Why? In Hong Kong, protestors numbering in the hundreds of thousands turned out in heavy rain to express their opposition to being controlled by Mainland China. They want something that in history has been called self-rule. (In other words, you make your own decisions instead of someone else making them for you.) The protestors have already shut down the airport by sitting knee to knee, covering the floor space. They’ve done all this despite the fact that they know China doesn’t typically put up with protest. In fact, 2019 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations that ended with a smackdown by the Chinese military. In rolled the tanks and out went the demonstrations. But the past isn’t inhibiting the present; following the recent rainy-day demonstration, the world media was filled with pictures of umbrellas filling the streets, oceans of umbrellas, uncountable umbrellas. (But we can bet somebody in the Chinese government is counting.) Why are Hongkongers willing to risk bringing down the thunder of an angered Chinese government on themselves?
(The Umbrellas of Hong Kong)
Meanwhile in Kashmir, a region claimed by both Pakistan and India, the Indian government has moved in with forces to end autonomy (self-rule) and impose top-down control. This move has caused huge numbers of young people to hit the streets. They see their new “visitors” from India as an occupying force, and they say they aren’t afraid to take up arms to send them home. Shades of the American Revolution. Why are these young people who’ve never had a day of military training willing to confront a professional army?
What emboldens protestors to take chances like this? In the U.S. protestors are celebrities-for-a-day; their chants and jeers are a visual feast for the news-hungry cable networks. But the people of Hong Kong bucking China are risking imprisonment (or worse). And who knows what an Indian government crackdown will look like in Kashmir. What’s the motivation? Simple. It’s one word: freedom.
Freedom is the hunger we all share. Neither our race nor our background nor our circumstances matter. We all crave freedom. And we always have.
Freedom is what made the ancient Chinese scholars of Confucius stick to their beliefs about independent thinking despite the fact that they were living under a my-way-or-highway emperor. He buried forty of them alive and burned all their Confucian scrolls. But today, whose name do you recognize: Confucius or Emperor Chin Shi Huang? I’ll bet it’s Confucius. Freedom is what made the Middle Eastern province of Judea (originally Israel) rebel against Rome. The payback was a ruthless bulldoze of the entire area by the Roman military machine. But then, the protestors must have known that would happen. They just couldn’t help themselves. The want of freedom was too strong.
(Confucius taught a fundamental of freedom: You can think better for yourself than someone can think FOR you.)
Freedom was the motivator when the thirteen British colonies decided to call themselves the United States of America, even though the revolutionaries couldn’t quite agree on the idea that freedom in a place isn’t freedom unless everybody has it. Freedom inspired the Hungarians to throw Molotov Cocktails at occupying Russian troops in 1956, and triggered the Prague Spring of ’68 that was quickly – and mercilessly – crushed.
Maybe the most attractive thing about freedom is that it’s a feeling as well as a state of being. Freedom makes us feel like we have worth. It lightens us. It makes life seem worthwhile. Like we have a stake in things. And this is true no matter what kind of freedom we’re talking about. Freedom goes beyond religion and politics and civil rights. Freedom is rock and roll, seeing the USA in your Chevrolet, eating fried Oreos and doughnut hamburgers at the state fair. Freedom is the Beat Generation and the Young Generation, and even the Pepsi Generation. Freedom is Jack Kerouac going On the Road with his eccentric friends, reveling in being themselves whether it made sense or not. Freedom is Ken Kesey following the Kerouac model in the late ‘60’s with a psychedelic bus bearing a sign saying “Further” above the front window. Freedom is a lady of 100 + skydiving because she wants to. Freedom is Harriet Tubman criss-crossing the Maryland border – routinely risking her life – to help enslaved people get out from under.
(The open road has long been a symbol of freedom. Jack Kerouac took a car; Ken Kesey took a customized bus, and Peter Fonda took a bike which in itself is a freedom symbol: Easy Rider, 1969)
(Richie Havens at Woodstock: “Freedom. . . “)
You’re speaking for freedom whether you proudly stand for the pledge of allegiance or whether you proudly “take the knee.” So much of what we think and do revolves around being free or wanting to be free. So let’s cheer for Hong Kong and Kashmir and everywhere else where people are doing what people have always done: trying to be free. Richie Havens said it best at Woodstock. The first eight words of the improvised song that made him famous were:
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
It’s a word that speaks for itself.
Such a timely topic encapsulating the essence of HK protest. As a reader who holds considerable fears for the present HK movement, it was good to be reminded that their seeming recklessness is a normal reaction to gradual state strangulation. We take our freedom for granted and struggle to understand the feelings of those denied that right. I really enjoyed this piece.
Thank you so much for your kind evaluation of my piece. I like the term you used, “state strangulation.” It perfectly expresses a condition that manifests itself across the world. The individual-vs-state battle depicted in classic novels like Fahrenheit 451 is unfortunately very much alive in our day. I appreciate your taking the time to comment.