Protests of Hong Kong

It was Chinese National Day yesterday- and the biggest headline was probably about those protests in Hong Kong. Thousands of students occupying the streets, with signs and slogans and whatnot. To be fair it's probably one of the least violent protests I've ever seen- no one's gotten hurt yet. Yet. I think it's inevitable someone's gonna get fucked.

What are they protesting about? Well if you haven't already heard, HK is pretty much self-governing. Well- it's kind of supposed to be. Geographically it's part of China, but politically it's touchy. Ever since the whole British colonization thing and being captured by the Japanese, their culture's been distinctly different from the Chinese one. Anyway China reclaimed HK as its territory from Britain, so everyone knows HK is in China but they're not really the same as mainland.

This whole riot thing comes from HK wanting political freedom. Basically they get to vote, but the list of candidates they can vote on are all people approved by the central government in Beijing. So they want a fair election- that's the essence of their protest. Doesn't seem that unreasonable a request- but the context is China- where voting is more of a metaphorical concept and its censorship policy, dubbed "the Great Firewall of China" is better known than the actual Great Wall.

To mainland citizens, this seems like a ridiculous situation. To them it's like unhappy HK politicians are manipulating students under the banner of "freedom" and they know it'll be difficult to deal with because you can't really be violent towards a bunch of kids- well I guess you can, but that kind of massacre is ugly for the media. Not that the media gets out in China... which is why it's my belief that it's only a matter of time until things get really ugly.

Personally- I think freedom is worth fighting for. Maybe the politicians ARE manipulating the students- but in the end, if they can actually have their vote mean something, I think that's valuable enough. Personally I'm one of those terrible people who don't pay attention to political affairs. I think the main reason that mainland doesn't riot is because people are like me, to a degree: it doesn't affect me personally, therefore I don't care. Can't vote? Doesn't matter. Taxes raised? Well can't do shit about it. Can't read news, can't access foreign media? Doesn't matter, watch TV shows online, play copious amounts of video games, enjoy my free music. Go eat after work, drink at a bar, go home, sleep, wake, go to work. Worry about bills. Worry about having a family and paying off a mortgage. Never realize life would be better if government welfare was a thing and the economy wasn't so fucked. But if someone ever rises from the masses without being destroyed by the government, maybe it could be the start of something.

It's a dilemma, really. The world has to change- but would be rather see change from within, or do we want a political- or perhaps eventually literal- bloodbath? Nobody wants to go to war, and nobody really wants to disturb the pretence of "peace" which currently exists.

I can't say I am as emotionally invested in the subject as people of Hong Kong- but I do understand the reason behind their passion. When your liberties are stripped from you and you're bound like chattel, it's entirely appropriate to attempt to reclaim the dignity you've lost. I just wish damages would be minimal and nobody is irreparably injured. It would simply provide more reason for general hostility.

It pains me to grow up and realise that Hong Kong and Taiwan are not actually a part of China, in reality. It's also a great embarrassment to introduce yourself as Chinese and have people follow up with the question of, "how do you deal with being so repressed by your government?"  The image of China as presented by Western media is frankly embarrassing. It's embarrassing because you know exactly how much is media bullshit and exactly how much is actually what happens.

Anyway- I hope that HK is successful in their struggle for freedom. Whether they are being manipulated by local politicians or not- at least the idealism is one worth fighting for. This is one of the rare times where I push my consequentialist-self aside, and say, "it doesn't matter if they succeed- it matters that they fought for what was important to them, to show that their spirit is alive. It's so much more human than being helplessly content with everything".

I just wish that when everything is over, the divide between mainland and the other regions will cease to exist.