Picture this: A young Hong Kong male activist in a gas mask swatting back with a tennis racket a tear gas canister to the phalanx of riot police determined to disperse millions of demonstrators who descended on the upscale Victoria Square.
The teen in the iconic picture caught by Reuters could well be the poster boy of modern-day resistance against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s much loathed extradition law. The mammoth size of the crowd on Monday—estimated by BBC news to be close to 2 million—dwarfed the swanky Hong Kong thoroughfare. It could probably equal the 1986 images of Filipino nuns and activists who, hand in hand, blocked the roaring and rolling tanks sent by the dictator-despot Ferdinand E. Marcos to disperse millions of Filipinos gathered in Edsa who were demanding for his ouster.
But the Hong Kong resistance is a version update of the Edsa upheaval. It is well equipped, well organized and aided by modern communications gadget. However, the will to uphold civil liberties and protect it from being trampled upon is the same: It is visceral—an intuitive nature of humans to be free from injustice.
The powers that be in mainland China who had no qualms slaughtering hundreds of its citizens in the April 15, 1989, bloody Tiananmen square massacre were obviously caught by surprise. I would not venture to predict what they would do next. Their ruthlessness in quelling dissent—burning Christian Churches and Muslim Mosques and executing those who oppose the ruling regime has been well documented.
It was not the first time that the former British colony was rocked by demonstrations since the handover in 1997. The menace of being under communist authorities drove Hongkongers to the streets in 2003, 2012 and 2014. This time was different. Their numbers are gargantuan and they are much prepared for a showdown.
Perhaps, China was unwary to face a mutiny from a community who grew up in free-thinking Victorian values, which it inherited from Great Britain, and whose youth has been nurtured and cared for by highly educated Filipino nannies. I wouldn’t be surprised that these kids might have imbibed the concept of Edsa from their beloved surrogate moms.
Hongkongers have enjoyed an uninhibited, multi-ethnic way of life than the Mainlanders and are extremely proud of it. So insidious are their mistrust against Mainlanders who are clueless about free speech and an independent press. In Hong Kong, these are enshrined in the Basic Law, which the city has embraced since the handover. They also boast of their distinct diverse cuisine and language, speaking
Cantonese rather than China’s national language, Mandarin.
Hong Kong’s Lam on Sunday had apologized and put on hold her proposed extradition bill that could have sent Hong Kong citizens who run afoul with the law to mainland China for trial. Still the resistance marches on, wary that Lam’s proposal is just a prelude to put Hong Kong under Beijing’s iron clad governance.
A dear friend from Hong Kong —raised by a Filipina nanny—who is deep into the resistance and who requested anonymity told me that total independence from China is very much on the table. He said that they are taking one step at a time and would test the waters on how far they can go.
The resistance, he said, draws its inspiration from a theory in which a government derives its political validity from the power of the people, and that citizens have acquiesced to be governed for as long as their rights and social order would be preserved and protected.
Perhaps, it’s worth taking this bit of motivation to wake us up from our deep apathetic slumber. The people who invented People Power have become deaf and mute to the way our government has been stifling dissent. Unable to free ourselves from President Duterte’s autocratic spell, we have let him eat away our precious freedom piece by piece.
The Hong Kong people have shown us that China is not to be feared and yet many of us have taken up the lead from Duterte who has willingly bowed to the communist country’s beck and call.
We have allowed him to look the other way as China continues its aggressive, arrogant annexation of the entire West Philippine Sea.
I would not dwell on the current issue of China’s vessel on June 9 ramming of Filipino fishing boat Gemver, which almost sank and the fishermen on it nearly drowning after being left to the elements and praying for dear life.
So much has already been written and speculated about the incident. But the bottom line is that we have a government who’d rather toe China’s line than worry about the welfare of our fisherfolk whose catch provide us with our daily sustenance. The President, his men and supporters would rather hurl insults to those who dare stand up to the reprehensible bully nation that has no scruples murdering its own citizens.
For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com.