Under an autocracy, resistance should go beyond direct clashes and collisions with the authoritarian regime. Another important method is to establish a civil parallel mechanism, one that is an addition to the various official mechanisms, established by civil society, that operates in parallel with the official mechanism. This method of resistance actually touches on a deeper level, which not only prevents the continuous and pressing erosion by the authoritarian regime, but also completely denies the notion of authoritarianism by displaying civil power to prove against the ruling legitimacy of the official mechanism.

Some have already proposed the establishment of a city-wide civil parliament, so I’ll try with another angle. Currently, the democrats have an edge in the districts. Since we have representatives of public opinion in most communities, the balancing mechanism must be connected to the District Council. to establish a city-wide civil parliament under the current political climate and practicality, perhaps this is not the right moment. If we build on the current demarcation under which the District Council and election of the geographical constituencies in the Legislative Council (LegCo), establishing five regional political discussion platforms is more feasible.

The 18 District Councils are categorized as large, medium, and small. Small includes fewer than 20 elected members (Islands, Wan Chai, Central and Western District, Southern District, North District, Tsuen Wan, Tai Po, Yau Tsim Mong); medium includes members between 25 and 31 (Wong Tai Sin, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Sai Kung, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun), and large includes more than 35 people (Eastern District, Yuen Long, Kwun Tong, Sha Tin).

According to the size of district councils, democratic lawmakers can elect a certain number of members to be in the regional political platform based on political organization, section, and division: four members for small, six members in medium, eight members in large. The chairman and deputy chairmen of the district council are ex officio members of the district discussion platforms as well as the winners of the democratic primaries within those particular districts, and democratic lawmakers of the sixth LegCo (if not already included in the aforementioned). This forms an operationally feasible regional political discussion platform.

Take New Territories East as an example. There are four members in North District and Tai Po, respectively, six in Sai Kung, eight in Sha Tin, and in addition, four district chairperson and vice-chairpersons, and seven winners of the primary election. Since the sixth LegCo lawmakers are already within, the total number comes to 37. By the same logic of composition, New Territories West will have 42 people, Kowloon West 27, Kowloon East 23, and Hong Kong Island 32.

This composition does not lie in the representativeness of the members, but also the connectivity. Since the members, across the board, represent a variety of districts and political factions, the coverage is comprehensive. In addition to expressing opinions on the platform, it is even more significant that the members will bring discussions and messages back to their own networks, such that the political discussion platforms of various regions can connect extensively on a large-scale.

For each district discussion platform, the first term can be set at one year, and the length and composition method of the next term can be determined according to the development of the situation. Therefore, the first political discussion platform can be considered a transitional arrangement. The several district council chairpersons can serve as rotating conveners in each of the district political discussion platforms.

Not only can regional and city-wide issues be discussed in these platforms, but crowdfunding and organizational activities can be performed. Since the platform includes members of different organizations in the region, it should be able to serve as a new core of a region. The political discussion platform across five districts can also organize joint actions and resolutions if necessary.

Whether the democratic lawmakers of the sixth LegCo will extend their tenure, the regional political discussion platform can still be established and operated as planned. However, if an extension is eventually decided, the incumbent lawmakers can support the regional platforms in terms of resources by bringing the LegCo discussions and issues back to the regions, as well as raise regional discussions and resolutions in the LegCo. Simply put, the staying lawmakers shall be held accountable to their affiliated regional political discussion platforms.

Whether the LegCo election is happening in September next year, none could tell. The political discussion platform in each district can respond to the development of the situation by making corresponding arrangements. More importantly, in addition to discussions among members of the platforms, discussions should be brought back to the communities such that residents of each district are able to participate in the discussion of how to handle the authoritarian regime in the coming year. If possible, together with the local residents, Hong Kong’s future can be jointly imagined, and to illustrate together their ideal, specific meaning of the community.

The significance of the parallel mechanism is such that the regime does not define us, instead, civil society defines the regime. Even if the regional political discussion platform does not have concrete performance in its first year of operation, its sole existence already has political value in the current dark age of autocracy. It is evident that the fire of resistance within civil society and people’s hearts has not been extinguished.

(Benny Tai Yiu-Ting is a Hong Kong legal scholar and democracy activist.)

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