Introduction

This chapter is based on a round-table discussion of Hong Kong's 2014 suffrage-based pro-democracy movement, known as the Umbrella Movement. The Umbrella Movement was the largest social movement in Hong Kong for several decades and its bold defiance took the city, its governors and observers by surprise. As first-hand witnesses to the movement, we observed the movement from different physical and analytical vantage points. In this discussion, we aim to bring our different disciplinary perspectives, including communications, gender studies and sociocultural anthropology, into conversation with one another to compose a more comprehensive picture of how the Umbrella Movement unfolded. In doing so, we aim to contextualise the Umbrella Movement within its own unique social, political and historical context, as well as within the broader scope of occupation-based protest.

The roundtable table format of this chapter allows the authors to address, discuss and reflect upon a number aspects of the Umbrella Movement as if in conversation. With this format we hope to highlight our different perspectives and also, by avoiding the requirement of a standard research paper to reach conclusions, we aim to maintain the open character of the on-going movement and the interpretation of its meaning(s). We begin by introducing the Umbrella Movement through the frame of Hong Kong's geopolitical history. We subsequently explore several aspects of the movement within the camps and outside their borders including issues of presentation, inclusion, the production of protest, envisioning everyday life, the proliferation of support. Finally, we conclude by turning our attention to the legacy of the Umbrella Movement and the question this legacy raises.

Background

In 1997, after over 100 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong was handed over to the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China (PRC, or China hereafter) and became special administrative region (HKSAR) of China. Governed by a mini constitution called the Basic Law, Hong Kong still operates using the social system adopted during British colonial rule, including a capitalistic economy, the common law system and freedom of speech. This makes Hong Kong distinct from the rest of mainland China.

Article 45 of the Basic Law clearly states that, ‘The ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures’.