進入新的一年

進入新的一年，狀態似乎真的比過往好。

三月便要正式閉關了，之前還要處理很多積壓下來的事，還有手頭上的事。說是閉關，也是相對而言，有很多事情還需要我。

已重新整理好詩稿，現在只欠序言與後記。

看來一切頗順利。

詩集

終於要整理詩集，最早的有80年代後期的作品。有一些早期的詩要打字，我差不多98年才有自己的電腦，最近才比較認真練倉頡 ; <

另一本design book式的詩集，拖了差不多一年，也快要出版了，並可能與個人詩集同期，但不是故意的。

這兩本詩集，一本叫《失樂園》，另一本叫《貓河》。

綾波零的眼淚

終於把《新世紀福音戰士》全部看完，包括補完版、劇場版。

看後空空如也的。之後找了很久才找回有一次零號機暴走前，綾波零說的一段很長的話(後來發現話在第14集)。

綾波零總是很傷感，我老是反反覆覆看她說自己一無所有的那一場，還有引爆零號機救真冶的那一場，她的眼淚。

每一次看，我的眼淚都在不知不覺地流。

或許是因為我看見了自己。

每一個人都是其他人的倒影，別人哭了，我們也在流淚。

其實只有我們自己在流淚。

但流淚的感覺很好，因為眼淚，我們感覺到自己跟其他人連在一起。

What will people remember? A review of global anti-WTO movement in Hong Kong

Lam Oi Wan and Ip Iam Chong, from HK InMedia

The Sixth WTO Ministerial Meeting is over. What will people remember? We believe people don’t care what the hell is the Hong Kong Declaration. On the contrary, the most vivid memory, particularly for Hong Kong people, is the activists’ flags, footstep, slogans, songs and body. We are amazed by the wide variety of protesting cultures from all over the world. Most important, the anti-WTO movements was located at the midst and against the propaganda of the Hong Kong government, WTO and the mainstream media. The demonstrations have opened up a new social imagination for the global anti-WTO movement.

The mainstream media, local and overseas, are highly dominated by the government’s and WTO’s strategy to further stigmatize the protestors and dissidents as “anti-WTO mob”. In February 2005, we asked local media workers about their planning for WTO meeting. They told us that news regarding WTO were to be covered by reporters of “security beat”. We were surprised because security problem is only a small part of the whole event. The government led the media to see all anti-WTO campaigns as a security problem. The “potential threats”, rather than the controversies over international trade and the people’s responses, became the sole issue valuable for media. Most local newspapers used “the invasion of the anti-WTO activists” as their headlines a few days before the MC6 meeting. A local television news channel broadcasted violent scenes of earlier demonstrations repeatedly to show off their reporters’ “professionalism” in the “battlefield”.

Since July 2005, the police had kept informing the media of its plan to deal with protesters. The reporters were much more concerned with the forms (or “the intensity of violence”) of protest the NGOs were going to take rather than their appeals. They were expecting violent fighting, throwing stones, hauling pipe bombs and suicide. From October to November, the public relation department of the Hong Kong police had been issuing warning messages to the media and the general public, particularly the residents living and running business in Wanchai and Causeway Bay, where the demonstration route, protest area and meeting venue (Convention Center) is located. The shopkeepers and restaurant owners were advised to take precaution or even close their doors. The primary and secondary school suspended classes. No road construction work was allowed during this period. The police even painted glue onto the pavement and took away all garbage bins. The reporters spotted out “danger areas” in Wanchai. During the week of MC6 meeting, some people made up a lot of stories. For example, it was alleged that some security uniforms were missing and gas masks were sold out. All these news stories hinted conspired violent action. Yet they proved to be unfounded rumors. The media companies were the ones to buy up all the masks in the market!

What the government and the media did was to “recycle” the stereotype of anti-WTO movement fabricated before in order to stir up social panic. It highlights the danger of violence and anarchy. The media predicted the “Seattle riot” happened in Hong Kong again. The media got ready to paint a horrible and chaotic picture of anti-WTO movement. However, what the social movement organizations all over the world brought to us was a lively and colorful week.

On December 13, the anti-WTO rally shattered the lies of the police and the mainstream media. About one hundred people jumped into the dirtiest sewage outlet of the Victorian Harbor to protest against WTO. While the police used pepper spray to hurt those who attempted to approach the Convention Centre, the demonstration had caused no physical damage to the local residents. Instead they enjoyed it and saw it as a carnival. On December 14, Korean farmers grabbed away the police’s shields but they returned them to the police to show their differences in stands with respect.

On December 15, Korean farmers demonstrated with a Buddhist ritual of one bowing in every three steps and won the support and sympathy of general public. Local residents felt extremely shocked by the farmers’ respect to the land. Since then no one cared about what happened in the Convention Centre and the Hong Kong people found no reason to support the police to repress the activists. Some people asked: Why did our government spend more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars to host this meeting? How come Hong Kong police act as security guard for the big corporations? Hong Kong government was losing support from the public. On the contrary, they were touched by the anti-WTO protestors, particularly the Korean farmers. The locals were very much stunned by the farmers’ passion, discipline and determination. At this moment, the only way for the government to regain its authority was to shift the public attention from the Korean farmers to violence scenes. For example, for some unknown reasons, the story about a group of anarchists who would bring social turbulence to Hong Kong appeared in some local newspapers. Yet this story, not founded on any news source and evidence, proved to be rumor again.

Our citizen reporters attended most rallies and observed the development of the anti-WTO movements. We came up with a theory about Hong Kong government’s plan to set up the Korean demonstrators. The first plot is about the small conflict happening in the Korean embassy on December 16. More than one hundred farmers staged protest in front of a commercial skyscraper. They broke into the building and the consulate easily because only about ten slightly equipped police were there. Over the past few days, almost one thousand highly equipped police officers had blocked the way of the protesters in the demonstration area. And there is no reason for the Central district police force, the most experienced headquarter in handling demonstrations and protests in Hong Kong, to be so “careless” about the protest. Fortunately, the farmers’ action proceeded peacefully and orderly and not a single piece of window glass was broken. No one got hurt. The police strategy to smear the name of the Korean people failed.

Something unusual happened in the demonstration area on December 17. The police used water canon to disperse demonstrators and further sealed the area off . After the Korean farmers had serious conflict with the police, they took to the Hennessey Road, the main transportation route of Hong Kong Island and then turned right to move closer to the waterfront and the Convention Centre. There were a few street fights along Hennessey Road, however, when they reached Fleming Road, which has a direct crossover leading to the Convention center, they encountered almost no obstruction by the police until they reached about 100 meters away from the venue of the WTO meeting. Then more police backup blocked their way behind their backs and they were trapped on the cross road outside the Central Plaza.

The police’s picket line outside Central Plaza was unreasonably weak. Korean demonstrators and some local supporters (less than a hundred) attempted to break through the line by pushing their bodies and using banner sticks at the beginning. The police responded with pepper spray and batons while the demonstrators pushed fields and picked up wooden sticks and iron bars. Then the police used tear gas and rubber bullets (Police denied but demonstrators confirmed) without any warning. The series of conflicts between the two parties had lasted for less than 20 minutes. The police took this chance to seal Wanchai and Causeway Bay off and stopped people from entering the districts. The government sent mobile phone messages to warn all Hong Kong people not to come to these two districts. The demonstrators were further isolated and trapped at Gloucester Road, a highway between the residential area and the waterfront commercial area.

The police announced this incident as “riot” on television and “arrested” and detained about one thousand demonstrators at Gloucester Road. The protesters were portrayed as occupying the highway and “illegal assembly” by the media. They were named as “arrested rioters” by the police although they were not taken to police station immediately. No one asked why they moved to and stay on the highway. Even though the one thousand demonstrators, mostly foreigners, were surrounded outdoors without water, food and toilet, no media saw it as a problem because it was a state of emergency. The police deliberately slowed down the process of arrest and it lasted for more than ten hours. By such tactic, the power of Korean protestors was dismantled.

On December 18, all local newspapers condemned the Korean farmers for violence. The police issued warning messages to all Hong Kong people again and urged them not to join any assembly and demonstration. Yet many local residents who had witnessed to the incident the previous night did not believe in the government’s propaganda. They knew clearly that what happened was not a riot. It is ironic that the casualties of civilian were caused by police’s tear gas and batons rather than protesters. Furthermore the people’s struggles over the last few days had already left a positive impression on Hong Kong people and delivered a strong anti-WTO message to them. That is why they came out to join the anti-WTO parade even after the so-called “riot”.

Now the Hong Kong police recycled the stereotype of “rioter” to charge fourteen anti-WTO activists of criminal offense and its public relation department started to make use of mainstream media to create “public opinion” against supporters and sympathizers. In spite of it, Hong Kong government failed to override all alternative interpretations. Although the violent scenes on television news are influential, not many people believe that Korean farmers are rioters.

Compared to the previous anti-WTO movements, the local people felt strongly sympathetic with the causes of the protestors, particularly the Korean farmers. To some extent, the people’s voices resist against the propaganda machine of the government and WTO, and become a significant part of Hong Kong people’s collective memory. This strong local-global connection stands out in the history of global social movement. All global citizens should be proud of it.

From: Hong Kong In-media and Target-WTO