Opinion Editorials, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Hong Kongers call for democracy
Gulf News
25-11-2003
Just before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong many people were asking how will the territory cope with China? There was another question much ridiculed at the time but which yesterday was being asked in the tea shops of Kowloon and the plush hotel lobbies in Central and Admiralty, the territory's commercial hub. How will China cope with Hong Kong? Hong Kong, despite its strategic location and rich history, has never been noted for its political activism. Indeed political apathy seemed to be as much a hallmark of the territory as its famous red cabs or skyscrapers. Many people who now live in Hong Kong went there to escape the chaotic politics of the mainland and did not want to get involved in political life. That has now changed as the territory's chief executive Tung Chee-hwa is considered less than wholehearted in his support of civil liberties.
Yesterday's local election results in which pro-democracy parties posted their strongest ever results shows that the territory is now galvanised politically in a way that it has never been. Chris Patten, the territory's last British governor, used to despair at the lack of support in Hong Kong for his democratic reforms. Time and time again the electorate seemed less than enthusiastic to go tho the polls to back them. They were not lacking in enthusiasm yesterday as they queued and waited to cast their ballots and deliver Tung and Beijing a clear message of defiance.
Beijing is worried, for never before in the history of communist China has the government been challenged in such a forthright way through an election. Beijing was and remains deeply suspicious of Hong Kong, regarding the territory as shop soiled goods, too much influenced by its former colonial masters. And so the question resonates. How will it cope with Hong Kong?
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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