Forum 2000, Praha
Democracy & Education
Opening ceremony 2015
Alex Chow
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Alex Chow, I’m from Hong Kong, I am grateful that Forum 2000 has invited me here today to share some of my experience with you, and also the experience of (millions) of people in Hong Kong who did mobilize the Umbrella Movement last year, which stunned the world proudly.
I am one of those millions of people who blocked the main street in Hong Kong for more than three months. I’m 25 years old, the previous time I mentioned my age publicly was I being the representative of students debating with the top officials of Hong Kong government, demanding that we needed a fair and just democratic reform for Hong Kong.
Today, I’m still a student, but I’m legally and politically accused as attending illegal assembly; that means, I’m going to court next month. My case is not an individual case, there has been more than thousands of people arrested in Hong Kong, and 140 cases related to the Umbrella Movement, and there’s more to come.
We youngsters, our generation, are likely to be convicted as criminals, no matter we are stigmatized or legally convicted. If you ask me if I’ll be frightened or if the youngsters will be scared, I don’t know if you expect the answer to be yes or no, but to be honest, sometimes we are also panic, haunted.
Pro-Beijing media and authorities would defame us as idiot and childish, and the supporters of the government may insult us with foul language in the street, on public transportation, or even online. Our family members put a lot of pressure on us asking us to leave the streets. We were also heart-broken facing the internal conflict of the Movement. This was what I encountered last year and I’ve yet fully recovered from the wound.
The point is, we participated in the Umbrella Movement not simply for fun. If we leave alone the city, leave alone Hong Kong at the hand of Beijing, we’ll face more deteriorating situation, like the land price has skyrocketed, (people in) our society do not have protection in terms of working hours, youngsters cannot purchase homes, not even room for them to reflect upon their lives. Living in Hong Kong is simply that you have to work endlessly from 9 to 9. Is this the life we expect in such a modernized city, like Hong Kong, today?
If this is the situation that we are facing, when we get older, we will not receive respect from the society, rather the elderly will be regarded as trash from the point of view of the society or the authority. This is for sure more frightening than what we are facing in the face of Beijing or in the face of legal prosecution.
People may ask how change could be possible. Courage is important in launching a revolution, but to me, the real foundation of revolution or change is wisdom and compassion. If we do not concern about the people around us, we would not dare to make changes, we will not dare to walk beyond the limitation and the boundary set by the authority. This is what we need to propound changes. Although in the Umbrella Movement we have faced a lot of setbacks, a friend in Australia told me and reminded me that revolution is not an event, revolution is a process; so I believe the Umbrella Movement is simply a batch of the resistance which are pursuing a more fair, just society with love.
People in Hong Kong today, we, as members in Hong Kong community or even members in the international communities, we are having this responsibility on our shoulders. I believe we do affect one another; the Umbrella Movement is not simply an event happening in Hong Kong, it also affects China, it also affects other places in the world. We all share the same future, we all share the same planet. And I believe there’s more to come, more Umbrella Movement, more education, this is what we’re foreseeing.
Although we may be sentenced to jail or sentenced to somewhere else, this does come with love. The Movement is an attempt to resist the authoritative regime and this is also an attempt to root justice, fairness, and love in our society. I’m looking forward to it, I kind of believe there’s more to come, and there’s really a just, fair, lovely future is ahead waiting for us. Thank you.