Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) announced on September 4 that she would withdraw the controversial extradition bill, except it was too late.

The months-long demonstrations in Hong Kong have been met by increasing police brutality and even gang violence against protesters. Anti-extradition protests turned into a full-fledged pro-democracy movement, encompassing dissatisfactions of the population that go far beyond the bill that was repealed.

Protesters in Hong Kong are demanding higher autonomy for the territory in a similar way to other pro-democracy protests that have emerged since the Arab Spring in the early 2010s.

The Arab Spring marked a before and an after in world politics and presented the world with new forms of mobilization for democracy: they are often decentralized and horizontal, organized without the help of trade unions, political parties or non-profits. Traditional social organizations have lost their command as individuals rely on the Internet to facilitate an autonomous mobilization.

Full article at The News Lens’s website. Date of publication: 20/09/2019.