The Appearing Demos: Hong Kong During and After the Umbrella Movement

Pang, Laikwan

doi:doi:10.3998/mpub.11357429

The Appearing Demos: Hong Kong During and After the Umbrella Movement

Pang Laikwan 2020

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As the waves of Occupy movements gradually recede, we soon forget the political hope and passions these events have offered. Instead, we are increasingly entrenched in the simplified dichotomies of Left and Right, us and them, hating others and victimizing oneself. Studying Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, which might be the largest Occupy movement in recent years, The Appearing Demos urges us to re-commit to democracy at a time when democracy is failing on many fronts and in different parts of the world.

The 79-day-long Hong Kong Umbrella Movement occupied major streets in the busiest parts of the city, creating tremendous inconvenience to this city famous for capitalist order and efficiency. It was also a peaceful collective effort of appearance, and it was as much a political event as a cultural one. The urge for expressing an independent cultural identity underlined both the Occupy movement and the remarkably rich cultural expressions it generated. While understanding the specificity of Hong Kong's situations, The Appearing Demos also comments on some global predicaments we are facing in the midst of neoliberalism and populism. It directs our attention from state-based sovereignty to city-based democracy, and emphasizes the importance of participation and cohabitation. The book also examines how the ideas of Hannah Arendt are useful to those happenings much beyond the political circumstances that gave rise to her theorization. The book pays particular attention to the actual intersubjective experiences during the protest. These experiences are local, fragile, and sometimes inarticulable, therefore resisting rationality and debates, but they define the fullness of any individual, and they also make politics possible. Using the Umbrella Movement as an example, this book examines the "freed" political agents who constantly take others into consideration in order to guarantee the political realm as a place without coercion and discrimination. In doing so, Pang Laikwan demonstrates how politics means neither to rule nor to be ruled, and these movements should be defined by hope, not by goals.

ISBN(s)

978-0-472-03768-1 (paper)
978-0-472-13178-5 (hardcover)
978-0-472-12650-7 (ebook)

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Citable Link

This photograph shows two individuals playing table tennis in the middle of a street at night. The street is crowded with pedestrians and several people are watching the game.

Table tennis on Nathan Road, October 9, 2014

From Introduction

Fig. 1. Table tennis on Nathan Road, October 9, 2014. (Photo by Chan Yik-Chiu, provided by Apple Daily.)

This photograph shows a laminated sign with the address Number 3, Harcourt Road, Umbrella Villa in Chinese attached to a tent

“No. 3, Harcourt Road, Umbrella Villa”

From Chapter 1

Fig. 2. “No. 3, Harcourt Road, Umbrella Villa”—New address devised by the tent occupants in Admiralty. (Photo by Carol Chow, provided by Carol Chow.)

A young woman, Agnes Chow Ting, stands surrounded by a group of people chanting at a rally. Her right arm is raised, bent at the elbow, and she is making a fist. Several people hold signs with Chinese text

Agnes Chow Ting running for the Legislative Council, 2017

From Chapter 2

Fig. 3. Agnes Chow Ting running for the Legislative Council, 2017. (Photo provided by Agnes Chow.)

Photographed from the back, Wong Fung-Yiu (Old Lady Wong) sits in a folding chair in the street. She has white hair, wears glasses and an air pollution mask, and is covered with a blanket. Two security officers stand across the street, facing her

Wong Fung-Yiu guarding Lok Lei Street

From Chapter 2

Fig. 4. Wong Fung-Yiu guarding Lok Lai Street. (Photo by Fernando Cheung, provided by Fernando Cheung.)

A college student, Wong Ching-Fung, sits at an outdoor table. Photographed from the waist up, his arms rest on the table and his hands are folded. He is looking past the camera into the distance. Paper signs with Chinese text hang from the front of the table

Wong Ching-Fung running for the President of CUHK Student Union, 2015

From Chapter 2

Fig. 5. Wong Ching-Fung running for president of CUHK Student Union, 2015. (Photo by David Chan, provided by Wong Ching-Fung.)

In this photograph, Big Uncle Wong, an elderly man, smiles with his eyes closed. He sits on a chair in the street, wearing a cargo vest and baseball cap and holding a cane with both hands. Behind him, chairs and tents are on the sidewalk in front of a building

Big Uncle Wong during the Umbrella Movement

From Chapter 2

Fig. 6. Big Uncle Wong during the Umbrella Movement. (Photo by Lee Yuan-Fong, provided by Apple Daily.)

The foreground of the photo shows a board bearing two political posters leaning against a signpost. The poster on the left pictures Hannah Arendt next to text in Chinese about her concept of the banality of evil. The poster on the right, with text in Chinese and English, criticizes a faction of the political left. The background shows a street at night

A stand on Nathan Road during the Occupy

From Chapter 2

Fig. 7. A stand on Nathan Road during Occupy, with a leaflet about Arendt’s “banality of evil” on the left and a handout reminding the occupants not to trust “leftards” on the right. (Photo by Carol Chow, provided by Carol Chow.)

This is a screen shot of an online glossary of terms from the Umbrella Movement. The terms are scattered across the screen, with an English translation below each Chinese term

“Umbrella Terms” 1

From Chapter 3

Fig. 8. Umbrella Terms (top and bottom), an online glossary created for Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement by Helen Fan and her team in 2014. (Screenshot courtesy of the author.)

“Umbrella Terms” 2

From Chapter 3

Fig. 8. Umbrella Terms (top and bottom), an online glossary created for Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement by Helen Fan and her team in 2014. (Screenshot courtesy of the author.)

This screen shot shows a group chat using the Telegram app, which was popular among Hong Kong student activists during the Occupy movement. The text is in Chinese

Telegram conversation of Information Distribution Central Station of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, October 4, 2014

From Chapter 3

Fig. 9. Telegram conversation of the Information Distribution Central Station of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, October 4, 2014. (Screenshot courtesy of the author.)

Facebook page, “Defending Lester and Alex Occupying Wushan HeHe Group.”

From Chapter 3

Fig. 10. Facebook page for Defending Lester and Alex Occupying Wushan HeHe Group. (Screenshot courtesy of the author.)

This is a close-up photo of a plant growing from a small patch of dirt placed in the street by an Occupy artist. Tents line either side of the street, and skyscrapers several blocks away are in the background

Planting on Harcourt Road, Admiralty, October 24, 2014

From Chapter 4

Fig. 11. Planting on Harcourt Road, Admiralty, October 24, 2014. (Photo by Law Kwan-Ho, provided by Apple Daily.)

A young woman climbs an outdoor staircase that is completely covered with Post-It notes bearing messages from activists. A banner hung from the ceiling reads, “Lennon Wall Hong Kong” while a sign over the staircase says, “We are not alone

The Hong Kong Lennon Wall just before its dismantling, December 14, 2014

From Chapter 4

Fig. 12. The Hong Kong Lennon Wall just before its dismantling, December 14, 2014. (Photo by Ray Lai, provided by Ray Lai.)

This photo shows a staircase with four steps that makes it possible to walk over a concrete barrier in the street. Tents are visible on the opposite side of the barrier

One of the first stairways in Admiralty, October 2014

From Chapter 4

Fig. 13. One of the first stairways in Admiralty, October 2014. (Photo by Brother Four, provided by Brother Four.)

In the study area created on the street, students sit at long tables, some made out of boards placed on top of barriers. Students are using laptops, tablets, phones, and printed texts. In this night-time photo, lights glow over the desks. On either side of the street, crowds pass by, with some stopping to look at the students

Charter Study Area at night, October 5, 2014

From Chapter 4

Fig. 14. Charter Study Area at night, October 5, 2014. The desks on the left were built on the Jersey barrier. (Photo by Yik Yueng-Man, provided by Apple Daily.)

A young man stands alone with his back to the camera among rows of concrete sewage-cover road blocks. Past the barrier gates several yards in front of him people walk along a busy city street

Layers of roadblocks made up by sewerage-cover built by occupants in Long Wo Road Tunnel, October 15, 2014

From Chapter 4

Fig. 15. Layers of roadblocks made of sewer covers and built by occupants in Long Wo Road Tunnel, October 15, 2014. (Photo by Yik Yeung-Man, provided by Apple Daily.)