Hong Kong: Why Occupy Central?

Hong Kong: Why Occupy Central? Oiwan Lam
A group of activists in Hong Kong have occupied the ground floor of the iconic HSBC building in Central District for almost one week since October 15, 2011, in response to the global call for solidarity with the Wall Street Occupation.

Although some people find the slogan “Down Down Capitalism” too ideological, the occupation does provide a reflective space for people to look into the problem of the existing economic system which has marginalized the majority.


There are so many social problems in Hong Kong. The Gini index is similar to African countries, income disparity is so extreme. The rich take all the wealth in their own pockets while the income of the poor can barely sustain their lives. The property developers control people's life, the property prices have increased to such a crazy level that people have to spend their whole lives working like slaves for the developers and the government officials take it for granted.

The issue at stake is where do all these problem stem from? Let us reinstate our study group's stand. All these problems come from the very structure of capitalism. The capitalists have to exploit the workers for capital accumulation… A radical solution of the problems is to abolish the capitalist system.

Perhaps we have been brainwashed by the spirit of the Lion Rock [a symbol of Hong Kong] for too long or perhaps we don't understand the root cause of the problems. That's why we never have heard any anti-capitalist statement nor have witnessed any anti-capitalist social movement.

The anti-capitalist circle is thus very weak and this Occupy Central movement is a great opportunity.


There are so many social problems in Hong Kong. The Gini index is similar to African countries, income disparity is so extreme. The rich take all the wealth in their own pockets while the income of the poor can barely sustain their lives. The property developers control people's life, the property prices have increased to such a crazy level that people have to spend their whole lives working like slaves for the developers and the government officials take it for granted.

The issue at stake is where do all these problem stem from? Let us reinstate our study group's stand. All these problems come from the very structure of capitalism. The capitalists have to exploit the workers for capital accumulation… A radical solution of the problems is to abolish the capitalist system.

Perhaps we have been brainwashed by the spirit of the Lion Rock [a symbol of Hong Kong] for too long or perhaps we don't understand the root cause of the problems. That's why we never have heard any anti-capitalist statement nor have witnessed any anti-capitalist social movement.

The anti-capitalist circle is thus very weak and this Occupy Central movement is a great opportunity.

It is difficult for mainstream Hong Kong society to stand by the side of the occupants. Blogger Birdlw's questions [zh] reflect common people's doubts:


The economy in Europe and the United State is very bad. Their debts, unemployment rate and social discontent are very severe. I can understand their action.
However, Hong Kong has a stable economy, our unemployment rate is just 3%, why still occupy Central?
I really don't understand.
What do the protesters want to express and strike for?
After they have occupy Central, what will be their next action? A radical reform of the financial system in Hong Kong?
How can that be done? How would Hong Kong people accept such change?
If the protesters do not have plan to reform the finance system, what is the point of this occupation? Just for the sake of protest? After this protest party, will they will look for another topic to protest about?
The finance industry is a very important sector in Hong Kong. Many people depend on it for a living. Once it has been shaken, many people will lose their job. Government tax income will shrink and social welfare will be cut. Have they thought about all these things?
Anthony Chung believes that [zh] income disparity is inevitable because people are greedy:


Even if the government redistributed all the wealth equally now, even if Li Ka-shing shared his wealth with every one in Hong Kong and each of us got one million and an apartment, in 10 years the majority of the wealth would fall back to the same group of people.
Some people would spend the money for enjoyment… the Central finance experts would induce people's greed with all the finance investment package and transfer the money to their own pockets. The business experts in Mongkok and Causeway Bay would introduce fashionable products to make money. The property experts would invest in property and get more and more apartments.
They win because they know the rules of the game and are good at managing their wealth. Income disparity? The government can do little, we have to depend on ourselves.
Chiu08112003 however, points out that the rules of the game are not fair in the first place, in particular after the handover of Hong Kong to China. He describes the situation in a sarcastic tone [zh]:



The post 1980s generation and alternative poor guys do not want to be squeezed into a meat roll. They miss Chairman Mao's redistribution of the landlord's land, and talk bullshit about strikes, revolts, robbing and revolution. They want to share the landlords' apartments and wealth, want the stock market to collapse, want the money to fall from the sky; the rich fight back. Like dragons, they strangle the central government, talk bullshit that if the government let them go veggie and stop eating meat with their shark-mouths, they would take all their money and migrate elsewhere. Hong Kong will be struck by thunder.

Since the handover of Hong Kong to China, the government has become a puppet controlled by the central government and the tycoons. They claim that they are protecting economic freedom in Hong Kong, but that's a cover-up of their monopoly and exploitative measures. They are foot-dragging in opening up the market to reinforce their monopoly status; or they use all kind of pretexts to get special favors for land development rights. The losers would never know how they make their profit. The capitalists are working hand in hand with the government in this monopoly system. The high land price has squeezed small developers from the market and the giant developers have controlled all the land resources and profit rate. They extend their influence to other areas such as the sales industry, by forcing the suppliers to give them monopolized rights to sell their products. The trend for big corporates to monopolize the market is getting obvious. The monopoly of supermarkets, the merging of railway companies and bus companies have excluded SMEs from the market.

The government ignore the monopoly and let the giant corporates control the market. The essence of monopoly is against economic freedom and harms the business environment and consumer rights. The so-called liberal economy is just a pretext to monopoly. The competition between giant corporates and small business is like a fight between an armed man and a kid, however when someone hands the kid a rod to defend itself the monopoly class feels unhappy and order their drummers and loquacious women to give lectures about “fairness”, blaming society for helping out the kid. Their bullshit is so stinky. Hong Kong is yet to pass its anti-monopoly law under the influence of monopolized capital, can we still say it is a free economy?

Hui Yuk believes that [zh] the greatest achievement of the occupation is the reflective space it has generated:


When people begin to accept an indefinite goal, they start imagining, which is a state of demanding. The occupation has disrupted our habit and opened up a reflective space. People are yet to understand and exclaim: occupation can happen in Hong Kong! We have to be aware that “occupation” is not just a pure resistant action like protecting one's home. The media only sees occupation as social struggle and cannot understand its multidimensional meaning. It has subverted the symbolic space, such as turning an office into a home and turning the workers into guests. People has to reconstruct the order of the space and the activists have to re-interpret such space. People within that space transform from as passive users or consumers into active interpreters and in the process they have reclaimed their autonomy.