This Sunday somewhere between 60,000 and 250,000 people, depending on who was doing the counting, marched to the government house to demonstrate for universal sufferage. In Hong Kong this means being able to vote for the chief executive and the legislative council.
The CEO is now “elected” by a committee of 800 citizens who are all appointed by Beijing. Only 40% of the legislative council is elected directly. The others are chosen by functional constituencies. Universal sufferage is guaranteed by the handover agreement but there is no fixed date. Democrats want it as soon as possible. Beijing says, “sometime.”
it was a typical Hong Kong Demonstration. From the news accounts, everyone seemed to be having a good time. I marched in one 3 years ago along with 500,000 others and it was fun rather than intense. The Chinese government has responded already by saying maybe we need to look at the current framework for the progress of democracy. So maybe something positive will come out of it.
One positive is that the world may stop seeing Hong Kong as a place where people are only interested in making money.
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