Chapter 26 Where did the twenty-three college students go?

Andre's letter to his mother: How much is 250,000 people? MM: Sometimes I wonder: what will Hong Kong be like in the future? I am somewhat critical of Hong Kong, but I still like this city, and I am very concerned about its development──I decided to participate in the parade on December 4th. As we left Parade Avenue, you asked the taxi driver—does he look like someone in his thirties?You asked him why he didn't go to the parade. I was thinking, MM is so stupid, why ask such a stupid question!He didn't go to the parade, of course, because he had to drive for money, so there's no questioning that.

In the end, his answer surprised me.He said, "Why are you marching? What does democracy have to do with me? These people have nothing to do when they are full!" 250,000 people marched (the police said 60,000 people), the organizers seemed very excited, you also said, not bad!But, MM, how can this be called "good"?Do you remember the marches against the Iraq war in 2003?Three million people marched in Rome, 1.3 million people in Barcelona, ​​and a million people took to the streets in London.And what is the population of these cities? Rome - six million. Barcelona - 4.6 million.

London - 7.4 million. Of course, the people who flocked to the urban area to parade came from a large circle around the city, not just people from Rome or London. But think about it, why did the Romans, Barcelona, ​​and Londoners take to the streets?They are marching for an extremely distant country that is thousands of kilometers away from them and they may have never been to it, not for their own city, their own problems, and their own immediate future. In contrast, why do Hong Kong people take to the streets?Isn't it for your own most immediate problems, for your own freedom, for your own children's future?For their own sake, only 250,000 people stood up -- can you say this is "good"?

I may be ignorant, or biased from a European point of view, but I really don't understand how anyone can still question the need for a march. A few days before the parade, I also read an interview in the newspaper by Hu Yingxiang, a big businessman. He called the parade under preparation "mob politics" and compared it with the bloodshed at Tiananmen Square, saying that the parade protests are harmful to democracy. It is useless to fight for it.His words stuck in my head.This Hu man seems to be completely unaware of the million-person demonstration in East Germany in 1989—the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

He also didn't seem to have heard of Gandhi's march for independence at all—India became independent.He also seemed completely unaware that Martin Luther King Jr.'s march on Washington in 1963 had greatly improved the human rights of black people.Does this big businessman know nothing about the Berlin Wall, about Gandhi, about Martin Luther King? When the government insists on going its own way, protests are usually the only way people can express themselves.I'm not saying that everyone should take to the streets to march, but I think everyone should at least have a clear understanding of the issues and what those who advocate taking to the streets are demanding, and then decide their own position.

Back to the taxi driver.He's listening to the radio, so you ask him, "What's the parade count?" It's still around five o'clock in the afternoon.He said, "About a hundred thousand or so." You said, "Not bad." With a kind of triumphant smile, he said, "Ha, but a lot of them are just kids!" Indeed, there were a lot of children in the parade, and many of them came with strollers.There are also a lot of elderly people.Obviously, the driver meant that 100,000 people are nothing, because many of them are children, and children are not counted.

The assignment for my journalism writing class was to visit the people who marched, and nearly everyone I asked "why marched" said, "for my next generation." I'm really touched, MM.All they want is a timetable for democracy. They are not sure whether they will see democracy, but they stand up to ensure that their children will see the day when Hong Kong is democratic—they can bear that they don’t have democracy, but They care about the future of the next generation.I think many people came to this island to escape the communist system, and now it seems that the old shadow has caught up again.

With so many children in the parade crowd, don't they "do not count"?But I think, isn't it children who are the most worthy of people's struggle? Before going out, I asked a few European and American exchange students if they would go to the parade, and found that they would not go, saying that they were going to prepare for the final exam.I was a little surprised, hey, how do you face the historical moment and don't care so much?During the Spanish War in the 1940s, European and American college students rushed to the battlefield to help the Spanish fight for freedom.But should I also defend my classmates?If it wasn't for news writing assignments, maybe I wouldn't do it myself.After all, a place, if you are just passing by, you will not be so concerned and serious.

But what really surprised me was that after arriving at the parade site, I found that middle-aged people, the elderly, and children accounted for the majority, while young people were very few.It seems that the proportion of college students is pitifully small. Where did the college students go?Usually, it is college students who are the first to stand up to criticize reality and resist authority. Many earth-shattering social reforms come from the anger of college students, whether it is Germany in the 19th century or Europe and the United States in the 1960s.You told me there is also the "May 4th" movement in China.So I thought that Victoria Park would be full of college students that day, but it turned out to be the opposite.

So I thought back, yes, on the HKU campus, I didn’t see students caring much about the demands of the parade.There are a few posters, but there is no "atmosphere" of concern for social development on campus, let alone a "trend".Final exams are more important than anything else. Well, MM, what impression do you think this parade left on me?First, a "small" group of people took to the streets to fight for the rights that should belong to them; second, a large number of people don't care what system they live in (as long as they have money); Fourth, universities only care about the instillation of knowledge but not the cultivation of personality and the establishment of ideas.

This is what I saw in December 2005 in Hong Kong. What will Hong Kong be like in the future? Andre