Protests continue in the face of continuation of Communism
Starting back in June of 2014, when tens of thousands gathered to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Crackdown, there has been a growing wave of action and protest for a more democratic Hong Kong. After the anniversary, protests for and against democracy have been occurring on and off in the streets of the financial district of the city and in front of government buildings. In September of 2014, students rallied together and boycotted classes for a week in support of a pro-democratic government.
These protests have been the outcome of Leung Chun-Ying, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, reneging on a promise to allow for his successor to be elected through a democratic style election. He now declares that the candidates for his succession will be people that mainland China’s government will have hand chosen. This has angered the masses, as the Communist influence will surely lead to unwanted candidate selection, moving Hong Kong further from democracy and closer to Beijing’s politics. All of this has created the driving force behind the large numbers of people motivated to occupy the streets of Hong Kong.
At the front of this pack is a 17-year-old student named Joshua Wong. Wong started his political life two years ago when he organized his classmates in protesting the implementation of “patriotic education,” which many have described as Communist doctrine education. Since then, Wong has been an active advocate for a pro-democratic Hong Kong. However, this leadership has led to quite a bit of negative attention from media and others, with some sources smearing him as a figurehead tool of United States. Unsurprisingly, this has not slowed Wong down; even his arrest, which lasted only two nights, backfired on the Hong Kong police, as all it did was inspire even more people to join the crowds of Wong and pro-democratic supporters.
Wong’s opponent, Chun-Ying, has a powerful group of supporters himself, as the Chief Executive. The People’s Daily, the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, displayed a front page editorial declaring their full support for Chun-Ying. The editorial said that Beijing would continue to “unswervingly” support him and would “resolutely support the police force of the special administrative territory in dealing with illegal activities according to the law.” Just three days later, Chun-Ying ordered the riot police to confront peaceful protesters with tear gas and pepper spray. Unfortunately for Chun-Ying, this backfired, and the attack garnered many more people to gather in support of the demonstrators and Wong.
To date, the protesting continues on with no clear end date in sight. With both sides standing their ground, it is surely going to take quite a push to make any significant changes. However when this is all said and done, the people of Hong Kong will have their answer to the question: Democracy or Communism?