Like Tree236Likes

Week 10 of Occupy Central: Updates & Discussions

Closed Thread
Page 21 of 32 FirstFirst ... 13 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 29 ... LastLast
  1. #201

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    3,921

    Glad things are back in order on this thread.

    So someone clarify for me, how many people exactly are handing themselves over to the police today?

    Last edited by Cho-man; 03-12-2014 at 06:45 PM.

  2. #202

    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    猴山
    Posts
    23,652
    Quote Originally Posted by discosue:
    Did anyone ask those particular businesses whether it was OK with them to set up tents and close the roads outside of their businesses?
    As stated in the other thread I did personally take the time to ask businesses located near the MongKok protest zone. Some were up, some were down.

    If we look at the potential causes of reduced high rolling shoppers in the area there are probably FOUR principle elements

    1) Reduced Transport Links - Net impact minimal
    Reduced busses travelling and interchanging on Nathan Road will have reduced travel related spending on this 400m stretch and also may have made other areas of the city relatively easier

    2) Students blocking access to shops - No net impact
    They did not but having nathan road as a pedestrian walkway did allow people better access to the west side shopping zones (this may of hurt the traditional triad led activities)

    3) Government warnings to stay away from the area - Some Impact
    The repeated demonising and distortion of the issues by the government and the press certainly did make people think twice about going to MongKok during the OC event. Having travelled in and around the area many times and various. Certainly many mainland visitors I have spoken to would not go shopping in MongKok due to the 'anarchy' while others that did visit the sites were surprised by the civil nature. As a word of caution no-one should really be in MongKok on your own in the small hours.

    4) Chairman Xi's purge of non-aligned corrupt officials - Significant impact
    A common tourist in Hong Kong is the government official coming to buy things VAT free. The threat of having your photo taken with shopping bags in a pro-democracy protest zone would be very career limiting. It has also reduced the value of high rollers going to other local tourist destinations.
    David Smith likes this.

  3. #203

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    2,454

  4. #204
    David Smith

    One point on the economic impact. While it is hard to feel sorry for the big jewellery chains, bear in mind that many of the salespeople are not so rich and make much of their income from commissions. Chow Tai Fook may not be affected overall, if people just go to another branch, but the people who were working in the affected Nathan Road branches probably had a pretty bad two months.

    caruderma likes this.

  5. #205

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    2,454

    Chow tai fook and the other luxury brands are being affected by the anti-graft clampdown. They will continue to see lower sales figures for a while to come - OC or no OC. Yes that's bad news for the staff but it can't be pinned on the students.


  6. #206

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12,799

    Jimmy Lai pays a visit to Joshua Wong on hunger strike




    - at 0:37, Jimmy asks Joshua "How come you're not hungry ? Are you hungry yet ?"

    - at the end, Jimmy is saying that young people aren't going to see things the same way as the older generation, a lot of people are asking whether Joshua should really be doing this; to him, it really shows the students' determination and perseverance
    Cho-man and Mefisto like this.

  7. #207

  8. #208

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12,799
    Rose Tang: Hong Kong Student Leader Joshua Wong's Letter to His Mother 黃之鋒致母親書英文翻譯

    Mum, I Owe You a Birthday Meal

    (原文在後)

    November 30 (Sunday) is mum’s birthday. Before that day, I said to mum: “Mum, I’m very sorry that I won’t be able to celebrate your birthday with you. We’ll take action to escalate our movement. I’ll be up all night at Admiralty and won’t come home. Let’s have that birthday meal on December 1.” Because of my hunger strike, this birthday meal was postponed.

    In fact, I have had pathetically few opportunities to come home to see my family since the Umbrella Movement began. The tents in Admiralty have become my second home, but my real home has become estranged. Whenever I come home to change clothes, parents were either asleep or at work. Even when we actually met, I was too tired to talk and fell asleep because of extreme exhaustion. So we’ve only been chatting here and there on “whatsapp”. I miss having late supper, drinking milk tea on those nights with my family. In my blurred memories, I long for those meals with the whole family at the table.

    Because of this, the only thing in my thoughts when we discussed who would go on hunger strike was mum’s birthday meal. I was worried if I lost the chance to have that meal, when would be our next time to eat at the same table again. I can count with one hand how many meals I have had since the occupation began. I’m not afraid of the sense of starvation brought by a hunger strike. I’m only worried the relationship with my family will become distant because of the hunger strike.

    Nevertheless, I still made this decision, to go on a hunger strike with Prince Wong and Isabella Lo. As Scholarism’s organizer, it’s natural for me to take the responsibility, and should not involve two female students. I need to take action, either going forward or backward, with every fellow student in our group. The more important thing is to be determined not to let the Umbrella Revolution fail.

    Even if the hunger strike won’t be effective -- I know a hunger strike won’t shake the government, and it’s difficult to make them withdraw the decision by the National People’s Congress (NPC). But I’m feeling guilty for returning home empty handed from the Umbrella Movement. Not even a single outcome. This makes one feel rather powerless. But before being arrested again, I’m not planning to occupy indefinitely. When the voices for retreating are becoming louder, I can only use my body to shout at the government, calling out to my fellow warriors who once held umbrellas, facing our original goal that seems to have been forgotten. It’s not about arguing over police over, it’s not about conflicts between blue ribbons and yellow ribbons, but about political problems made by those in power behind the ribbons and batons. We should be back at the negotiation table, solving problems through politics.

    A dialogue between officials and civilians over “restarting political reforms immediately” -- this is not a hefty demand. This demand has no direct connection with the decision (by the NPC) on August 31. It’s not violating the Basic Law. The Hong Kong government received the NPC decision and ignored people’s demands such as “abolishing the Selection Committee (to elect the Chief Executive)” and “nomination by citizens”. We only want the government to restart political reforms, which is within its power to process demands, making officials face issues in Hong Kong. We want the government to overturn all the past consultations, decisions and procedures and start all over again. In so doing, the Umbrella Movement can find a turning point and some hope.

    Asking for dialogue is a very humble demand. The purpose of the hunger strike is to try every means to bring some outcome with all others in this movement. I only hope mother can understand my decision. Do you still remember that you didn’t criticize or question me after I called you about the hunger strike decision? You just said plainly: “I understand. I wait for you, Joshua, to come home for my birthday meal.” After that, I was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt all of a sudden. At that moment, I said many sorries. I knew you asked me to spend less time online and more time to rest. But I still want to publicly thank you and father for your tolerance and support. There’s one sentence that I find it hard to say, thoughI’m a rational, straight forward quick mouth, I’m not used to saying such a thing. But I want to say it to mum, whose birthday was the day before yesterday, mum: I love you.

    The day when C.Y. Leung is willing to have a dialogue with students will be the day to make up for this birthday meal. I will remember what you said: rest and pray during the hunger strike. And finally, please allow me to say this: I am very grateful for and proud of my parents.

    Joshua Wong

    On the 23rd hour of the hunger strike

    December 2, 2014

    Translation by Rose Tang. 轉載英文翻譯請注明譯者為Rose Tang. Twitter推特@rosetangy Facebook 臉書: https://www.facebook.com/rose.l.tang
    usehername, shri and Cho-man like this.

  9. #209

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    3,921

    I wonder if there is any local paper with any credibility left after the OC protests. There is Apple Daily, sure, but its quite sad that a gossip tabloid is the only paper in town willing to offer an alternative view.

    Probably a "conditional" form of press "freedom" is what we'll get:

    Last edited by Cho-man; 04-12-2014 at 12:08 PM.

  10. #210

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    2,454

    CY has categorically ruled out open dialogue or discussing political reform. So now what?


Closed Thread
Page 21 of 32 FirstFirst ... 13 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 29 ... LastLast