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A key difference to understand between protests in America and in Hong Kong is that there is no division in Hong Kong about the issue. In the US, for example, h
by kenneth 7y ago
A key difference to understand between protests in America and in Hong Kong is that there is no division in Hong Kong about the issue. In the US, for example, half of the population opposes Trump and half supports him. There are anti-Trump protests and pro-Trump rally. The US is divided on many issues.
In Hong Kong, the whole population is united against the government. The territory is democratic on paper, but no longer in practice and basically run by the CCP.
(Note, recently moved from the US to HK and went to see the protests for myself yesterday, though I didn't actively participate)
- codezero 7y agoI’d like to believe that but just yesterday someone posted links to a Chinese news site showing lots of visible support for the pro government side. Lots of signs in the city showing support and a fleet of fishing boats with signs. Even if this is pure propaganda it shows there is visible support (even if artificial).
- Macross8299 7y agoFishing boats could've been requisitioned from anywhere. Signs put up by party cadres. I think those are perhaps examples of propaganda that everyone on the ground there knows is false but are put up for the sake of the international media. I don't get the impression that there is much support for the pro-government side among HKers at all, from the couple I know living abroad.
- my_username_is_ 7y agoUpwards of 1 million people were at the protest this past Sunday. There's only a population of 7 million people in the entire SAR. That's the proportional equivalent of every man, woman &child in California, Oregon and Washington meeting in a single spot to protest something. Even if not everyone agrees on the exact details of what they're protesting, seeing that much passionate support behind a cause is a good indicator that the outrage is widespread.
- throwawayctyga3 7y agoSo 6 million people didn’t protest? Are they the silent majority?
- codezero 7y agoProbably: too old, too young, too occupied with some other life necessity, in the hospital, in school, or afraid. One million is absolutely astonishing to me. Last I heard it was ~200k people.
- ngcc_hk 7y agoIn there. Cf to 2003 the scale is higher and 200k is not. If you have a chance to look at those time lapse, 1 million is likely.
- computerfriend 7y agoWhat little visible support there is is manufactured. The supporting signs in the city are on the buildings of Chinese state-owned companies.
- nsajko 7y agoPlease back up your preposterous claims with data.
- one_plus_ 7y agoThis is false. I’m a Hong Kong citizen. I support the government. Most people that support the government just don’t bother to demonstrate.
- kazagistar 7y agoUnfortunately, we know that people are literally paid to post pro China activism on the internet. You need independent verification to even be an anicdote.
- kmonsen 7y agoHacker News is also allowed through the Chinese firewall for some reason.
- pwinnski 7y agoAlso, Chinese people travel to Hong Kong pretty freely, where there is no Great Firewall at all.
- kmonsen 7y agoSure. What I was trying to say is that it is very easy for people in mainland China to use this site since it is not firewalled, so expect a lot of Chinese residents to comment here. It was more or less the only site I could regularly use when I was there two weeks for work recently.
- hardmaru 7y agoAnd they are usually not paid that much. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party
- akfanta 7y ago"Unfortunately, we know that people are literally paid to post pro China activism on the internet." It really goes both ways. You don't see pro-government support from western media because it doesn't fit their narrative. It's a two way filter. Stop thinking just because you have "free media", you'd have all facts. The fact that your parent commenter believe this is a 100% one sided matter shows how these brainwash propaganda can affect both sides.
- Leary 7y agoCarrie Lam has 43% support according to public opinion polls [1] [1]https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/english/popexpress/ce2017/cl/cecomparison/donald_comparsion_chart.html https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/english/popexpress/ce2017/cl/cecom...
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoI have read several times that China has been moving progressively more pro-Beijing Han Chinese into HK. Much like policy in other regions China has occupied like Tibet and Xinjiang. I have never seen numbers or percentage of population behind those headlines. I wonder what proportion of the population they now make up.
- computerfriend 7y agoYes, it is several hundred people per day entering permanently or semipermanently.
- ngcc_hk 7y agoShould look at the comparison. Also there are others if one look at opposition as well.
- T-A 7y agoDonald Trump has 44% (as of June 12) according to FiveThirtyEight: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
- kmonsen 7y agoSadly not, my wife who is from HK and strongly supports the protests just had a fight with her parents because they support the government. They even lived in mainland China during the cultural revolution, suffered for it, but still think the communist party can do no wrong.