Online debate: From Tahrir Square to Hong Kong

Dev Lewis

The protests in Hong Kong are distinct from the protests in Tahrir Square in two ways: One, Hong Kong’s are purely  student-led protests and two, their aim is not to overthrow the entire government but to overturn the decision of CY  Leung, the present Chief Executive, that candidates for the post of the next chief executive of Hong Kong in the 2017 elections, will have to be approved by Beijing

Modern Hong Kong has been distinctly independent from the rest of China. Under the “one country-two systems”  model, established at the time of the handover in 1997, Hong Kong has its own political and legal system, along with  distinct individual rights and freedoms.

The students fear that that Hong Kong is becoming “mainlandised” and will gradually be absorbed by mainland China, and its completely different ways and values. And the students in Hong Kong aren’t the only ones who fear this. Earlier this year their cotemporaries in Taiwan occupied Taiwan’s legislative Yua for 24 days in protest against the signing of an economic integration pact with mainland China.

Hong Kong’s youth see themselves as uniquely ‘Hong Konger’ and their dissent is directed to a government the feel is not doing enough to protect their identity.

Saumya Pant

The movement in the Arab countries was spearheaded by people across a range of ages, socio-economic and religious  backgrounds, whereas the movement in Hong Kong is primarily youth-driven, the outcome of complexities arising due to the politics between mainland China and Hong Kong.

The Arab uprisings began in Tunisia and gathered momentum after Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor, immolated  himself. This resulted in the then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepping down on 14 January 2011, after a 23-year  rule.

Inspired by Tunisian protestors and brought together by social media, mostly Facebook – led by Wael Ghonim, Egyptian computer engineer and Google executive and Israa Abdel-Fattah, who helped found the 6 April Youth Movement in 2008 – Egyptians rallied to celebrate the ‘Day of the revolution against torture, poverty, corruption, and unemployment’ against the 30 year-reign under President Hosni Mubarak on January 25. A few days after the protests began, Mubarak resigned. This was a major and unexpected triumph – but there was no political system to replace him, creating a vacuum into which the Muslim Brotherhood stepped.

By 2013-end, they had also gone, as had the ruling regimes in Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, uprooted by rebels and the help of foreign governments. Syria and Iraq followed suit, engulfed in violent civil uprisings with foreign elements – and have now become enmeshed global power play.

Dev Lewis

The Tahrir Square protests introduced and embedded social media as a facilitator for popular protests.  Nearly four years later, governments and state authorities are more aware, and are making it difficult or even dangerous to use platforms like Twitter and Facebook. From an observer’s point of view, then, one of the most exciting aspects of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution is the rise of a new communication tool—FireChat.

FireChat, an app that can be downloaded onto Android and iOS devices, allows communication using “mesh networks” that rely on networks between phones. They do NOT rely on the internet or cellular networks, so there is no way for the government to shut them down(although some engineers have suggested the use jamming equipment to flood the area with radio waves to stop communication).

FireChat can connect devices that are within proximity of 200 feet of each other to chat anonymously – making it ideal for protestors packed into a public square like Central Hong Kong. In Hong Kong the students used FireChat to call for supplies, reinforcements, send alerts and maintain channels of communication, all safe in the knowledge that the government could not neither block nor identify them. Firechat is also a useful alternative to Whatsapp and WeChat, whose use is proving difficult due to the wireless carrier networks in the area getting overwhelmed by the large amount of users in a such a small area.

In fact, the Sunflower Revolution in Taiwan was one of the first movements to popularise FireChat—yet another example of inspiration derived from the Taiwan student protestors.

Just how popular was FireChat in Hong Kong? According to FireChat’s parent company Open Garden, since the protests began, nearly 460,000 new users from Hong Kong downloaded the app which hosted 5.1 million chat sessions (vs. only a reported 1.5 million Tweets using #OccupyCentral).

Yes, FireChat does have its limitations as a political tool. All chats are public (there are no encryption features so far).  While governments cannot block the use of the app they can block users from downloading the app, as it is in China (similar to what Beijing does to prevent access to websites). Also, FireChats are limited by the mesh networks and cannot be used to send information to other countries, limiting its use to send information cross-border, say from Hong Kong to China, where other popular networks are blocked.

Still, with governments proving on a number of occasions that they can and will block access to social media networks, the emergence of an app that can resist government control is more important than ever.

Saumya Pant

There were many in Egypt, like Wael Ghonim and Israa Abdel-Fattah, who lived an apolitical life. The internet became a source for unfettered information in an atmosphere where mainstream media was muzzled. Egypt has over 500 newspapers, journals, and magazines, but these are owned mostly or in some way by the government, the opposition or other political parties.

Journalists used social media to great effect during Egypt’s protests. The case of photojournalist Al-Husseini Abu Deif, shows how. Deif was shot in the head while covering protests outside the presidential palace in December 2011. He succumbed to his injuries a week later, but before that, he used Twitter to reach out to the masses – his last Tweet read, “If i die tonight, I ask you only to continue the revolution.”

Ghonim saw the photograph of the dead body of a young Egyptian businessman-turned-activist, Khaled Said, on Facebook and consequently set up a Facebook page – We are all Khaled Said – which became a rallying point for the campaign against police brutality in 2010. It took just one week for the page to attract 100,000 members. Ghonim used the medium well: he sent an invite through Facebook calling for participation in the 25 January 2011 demonstrations at Tahrir Square, which reached over 1 million people. Asmaa Mahfouz and Israa Abdel-Fattah, the co-creators of April 6 Youth Movement, created a support base for their protest through their video blog and Facebook page.

Consequently after the number of assaults especially on women increased, social media sites like Tahrir Bodyguard began to play a significant role in the protection of women during protests. The Tahrir Bodyguards physically donned neon yellow vests and helmets, providing protection for revolutionaries who were under the constant threat of being assaulted by thugs.

The success of the revolution in Egypt highlighted, for the first time, the unimaginable reach of social media, which underlined the power of the common man, and in the words of Ghonim showed how a revolution can be a Facebook event that is “liked, shared & tweeted”.

In fact politicians who were thought their power was being subverted by social media during the Arab Spring took note of how effective social networks are at getting a message out. Morsi used both his Twitter and Facebook account to communicate over the course of his downfall.

But there is a dark side as well. Social media is also used as a tool to achieve short-term political goals, manipulate public opinion, and even incite violence. This is also being used as an excuse by the establishment to validate its draconian decrees that muzzle freedom of expression.

Dev Lewis

The actions of the Hong Kong police force are certainly less deplorable than the violence displayed by the Egyptian security. Nonetheless, there have been escalations. The police have been using pepper spray and tear gas (prompting the use of umbrellas as shields, therefore, the Umbrella Revolution). Earlier this week the police tried to clear out the barriers and students from some areas, and at times have resorted to force. Just yesterday a video of a policeman violently attacking a restrained protestor and Civic party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu went viral. His was not the only case.

Hong Kong’s chief executive C.Y. Leung – whose tenure is the cause of the protests – has publically stated that Beijing will not agree to the student’s demands, and have called for the students to end the protest. But this has not deterred the youth who continue to demand that C.Y. Leung resign anyway.

As the protests seemed to peak around 6 October, and it appeared there might be a break in the diplomatic impasse, the government announced formal talks with the pro-democracy supporters. But the plans were quickly scuppered following revelations that C.Y. Leung received about a $6m payout from Australian engineering firm UGL in 2011, instead prompting calls for Leung’s impeachment by the students.

Meanwhile, Beijing has refrained from public responses, maintaining that the protests are a “matter of internal affairs.” However, it would be surprising if Beijing were not attempting to subvert the protests in a covert fashion.

A number of reports earlier this month citing an Israeli mobile security research team, Lacoon Mobile Security, revealed the attacks of a sophisticated Trojan spyware, Xsser, which infects the protests phones and collects texts, photos, call logs, etc. According to the reports the attack is aimed specifically at the Hong Kong protests and can be traced back to a Chinese entity (the code used to control the server is in Chinese).

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground is ever changing.  At C.Y. Leung’s press conference earlier today he said that the government might re-open talks between the protestors and government next week. Watch this space.

Saumya Pant

Egypt’s new Abdul Fattah el-Sisi government has learned some lessons from the Facebook Revolution of Tahrir Square. Documents leaked online last month prove that Egypt’s security forces invited tenders in December 2010 to build a surveillance system to monitor social media for expressions of dissent – including insults, rumour-mongering and calls for strikes and protests. These documents authenticate news reports highlighting Egypt’s Interior Ministry’s move to boost its ability to scan Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Viber in real-time for usage that is conveniently termed as content that might “harm public security or incite terrorism.”

Meanwhile, the witch-hunt for those linked to the previous Muslim Brotherhood government, their sympathisers and anyone who dares to oppose the establishment, is far from over.

At least 91 students have been arrested in Egypt since last Friday alone, reports the New York Times, citing statistics compiled by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, which has chapters on college campuses across the country. The Sisi government has still not released official numbers for those arrested in the sweeps after the ouster of Mohammed Morsi in July last year, but unofficial reports put the number of those arrested at 16,000.

Even before Sisi was officially elected president, he announced that freedom of speech and of the press must be balanced with national security. The recent seven-10 year prison terms handed out to three Al Jazeera staff – for charges of editing video footage to falsely “give the appearance (that) Egypt is in a civil war,” operating broadcast equipment without a license, and membership in, and support for, a “terrorist organisation,” have increased the threats to the media, particularly Egyptian journalists and bloggers who do not even have the support of the international media or foreign governments to strongly plead their case. Clearly the arrests of journalists is part of a larger campaign to crush domestic opposition. One must remember that when a government starts arresting journalists, the freedom for those not in jail shrinks, too.

Egypt now sharing the same “not free” space as North Korea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Iran in the Freedom House Report 2014 by Freedom House, a U.S.-based non-governmental organisation. The government of Sisi has greatly dishonoured the democratic ideals of Tahrir Square.

Dev Lewis

Perhaps the most important lesson Hong Kong has learned from Tahrir Square is that perseverance pays off.
Hong Kong is now entering the 19th day of theprotests and the students are displaying the kind of resilience similar to that seen in the protestors in Cairo. They have stood firm in the face tear gas, peper spray and sporadic use of force, and maintained a peaceful and non-violent demeanour, even invoking John Lenon’s famous words “maybe I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
They have taken to all forms of digital media to amplify their voice, successfully drawing international attention to their cause and channelling this to force the Hong Kong government’s hand.
As things stand their resilience seems to be yielding some results, with the government announcing rounds of talks with the pro-democracy supporters. But it is still too early to comment on how genuine and constructive the talks will really be.

Saumya Pant

The Arab Upheavals sent out the strong message that the people united have the power to topple dictators and autocratic regimes. Students in Hong Kong are also using social media tools to increase awareness, galvanise support and organize their demands.
I won’t say that the protests in Hong Kong are inspiring a revival revolution in Egypt because protests in Cairo never stopped. They have been greatly muffled by the present el-Sisi government which is dealing with these democracy protestors, and also supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, with an iron fist. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 100 students have been detained since the start of the school year on October 11th. Videos shot by student activists have shown images of protestors being teargassed and beaten by baton-wielding riot police.

Dev Lewis

On this question, the protests in Hong Kong could not be more different than those in Cairo. Egypt truly became a battleground for the Great Game, with the U.S., the EU, and a number of Gulf countries all heavily involved in backing – with money and arms – various actors.
In Hong Kong, publically, all the major powers have largely refrained from strong statements—with the exception of the U.K but that is expected given the historical connection to Hong Kong. David Cameron’s reference to the Hong Kong peoples’ rights, enshrined in the 1997 handover agreement, invoked a sharp rebuke from China which says it regards the protests as an internal matter.
Herein lies the major reason for the benign response from the rest of the world: China. On matters that Beijing classifies as internal, they do not tolerate other actors involving themselves in any way (See: Tibet). No one wants to antagonise China on this issue. But one would imagine that most of the global interplay is being conducted in more private diplomatic channels.

Saumya Pant

At the beginning of the first revolution in Egypt the Western countries heavily endorsed the pro-democracy revolutionaries. Qatar also sided with the Muslim Brotherhood, which joined the revolution at a much later stage. The liberal vote was split in Egypt and Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood was elected as Egypt’s president. Within a year of his getting elected, tens of thousands of people came out on the street to demand his ouster.
America, which gives $1.3 billion in annual military funding alone, has routinely justified aid to the powers in Egypt as an investment in regional stability, maintaining U.S. naval access to the Suez Canal, and for sustaining the March 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. The American establishment didn’t openly criticise Morsi, but eventually supported Sisi because they must have realised that the army is a better allay of U.S. as compared to the Brotherhood. The monarchy in Saudi Arabia and UAE were also against the Brotherhood because they didn’t want the Arab Spring to spread and reach their footsteps. Qatar which was till recently the biggest supporter of the Brotherhood has agreed to expel senior Brotherhood leaders due to mounting fears from the threat from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has stepped in and offered the Brotherhood leaders political asylum.