'Occupy' endgame
Updated: 2014-11-24 06:43
By Staff Writer(HK Edition)
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Recently, "Occupy" movement organizers have become conspicuous by their absence at the protest zones, but this doesn't necessarily mean they have chosen to take a rest. In fact, they are busy planning ways to continue their struggle for "genuine democracy" beyond the occupied zones.
Key perpetrators and opposition lawmakers launched the first "community dialogue day" on Sunday. They were stationed at 21 locations across the city to "share their views on universal suffrage". Plots discussed at these locations included sending volunteers to knock on doors and set up street booths in neighborhoods to peddle "civil disobedience". Naturally, the response of the community has been anything but warm, because the "Occupy" movement has been wreaking havoc on people's livelihoods over the past two months.
Actually, so-called "community dialogue day" marks the humiliating defeat of the "Occupy" farce, which has entered its ninth week but is heading into a dead end. Therefore, the move should be viewed as the latest opposition attempt to rekindle the dying flame by taking the illegal movement to community level.
A slew of opinion polls from various organizations from across the political spectrum have unmistakably indicated that the public is in no mood for high-stakes political games like "Occupy". The latest poll commissioned by the New People's Party (NPP) released on Sunday, shows an overwhelming 82 percent of respondents want the protesters to disperse immediately. Clearly, the public's patience is rapidly dwindling, leaving the opposition one option: withdraw.
Occupied zones are expected to be cleared within days as High Court injunctions are enforced, and hopefully, Hong Kong life will soon return to normal. At this crucial moment, it is vital for citizens to remain vigilant against new opposition tricks, so as to prevent those "democratic hawkers" from shifting the bulk of their subdued "Occupy" movement from the protest zones to the community, to stop those black hands from targeting citizens who were until recently apolitical.
As Hong Kong approaches the post-"Occupy" stage, the "Occupy" trio is expected to take the lead again by keeping "Occupy" sentiment on the boil. Benny Tai Yiu-ting repeatedly claims persistence will lead to changes in the city's political system resulting in a "new" Hong Kong.
While the "Occupy" campaign under the pretext of democracy has lost any aura it might have had and become a "negative political asset", the city's naive and enthusiastic youth remains its most vulnerable age group. It is to be hoped that for the sake of Hong Kong's future, these insidious politicians will stop playing tricks for their own gain at the risk of ruining the future of the students.
(HK Edition 11/24/2014 page7)