Gearing Up for WTO Protests in Hong Kong

by Hyun Lee

Hong Kong, July 9-15

My first day in Hong Kong was a Sunday. Amy and I went for a walk to get brunch, and on the way, I saw Filipinas everywhere – window-shopping with friends, waiting for the bus, playing poker on street corners, taking an afternoon nap under the HSBC building. I commented to Amy, “It feels like I came to the Philippines! Where are all the Chinese?” Sunday's a day-off for the 200,000 nannies in Hong Kong – mostly Filipinas and Indonesians, displaced by privatization and structural adjustment programs back home, and who have traveled overseas as migrant workers in search of work. Next to a group of Filipinas picnicking on a blanket on the sidewalk, I noticed a picket sign that exclaimed “Oust Gloria!” I was reminded again - wherever there is oppression, there is resistance… and that resistance is expressed not only in response to immediate conditions faced by migrants abroad, but also as a demand for justice in the homeland and freedom from imperialism, the root of economic instability and poverty, which is what drives millions in developing countries to leave their families and migrate in search of work.

After brunch, I picked up a newspaper to see what was in the news on this side of the world, and was pleasantly surprised to see a headline on the front page that announced “One Thousand Militant Korean Peasants to Descend on Hong Kong!” The article was sensationalistic and alarmist – an attempt by the Hong Kong mainstream media to paint those who oppose free trade and the WTO as irrational and violent, and instill fear among Hong Kong people to divide them from the protesters. I thought to be described as “militant” is a compliment, and felt proud that Korean peasants were regarded with awe for their legendary militancy in other parts of the world.

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