Hong Kong Protests Day 8 - The Journalists

“It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear." ~Italo Calvino, Italian journalist and writer

Saturday – October 4, 2014

This morning we woke up to disturbing news here in Taiwan: apparently not only are the police threatening more violence against the protestors, supporters of the central government in Beijing are now involved in the fight and have attacked the protest camps. Further to that, the networks are reporting that members of organized crime may also be involved – strange as it may sound, one can only surmise that the protests are hindering “business as usual” for Hong Kong’s underworld.

In truth, after almost two straight weeks the protests have become a nuisance for much of Hong Kong, both for local residents trying to go about their daily routines as well as for the business world. The traffic is continuously snarled, the very center of the city is immobilized, and in the Mongkok neighborhoods of Kowloon, the protests have effectively shut down block after block of local businesses. Residents and business owners alike are up in arms, not for democracy, but in discontent about the constant disruption to their daily lives.

Amidst all of this, the students have now canceled their scheduled talks with the government. Calling for the dismissal of C.Y. Leung, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the head of the government, the protestors have been continually discouraged by the seemingly uncompromising stand taken by the central government in Beijing and their refusal to consider the students’ concerns and complaints of corruption. As one news outlet said, with regard to Leung, “Beijing’s decision draws a line – you can criticize him, but you can’t ask him to step down.”

Despite the students’ decision to call off their talks, the protests continue to take aim directly at the heart of the city’s governing body - and Leung is the target. Many onlookers believe Beijing will eventually “throw him under the bus” to appease the protestors and bring order back to the city, but for the pro-democracy demonstrators, universal suffrage and the right to freely nominate candidates for Chief Executive in 2017 (without any intervention from Beijing) is the unequivocal end game.

Time will tell as to the end result of this “umbrella movement” – but for the moment, the story is taking on a world-wide life of its own. Although the students continue to feel frustration that their “voice” is not being heard, the story continues to unfold. It is, afterall, “not [only] the voice that commands the story, it’s the ear.” And the world continues to listen.