I don't know why but protests on the scale of hundreds of thousands just seems impossible in America
Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
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Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#32Will this break any of the terms with the British Hong Kong handover? AFAIK the agreement mentions that China must not interfere politically or economically with the capitalistic nature of Hong Kong for at least 50 years.
As an outside observer it seems like China doesn’t care very much about upholding agreements. And why should they? It’s not like Britain or anyone else in the west is willing to start a war with China, no matter what they do.
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> The Tiananmen Square massacre, which originated due to the protesters fighting for more freedom/human rights, from I heard from my uncle, it was because of the influence from westerners This is garbage. The massacre happened because Beijing responded ham-fistedly to a peaceful student demonstration. It involved atrocities including PLA troops firing on their own ambulances and dissolving bodies under tanks and in v…
Your response to my comment is silly.
I was talking about the ultimate reason why they protested, it was influenced by the west, human rights.
Not the way they were massacred, or how people memorialized them.
I am definitely stunned to know how hacker news people comprehend
edit: confirmed hacker news upvote/downvote buttons work like reddit's ones, and in turn work like facebook one except facebook doesn't have a downvote button neither
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#34It was interesting to see the photos of the Union Jacks marching around. Anyone with first hand experience in Hong Kong, are there many people who wish for a return to the commonwealth, or is that a tiny minority?
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#35It might not change HK government attitude after all, but it shows that Hong Kongers align with western values - no one should live under the fear of arbitrary prosecution.
This idea that fundamental human rights are “western values” is profoundly unhelpful, because it implies that in some sense to fight injustice is to no longer be truly Chinese—a nonsense whose propagation is both supported by and helpful to the CCP.
Taiwan is a very democratic and open society, but evolved on its own from a dictatorship to a proud free society. I think many Taiwanese would be very proud to say they developed it with their own distinctive Taiwanese values (and bento box throwing matches in the Legislative Yuan).
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#36I don't know why but protests on the scale of hundreds of thousands just seems impossible in America
That’s what those in power want you to think. Here’s a list of 19 protests with at least 100k participants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_in_the_United...
Four of them have taken place since November 2016.
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because the issue they are protesting is extradition and the rule of law being maintained; HK has a western style rule of law, mainland has practically no rule of law to speak of.
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> And probably I will get downvoted by mentioning this. The Tiananmen Square massacre, which originated due to the protesters fighting for more freedom/human rights, from I heard from my uncle, it was because of the influence from westerners.
Marxism, or the morphed variety of the CCP, also originates from the West. That doesn’t mean that Mao or the 6/4 movement didn’t have a genuine appreciation of “Western ideas” and want to implement them.
And yes, the West causes lots of problems. At least there is freedom to discuss them, and the probability of being sent to a camp for pointing things out is extremely low. That doesn’t discredit Western ideas; indeed, the self-awareness and capacity for self-criticism of the West is an important feature of its political system that the CCP increasingly lacks.
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> And probably I will get downvoted by mentioning this. The Tiananmen Square massacre, which originated due to the protesters fighting for more freedom/human rights, from I heard from my uncle, it was because of the influence from westerners. Marxism, or the morphed variety of the CCP, also originates from the West. That doesn’t mean that Mao or the 6/4 movement didn’t have a genuine appreciation of “Western ideas” a…
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Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#39Could someone explain to me what the plan is for the end of the 50 year transition period? From my extremely uninformed point of view, this feels like delaying the inevitable. Is there a different outcome than Hong Kong eventually being entirely under the Chinese government?
Re: Hundreds of thousands take to Hong Kong streets against controversial bill
#40It was interesting to see the photos of the Union Jacks marching around. Anyone with first hand experience in Hong Kong, are there many people who wish for a return to the commonwealth, or is that a tiny minority?
While many may miss the colonial rule for various reasons, most HK people who grew up under the British rule are realistic and understand a return to the commonwealth is nigh impossible under the current situation.
I'd venture to say it's overall a tiny minority, mostly youth.
Many more are those who'd or are considering (re-) emigration.