Hong Kong sees surge of democratic fervor after 'patriotic education' showdown
| Paris
Hong Kong鈥檚 highest election turnout in years yesterday showed a thriving democratic sentiment in a nation that otherwise doesn鈥檛 go to the polls.
The heavy turnout hinged on tumult surrounding a 鈥減atriotic鈥� education plan for Hong Kong schools 鈥� seen as a proxy for Beijing propaganda 鈥� and voter desire to weigh in on the future of the pilot program, which was rejected by all but two of hundreds of schools on the island.
Yesterday鈥檚 vote showed political sophistication, analysts say, aided largely by youth, in a vote where bread-and-butter issues like housing and pay figured prominently as well.
Young Hong Kongers spurred a political protest 鈥渕ovement bigger than anything I鈥檝e seen in a long time,鈥� says Michael DeGolyer, who has long studied city politics at Hong Kong Baptist University. 鈥淵ou had 16-year-olds bringing their parents into politics, not the other way around.鈥�
The patriotic education course was aimed at elementary-level students and got heavy criticism for teaching little or nothing about cataclysmic events like the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, or the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Critics branded it 鈥渂rainwashing.鈥澛�
Hong Kong has long harbored a distrust of mainland Beijing鈥檚 heavy-handed efforts to 鈥渕ake鈥� Hong Kong a 鈥淐hinese鈥� city, even as Hong Kong鈥檚 history, civil service, education, and business acumen make it a financial services hub with international characteristics.
After the crippling SARS outbreak in 2003 and efforts by Beijing to institute a 鈥渟ubversion鈥� law that would throttle free expression, Hong Kong鈥檚 civic base has steadily mobilized, despite handicaps in the city governing structure, which favors Beijing.
For weeks ahead of the vote Sunday, ordinary people thronged the eastern business district.
In a rare move, pro-Chinese forces in Hong Kong backed down from plans to make the national education mandatory by 2015. At the 11th聽hour on Saturday word came the plan would be voluntary, though many Hong Kongers were suspicious it could reappear later, an old tactic.
In the scale of problems faced by China this fall, though, Hong Kong may not be at the top of the list.
Beijing鈥檚 Politburo undergoes a once-in-a-decade leadership change this fall amid recriminations and turmoil over incidents like the disappearance of Bo Xilai. Its stellar growth rate is in some decline. China is also in the middle of tension-building territory disputes in the South China Sea.
Then there is the sense of disquiet and spiritual hunger among the rank and file, according to Gerard Lemos, who has studied ordinary Chinese people in the heartland since 2007. Any kind of unrest, including that in Hong Kong, tends to trouble China鈥檚 leaders, who have long said 鈥渟tability鈥� is the chief virtue of statecraft.
The patriotic education issue appeared to push voter turnout high enough to give fractious pro-democracy forces enough seats in the legislature (27) to block pro-China forces in coming sessions.
Much credit goes to Hong Kong youth: 鈥淚 could not believe the organization, the discipline shown by these kids,鈥� Mr. DeGolyer said by phone. 鈥淭hey picked up after themselves, articulated what they wanted, and when they didn鈥檛 get everything, they didn鈥檛 escalate, which has been the problem in the past, but organized a different way forward. It was astonishing.鈥�
He adds: 鈥淚f Hong Kong can handle its youth unrest well, then the unrest of youth in China, which we know is growing, may bring the PRC [People's Republic of China] to come here and ask, 鈥榟ow are you doing this?鈥� 鈥�
