Where can Hong Kongers keep up with the day-to-day Umbrella Revolution developments?
The more tech savvy will most certainly rely on social media “newsfeeds,” “walls,” and online publications, but for those who prefer their news in the daily broadsheet format, they simply have to take to the physical “freedom” walls in Hong Kong.
Freedom wall regulars and passers-by get their daily fix about the ins and outs, comings and goings, high-level official scandals, and the human element of the Occupy Central pro-democracy protests from the various broadsheets on display.
There are many newspapers in Hong Kong, but the Chinese language edition Epoch Times, Dajiyuan, is one of those that frequently makes the walls. It’s one of the only sources of news that’s not controlled by Beijing in Hong Kong at present.
Students, working adults, old folks, and even Hong Kong cops take the time to stop, read the news, and even photograph Epoch Times articles on their smartphones.
In a quirky twist, the tech savvy could even end up circulating parts of the “old-school,” daily broadsheet on their social media “walls.”
Newspapers in Hong Kong have come under the spotlight recently. Many of them have fallen in line with the Chinese Communist Party, and have claimed that the Occupy Central demonstration is illegal, destructive to Hong Kong, and is the outcome of foreign interference.
The image presented sharply contrasts from reality, as the Umbrella Revolution is possibly the most peaceful, well-behaved, and rational act of civil disobedience to date.
While acts of violence have surfaced at the protest sites, they have been traced back to pro-CCP elements.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and other members of the pro-Jiang Zemin faction in the CCP are in favor of violent suppression, but China premier Xi Jinping reportedly will not condone any attempt to escalate the Umbrella Revolution through violence.
At present, however, pro-CCP forces are still at large, and are possibly behind the besieging of pro-democracy publication Apple Daily’s headquarters.
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