“Hong Kong’s protest movement is in crisis,” reads a New York Times
headline . The police have made it too risky to protest on the streets. The Beijing-imposed national security law will further criminalize dissent. What could Hong Kong people do now to keep up the struggle?
Hong Kong people have called on the world to “
catch Hong Kong as we fall .” The U.S. unprecedentedly decertified Hong Kong’s autonomous status and is taking steps to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Beijing officials. The U.K. is offering a path to citizenship for holders of the British Nationals (Overseas) passport.
Yet, it will take time to iron out the details for all these actions, meaning that it will take even longer to make an impact.
In the meantime, Hong Kong people confront police brutality every day. The scene of the police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd in Minnesota has repeatedly happened on the streets of Hong Kong. The not-at-all independent Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) recently issued a report to exonerate police abuses committed last year. It suggested that police officers will likely escalate violence against protestors with complete impunity.
While the U.S. government is looking to impose sanctions on officials, words from Congressional staff suggested that police officers are not yet on the agenda.
What, then, could Hong Kong people do when the police refuse to issue “no objection” permits for demonstrations on June 4, June 9, June 12, June 16, July 1, July 21, August 31 and more? And what to do when police make mass arrests of daring protesters? If protests are too risky, do Hong Kong people have no choice but to give up?
The political science literature on
protests suggests that demonstrations and marches are always the most vulnerable to police brutality, even bloodbaths. Look at what happened at the Tiananmen Square and Tahir Square, as well as in Hong Kong.
When fighting against
high-capacity repressive regimes, of which the Hong Kong police is an example, the best strategy is to take decentralised methods.
Hong Kong people have in fact been taking various decentralised tactics. The challenge is to come up with
more ways and to integrate them into
daily lives .
When the Hong Kong government uses the coronavirus to impose a social gathering ban, Hongkongers should particularly adopt decentralised “
stay-at-home ” tactics.