![]() ![]() Similarly, that is what the Hong Kong protestors have done to the Hong Kong government: their demonstrations have unmasked their police force’s true colors with the prevalence of two symbolic mantras: “be water” and “an eye for an eye.” First, to evade the Hong Kong police, protestors have embraced one of Bruce Lee’s famous quotes: “be water.” As freelance reporter Erin Hale denotes in one of her pieces from The Independent, the “be water” strategy is more “guerilla-style” in nature, because the protestors move from location to location, thereby decreasing their chances of confronting teargas and getting arrested. Before the end of this two-part song in the Phantom of the Opera, despite his unrequited love for Christine, the Phantom fervently pleads with her to choose him over her betrothed, Raoul, by reprising a song, titled “All I Ask of You.” Instead of fulfilling his wishes, Christine removes his mask in front of the entire audience in the Paris Opera House, thereby exposing his deformed, grotesque face.Īnother slogan is “five demands, not one less” – basically saying even if the extradition bill in Hong Kong is officially withdrawn protests won’t stop until protesters get everything asked for /G8zPddnFJd ![]() Needless to say, as of late, my brain has been like a hamster spinning in its wheel while attempting to keep up with the ensuing political turmoil in Hong Kong, but listening to “The Point of No Return” while reading about Hong Kong triggered something in me, because I asked myself if the chaotic streets of Hong Kong have already fallen fate to the lyrics of this powerful song. Nearly two months later, Lam announced that she would formally withdraw this bill, thereby meeting one of the five demands made by the protestors. In light of these protests, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam declared this bill as “dead” on July 9th, which did close to nothing to appease the anti-extradition protestors. As a Special Administrative Region of China under the “ one country, two systems” framework, the Hong Kong judicial courts have historically maintained autonomy, but with this bill, they would ultimately have to answer to Beijing, which to many residing in Hong Kong means sacrificing their democratic institutions and freedom from Beijing’s watchful eyes. To recap, for the past several months, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Hong Kong residents have actively engaged in mass demonstrations engendered by a proposal to amend a contentious extradition bill, which would enable the Chinese government to detain Hong Kong residents and foreign fugitives who have allegedly committed a crime. Coincidentally, while listening to this song a few weeks back, I happened to be reading an article from one of my favorite news outlets, South China Morning Post, on the mobilization of protests in Hong Kong. ![]()
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