The First Fight of Democratic Dreaming

Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong.

Le Nouvel Observateur is by all accounts a “serious” magazine. It’s probably the most respected press mention Glutter or I ever had. They called me “Le Battante,” “The Fighter.” I thought about the title, how odd that of the 10.2 million blogs in this world, they picked me to be that. And did Glutter really measure up? Depending on what is going on, my mood, what interests me, Glutter is a private diary, a music review blog, a soap box for the human rights violations that is happening in China, and once upon a time, a place I talked about being ill when it seemed no one could listen.

But it is also is a place I launched a small but international cyber protest. It is also the place, that I said, “I want to vote,” for my own government in public and was not ridiculed, as I thought I would be, but taken seriously, and captured a zeitgeist of that sudden burst of democratic flowering in Hong Kong’s political consciousness.

It was a moment for me. It was a moment for Hong Kong.

Glutter was born the same day as the Hong Kong democratic movement moved above ground, and into the mainstream. It was accidental I must add, but I came home from the protest and sat down I wrote my second entry. I haven’t stopped since. It feels like fate sometimes. 

Lately I had forgotten, lately I don’t think too much about it. Thanks to a random journalist for reminding me there is a fight going on, and it’s a good one.

Here are two of the most special paragraphs I ever wrote for Glutter, and for myself. Few people get that “Eureka” moment, even fewer have it in writing. I fortunately have both.

July 9th 2003: We Deserve to be Democratic Right?

I started this blog because I wanted to document the steps I made
with my art. It’s turned out it’s recording the changes in me,
politically. It’s changed so much in just nine days. At first I was
just talking about the protest, then I found myself updating the news.
And suddenly, I am asking, I am saying something far bigger. I want to
vote. Not just 30 seats in our legislator. I want universal suffrage.

I have never ever said, "I wanted democracy for Hong Kong" publicly
until I wrote the sentence "The truth is we deserve to rule ourselves,"
a few days ago at the end of an entry.

When I looked at it, it scared me. It was a scary thought to put in
public. I have never heard anyone say it either. For a moment I thought
I should delete as quickly as possible, I should pretend I never wrote
it. It’s far too explosive, it’s too far reaching, it’s going to piss
people off, or it’s going to make people not take me seriously. Whose
going to listen to a girl, (a woman) who’s going off the deep end with
saying she thinks Hong Kong people should rule themselves?

July 7th 2003: The bill is delayed

But this is the beginning of the democratic movement in Hong Kong.
We’ve never had a say in our governing, regardless if it was the
British Colonial Government, or the Chinese Central Government.

We’ve never been on the streets for something that is our own. It’s
often said that 1989 was the moment when Hong Kong people realized we
had an identity outside of being a colonial hold over, which is true. I
can say that it changed me in a profound way and politicized me and
nearly everyone I know.

But still, we were out on the streets protesting China and
supporting the students in Beijing. And not until 14 years later on
July 1st 2003 did we come out again, and this time was the first time
we came out and spoke for our own city and our own causes.

The truth is we deserve to rule ourselves.