/ Sweetie, I have tried to give you some idea of the positive effect of the movement. We have recently spent a few evenings visiting the community and the campers at Admiralty. As an inquisitive 15 year old, you have asked many probing questions which I will not be able to answer . Why do the movement participants camp at Admiralty? What do they want to achieve? What will happen if the Hong Kong Government continues to ignore their grievances? Will Hong Kong become a better place after all these? The one thing I am sure is, the Umbrella Movement has unleashed a gush of positive energy which will have an enduring effect on all of us. The movement has raised the political awareness, the sense of responsibility and the civility of our citizens, especially the young people from the post-90 generation. This generation has lofty goals and will be prepared to give up their comfort and spill sweat and tear to achieve them. These attributes, when combined with knowledge, hard work and experience can no doubt nurture a whole new generation of capable business and political leaders for Hong Kong. When strolling down the neighbourhood in Admiralty, I am sure you will agree that there is a sense of community, serenity and order which you will seldom find when living in blocks of tiny flats where most of us dwell. Strangers there become neighbours and neighbours become friends. The campers share food and amenities and there is a sense of collective security. Volunteers are drawn from the participants to provide amongst other things, first aid, teaching, counselling, cleaning and patrol services. One day, when these participants move back to their own community, they will bring with them this valuable spirit and experience. The community is a green one where people are not only frugal on energy consumption, they are highly conscious about the amount of waste they produce. They collect and sort their waste voluntarily. Collection points are set up in the neighbourhood to sort out the rubbish into paper, plastic, glasses and organic waste and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has been asked to clear the sorted waste on a regular and frequent basis. That is a way of living and good habit which would cost the Government millions of dollars to promote and would take years for Hong Kong citizens to follow - and yet all these happen within days in the occupied community. Central has become a cleaner, more pleasant and connectable business district for city dwellers. The sharp decrease in local traffic results in the reduction in road side pollution, making the air more breathable and the temperature more bearable. Walking becomes such a pleasant experience that people enjoy strolling during lunch time and evening, stopping occasionally to have a chat or a cigarette. Studies conducted in the States revealed that walkability of a community has a direct correlation with the local populations life quality and health. Also, a recent study conducted by George Washington University on 30 metropolis in the States indicates that a citys domestic productivity is higher when office and retail space is located in walkable communities. With the hindsight of these studies and the recent experience, it is high time for the Government to rethink about re-routing local traffic flow and re-designate most part of Central to become a pedestrian zone. Walking in the community is never a mundane experience when protest art in the form of drawing, poster, model, sculpture and installation has become points of attraction these days. Popular art which has not been given proper attention or enough public space to display has flourished. Already, several groups like the Umbrella Movement Visual Archive and Research Collection have started strategizing how to save and archive the protest art. We can probably see the future Banksy, Harring or Warhol in the making. But despite all these, the sweet September romanticism is too beautiful to last. There will be a time when the positive energy should be channelled from the occupied districts back to every district in Hong Kong. This is by no means a retreat, the movement will continue, but it will be transformed and sustained in another form so that it can withstand the test of time and people from all walks of life and every corner of this city can learn and benefit from it. /
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 08:02:54 +0000
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