Hong Kong Protests

Those protest for more democracy in Hong Kong are interesting. But no one can be surprised that the ex British colony, which long has had way more freedom than China itself, would eventually call for more freedom than the Chinese dictators want to allow. Online, Chinese censors have removed information and images about the protests and newscasts in mainland China pretend there are no protests there. It's another reminder to those who think China is past the brutal dictatorship phase, that it clearly is not.

The number of posts deleted from the Chinese Web provider Sina Weibo has hit a record high for 2014.  Chinese citizens who show public support for Hong Kong's pro democracy movement face swift reprisals. Police have arrested at least a number of people  in several mainland cities over the past few days for posting pictures online or showing their support in other ways (This according to the  human rights group Amnesty International). Many more have been called in for questioning about their protesting.   The rounding up of activists in mainland China only underlines why so many people in Hong Kong fear the growing control Beijing has in their city's affairs. The dictators in China allow plenty of freedom, but none that involves a threat to their power to control both China and Hong Kong.

Why the protests in Hong Kong when that city has way more freedom and autonomy than any place in China.  Hong Kong people are fed up with worsening conditions under the Chinese government's 'one country, two systems' model.  They also have great access to travel abroad and information that displays a different image of the Chinese government and Chinese society than that which they are asked to believe when watching mainland Chinese news reports.

All displays of freedom in Hong Kong are carefully kept out of sight and out of mind elsewhere in China......as much as possible. I wonder how the dictators in China can stem the tide of democracy, not only in Hong Kong, but in China itself . The implementation of capitalism years ago has already broken part of the dike. The internet is also a forced for more democracy because it shows the world as it is, not as a dictator wants the people to believe it is.

It should be interesting how the mainland Chinese dictators stop the protest. And the will, for the survival of their power depends on it.  The old model of brutality, as in the Tiananmen Square massacre is too unpleasant now that cameras would capture in full detail all the violence the government might use. And the protesters have learned from the past that the best way to confront the dictators is to do it peacefully, to not give them an excuse to slaughter them with the military and police.

It's nice to see China evolving more and more to democracy. The world would be a better place if China would quit the dictatorship and instead enter into the modern world.