On September 28th, a mass rally was held in Hong Kong with more than 60,000 people taking to the streets to demand full democracy. The protests were organized by a non-violent civil disobedience movement known as “Occupy Central.” In this week’s Taiwan News Encyclopedia, we find out more about the movement.
Occupy Central with Love and Peace, known as Occupy Central, was organized by democracy activists. The movement has three key leaders: Benny Tai, a law professor; Chan Kin-man, a sociology professor, and Chu Yiu-ming, a church minister.
The group is calling on China to allow Hong Kong residents to elect their own chief executive in 2017. When China issued a ruling in August that put limits on who can stand as a candidate in the election, the group said it would hold a non-violent campaign against the ruling on October 1st, which is China’s National Day. But the group decided to bring forward the protests a few days earlier, following the student-led demonstrations on September 28th.
Dubbed the “Umbrella Movement” by the international media, the campaign introduced by law professor Benny Tai of the University of Hong Kong, is aimed at pressuring China into allowing universal suffrage in an electoral reform in the 2017 elections. The group argues that Hong Kong’s Basic Law or its mini-constitution, promises universal suffrage.
In January of last year, Tsai published an article in the Hong Kong Economic Journal. In the article, he called for an “act of disobedience” to be carried out in Central, which is Hong Kong’s business and financial center… that’s if the universal suffrage proposal to be introduced by the Hong Kong government, is discovered to be emblematic of “fake democracy.”
The group’s official website says that the three founders formed Occupy Central out of their love for Hong Kong. They believe the maintenance of a harmonious society relies on a political system that upholds justice. The trio says that public participation and political awakening are crucial for Hong Kong to elect its own chief executive. With a missionary zeal, they have also vowed to hold dialogues with different groups so that universal values, such as justice, fairness, and democracy, can be shared by all.
Occupy Central has also called for the resignation of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive C. Y. Leung. It is also demanding that the standing committee of the National People’s Congress of China revoke its August ruling, hold open and fair elections, and put into practice the concept of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, which is to “allow the people of Hong Kong to rule themselves.”