Day 25: Watched the entire televised talks between the HK Federation of Students (HKFS) 學聯 and government delegates as soon as I arrived in Toronto (https://youtube/watch?v=EMVnLB-cf2w). For those of you who havent had the chance to watch it or didnt quite get what it meant, heres the gist in my own words (cutting through the political gibberish): GOVT: The protests have negatively affected many people. Please go home. HKFS: Errrr, the protests happened because we have exhausted all options to get you to talk to us. Would you be sitting here with us in the same room if it werent for Occupy Central? The only one who can send the protestors home is you, not us. GOVT: Look, the political reform framework announced by the NPC Standing Committee 人大常委 on 31 August is a much more democratic way of electing the chief executive, compared to the 1,200-member election committee we used in the 2012 election. HKFS: Please dont take us for fools. (1) The 8/31 framework merely turns the 1,200-member election committee into a 1,200-member nomination committee. (2) The framework actually raises the nomination threshold from 150 votes to 600 votes, thereby blocking all pro-democratic candidates. GOVT: Say what you want, but the 8/31 framework is already set in stone. There is nothing we can do. HKFS: The Standing Committee has been misled by the biased, rose-colored report submitted by you (e.g. the report said a vast majority of HK citizens favor the Functional Constituencies 功能组别). You, as our representatives, need to fight for our rights instead of giving them away. You now need to tell Beijing how we actually feel so that they can revise their framework. Their framework is not an immovable wall and your job is to move it, for us. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Government officials have spent two hours repeating the same rhetoric it has been using for months. The only breakthrough is that Carrie Lam 林鄭 has agreed to submit a supplemental report to the HK-Macau Liaison Office 港澳辦 to properly reflect our real demands. It remains unclear what the supplement can achieve. 2. The talks highlighted the wide gap between preparedness, critical thinking and conviction between the students and our most senior government officials. It perpetuates the popular views that the best and the brightest of Hong Kong all flock to the private sector instead of working for the government. 3. While all five student speakers were amazing, Yvonne Leung 梁麗幗 (the only female representative) has stood out. The worst speaker is Rimsky Yuen 袁國強, even as a lawyer myself I didnt understand his points or his logic. Share, retweet, tell you friends #OccupyCentral #UmbrellaRevolution #HongKong
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 11:49:05 +0000
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