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【Second Opinion】Yes, Let's compare demonstrations in the US with Hong Kong (Mark Simon)

蘋果日報 2020/06/04 14:50


The latest moronic commentary from the Beijing and the Pro-Beijing press in Hong Kong is to claim how wonderful the Hong Kong government acted when dealing with protesters in the fall of 2019 in comparison to violence that resulted from protests last week across the United States.
It's actually a debate worth having as it reinforces the "goodness" of the Hong Kong demonstrations as well as highlighting the brutality of the Hong Kong government's response.
First, the US is a democracy. Hong Kong under Beijing is not. In the US we get to "throw the bums out" by vote. In Hong Kong we just get an endless series of bums appointed by Beijing as our leaders. The only decent Chief Executive, who showed some regard for the people, who held office in Hong Kong was Donald Tsang. Unfortunately Donald held a bit too much regard for himself and he made the rope Beijing used to hang him. Yet still I think most in Hong Kong would gladly trade Donald Tsang for Carrie Lam. (Side note, I am starting to believe that the growing list of activists and politicians going to jail will soon turn a jail term into a key political credential in Hong Kong).
The legitimacy gap between a democracy and a non-democracy would be great enough to set Hong Kong protesters on a higher moral plane than the guys carrying away microwaves and washing machines in US cities as they loot their way to political irrelevance. Let's be clear, other than a very very few instances, all shut down by other protesters, there was very little theft in Hong Kong during the 2019 protests. I saw a store window get taken out in North Point one night and within an hour I saw protesters cleaning up and a collection taken up to repair the window. I went back 3 nights later. New window.
Rioters in the US are a different beast than protesters in Hong Kong. Hong Kong protesters threw molotov cocktails down open streets for the most part. At any moment over a six month period those flames could have been sent into buildings in Hong Kong. Again, there were exceptions, and the molotov cocktails flying at LEGCO were then and remain at any time a very bad idea. But aside from the MTR and traffic fences there was little property damage in Hong Kong when you consider the scale of the demonstrations.
When one looks at the Hong Kong mass marches, which the government so foolishly shut down, there was no property damage of any significance. Three times over a million people took to the streets and tripped over store stands, quickly repaired, was all one could find.
I am writing this the day before June 4th. I hope there is no violence tomorrow, but I do know this. If the Hong Kong government would have allowed it, there would have been over one million people in and around Victoria Park, it would have been peaceful, and it could have served as a way back to some sort of dialogue on the future of Hong Kong.
The Chinese Communist Party(CCP) is not interested in dialogue or even discussing power. It is all about their power, with the CCP being in total and complete control. Hence the final comparison between protests in Hong Kong and the United States.
In the US we see police kneeling to try to win a chance to work with communities that quickly devolved into lawbreaking and looting. Yet, they are still citizens of a democracy, still voters. As such, even the guy running down the street with a stolen TV under his arm has a policeman and a politician willing to talk. In Hong Kong we have a law abiding middle class peacefully in the streets asking for a chance to discuss their future, a future where the vast majority grant the CCP control of the city, and the response is brutality, tear gas, and jail for those who dare to speak up.