the numbers. The choice of a Western pop song was also defining. Hong Kong is an international city, and ever since the former British colony was swallowed up by China in 1997, its residents have expected to live by global, not Chinese, standards.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

The events in Hong Kong in the last two weeks or so have been surprising in at least two respects.

The first is the sight of tens of thousands of people, mostly youths, blocking traffic in the central business district of a city of 7.2 million people with full employment, healthy economic growth and good public services. The second is the absence of shooting or vandalism, and the very small number of injuries and arrests, after more than two weeks of street protests — albeit with some pushing and scuffling, and even the use of pepper spray and tear gas at the worst point.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

The world has been watching events unfold in Hong Kong in recent weeks, after tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets to occupy key locations in the heart of this financial hub.

Much of the international reaction has been supportive of the protesters' aims. Foreign governments, meanwhile, have been working out what to say publicly.

They should comment. Hong Kong is a global city, whose political development has wider implications, not least for international economic and commercial interests in Asia and beyond.

But comments by some politicians and media commentators in recent weeks demonstrated a worrying lack of understanding of the relevant historical agreements and Hong Kong's status as a Chinese territory -- albeit with significant autonomy.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Hongkong est l'une des rares ex-colonies qui, plutôt que d'accéder à l'indépendance, a simplement changé de tuteur. Depuis la rétrocession à la Chine en 1997, les Hongkongais se sont battus pour préserver la liberté démocratique. Leur souhait est de voir l'élection du chef de l'exécutif et du Conseil législatif suivre un processus libre et ouvert. Cependant, Pékin choisit d'ignorer leur demande.

En juin dernier, plus de 500 000 Hongkongais ont participé à un référendum civil pour demander à ce que le Conseil législatif puisse opposer un veto à toute réforme électorale. Une semaine plus tard, pendant la marche pour l'anniversaire de la rétrocession, le 1er Juillet, un demi-million de Hongkongais sont allés dans la rue pour montrer leur détermination.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Rares sont ceux qui ont cru que le mouvement « Occupy Central » allait prendre la forme qu’il a prise. Encore plus rares sont ceux qui auraient pu croire que le mouvement allait se transformer en « révolution des parapluies ».

En juin 2013, le professeur Tai Yiu-ting a conçu le projet d’« Occupy Central ». A partir du 27 mars 2014, il s’est transformé en une « déclaration d’intention ». Le plan correspondant au slogan « Que l’amour et la paix occupent le Centre » est resté en gestation pendant dix-huit mois. Il a donc été mûrement réfléchi ! La population a proposé des référendums populaires et a attendu une réaction de la part du gouvernement.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

At 76 years old, I never expected to be tear-gassed in Hong Kong, my once peaceful home. Like many of the other tens of thousands of calm and nonviolent protesters in the Hong Kong streets last Sunday, I was shocked when the pro-democracy crowd was met by throngs of police officers in full riot gear, carrying weapons and wantonly firing canisters of tear gas. After urging the crowd to remain calm under provocation, I got hit by a cloud of the burning fumes.

The protesters persevered. They ran away when gassed, washed their faces and returned with raised hands. But the police continued to escalate the crisis.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Decenas de miles de personas han estado “ocupando” las calles, llenas de gases lacrimógenos, del distrito Central de Hong Kong para luchar por sus derechos democráticos. Muchas más pueden unírseles. Aunque algunos hombres de negocios y banqueros están molestos por esa perturbación, los manifestantes tienen razón en protestar.

El Gobierno de China ha prometido a los ciudadanos de Hong Kong que podrán elegir libremente a su Jefe Ejecutivo en 2017, pero, como los candidatos van a ser examinados cuidadosamente por un comité cuyos miembros no serán elegidos democráticamente, sino nombrados por ser prochinos, los ciudadanos no tendrían posibilidad alguna de elegir de verdad.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

No es del todo cierto que los ojos del mundo entero están puestos en Hong Kong. Lo estarían, desde luego, si se permitiera a la población de la China continental conocer lo que está pasando en la ciudad de mayor éxito de su país, pero el Gobierno de China ha intentado impedir que todas las noticias sobre las manifestaciones pro democracia de Hong Kong lleguen al resto del país, lo que no constituye precisamente una señal de confianza por parte de los gobernantes de China en su sistema de gobierno autoritario.

Antes de proponer a las torpes autoridades de Hong Kong una vía por la que avanzar, tres cosas deben quedar claras.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘17 years after the handover the sense of betrayal is strong; it is the desire to regain their dignity that has driven them on to the streets.’ Illustration: Simon Pemberton

MundoAsia, ,

For the past week, at home in London, I have been living in the Hong Kong time zone. At night I watch live feeds of pro-democracy protesters waking at dawn in an occupied street of Admiralty; the next morning, I turn my computer back on and see the same street filled with a swollen river of humanity chanting their political demands in unison and holding up luminous mobile phones to the night sky. These riveting scenes have filled me with profound admiration for the courage of the protesters, and renewed hope for democracy in both Hong Kong and mainland China. Whatever the eventual outcome of this movement, it marks a historic turning point.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Freedom leads to prosperity — unless tyranny intervenes

Back in 1997 when control of Hong Kong was ceded from the British to the Chinese, the question was whether the Chinese governing system would take over Hong Kong, or Hong Kong capitalism would take over China.

Well, now we know the answer — or at least the answer that the repressive leaders of China are seeking.

The tragedy of Beijing blocking Hong Kong’s right of self-determination isn’t just a setback for the island, but perhaps more so for mainland China itself. It is a declaration to the world that Beijing still doesn’t get the freedom thing.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

It is not wholly accurate to say that the eyes of the entire world are on Hong Kong. They would be, of course, if people in mainland China were allowed to know what is happening in their country’s most successful city. But China’s government has tried to block news about the Hong Kong democracy demonstrations from reaching the rest of the country — not exactly a sign of confidence on the part of China’s rulers in their system of authoritarian government.

Before suggesting a way forward for Hong Kong’s ham-fisted authorities, I would like to clarify three points. First, it is a slur on the integrity and principles of Hong Kong’s citizens to assert, as the Chinese government’s propaganda machine does, that they are being manipulated by outside forces.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

Was it a grim defining moment when Leung Chun-ying, variously known, among more flattering titles, as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the Chief Puppet of Beijing, ruled out any prospect of China changing its mind or allowing concessions to the limited version of “democracy” it has promised for Hong Kong in 2017, when voters are to choose his successor?

He sternly warned demonstrators to give up their “illegal” protests that have taken over large areas of Hong Kong for several days. Just before the midnight deadline that students had set him, Leung agreed to dialogue but the concession was late in coming.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, , ,

China frequently accuses the West, and the United States in particular, of stirring up trouble and fanning fears of China. From foreign-funded NGOs that spread ideas about human rights and constitutional government to Western journalistic exposes of the wealth of Chinese officials, the West seems bent on humiliating China, as it has since the early 19th century. Last week, the pro-Chinese Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po identified "a wide range of evidence" that purportedly shows that Joshua Wong, a 17-year-old organizer at the center of the current Hong Kong protests, is controlled by the "black hand of U.S. forces."

But fear of China is not a Western machination.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

The young activists marching for democracy here face a serious risk from an unexpected source: Visa laws that could greatly complicate and, in some cases, bar students who are arrested from traveling to the United States or Britain. There is a simple way to correct this injustice, but it would require U.S. and British officials to challenge Beijing’s overly broad warnings against “foreign interference.”

The Hong Kong students massing in the streets as part the Occupy Central movement have been bitterly disappointed by what they perceive to be Beijing’s betrayal of a promise to allow genuine democratic elections. Hong Kong authorities made arrests over the weekend and have threatened more.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

As Hong Kong's biggest protests in a generation raged around her, one 23-year-old Chinese student cut a calm but lonely figure.

Hong Kong students had poured out of her university to chant and sing for democracy on the streets but Ding Hui [not her real name], a graduate student from the Chinese mainland, decided to keep going to her classes.

"You cannot ignore the protests," she said. "There are always people at the subway station handing out fliers urging us to take part.

"But I personally do not think it is necessary to protest on the street. Mainlanders understand this better than Hong Kongers.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalEconomía,

Will the tensions in Hong Kong be the straw that breaks the global economy’s back? That question is on many investors’ minds as they watch the Chinese government's response to one of the biggest sociopolitical challenges it has faced in recent years. The answer is far from straightforward.

It is already a tentative time for the world economy. Growth is faltering in Europe and Japan. The U.S. economy, while doing better, has yet to lift off. Emerging economies have slowed, and are unlikely to return to higher growth anytime soon. Meanwhile, pockets of excessive risk-taking have multiplied in financial markets, adding to concerns about future volatility.…  Seguir leyendo »

A defiant protester waving placards that read "Occupy Central" and "Civil Disobedience'' as riot police formed a phalanx outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Saturday. Credit Vincent Yu/Associated Press

MundoAsia, ,

Overnight, my childhood home became a battleground. The Hong Kong streets where I grew up morphed into an alarming political flash point with riot police in gas masks firing tear-gas canisters at pro-democracy protesters, many of them defending themselves from the noxious white clouds with little more than umbrellas and plastic wrap.

Having lived for years in Beijing researching the legacy of China’s suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, I should not have been shocked. After unleashing the army on their own people a quarter-century ago, China’s leaders were left with a brooding sense of their own vulnerability and a determination to ensure demonstrations would never again spiral out of control.…  Seguir leyendo »