Reflecting on Hong Kong protests in 2019–2020

Abstract

Mass protests erupted in June 2019 in Hong Kong due to widespread anger about a proposed amendment to the extradition law. As a global project, could the goal of pursuing democratization be narrowly confined to a single place such as Hong Kong? What can be learned from a leaderless democratic movement, by those who are concerned about the future of Hong Kong? Can we learn some lessons from the Hong Kong movement—from the nuanced actions, complex strategies of mobilization, and the huge number of movement participants—and reflect upon them? Radical refers not only to the escalation of physical force but also the alternative imagination and praxis of democratic visions that should be bigger than the movement at this stage. Hong Kong is a global city; it deserves a radical politics aimed at linking transnational social movements that could possibly transgress the localistic approach of social struggles.