The long night for Hong Kong student protests

Hong Kong activists are besieged inside a university campus surrounded by riot police. Carrie Lam has asked for civility from the police, yet, there appears no way out without some form of bloodshed. Less than 100  students remain inside under deteriorating conditions with a limited food supply.

This is the age of non-confrontation, that, right or wrong, embodies the generation of millennial's,  governments, social leaders, and others. These groups  have to be attuned to how these folks operate, as  each generation is distinct from their peers. Of course, many nationalists exist independent of a particular group, and  support defending their country at all costs. Millennial's account for 1/4 of the population in the United States and are projected to spend 1.4 trillion in 2020.1The orthodoxy of millennial's seems to be that they will not be denied at the cash register or regarding "rights." We might laugh and say that they were born for British philosopher, John Stuart Mill. And so, this generation that experiences war on CNN or through the web, hasn't had to tough it out from the sheer personal ravages of war where families perish, not to mention the economic  drag that ensues when autocratic governments rule the roost.

Having read the very provocative book by Elie Wiesel - Night (Wiesel is a Nobel Peace Prize winner,)  which is part of my annual university course for 2019, one can tap into the grief that innocent folks had to endure during the Holocaust. The story evolves around Wiesel's family in Hungary and how they were ghettoized and finally shipped on a transport train to Auschwitz.   Elie's father was transferred to Buchenwald where he died before he could be liberated.2 So, we see the perils of our past mistakes with the hope that our successors will learn from history. In many cases we have where democracy has flourished. Others, we have not where authoritarianism is the central ideology that forms the back-bone of societies.

China opened up under Deng Xiaopeng and this has led the way to a stronger and larger middle class in China replete with similar problems to capitalist nation - states: income inequality. The harbinger of the student protests centered around an extradition bill that Chief Executive  Lam has since quashed. But, too little- too late as the student protest movement grew and  the police arrests escalated devolving into more violence with time. Chinese troops remain close-by in a garrison ready to get involved if a major outbreak occurs. It has, and this is where the situation stands with students holed up in the university. One wishes that a copy of "Night" could be force fed onto the students, police, and members of the Politburo to see the errors of their ways.

The United States has passed a bill on November 20 - "Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act" that will provide some comfort for Hongkongers affected by this strife, but, is it too little- too late, remains to  be seen. Comparatively, for Elie Wiesel who lost his mother, sister, and watched his father wither away and die, yes, it was beyond reproach.  China has an opportunity to further its goals if it can look past her own machinations. Students and young Hongkongers are railing against an economy that has provided flats from 163 - 170 square feet, that are about the size of a parking space.   3  Folks are fed up with the high cost of housing,  and younger people, in particular, see a bleak future with a lower standard of living as compared to their parents. The students are fighting for basic freedoms - yes, and a better future when they go home at night and open the door. Not a maudlin request.




Works Cited


1) Lexington Law. "45 Statistics on Millennial Spending Habits in 2019." 2 January  2019. <https://www.lexingtonlaw.com/blog/credit-cards/millennial-spending-habits.html>. 21 November 2019.

2) Wiesel, Elie. Night. Hill and Wang:New York. 1958.

3) Kammerer, Peter. "When Hong Kong flats are the size of a parking space, something is deeply wrong." South China Morning Post. 13 September 2016. <https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2018561/when-hong-kong-flats-are-size-parking-space-something-deeply>. 21 November 20019.
The writer foresaw the issue in 2016 and the public officials have not responded. Carrie Lam has admitted this summer (2019) that affordability must be  addressed.