Everyday Democracy in Hong Kong
4:48pm Monday, 19th December 2005
The WTO talks in Hong Kong and their 'accompanying circus' have drawn to a close. This time round it was not only the riot police who were squeezing the 'lame' protesters, a super snap-happy media crowd practically ate them up, whilst local passers-by looked on in vague bemusement. I got the feeling that when 'violence' finally broke out this weekend between the protesters (who the media portrayed as South Korean, full stop) and the police, many media people breathed a sigh of relief. What were they hoping for, another suicide?
The lack of engagement and the polarised 'them and us' attitude of many activists, propagated by media people, is not going to get them anywhere soon. New ways of getting the message across are needed, and the 'local outreach' of some South Korean farmers might be a more productive way of getting more support by expanding HK people's vision of what democracy means in other people's contexts.
The impact of everyday democracy in Hong Kong was seen spectacularly in the march for democracy in July, and continued with a massive march for universal suffrage earlier this month. These protests can and do have an effect, not necessarily immediately at policy levels but in showing that individual participation can democratically revitalise a city that many think of as one of the biggest bastions of rampant materialism. WTO protesters need to engage much more with the local people in the cities they travel to so faithfully, in order to have any sustained effect on the WTO members.
The WTO talks in Hong Kong and their 'accompanying circus' have drawn to a close. This time round it was not only the riot police who were squeezing the 'lame' protesters, a super snap-happy media crowd practically ate them up, whilst local passers-by looked on in vague bemusement. I got the feeling that when 'violence' finally broke out this weekend between the protesters (who the media portrayed as South Korean, full stop) and the police, many media people breathed a sigh of relief. What were they hoping for, another suicide?
The lack of engagement and the polarised 'them and us' attitude of many activists, propagated by media people, is not going to get them anywhere soon. New ways of getting the message across are needed, and the 'local outreach' of some South Korean farmers might be a more productive way of getting more support by expanding HK people's vision of what democracy means in other people's contexts.
The impact of everyday democracy in Hong Kong was seen spectacularly in the march for democracy in July, and continued with a massive march for universal suffrage earlier this month. These protests can and do have an effect, not necessarily immediately at policy levels but in showing that individual participation can democratically revitalise a city that many think of as one of the biggest bastions of rampant materialism. WTO protesters need to engage much more with the local people in the cities they travel to so faithfully, in order to have any sustained effect on the WTO members.
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