hong kong

Thoughts on umbrella revolution

Posted on October 1, 2014February 22, 2022 by yellowsweatygorilla

Had a great lunch with Elene and Tings Etc to discuss the ongoings in HK, gaining a lot more insight. I know a lot of fellow leftists have been skeptical about the nature of the protests in HK and whether it’s worth supporting. A lot of the criticism is legitimate (though there is also a caveat). Firstly, it does appear that unlike the early-2000s (when I was living in HK and involved in the democracy movement) where an economic critique was very central to protests, the economic critique (never really picked up by the Western media in the first place) has become less emphasized. Secondly, a nativist discourse (apparent to anyone who has visited HK in the last decade) has become stronger and stronger. I have found it odd that unlike my past experiences, the languages has moved from ‘Democracy in China’ and supporting our Chinese compatriots, to ‘Democracy in […]

Choi Yuen (菜園村) Villagers Protest Eviction Plans, Continuing a Long History of HK Indigenous Resistance

Posted on January 26, 2011August 26, 2019 by yellowsweatygorilla

Recently, there’s been news reports of confrontations between the police, security guards and demolition workers on one side, and villagers/outside solidarity activists on the other, in the village of Choi Yuen. A couple days ago, I posted an article on the loss of more rural villages in Hong Kong, as a result of urbanization and economic changes. However, this is not the case for all villages. Many villages continued to thrive and rely on farming, but they too are facing the same fate. But, instead of the village youth, attracted to employment in the city, migrating out, villagers face eviction by the state and private developers. In 馬屎埔 Ma Shi Po, private developers used loopholes to evict villagers. The village was slated for demolition, in order to implement the North East New Territories New Development Areas plan – a major infrastructure project for private housing development. Chan, an activist, explained […]

Right of Abode in Hong Kong Granted for Mainland-Born Children

Posted on January 26, 2011August 26, 2019 by yellowsweatygorilla

For all its faults, the Hong Kong Catholic Church was pretty cool on this issue. A major issue of status in Hong Kong is that of Hong Kong families with children and spouses born in Mainland China. As a result of the one country, two system policy, (and colonialism .. and British immigration policy to ensure that there would not have been a ‘flood’ of Hong Kong people going to the UK) there are separate citizenship categories for those in the Mainland and those born in Hong Kong. Despite a Hong Kong supreme court ruling that children of Hong Kongers born in the Mainland should be granted Hong Kong citizenship in 1999, the Hong Kong government appealed to Beijing. Beijing ‘reinterpreted’ the law, indicating that the children would not be granted status in Hong Kong. By early 2002, thousands of Mainlanders and over 4,700 children faced deportation to the Mainland. […]

Rediscovering Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)

Posted on January 25, 2011August 26, 2019 by yellowsweatygorilla

Rediscovering amazing Hong Kong public talk radio (rthk.hk). Haven’t listened to it for a long while. I used to listen to it almost daily, as it was on at home all the time. It’s surprisingly nuanced. In the last show, they spent a bunch of time interviewing and conducting phone-ins for the League of Social Democrats split and did a long interview with the spokesperson for the Choi Yuen Tsuen (Village) committee – villagers are protesting/blockading efforts to demolish their village for the construction of a new highspeed railway, seen by many in HK as paid by the poor, built for the rich. Will summarize some of the stories soon.