protest – Pike & Hurricane

Photo story: Black Lives Matter Malmö [4 June 2020; 9 June 2020]

Merle Emrich — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 15:42:45 +0000

The post Photo story: Black Lives Matter Malmö [4 June 2020; 9 June 2020] appeared first on Pike & Hurricane.

Hong Kong’s Protests and the reality of news

Nina Kolarzik — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 15:43:47 +0000

What do you think about when you read a newspaper, listen to the updates on the radio, the news app on your phone, the news programme on TV? For me, since it is far away, it often seems like a story, a myth. And I have to stop and take a step back to remind myself that these are things that are happening right now. The burning of the Australian bush. The plague of locusts in East Africa. The spread of the Corona virus from China. All the other news we list under Yesterday’s News, Today’s Reality. It continues while I read about it and people are affected by it.

And sometimes, you are one of these people and the events happen where you are. Be it a catastrophe, a surprising election, anything – there might be the moment when you realise that what is happening around you is a part of history, it will be in the news later. But how does it change our perspectives and focus?

A picture that changes

I have interviewed Maike about this topic, a student from Malmö University who was on exchange in Hong Kong from August until November 2019. Maike studied in Hong Kong during the time of some of the major events of the protests: when Carrie Lam withdrew the extradition bill or the protests during the anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. When police forces entered the university campus in November and students defended it, the confrontations between protesters and government forces caused big destruction of campus facilities and the university was unable to continue the semester and Maike returned home. Since she was directly affected by the protests that were going on in the city at that time, she could reflect on the difference between the news and reality and shared her experience with me.

Pike & Hurricane (P&H): The protests in Hong Kong already started in June and the media reported widely on it. Therefore, you were prepared about the situation of her host country. But talking about myths and the story media tell of an event, did the image you had change when you got there and saw what happened?

Maike: Yes and No. I think Hong Kong is very privileged in how it is being covered. I mean 2019 was a year of global protest, there were in so many different regions of the world protests between governments and citizens and very similar topics actually. And if you look at the coverage that Hong Kong got versus the coverage that Haiti or Ecuador for example got than it’s very different.

What I think changed about my impression of it is that, surprise!, it is not as black and white as presented. What I think for me really changed was that what the media really lacks is this human face behind it. So you see, there is the movement and there is the police, and the government and the protesters. And either you are completely for the movement or you are completely against it. But you don’t show the people that are super torn. And I think that for me was a very important acknowledgement to make. Because I recognised that I in the beginning judged people in terms of that they told me something about the protest and I tried to put them into a category: I think this person is for the movement, I think this person is against the movement.

The media coverage as I said is very extensive, but it’s also very sensation-led. So they look a lot on “this big event happened” and there are so many pictures of fires and the violence, but they show less about the personal struggle of people.

Maike said that after spending several months in Hong Kong, the picture of the events became less clear cut, because she got to know more about the context and different layers of the conflict. “What I didn’t really grasp before I got there, since it is missing from the coverage, was the different levels- that there are not only two parties in the conflict and that opinions are not clear cut. People might disagree with the government, but feel like being culturally Chinese. How does one deal with that? You know these kinds of things and I think it is such an important aspect since identity in general plays a big role in this conflict. And it is lacking in a sense from the media coverage in terms of that it is very categorised.”

P&H: How do identity and character influence your perception of the events?

Maike: I think I would have experienced it very differently if I would have been a Hong Kong local, whereas I am a European, who was there for half a year. I knew from the beginning that I would be able to leave at any point if things would get critical. And I think that is something that still now is very much there.

I know that sounds stupid, but I feel guilty. Because I know that I couldn’t have done anything as such and that it is not my fight to fight and I have no power whatsoever to help and I know that it is not my position to take. But it felt wrong to just be able to leave.

Maike is back in Malmö, but living in a place builds a connection. You know what certain events mean for the people. And at the same time the distance is back. “It is definitely weird now in that sense that I can literally turn off the TV or wherever I see it, Instagram or news outlet, I can just turn off my phone and it will not affect me in a sense.”

Stories we hear about

Media is creating a story, they tell an event in a certain way. And depending on the narrator, this story can differ a lot. “I don’t think the media is wrong in being critical when it comes to police violence and the government”, Maike says, “but you can definitely see that they are very West-centric. So they are very much tempted to make China look like the bad guy, no matter what they do. […] It is very striking when the Chinese government uses the words ‘rioters’ and ‘extremists’ for the protesters, but it is also striking when Western news outlets always use the words ‘democracy fighters’ and stuff like this, it is very much about this language aspect. I don’t say I think it is bad, but neutrality-wise… you could definitely see that a lot.”

Every story is just part of a bigger one. They give a context and meaning to it, describe the actors and their position, leave out bits and are rarely completely neutral. Most people in Hong Kong still lived their normal life. While the news showed a lot of conflict and smoke and fires, this is in reality rather isolated and just in a few parts of the city. And what was in Hong Kong news topic number one, it was for the world one of several news.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

“Blätterwald”, Björn Seibert, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“HONG KONG-INDONESIA-SOCIAL-LABOUR”, inmediahk, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The myth of the right-wing East and how Thuringians proofed the opposite

Nina Kolarzik — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 16:03:50 +0000

The city Erfurt in the central German federal state Thuringia has a long tradition of being shaped by its citizens. This was shown again on the 5th of February, when an election woke up people and parties all over Germany. A regionally focused opinion about a global problem: citizens struggling with their elected representatives.

The progression of events

After the regional elections in Thuringia in November 2019, the election for the Bundesland’s prime minister (PM) took place in the regional parliament. For the context: the office holder Bodo Ramelow for the Left stood for election, as did Christoph Kindervater for the AfD, the right-wing nationalist party. The first two ballots saw no winner because no one gained the absolute majority. In the third ballot, when only a relative majority mattered, a third candidate suddenly appeared: Thomas Kemmerich from the FDP (liberal Democrats). He won with 45 votes against Ramelow (44 votes, Kindervater 0). To understand the political earthquake this created it is necessary to know that the FDP, with only 5% of the votes, barely managed to get into the parliament. The election of Kemmerich was only possible due to votes from the CDU (Conservatives) and the AfD. And with that, the chaos was perfect.

Protest against Kemmerich

Everything about the political events, statements and discussion of the parties can be read in the main German news outlets that constantly reported about it. What was little talked about is what happened in Thuringia’s streets, what moved civil society: They saw a problem and did not let it go without a comment. Spontaneously, demonstrations formed all over the state’s capital Erfurt. Around 5pm a crowd gathered at the state chancellery, where Ramelow’s office was located.

The message is spreading fast in social media. People are coming into the city just for the protest or join spontaneously while being on a walk. A speaker talks of 2000 participants. All generations are represented.

“Kemmerich wir woll’n dich nicht!” [Kemmerich, we don’t want you!]

It is cold but the crowd remains for hours in front of the state chancellery, peaceful, but shouting to the windows. Not everyone agrees – a man who passes says “Go home” to the protesters. But energy is rising with the call: “Bodo ans Fenster” [Bodo to the window]. It reminds of the historic meeting of Willy Brandt and Willi Stoph in 1970. The protesters demand the resignation of Kemmerich and re-elections. But Kemmerich refuses. After one hour, a human chain is forming around the chancellery to hinder Kemmerich from entering. He is not our PM, they say.

Why the protest?

In the political landscape there is not only Good and Bad. Maybe Kemmerich’s politics have some good ideas. A Kemmerich as PM is one thing – a PM who got into office thanks to the votes of a right-wing party is something different. One who thinks that the public is just going to accept that has miscalculated the situation, is short sighted or simple minded.

CDU and FDP decline a formal cooperation with the AfD, Kemmerich portrays himself as their opponent also in the future. So, what is the people’s problem? First, there is the size of the Thuringian FDP. Kemmerich is far from having a majority, since he declines to work with the AfD and the Left, and Social Democrats and the Green party decline to work with him. His government would have been incapable of working. With 5%, the FDP would have been governing a federal state that voted for something completely else. People felt ignored, their democracy betrayed.

The Left, that had the most support in the election, was the loser. Not because of the FDP’s own power, but only thanks to CDU and AfD. And there is the problem. Kemmerich only got his power thanks to a right-wing nationalist party. And even though he distances himself from them – is it justifiable? Not for the Thuringians on the streets. Kemmerich is positioning himself clearly against AfD, against Höcke, against the Right wing. But these words are apparently not enough, since he was so obviously supported in the election – even though he himself previously excluded an election through the AfD. The protesters fear that the AfD thus gains power in Thuringian politics and they criticise the hypocrisy of the Thuringian FDP. Some draw a comparison to the end of the Weimar Republic: “Wer hat uns verraten? Freie Demokraten!” [Who betrayed us? Liberal Democrats!]

Political chess

Many suspect a setup behind the election and the AfD is presenting itself as the puppet master. That it was planned shows in the way that the whole AfD voted for Kemmerich and not their own candidate. Pure political strategy: trusting that not enough delegates vote for Ramelow, waiting until the third ballot to then bring in a new candidate and bring him into office. The talks behind closed doors and the political manoeuvring are criticised. The election of the federal PM is not direct, but an indirect democratic process – in this case, too indirect for many. The people in front of the chancellery want Ramelow back, he has a lot of support. He brought about a lot of change in the past 5 years, necessary change, which is reflected by his growing popularity. His politics are described as integrative. The result of the regional election reflects the public’s wish for him to continue his work.

Whatever happens, the AfD is using it to present themselves as winners. What do they gain from the election? An overthrown left government and a lot of material to claim it was the will of the people. They portray the result as their own success and that Kemmerich did everything they wanted. Their goal: to prevent another left-social-green government. Party whip Gauland recently said, the AfD would also vote for Ramelow just to block him because he would not accept. This shows their destructive character. They celebrate that they cannot be ignored anymore but need to be included in decision-making. It could be seen how many oppose that just on Erfurt’s streets. But one thing was achieved: FDP and CDU walk into a crisis and are internally caught in an argument about their direction. The political parties are disunited in their reaction, fear to take any responsibility, are unsure about how to proceed.

All united?

I wrote based on my experience of the demonstration, that I supported and joined spontaneously. What impressed me was the fact that Thuringia can organize a protest like that. My home surprised me. It was a counterexample to the story of the right-wing East. When talking about the new federal states, it is often mentioned that so many nationalists are living there. That the East is different, less experienced with democracy. That right-wing tendencies are more accepted. Unfortunately, it is a fact that in Thuringia the AfD has particular strong support. But why is so little talked about why Thuringians went on the streets this time? A spontaneous demonstration for democracy and against nationalism? Yes, Thuringia can do that! People showed that they do not accept everything.

“Alle zusammen gegen den Faschismus!” [All united against facism!]

In everyday life, active participation in politics is not high on the agenda. You might complain, but on rare occasions there was as much interest as shown in the past weeks. People came together, they informed each other, with one common goal. This group dynamic and energy united people.

A breach of a taboo is what the events are frequently called in the media – and this is the central point of the political debate: what do you accept? The news is reporting a lot about the reactions in politics. Debates about re-elections or not, candidates and directions of the parties follow on an everyday basis and change quickly. Kemmerich announced his resignation after 25 hours. There is a lot of pressure coming from the top of the parties. But not only the pressure from above counts – also the one from below. From the population. Who talks about the people in Thuringia? They are the ones that showed: we are against nationalism! This article was supposed to show how pressure from below was done: peaceful, spontaneous, but with a clear message. Not only in Erfurt by the way, but also in Weimar, Jena, Gera und Ilmenau. There is much talk about a catastrophe in politics in Thuringia but little about the success of civil society there. And the protest goes on.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo Credits

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Action beyond protest: “A different world is possible”

Merle Emrich — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 15:46:30 +0000

Much like any other polytheistic society, the Ancient Greeks had a god.dess for just about any important aspect of their lives. One of them was Adrestia, the goddess of revolt, just retribution and balance between good and evil. Her name translates to “the inescapable”, and if we look at history social conflict and revolts are indeed a recurring theme – from the French Revolution and Gandhi’s Salt March to the Monday Demonstrations that helped bring down the Berlin Wall. More recent waves of protests, including Occupy Wall Street, the growing environmental movement and social justice movements from Lebanon over France to Chile, demonstrate that revolt and protests are still as inescapable as a means to bring about social and political change as it seemed to be in Ancient Greece.

Cathartic protest

First and foremost, protests are a form of opposition against an actual, planned or feared course of action. As such it can be “an end in itself”, a form of catharsis that resolves social tensions, and citizens’ frustration and discontent. Protest marches, rallies and vigils have a function as sign of objection, they are a means of communicating to the authorities the discontent or wish for change of the population, or at least a part of it. As such they also offer a platform to blow off steam, to voice anger, fear and hope, to start a conversation with people who share the same opinion, or who oppose it. Catharsis in protest can come through songs and shouts, to chance encounters with fellow protesters, or merely the knowledge to have been part of it, to have done something about the issue at hand.

Especially when protest alone does not lead to change, however, it becomes necessary to channel its cathartic energy into the development of new strategies and finding solutions and alternatives to the present condition. As philosopher Auguste Comte put it, “nothing really essential and enduring can be accomplished in the practical fold when its theoretical implications are not clearly worked out, or are at least well on the way to solution.”

“We must be able to […] propose alternatives”

In France, the organisers of the Vrai Débat are trying to capture the energy and ideas of the Gilets jaunes movement. As a reaction to Macron’s grand débat, they collected ideas and comments online on issues people consider important, followed by a series of deliberative assemblies in several cities throughout the country starting in mid-June 2019. “They allow us to combine democracy with social movement”, says participant Anthony Brault. “You prioritise and think together, we will create a political programme that will not replace the Gilets jaunes but can be useful for them.” During the assemblies between 15 and 40 people work on the most popular propositions for two days. They are divided by topic and small working groups analyse them to sum up the most frequent ideas and arguments in a concise document. “We must be able to exchange ideas”, explains another participant, Daniel, “to propose alternatives.”

In a similar manner climate camps aim at providing a platform for discussion, networking and exploring alternatives. One of these climate camps takes place every year in the Rhineland, Germany where there are three coal pits and five power plants that together are responsible for a third of Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions. The Klimacamp im Rheinland combines Ende Gelände’s civil disobedience actions against coal mining with trying out “tomorrow’s society – social, ecological and based on grassroots democracy”. Cultural programmes as well as courses, workshops, panel discussions on topics “from theoretical analysis of climate change to practical stuff like building a windmill” are organised, and the camp is structured based on anti-authoritarian self-organisation.

Climate of change

In the same region the Hambach Forest is located, an ancient forest that was supposed to be cut down to expand a coal mine, and even though the forest is now supposed to remain it’s future is still not guaranteed as water that sustains the trees needs to be pumped out of the ground to prevent the flooding of the coal pits. There, environmental activists are combining protest with the development of alternative ways of living and organising society in a similar, yet more permanent, way as the climate camps. To prevent the destruction of the forest, the activists began to occupy the forest in 2012. They built tree houses to make eviction more difficult, and on a meadow nearby a communal kitchen, a building for assemblies, a library and a museum was set up.

780 kilometres away, the ZAD (zone to defend) of Notre-Dame-des-Landes (ZAD NDDL) that began as an occupation to prevent the destruction of 1650 hector of agricultural land and wetland for the construction of an airport has become a social project of an alternative form of structuring collective life, a vision of what society could look like. This shift of the ZAD as a means of protest and resistance to an end in itself has resulted in the Zadists’ refusal to leave the area even when the airport project was abandoned by the government in 2018. Over the course of its existence since 2000, the ZAD NDDL has become a political space “in which social and ecological experiments take place” within a framework of “self-governance, egalitarian sharing of tasks, hospitality, gratuity, and work without hierarchical subordination”.

“A different world is possible”

In an interview published on mediapart’s participative blog, activist and Gilet jaune Geneviève Legay said: “We must think of utopia as something attainable. Otherwise I would not continue to fight, if I thought it wasn’t possible. And if people hadn’t fought for utopias, we wouldn’t have the rights we have today. […] a different world is possible, it is necessary to build it together.” The same is emphasised by writer, director and environmental activist Cyril Dion. To bring about change we need NGOs and Zadists, civil disobedience and guerilla gardening as well as social entrepreneurs and novelists.

To increase the likelihood that “the inescapable” revolt results in the envisaged change and does not end with its first cathartic infant steps, a common effective strategy is necessary. Thus, in the beginning, according to Dion, is a set of questions that need to be answered: “Can we hope to find solutions within our democracies or not? Must the strategy to stop the destruction and the warming [of the planet] be political, citizen-based or both? Can it be done without using violence?”

by Merle Emrich

Photo Credits

Ende Gelaende 20119, Besetzung nder RWE Strukturen im rheinischen Braunkohlerevier: Der Goldene Finger bricht aus der Fridays for Future Demonstration bei Hochneukirch aus und stürmt über die Kante in den Tagebau Garzweiler. Alle Bagger werden abgeschalte, David Klammer, CC BY-NC 2.0

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Environmental horror and utopia

Merle Emrich — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 12:29:51 +0000

It is not even 3 a.m. as the first activists leave their tents getting ready to establish the blockade at the Großer Stern (Great Star) roundabout not far from Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) climate camp in Berlin. In the following week there will be blockades on streets and bridges, glue-ons and lock-ons at ministries, the governing Christian Democrats’ (CDU) headquarters and Vattenfall to protest against inaction, or at least insufficient action, against climate change. At the roundabout, what is to become a small arch later in the day is guarded by the police who don’t want the climate activists to build their symbol of climate justice on the street, and by protesters who fear the police might confiscate their building blocks. Some of them, forming a human chain around the disassembled arch, have locked their arms onto metal pipes from which only they can free themselves without destroying the tube. “It feels a bit like being crucified”, jokes one of them, his breath rising up in clouds made orange by the street lights.

Throughout the morning more activists arrive at the blockade at the Großer Stern that will last for 58 hours is accompanied by more actions throughout the city including swarmings and the occupation of Potsdamer Platz, which the police soon tries to disband. Yet at 10 p.m. a mic-check at the Großer Stern, where the activists get ready to be moved but are willing to keep up the blockade, announces: “The police at Potsdamer Platz has given up. Tonight it belongs to us!”

October 9, sees several bridges occupied for several hours for up to two days. Throughout the week there are protests, glue-ons at several ministries and at the CDU headquarters, swarmings and other actions including a picnic organised by XR Youth. Meanwhile, similar actions happen in many other major cities, and around 40 cities, including Stockholm, declare climate emergency.

Horror

But why did all these activists come to Berlin? Arriving from all over Germany and as far away as the Nordic countries, including a delegation from Skåne and more than 200 Swedish activists, prepared to camp for a week and sleep on roads under the open sky, some of them willing to be taken into custody… What is it that drives them to take to the streets? “I fear many environmental catastrophes and that we will have a great deal of flooding, just as it has happened in the last few years. And then, on the other side, that in the really dry countries things start to burn because it is way too dry”, explains Lili, a young activist from Saarland. And her horror scenario for what the future holds is shared by others.

“My horror scenario is just the eco system collapsing, all the animals dying and we’re dying, too. But my absolute horror scenario would be that we could survive but no one else. Everything would be sterile and the world would be dead and we’re just walking around like prisoners”, Elsa from XR Skåne says. To which Sasha adds that social collapse will follow ecological collapse: “A lot of people are starving and then just rich white men oppressing everyone even more than they already do, and the divide between privileged and minority groups getting bigger. It’s going to be very bloody and very ugly.”

These worries are not only shared by the young generation but also by the generations before them. Sipping on warm tea provided by the camp volunteers, Ulrike and Jens stand under the colourfully foliated trees on the edge of the climate camp. “The first thing that comes to my mind as a horror scenario is that the people who are where the climate catastrophe hits harder than by us lose their home, and that they then come here and we don’t really have any capacity left”, says Ulrike. “And I realise that here in the north, where it is still fertile at the moment, people already don’t want to take in those who arrive anymore and racism and xenophobia are getting worse.”

It seems to be hard to imagine a future standing in the October sun while all around people are chatting, laughing, as they participate in workshops, queue for warm soup and busily carry around colourful flags and banners. But once one listens to what they talk about, reads their banners and pays attention to the topics of the workshop – once one remembers why they are here, it is less unimaginable. “I am of course scared that as a consequence [of the catastrophe we are headed towards] there will be further destruction and more wars and conflicts”, agrees Jens. “To begin with, what already happens, is that powerful groups decide on how to deal with resources of others. That is, not share the natural resources of the world with everyone but control our destinies egotistically and capital- and profit-oriented.”

It is clear to him that if environmental degradation and climate change are not stopped, an increasing number of people will be forced to leave their homes. “I have worked for over ten years as a development aid worker in various regions of the world and I know the internal migration that already exists due to similar reasons. We know of many who must leave because they lost their basis of life.”

Citizens’ Assemblies

The activists worries and frustration, but also their hopes and ideas, do not only find expression on the streets but as well two times a day in small-scale models of the citizens’ assemblies that XR demands on a national level. During the expert talk of the citizens’ assembly on Climate Justice, Sea-Watch captain Carola Rackete and Kathrin Henneberger, co-founder of the Institute of Environmental Justice, voice some of the same concerns that are prevalent among many XR activists.

“There is a danger that the politics that already now let people drown at their borders goes even further”, Carola Rackete says in her talk on climate refugees. “The criminalisation of me and Sea-Watch is not a single case.” But apart from this criminalisation and EU policies aimed at securing borders instead of saving lives, there is another problem, she explains. The collapse of the ecosystem will lead to an increase in global poverty and eventually to ‘climate apartheid’. “There must be a legally defined protection for [climate refugees].”

Kathrin Henneberger brings up yet another issue: “The climate crisis is not a classical problem that we can solve if we regulate the economy a little bit.”. cThe effects of climate change do not affect all people equally”, she elaborates. Whereas powerful industrialised countries such as Germany where some of the biggest European sources of CO2 can be found are the main emitters of greenhouse gasses, those who are hit hardest by climate change often have little agency and decision-making power. “Especially women are often disproportionately affected”, Henneberger argues. But simply bringing in more women, not only because they are often more vulnerable but because they possess valuable skills and knowledge, won’t do the trick: “We can only solve [the climate crisis] if we fundamentally change the economic system and power structures.”

Dialogue

The effects of climate change are not bound by national borders, and neither are their causes. On October 11, a group of mostly Swedish XR activists heads towards Vattenfall’s Heizkraftwerk Reuter where some of them glue themselves to a gate in protest against the use of fossil fuels and to send a signal to the Swedish government. “Vattenfall is a state-owned company”, one of the activists explains, “thus, the Swedish government has more possibilities to regulate Vattenfall and press for a faster transition to sustainable energies than is the case with private companies.”

“We have already changed a lot and need to continue”, says Stefan Müller, Vattenfall’s Director Media Relations & Editorial Germany. Accroding to him, this goes beyond the question of energy production and includes issues ranging from hydrogen and electric cars to reducing the offering of meat in Vattenfall’s canteen. Some of the XR members present doubt, however, that Vattenfall is changing fast enough. Müller replies to the activists’s concern that Vattenfall’s sustainability strategy was within the framework of the Paris Agreement but also says that there can be, and might need to be, a discussion about Vattenfall’s transition.

Utopia

In light of the horrors of climate change – potential and already existing – what would be the best case scenario? “Anarchy!” replies Elsa, intentionally or unintentionally echoing a line from Irie Révoltés song Utopie. In the same song they sing: “Utopie, tu me donnes la force pour continuer” (Utopia, you give me the strength to continue). And of course, the activists of XR all have their own visions for the future that they fight for. “My best case scenario is getting out of fossil fuels now, reducing our animal agriculture by a lot, organising locally, farming locally and organically, organising in flat hierarchies and communes”, says Sasha. And when it comes to our cityscapes, Lili has a clear picture in mind: “It would be nice if everything would become much greener, if we didn’t have as many concrete buildings – and on those you can of course grow plants and make everything a bit greener that way.”

“I see the positive that I wish for in small signs, for example in social behaviour as it is fortunately lived again or rediscovered primarily by the young generation and that therein a lot of creative possibilities are created through which people can live together no matter their background, no matter their origin”, says Jens. “And that is also why I am here. Because I want to support this dream myself.” Yet, despite the presence of these small signs not all have come to the conclusion that change needs to happen. “I experience this sometimes even among my friends who are environmentally aware”, elaborates Ulrike. “When it comes to giving up certain things they somehow say ‘Nah, I want to continue living as I did until now,’ and I wish that, without a catastrophe having to happen here or that there are bans, they’d say ‘Well, I thought about it, I need to change.’”

“The best moment to stop the climate crisis was 30 years ago. The last moment is now”, Kathrin Henneberger said in her talk. “But first of all”, says Jens, “a big fight is important and will happen.” Judging based on the rapidly growing support for XR within less than a year and the activities of other environmental movements and organisations such as Fridays For Future and Ende Gelände, the fight has already begun.

XR Rebellion Week photo story: here

by Merle Emrich

Photo Credits

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Rebellion Week Berlin [Photo Story]

Merle Emrich — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:35:52 +0000

Berlin, Germany (7-13 October 2019)

read the article about XR Rebellion Week in Berlin here

Photo Credits

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Extinction Rebellion: Creating stoppage to move climate politics forward

Merle Emrich — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 15:49:03 +0000

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international movement founded in the UK in November 2018. Their aim is to evoke social and political change in regards to climate change by means of peaceful civil disobedience. Extinction Rebellion’s protest is centred around three demands: the declaration of a climate emergency, actions to protect biodiversity and reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025, and the creation of Citizens’ Assemblies.

In early August, Extinction Rebellion Copenhagen brought traffic on Holmens Bro – located between parliament and the climate ministry – to a halt for twenty-four hours.

Two weeks later, Extinction Rebellion Skåne called for a ‘Nordic Uprising’. Activists from several countries came together to ‘flood the streets’ of Malmö in protest. Fourteen activist were taken into custody. They were not charged and the police released them in the morning.

by Merle Emrich

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Fishballs of Fury: Contesting Hong Kong Identity

Louis Louw — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 13:29:13 +0000

It’s Lunar New Year and a cart full of goodies is being pushed through the hustle and bustle of a cramped Hong Kong street. In an instant, a mouth-watering smell rises into the air, drawing in hungry tummies as plates of fishballs exchange hands. A once common sight with as many as 50 000 hawkers and informal vendors plying their trade in the 1970s, Hong Kong now only boasts around 6 000 legally licensed food hawkers to cater to a hungry Hong Kong populace.

This community of itinerant hawkers or food peddlers infamously and affectionately referred to as the jau gwei (lit. running from ghosts) scatter in all directions as warning cries of approaching authorities fill the streets. Without official documentation, many jau gwei operate illegally with small carts which they push towards jostling markets and busy city intersections. Always on the hunt for their next sale, the jau gwei have long been considered a public nuisance by authorities seeking stricter regulations on the informal food market. Hygienic standards, noise pollution, and traffic congestion are some of the common bureaucratic buzzwords sparking controversy, especially as the jau gwei are seen as an authentic expression of working-class Hong Kong identity.

Fishball Riot 2016

Therefore, it is barely a surprise that attempts by city authorities – whether backed by the British Crown or mainland China – to regulate the jau gwei are viewed with distrust. Traditionally, caution rather than coercion has been the path to follow. However, since the early 2010s, authorities have stepped up their efforts at cracking down on the scene. In the politically charged atmosphere of Hong Kong, the fuse burned through once more in 2016, and culminated in the now infamous violent Mong Kok riot between localist groups and police forces. Heavily concerned with and informed by the notion of self-determination, the latter were quick to jump on the bandwagon to defend what they saw as an interference by mainland China to curb local culture.

The Mong Kok riot was striking for two of its features: first, for the use of violence and second, for the well-known plight of the jau gwei prior the violent outbreak. Two questions arise from these features: why were both sides prepared to fall back to the use violence, and why were the jau gwei worth fighting for or against in this particular instance?

The historical background is to be taken into account as a first instance to delimit the efforts of peaceful protest and its role in challenging the legitimization of the state. The path of Hong Kong identity thereafter gained leeway as an inherently political manifestation in challenging the legitimization of the state, and embedded the plight of the jau gwei within the context of this (re)configuration of Hong Kong identity in the greater pursuit of political representation. Importantly, Hong Kong identity in its particular (re)configuration(s) is taken as a naturally given process. The way of talking about this identity however is variable under the process of discourse, e.g. in the contemporary scope of Hong Kong society and its growing polarization and politicization.

Umbrella Movement 2014

One can’t talk about this polarization without reference to the Umbrella Movement in 2014. In a nutshell, the Umbrella Movement sought by means of popular sentiment to protest for more – and especially fairer – representation in the government. The largely peaceful protests aimed at highlighting and proposing betterment to Hong Kong’s skewed political system ultimately fizzled out in disappointment as the Communist Party neither budged nor exhibited a willingness to engage, let alone negotiate, any solutions. Too high were the rulers and tycoon profiteers in their ivory tower to be touched by the people’s demands. Arguably, by sitting out the wave of discontent, the Communist Party showed its disregard for Hong Kong civil society. What was to be done to effect change?

Due to the resulting disappointment and disillusionment within Hong Kong society, new forms of questioning the authority arose and older ones such as localism or nativism once again gained traction. These groups aimed their sights at the “one nation, two systems” policy. The leading line of argumentation being: if there are two nations with two different sets of essentially different people, then this policy doesn’t work. The Mong Kok riot can be seen in this light, however, it doesn’t offer any clues as to why violence was used.

By means of understanding the resurgent electrification of Hong Kong politics, one must necessarily evaluate the role the jau gwei have been assigned to within it. As a group, which has its historical roots in mainland China yet is firmly embedded within contemporary Hong Kong culture as a space of shared memory, the jau gwei offer a unique green screen to project values, which I argue to be generationally all-encompassing.

Contested Identities

This all encompassing identity is notoriously difficult to pin with two generational camps pitted against each, namely the pro-independence youth versus the island’s elderly. Notably, the historical origins of the jau gwei and Hong Kong bureaucracy have both done their part in fostering a close link between the jau gwei and the (imagined) mainland, especially from an elderly perspective. After all, the jau gwei are descendents from impoverished Chinese mainlanders who sought to scrape a life in the former colony – that’s how the informal food market came into being. Generally, the jau gwei represent the opinions of the elderly mainlanders who prefer maintaining the status quo. In their opinion, retaining Hong Kong’s slight concessions in terms of freedom is considered infinitely better than risking it all for an uncertain outcome.

In addition, the jau gwei’s profession is strictly hereditary as stipulated by Hong Kong law and its licensing practices. These were put into place to restrict access to – and naturally ‘eradicate’ – the itinerant market in favour of tax-paying and state-building revenue opportunities. Attempts to squash the market underscores the ironic twist behind the story of the jau gwei: they are rooted in mainland culture but uprooted by its authority at the same. Keeping tabs with the status quo will not end their plight in the long run. Localists helping the jau gwei only fosters a sense of interdependence amongst Hong Kong citizens that prefer – more and more – the tag of an all-encompassing and distinct Hong Kong identity.

Lion Rock Spirit

Lastly, this all-encompassing identity also finds an outlet of expression in the entrepreneuring Lion Rock Spirit, the can-do mentality that drives the common man to fulfil his potential and live a dignified life within China’s special administrative region. Riding their luck and hardship-hardened, the jau gwei make ends meet as small-scale entrepreneurs in the informal food market, thus, ensuring the legacy of the endeared delicacy despite ever-increasing repression by authorities.

In essence, the jau gwei are more than merely merchants. They are the embodiment of a narrative not dissimilar to the American Dream: social mobility through hard-work embedded in liberal entrepreneurism. Hong Kong’s position – and understanding of itself – as an exceptional city carved out on inhospitable rock by exceptional individuals presupposes the city’s entrepreneurial success.

Through this ideal representation of the Lion Rock Spirit, the jau gwei function as a juxtaposition to the ruthless exploitation of unbridled capitalism under pro-Beijing loyalists before, and especially after, a post-Umbrella Movement political landscape. Unlike the property magnates who distribute financial favours amongst themselves to detriment of the general populace, the jau gwei are of the people and authentically cater to the people. A far cry from the plutocratic megalomania exhibited elsewhere.

In the crossfire of ideology

In summary, the itinerant hawkers and informal food peddlers beloved by Hong Kongers have found themselves in the crossfire of an ongoing ideological debate over cultural, and therefore inherently political, identity in relation to the legitimacy of the state. In the times of localist and nativist groups demanding a Hong Kong for Hong Kongers (pardon, Chinese, mind you), the jau gwei have come to symbolize something distinctly and peculiarly “of and only from Hong Kong” within the discourse of the legitimacy of the state. Moreover, guided by the small-scale entrepreneurial drive of the individual, the jau gwei signal a juxtaposition to unbridled state capitalism backed by a local pro-Beijing plutocracy, which distributes wealth and power amongst its members.

The narrative of the jau gwei is grinded out somewhere between the tension resulting from the unfair distribution of wealth, power, and politics. To what extent may individual partake take in the distribution thereof before becoming troublesome to the state? As the Mong Kok incident has shown, tensions are running high. As unclear as the future of Hong Kong may be, I venture to say that this analysis hints at these areas of contention within Hong Kong society for future developments in the ongoing crisis.

Written by Louis Louw

Photo Credits

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They move their body to move politics

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 12:42:07 +0000

How the movement of the body in sport can lead to a political movement…

Fists raised in protest

It’s a historical event, at the Mexico Olympic games in 1968 two African-American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raise their fists on the podium during the American anthem in protest against racism. The segregation is not allowed since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but is still present. Intolerance and racist crimes still poison the integration of the black community in the US. Their actions are relayed by a lot of media, and will have a huge impact on their career, such as banishment from the Olympic Village, and being banned from competition for life. They need to wait until the end of the Eighties so that the world deigns to recognize their action. Their courage will be truly honored only in the years between 1990 and 2000.

40 years later, Barack Obama is elected President of the United States, the first Black American man in power, so we can think that the gesture of Smith and Carlos has helped to change attitudes in the United States. But we know that nothing is acquired, and that racism remains nested in mentalities, especially with the arrival of Trump in power. That’s why recently, some athletes did the same protest against Trump’s politics, and for minority rights.

Those athletes who revolted

In 2016, the American football player Colin Kaepernick knelt several times and refused to put his hand on the heart and to sing the American anthem. He said : “I will not show pride in the flag of a country that oppresses blacks.”

Then, on September 2016, Megan Rapinoe, a LGBTQI+ woman, became one of the first white sports figures to ‘take a knee’ during the national anthem in support of Colin Kaepernick. She also protested against the difference in wages between male and female players. At the 2019 World Cup she refused to sing the American national anthem and to go to the White House in protest against Donald Trump’s minority policy. She described herself as a “walking protest when it comes to the Trump administration.” And she described Trump as “sexist,” “misogynistic,” “small-minded,” “racist” and “not a good person.”

More recently, Race Imboden, a white fencer for the USA team, knelt on the podium during the national anthem at the 2019 Pan American games in Peru. He said, he “took a knee — following in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, Megan Rapinoe, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith: black, LGBT, female and Muslim athletes who chose to take a stand. I’m not a household name like those heroes, but as an athlete representing my country and, yes, as a privileged white man, I believe it is time to speak up for American values that my country seems to be losing sight of.” “Racism, Gun Control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list”.

We can therefore see a surge of protest among athletes, whether they come from the black community, are women or less publicized sports athletes.

But what do all these gestures mean?

The raised left fist is a gesture of salute and a logo mostly used by leftist activists, such as Marxists, Anarchists, Communists or Pacifists.The raised fist is generally perceived as an expression of revolt, strength or solidarity. After the action of Smith and Carlos the raised fist became in the United States a symbol of Black Nationalism.

Kneeling is above all a sign of respect used during Mass, and also the forced position of the slave and the servant. But since this gesture was repeated in 2016 by American football players including Colin Kaepernick, this gesture has become a symbol of the fight against Trump’s policy.

So why use this position?

In some countries standing means pride and respect, you get up when someone important enters the room, you stand during the national anthem played at sport events …so we can make the hypothesis that kneeling would be in opposition to this position of pride, and perhaps even a reference to black slavery.

Sport can have a very important media coverage, sport makes people gather together, some people are a fan of it, they watch and support their favorite athletes on TV every day. That is why acts like these can have a strong impact on the people following the sport, as did the act of Smith and Carlos which helped to change mentalities. By standing up against Trump, these athletes show to the rest of the world their disagreement with the policy put in place by the president. They are trying to change mindsets and hope others will do the same.

Democracy in danger?

But as for Smith and Carlos, this gesture can have a huge impact on their career. A repression is made by the state to prevent this kind of act from happening, Kaepernick was blacklisted from the NFL, Rapinoe was singled out for criticism by the president. He said on twitter: “Megan should never disrespect our country, the White House and our flag. ” And we don’t know if Race Imboden will be able to participate in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

If such a repression is put in place by the state, if it prevents athletes to show their political positions and to assert their fundamental right which is the freedom of expression, are the United States really a democratic country?

Written by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo Credits

Black power…, Vision Invisible, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

นักกีฬา NFL หลายคนร่วมแสดงออกประท้วงเหยี ยดผิวต่อเนื่องจากกรณี ‘โคลิน แคเพอร์นิค’, Prachatai, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Alyssa Naeher & Megan Rapinoe, Jamie Smed, CC BY 2.0

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