Albano Martins
Many innocent people show little knowledge, or even contempt, for what China has done in these forty years, with many political games behind the scenes within the limits allowed by the system. This world has become a puzzle especially in these times of Trump.
Hypocrisy has become widespread among the political elite who live straddling the fence, corrupt against the general population.
The exercise of politics is done in hypocrisy!
Hong Kong is China, and in this regard it is best to have no doubt. There is no place in Hong Kong for pro-independence movements.
It was good that many “powers” looked more closely at their own countries rather than simply point their fingers at China!
China will never accept the undermining of its sovereignty. It is not smart to be unaware of these boundaries or to confront them! Before the handover, what democracy was there?
The governors were appointed by colonial powers. It takes Western hypocrisy to forget this, while suggesting it should only be a matter for the Chinese.
I think it is very good to fight for more democracy, especially for something greater than there is even in the West, which is a clear hypocrisy. The people who fight for it have to be smart if they want to slow down the integration of the second system in China.
This is the Beijing Achilles heel. The Basic Laws should be completely complied with! But they are not. Instead, China is greedily accelerating the integration before the 50 years are up, and the Greater Bay Area is just one prime example.
Who actively supports this? Probably just businessmen!
On the Chinese side there is congruence, let’s be honest.
Anything that is destructive and provocative (as the happenings at Legco, or the Chinese State Representation in Hong Kong) is a shot in the foot and an attack on intelligence, as is putting a colonial flag in the Legco or walking with it on the streets. It is premeditated provocation.
As to what happened in the Metro, it does not ingratiate the Chinese State or the Hong Kong Government.
To get into this game of stupid violence is to destroy causes! Everyone wants freedom, and of course the young people do. But life’s problems unfortunately are not just solved with freedom.
Political freedom in an environment of rampant exploitation, without fighting for social concerns, in a city where misery and the gap between the rich and the poor is colossal, with many poor people living almost in cages, solves what exactly?
Striving for freedom without minimum equality and no sense of brotherhood is simply fighting for a bag full of holes; nothing can be kept there.
The unbridled exploitation of most people is seen across all systems because of the market economy, and to my knowledge no-one has found a more effective alternative. In China the market economy is accepted but clearly with loss of political freedom!
Let’s be intellectually honest. In all systems, there is little equality, even in opportunity, and no mutual support.
So, what is left to the young people? To fight for the ideals intelligently and authentically and with feet firmly grounded.
What is ideal today may not be many years from now. Those who do not fight for ideals in their youth do not fight for them in the future. They will fight for the protection of their interests but not for better lives for the populations, in either system. Our ideals evolve over time, some even shift to the opposite extreme as one gets older.
Prudence is required in this exercise of contestation and retaliation.
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