Hong Kong's Democratic Struggle Produces an Occupy Movement

FOR more than 30 years now, political activists in Hong Kong have been agitating for a more democratic political system. On August 31st China made it plain they will not get their way. “Take it or leave it,” is how the South China Morning Post summed up China’s position. Not wanting to take it, several thousand people attended a rally in protest that rainy Sunday evening. They heard Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a mild and thoughtful academic, declare a new “era of resistance” and civil disobedience. He is one of the organisers of the “Occupy Central” movement, which is planning waves of street protest, culminating in the peaceful “occupation” of Hong Kong island’s central business district. “The road of dialogue has come to the end,” he said. Months of debilitating confrontation are in prospect.

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