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HONG KONG -- Like thousands of young people from all over
Hong Kong, secondary school teacher Li Hiu Fung had come out to the
streets of this anxious city every night to demand that his government
give him a real voice in choosing his leaders. He helped build a
sprawling protest camp on one of the city's busiest thoroughfares.
After
more than a month in which scattered pro-democracy protests coalesced
into an unprecedented social movement, that demand has gone unmet.
Beijing has not budged an inch. But Li is looking ahead.
"Some
say the Communist Party has lost this whole generation in Hong Kong,"
Li predicted as he watched the nightly swirl of speeches and live music
at the main downtown protest site. "This political movement has been
consolidated in our own minds. A whole generation has learned how to
speak out."
Even as protesters remain locked
in a weekslong stalemate with city officials over demands for electoral
reforms, political analysts say this 7.2 million-person financial
capital could be seeing the birth of a newly awakened generation that
will continue demanding democracy and take to the streets to push for
it.
Known to some as the Umbrella Movement,
after the umbrellas demonstrators used to ward off tear gas, the
protests have already become the largest and most protracted ever seen
since the city's founding more than 170 years ago. For most of its
history, Hong Kongers have focused more on business than politics as
they lived first under colonial British, and then Communist Chinese
rule.
The agreement in which China took
control of Hong Kong in 1997 calls for elections in Hong Kong beginning
in 2017. China says an exclusive committee will screen candidates for
the city's top leader, but the protesters are demanding open nominations
to give voters a chance to elect a chief executive who is not
necessarily pro-Beijing.
The debate over Hong
Kong's political future has become an obsession for a once apathetic
younger generation already nervous about growing up in an increasingly
unaffordable and economically polarized city.
Keeping
the movement's momentum going after the barricades come down - whenever
that happens - will require pushing more of its young leaders into
legislative offices now held by veterans of Hong Kong's pro-democracy
parties, said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at the City
University of Hong Kong and the convener of a coalition pushing for
democratic reforms.
He said building on the
protests will also require a long-term fight, in the face of a hardening
line by central Chinese authorities.
"These
groups are going to need more coordination," Cheng said. "And the
traditional pro-democracy parties may have less room and less of a
role."
Support for the protest movement has
been growing despite anger from some in the city about disruptions to
businesses and commutes.
A poll conducted Oct.
8-15 by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that 38 percent of
Hong Kongers supported the protests, up from 31 percent in
mid-September, before they began. Opposition dropped from 46 percent to
36 percent.
Young people are more united. The
same poll found that more than 60 percent of city residents ages 15 to
24 support the protest; just 8 percent oppose them. The October poll,
conducted when tensions between protesters and authorities were
particularly high, surveyed 802 people and had a margin of error of 3.5
percentage points.
The movement's iconic yellow ribbon has become ever-present on school uniform lapels and in Facebook profile pictures.
Willy
Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University, said the protests
have changed the political calculus by adding the ever-present threat of
civil disobedience and organized protest groups.
"This
is a game-changer because the DNA of Hong Kong has changed," Lam said.
"For the first time since Hong Kong was founded in 1840 ... you have a
mass movement led by the students.
"What the
Hong Kong administration is most fearful about is that now the students
and the other citizens are not afraid of the police."
Student
leader Lester Shum framed the protests in similar terms during a
televised Oct. 21 debate between protest organizers and city officials.
His voice rising in intensity, Shum proclaimed the arrival of "a
generation who have suffered from tear gas." Thousands of demonstrators
watching on giant screens at the main protest site erupted in applause.
Ryan
Cheung, a 33-year-old social worker, said he sees this as Hong Kong's
last chance for democracy as central Chinese government officials push
for more influence in the semi-autonomous city.
"We
see China will eventually take control of Hong Kong," Cheung said. "The
younger generation, we see this everywhere, but we won't give up
because this is our future."
Economic
pressures have added to such worries. The annual Demographia housing
affordability index ranked Hong Kong this year as the world's least
affordable housing market, with median home prices 15 times that of the
median annual salary.
Tsang Ka Yuen, a
67-year-old protester, said his son has held off on starting a family
because of the city's rising primary school tuitions.
"All
my children are here in Hong Kong, but how can they live here?" asked
Tsang, a security guard. "I'm thinking of the younger people who have to
build lives here. I want to give them a better city."
Some
other older Hong Kong residents said they doubt the protesters will
ever win concessions from a Chinese government that has only tightened
its grip on power.
Andy Lee, a 57-year-old
insurance agent, said he supports the students' cause in principle, but
added, "I don't see real results coming from this."
"They can express themselves, but up until now, I don't see how they reach their goals," he said.
Business
student Ken Lum said he is aware of the long odds the movement faces,
but he had already surprised himself with his own perseverance. He has
stayed on the streets for more than a month.
"We
cannot let the government decide everything," the 22-year-old said. "If
this Occupy action ends, there will be other actions to let the
government know how the people feel."
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