{"id":18002,"date":"2018-07-01T02:12:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T18:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=18002"},"modified":"2018-07-01T02:12:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T18:12:05","slug":"hong-kongs-june-4-vigil-what-did-the-student-boycott-achieve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2018\/07\/01\/18002\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong\u2019s June 4 vigil: What did the \u2018student boycott\u2019 achieve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet again Hong Kong organised a powerful\u00a0act of defiance on 1989 massacre anniversary<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vincent Kolo, Socialist Action (CWI in Hong Kong)<\/p>\n

Around 115,000 people, Hong Kongers plus thousands of mainland visitors, turned out for this year\u2019s June 4 commemoration in Hong Kong. This was an increase on last year\u2019s attendance, confounding the expectations of the pro-Beijing establishment.<\/p>\n

The mass gathering is a powerful act of defiance. Not only do the people of Hong Kong continue to honour the mass movement of 29 years ago that came close to toppling the \u2018Communist\u2019 Party dictatorship, but after two years of unprecedented attacks, repressive laws, manipulation of Legco elections and jailing of protesters, it shows the people\u2019s resolve to fight for democracy is indestructible.<\/p>\n

Against this background the decision of\u00a0the Federation of Students and Hong Kong\u2019s eight student unions which make up the Federation, for the fourth year running, to refuse to participate in the June 4 vigil looks more and more ludicrous and out of touch with reality.<\/p>\n

The student unions, under \u2018localist\u2019 leadership since 2015, justify their decision to stay away from the Victoria Park event with several arguments: anti-China nationalism, dissatisfaction with the pan-democratic dominated \u2018Alliance\u2019\u00a0which hosts the vigil, and because they object to the slogan \u201cbuild a Democratic China\u201d. The full name of the Alliance is Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.<\/p>\n

This year, once again, the student unions\u2019 stand drew massive media publicity. Pro-government media choose to publicise the \u2018boycott\u2019 to portray a deep split in the opposition to dictatorship. The more liberal sections of the media also treated this as a big story, but for different reasons, mistakenly believing the leaders of the student unions speak for significant numbers of youth when in fact they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

This media coverage gave the localist-inspired \u2018boycott\u2019 much greater significance than it warranted. The higher turnout at the June 4 vigil puts the students\u2019 stayaway in perspective. Tens of thousands of young people joined the vigil, disregarding the student unions\u2019 line. Nor did the student leaders organise any rival June 4 activities, as they have in previous years although with limited success.<\/p>\n

There is significant dissatisfaction with the Alliance\u2019s conduct of the annual commemoration, which they have tried to de-politicise and separate from today\u2019s struggle. But the student unions\u2019 so-called boycott merely adapts and merges itself into this existing mood, rather than directing or giving it an organised form.<\/p>\n

The June 4 \u2018boycott\u2019 this year was an especially lame protest \u2013 nothing more than a press statement. This sums up the blind alley of right-wing localism, which rages against the lack of fight of the pan-democratic leaders (something we can agree upon), but does\u00a0not offer an alternative.<\/p>\n

Since Carrie Lam\u2019s appointment university campuses have faced unprecedented attacks. The \u2018independence\u2019 banners episode was used by the authorities to further limit students\u2019 freedom of speech. The Baptist University Mandarin language dispute has been used to discipline student activists as a deterrent to others. The localist-led student unions have been incapable of mobilising serious struggle against these attacks. Once again, the sectarian politics of localism has led to self-isolation.<\/p>\n

In a further contradiction, the Federation of Students actually went to the June 4 vigil area to raise money for their \u2018political prisoner fund\u2019 but did so in a low-key manner without putting a political\u00a0alternative\u00a0to the pan-democratic leaders and the\u00a0\u2018Alliance\u2019.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t\u00a0it\u00a0have made more sense in this case to\u00a0end their\u00a0\u2018boycott\u2019\u00a0in order to unite with\u00a0115,000 protesters\u00a0and\u00a0conduct a bolder campaign over the persecution of localists like Edward Leung and to protest the attacks on campus freedom of speech? Maintaining the \u2018boycott\u2019 position was about giving a show of doing something when in fact doing nothing.<\/p>\n

Students in Hong Kong cannot afford passive non-fighting student unions. The increasing government repression means there is an urgent need to build a fighting and democratic leadership for students, to turn the student unions into real struggle organisations. This is what socialists stand for.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Candle-light vigil in Hong Kong on June 4.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Background: Student unions \u2013 a counter-revolution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As socialists warned at that time,\u00a0localist activists\u00a0were able to profit three years ago from a mood of dissatisfaction among students with the previous more pan-democratic-aligned leaders of the Federation of Students. This mood coalesced with frustration and disappointment at the failure of the Umbrella Revolution to achieve change. The student unions were seen as aloof, bureaucratic organisations under the previous leadership.<\/p>\n

Under their control the student unions were never turned into democratic campaigning organisations. This became strikingly clear during the Umbrella Revolution, which given the key role of youth should have been a historic moment for genuine fighting student unions to prove themselves \u2013 mobilising, organising and debating the political tasks of the movement. But the student unions played only a peripheral role.<\/p>\n

While individual student leaders became faces of the Umbrella Movement, they were largely operating in a vacuum without any real organisation behind them.<\/p>\n

The localists gained from protest votes to eject the old leadership, capturing control of the student unions the following year. But under localist leadership the very same problems \u2013 bureaucracy, lack of grassroots involvement\u00a0and\u00a0internal democracy,\u00a0no\u00a0mass campaigning work \u2013 have become even worse. Nobody would claim the student unions have become stronger today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet again Hong Kong organised a powerful\u00a0act of defiance on 1989 massacre anniversary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":18003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[132,133,124],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-china","8":"category-hong-kong","9":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\nHong Kong\u2019s June 4 vigil: What did the \u2018student boycott\u2019 achieve? - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2018\/07\/01\/18002\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong\u2019s June 4 vigil: What did the \u2018student boycott\u2019 achieve? 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