On September 24th, students in Hong Kong began boycotting their classes and kickstarted a mass civil disobedience campaign. The students were outraged at the Chinese government’s decision in August to impose limits on Hong Kong people’s voting rights. After initially promising democratic elections with universal suffrage, Beijing announced that all candidates for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong would have to be pre-approved by what is essentially a pro-China nominating committee. In other words, Hong Kong residents will only be able to vote from among pre-selected candidates chosen for their loyalty to Beijing. Not only does this contradict international standards for democratic elections, but it shows Beijing’s reluctance to relinquish political power to the genuine will of the Hong Kong people. Indicatively, upon rejecting open nominations for electing the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Li Fei—the deputy secretary general of the National People’s Congress’ Standing Committee—remarked that “[m]any Hong Kong people have wasted a lot of time discussing things that are not appropriate and aren’t discussing things that are appropriate.” Presumably, it was “inappropriate” for one of the most educated and economically accomplished citizenry in the world to discuss democratic freedoms.
Hong Kong people from all walks of life will occupy the streets and protest against the Chinese government’s authoritarian stance on Wednesday, October 1st—the National Day of the People’s Republic of China and the 65th anniversary of when Mao Zedong stood atop Tiananmen Square, proclaiming that “the Chinese people have risen!” Symbolically, Hong Kong students and other activists are also rising up to demand that the Chinese government listen to their calls for freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, in the lead-up to the massive October 1st protests, police have responded with unwarranted violence—firing teargas and pepper spray—while threatening to shoot protestors with guns if they do not disperse. The protests have so far been peaceful, with no reported incidents of property destruction or physical violence on the part of civilians. The state-sponsored crackdown on protestors have brought fresh eerie memories of the Tiananmen Massacre, which the Chinese government still refuses to acknowledge to this day.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is accorded constitutional status in Hong Kong. The violent police response against peaceful protestors—caught in photographs and videos—raises serious constitutional and international law concerns. The televised scenes of civilian protestors trying to shield themselves from police weaponry with umbrellas have led some to call this tenacious campaign of civil disobedience as the “Umbrella Revolution,” the longest series of political protest since the 1997 handover.
As a member of the Harvard Law Students Advocates for Human Rights and the son of two proud Hong Kong parents, I thought it especially important and suitable to organize a student photo rally showing solidarity to Hong Kong protestors. As law students who understand the intrinsic value and fundamental importance to participate in free, fair, and genuine democratic elections, we have a heightened duty to show our support. While peacefully asking the Chinese government for their democratic rights to be respected, the Hong Kong people are also looking for international support. The least we can do is to take a photo.
