Day 4: March Against Privatization
Too much crazy stuff going on to give regular reports!! Here's a report I put together about an action I participated in yesterday...
Indonesian migrant workers, along with representatives from Korean workers’ and farmers’ groups, were the largest contingents in a demonstration against privatization on the fourth day of anti-WTO activities in Hong Kong.
Chanting, singing, and drumming against the privatization of public services, and in particular against the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), around 400 people participated in the march through the streets of Admiralty and Wan Chai districts.
On the front page of every local newspaper this morning, some two hundred demonstrators from the Korean Peasants League and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions maintained their opposition to the WTO and neoliberal globalization, chanting “Down Down WTO” and “WTO Kills Farmers!”
And around fifty Indonesian migrant workers and supporters, waving the purple flags that have been omnipresent this week, chanted slogans asserting the human and labor rights of migrants that are under threat from the WTO and GATS regimes. “No to the Commodification of Migrants!” and “Migrants Are Not for Sale!” they chanted.
Indonesian organizer Nurul Qoiriah also gave a simple message to the substantial crowds that lined the streets watching the marchers pass by: “People of Hong Kong, we know that many of you right now, at home, employ migrant domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand. We want you to know that these migrants are human beings, we are not your property. We have dignity and we have rights, and we are getting organized to let you know that!”
As the demonstration moved through closed off streets, across the overpass and to the cargo loading area close to the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre, police made an unexpected move by forming a barrier between the participants. Separating the march in two, the officers isolated Korean protestors between two lines of police, while holding back the migrants and other groups, preventing them from joining their fellow demonstrators.
Tension mounted as confused, angry, and trapped demonstrators pushed against lines of riot police attempting to break free and to also get closer to the Convention Centre. Police responded by using pepper foam and batons against the demonstrators.
In the other half of the demonstration, in front of the police lines, officers put up barricades as migrants’ groups and various other demonstrators chanted, sang, and shouted at police to let them through. When police moved to push demonstrators back and encircle them, protestors sat on the ground and linked arms, preventing the police from advancing.
After half an hour of negotiation, the police moved their barricades and allowed all the demonstrators to march together. Frustrated and angry at the police’s actions and their treatment of the Koreans, ten to fifteen demonstrators from Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, as well as Africa and Latin America, ran towards the Convention Centre and attempted to breach the police lines. After some minor scuffles and ample use of pepper foam and batons by police, the whole demonstration once again set off together in the direction of Victoria Park.
Unexpected as it was at the time, the separation of Korean protestors from the others by police is perhaps just one more manifestation of the ‘good protestor, bad protestor’ line that is increasingly being toed by the police and mainstream media here. With several panicked, scaremongering articles before the WTO meetings heralding an influx of “Asia’s most violent” protestors, the media has consistently demonized Korean groups as bearing absolute responsibility for any ‘violence’ that occurs during resistance to MC6. Now it seems that non-Korean protestors are being used as part of this demonizing, played off by the media as model demonstrators against their ‘violent’, unruly counterparts. Perhaps in reaction to this, some statements of solidarity with the Koreans, and assertions that resistance to the WTO was one, were made by various groups on stage in Victoria Park later that day. The Korean Struggle Mission has also organized a solidarity evening for the 15th of December.
While many protestors headed to Victoria Park, the contingent of Indonesian migrant workers and their supporters continued to the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong, where an emotional rally was held. Another organizer named Revi told crowds that the consulate had actively intervened in trying to keep migrants away from the WTO protests. Aside from pressure on migrants visiting the consulate, consular staff have also worked with employment agencies to warn employers about letting domestic workers leave the house in order to demonstrate. This, along with police harassment, has been a serious obstacle to organizing efforts.
“This is supposed to be a building for the people!” Nurul Qoiriah shouted through a megaphone when consular staff refused to open a protective metal gate to allow the demonstrators inside. “We are Indonesians and you won’t even let us in to tell you about our problems? We have so many problems! And you the consulate, the government, and the employment agencies are running a racket, you are making a business and profits off the lives and labour of migrants!”
After being fenced in by police barricades and shouting for about 20 mins., consular staff agreed to meet with two representatives from the march to hear their demands.
