Hong Kong Students: Don’t Depict Our Protests as a ‘Revolution’

Posted by on Oct 5, 2014 in Blog | 0 comments

Striking Hong Kong students are peeved that the foreign press keeps on ascribing the word ‘revolution’ to their cause by calling it a ‘Umbrella Revolution’ or a variant of ‘colour revolution’.   While a Washington Post piece tries to convey their frustrations, the students are themselves misleading the public by saying that they’re fighting for ‘democracy’.

What needs to be clarified is that 2017 will be universal suffrage for the Chief Executive so Hong Kong residents already have ‘democracy’.  The bone of contention is the threshold at which the nominating committee approves of candidates.  The protestors want a very low one so that virtually anyone can take a run but the authorities want a higher one.  That’s the crux of the issue, NOT whether Hong Kong practices ‘one man, one vote’ in 2017.

So, as the students shout, stop calling it a ‘revolution’!.

The Washington Post report can be seen at:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/10/04/hong-kongs-students-want-you-to-stop-calling-their-protest-a-revolution/