Behind Hong Kong’s Protesters, an Army of Volunteer Pastors, Doctors and Artists

This is really an exceptional article. What would happen if the police joined the protests and stood with the protesters? I wonder if there are some who would like to. I wonder why they don't? If they did that, would the Chinese government release the PLA troops based in Hong Kong and send in more troops? Is that why the police are, perhaps subconsciously, reacting so violently? Maybe some of them?

This is so inspiring. A new birth of democracy on the very doorstep of the greatest threat to human freedom in the world.

Can you please not name these courageous people? Your naming of them helps the Chinese communist party’s secret police identify them. They will be affected by this in due course and may we’ll end up in the Chinese gulag. You’re happy to use anonymous sources in Washington; give these folks pseudonyms and give them a fighting chance.

I’m so proud of the people of Hong Kong and of my own Hong Kong heritage. This article embodies the spirit of the people there and what it means to be a Hong Konger. Stand strong and keep up the fight!

It is shocking to hear that hospitals are being avoided and people are being treated inside churches. It is a testament to Hong Kong's greatness that the city is mostly coming together to support the young people and their future. This is also a testament to how bad mainland China is. The quote from the elderly woman from Guangzhou was telling. Also telling was the Independent poll that was referenced. Eighty-eight percent of respondents support an independent inquiry into police violence. Eighty-one percent of respondents support more democracy.

Americans should take heed. We are also oppressed. Only the masses, in their majority, have not yet discovered it. But, now, some are speaking out.

Though well intended, the volunteers are pushing those kids to the wrong direction that eventually leads to their ruin. By providing support, they explicitly or implicitly endorse the violence, the irrationality, and the intolerance of different opinions; those in turn have already defeated the original objective of the movement - liberty and democracy .

The anarchists in HK tell us how democracy is not to be. It brings the bad name for democracy which will be paid by all the people in HK now and in the future.

Interesting how none of these volunteers are financiers/ wall street type. Moolah is more important to them, like their brethren here

Most of the younger generation of Hong Kong largely support the movement and most are intensely involved. The US should support liberation and freedom and counter the manipulations of the China government, dismissing the protestors as rioters, and using deceptive practices like having fake protesters commit unpopular acts—those shouting down the HK anthem at yesterday's Armistices ceremony were older adults and looked like possible plants.

The violence is just wrong - the ends don't justify the means.

If these samaritans really want to help the children, counsel them to stop, or migrate. There is no stopping China from taking over Hongkong as it rightly belongs to China. Hongkong has never had democracy, not even under British rule. All these anger and refusal to accept the reality is not helping themselves. Use your energy to find another country that will take them and give them democracy. If they love Hongkong so much, then know that Hongkong belongs to China. Learn to live with that.

I must confess that the current tactics followed by the Hong Kong police baffles me. What exactly are they hoping to achieve, antagonize every single person living in Hong Kong and encourage more people to join the protests? The protesters are not blocking streets and setting fires because they have anything against the streets. They want the police to respond violently. So why give them what they want? Withdraw the police to the barracks. Have only unarmed firefighters and medics on the streets. Call in the army to protect vital infrastructure. Issue shoot to kill on sight orders for anyone entering prohibited areas. Leave the rest of the city to the protesters. Let anyone who wants to protest anything do so to their heart's content. Let them burn the entire city down if that is what they want. Let us see how long they will continue to have public support.

What is impressionable and consistent since the citizens of Hong Kong have been demonstrating is they all are regular people. There is little impression that they are anything but people who are passionate in defending what little right they have left in Hong Kong - they will not be deterred! For example they all seem to be wearing cloth weaved sneakers, water snorkeling masks to protect their eyes from tear gas - umbrellas are their most lethal looking weapons? How can we not sit up and notice these caring people for their society? We in NYC - would be much the same except some of our subversives would surely inflict damage but one feels for these "Davids'" knowing full well their "Goliath" can crush them at any moment.

This article brought tears to my eyes. This is truly how a whole city coops and pushes for democracy. The shared sense of community and the unity of both the old and the youth is what scares Beijing. Not only are the people in Hon Kong fighting for democracy, they are showing the World how one city can defy an empire.

We have been witnessing the daily revolution of Hong Kong's citizens against the Communist leaders in Beijing for the past several months. Revolutions are afoot in many nations today. Like fruit, revolutions begin with blossoms of protest that in time ripen till the fruit falls from the mother tree. In America, in Russia, in the Near and Far East, in both hemispheres, revolution is happening. Revolution of the Earth against mankind,too. The inter-connectedness of the web of humanity. the revolution of fauna, flora and mankind are occuring due to climate-warming. We are paying attention to these inconvenient truths, revolutions happening all over our world.

To Tessa Cambridge5h ago who writes: "The larger narrative, logic, and emotional resonance driving this decentralized network of millions of people are unclear to me -- including the average age (I'm guessing the ones actually driving the discussion online are quite young 16-28)," The larger narrative is well documented in the South China Morning Post : Hong Kong university graduates take home less pay than counterparts 30 years ago and one in six ends up in unskilled job, study finds Median monthly starting salary of university graduate was HK$14,395 last year, compared with HK$20,231 in 1987" South China Morning Post Dec 2018 The educated young in HK face a dismal future : Lower salaries, ever higher rents, no jobs, and ever increasing competition from mainland Chinese, willing to work for less than them If American University Graduates would earn 25% less than they did 32 years ago , and unemployment would by 16% there would be protest too.

The police brutality has been shocking. I watched many videos and the police in HK, in metal gear from head to toe, behave like violent thugs. It has provoked the protestors who are forced to escalate their strategies. Can you blame them? I watched several interviews with Carrie Lam. She acts insane...laughing at the protestors, not even listeming to the questions being asked and repeating the same thing over and over again like a parrot. Who put her in charge? Bizarre. China appears to be not a communist country anymore. It appears to be a mass surveillance police state. Scary. The protestors worries and fears were legitimate from the start. Their persistence is amazing. They are fighting for oxygen...literally. They are fighting for basic freedom.

I’ve been a longtime subscriber to the NYT, and I happen to have lived in HK for the past 2.5 years. From the perspective of someone living on the ground, I can honestly say that I’ve never felt more unsafe or not able to speak freely until recently. Protesters are demanding the safeguard of freedoms such as speech, yet when confronted with people who do not agree with them, their reaction is to beat them up, or in an extreme case, set him on fire. How does this make any sense? HK has always been an entrepôt, full of people from different backgrounds, living in a multilingual society. The MTR, for example, broadcasts automated messages in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. All of sudden, speaking mandarin gets you attacked in the streets. How is this good for HK as a place for diversity of thought? There has been a lot of talk in the HK local media about police abuse of power, including the shooting of one protester yesterday. Yes, the young man was unarmed. But the video shows him trying to snatch the gun from the police officer, and advance towards the police officer more than once after what appears a verbal warning. In any other place in the world, there are consequences for this sort of conduct.

On one side are old men like Xi who needs to hold onto their power like they need air to breathe, and are ready and willing to kill for it. Other peoples' lives are nothing to them. They are an embarrassment to themselves and their ancestors. No honor within them... On the other side are the young, the poor and the downtrodden fighting for their basic dignity and freedom. Return good for good; return evil with justice. - Confucius

The larger narrative, logic, and emotional resonance driving this decentralized network of millions of people are unclear to me -- including the average age (I'm guessing the ones actually driving the discussion online are quite young 16-28), other demographical information, nexus of power, etc. I'm sure this type of information is accessible, with translations from Hong Kong websites and apps, while preserving identities/if it is not anonymous already. Social movements in 2019 often appear to come accompanied with repeating words, images, etc circulated online. It is perhaps in our best interest to understand this encyclopedia of knowledge as best as possible. Even with that huge blind spot, this is incredibly complex, however what is certain is that there is firm precedence historically of the effectiveness of non-violent vs violent protest. The latter being unsustainable. The decentralized structure adds another element of chaos. Either there is a pivot, or the likelihood increases each day of an escalation of violence, leading to a crackdown, and concerted repression. This cannot be good for either side.

It can be counter productive for the US government to 'help', but if we had a normal President, he and his staff could work the issue quietly. These young and older people have great courage, they know the Chinese Government, what they are capable of, yet every day go out to protest. We can only wish them well.

And we need to do our part as well. Especially today on Veterans Day we need to demonstrate that we also support these kids and that our support will not wane but will only grow more stronger as Beijing escalates the situation. Liberal democracy is as revolutionary and fragile today as it was 200 years ago.

So stand with protesters and encourage them to set up more fire?

And will the NYT write an article about the mothers, fathers, teachers, workers, and artists who support the government and condemn the burning of human beings and wanton destruction of property? Somehow I don't think so.

At this point the legitimacy of the entire protest should be called into question, i.e., they become violent rioters and terrorists, even though in the western media they are still called democratic protesters. Their goal now seems to ramp up the anti-China violence to provoke the Chinese to direct interference into HK. They are begging for June 4/89 type of event in HK. The fundamental problem with HK's governmental system is the foreign interference, by US, UK and Taiwan, who are eager to score political points on China, and thus help themselves in their domestic elections.

Faith in humanity restored

Unfortunately, there is no one to negotiate with and no one with an actual plan. The British handed over Sovereign rights to China conditionally however irrevocably. Bejing will watch and do nothing overtly. The Administrative Local power is not the Sovern and cannot do anything towards democracy or autonomy because they are not the legal authority recognized by the United Nations. The protestors (right or wrong) are fighting a ghost located in Bejing. The protest are essentially a rebuke of Britain that wants nothing to with the upheaval. There is likewise no one that the protesters might claim victory about or surrender to. It is an unwinnable discord without an outlet or means of success. It is at best just civil disorder demanding special status and treatment from Bejing who claims that the terms and conditions of the accord are and will continue to be met (as long as the "One China" mantra remains).

But who does the financing?

I fear for the safety of those actually named. I'll just hope I'm being TOO paranoid. Best wishes to them.

“Although actions like setting the man on fire risk eroding support, the protest movement so far has enjoyed broad backing among Hong Kong’s seven million people.” There is something seriously wrong with the way the author describes such violent acts against another human being. The victim has no face, no name, the incident is not worth looking further into, and its only significance is that it might erode support. NYT has consistently ignored the much darker side of the protests: the vandalism, targeting of shops and people who are seen as sympathetic to the Govt, trashing offices of professors who disagreed with them, beating up fellow students from China, now setting somebody on fire just for arguing with the protestors. Have the peaceful protestors stood up and condemned these violent actions? No, because many of them think it’s justified. But then where is the line that should not be crossed? To the author and many protestors, it seems that setting somebody on fire is just a tactical mistake that may erode support, rather than an appalling act that requires the strongest condemnation and deep soul searching as to how such acts could originate from their midst.

It's good to know that Pastor Joe Pao is playing the peacemaker in Hong Kong and telling the police to exercise self-restraint. Did he and other volunteers like him try to make any attempts to send the same message to the protesters to respect all property and that all men are brothers even the police? If not, then his motive as a peacemaker is highly suspect. It's also good to know that the NYT has provided such thorough and informative coverage of the Hong Kong protest where 2 people have been shot, but when it comes to the protest in Baghdad last month where 100 protesters have been shot and killed, we barely get any.