torsdag 14. april 2022

The Death of Hong Kong’s University Student Unions

Not long after the Pillar of Shame was dismantled on the University of Hong Kong campus and covered by bright yellow construction boards, there was another construction project underway not far away. A slogan, painted by the university’s student union on a paved road decades ago and also commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre, was covered with tar by workers, though the university insisted that it was routine maintenance. The student union had originally painted this protest piece; now there was no student union left in the university to protest this move.

Hong Kong’s student societies have historically played an important role in social activism and driving society’s political narratives. After a violent anti-colonial riot in 1967, locals learned that organized protests are the only way to be heard under an unelected and non-democratic colonial government.