scholarly journals The Politics of Unionisation in Hong Kong: An Interview with Dr Bill Taylor

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Yu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Rights ◽  
Union Movement

Unions in Hong Kong played an important role in the historical develoopment of civil society and labour rights long before the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese sovereignty in 1997. But what are the possible impacts of the new union movement in Hong Kong today? KEYWORDS: labour activism; unionism; Hong Kong studies; social movement; industrial relations

Anti-Activism and Its Impact on Civil Society in Hong Kong: A Case Study of the Anti–Falun Gong Campaign

Modern China ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 009770042094215
Author(s):  
Cheris Shun-ching Chan ◽  
Andrew Junker
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Falun Gong ◽  
The Public ◽  
Primary Documents ◽  
Per Se

In this article, we introduce the concept of “anti-activism” and explore the possible impact of anti-activist action in Hong Kong. We define anti-activism as a form of countermovement intended to discredit, distract, and even harass activists in voluntary social movements. Our data and analyses are based on field observations, interviews, and primary documents collected in Hong Kong during 2012–2018. We focus on the case of the protest campaign against the quasi-religious group Falun Gong 法輪功 to develop our argument. We find that anti-activists do not try to win public support for their cause. Instead, they succeed most effectively through the process of disrupting and discrediting voluntary activists to arouse tension, conflict, suspicion, and annoyance in the public. They discredit not just their opponents but even themselves, and, thus by extension, they discredit social movement activism per se, polarize public debate, and in a way undermine the integrity of civil society in Hong Kong.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis L. F Lee ◽  
Joseph M Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Media System ◽  
System P ◽  
Connective Action ◽  
Integrated Media ◽  
Media And Communication ◽  
The Ideal

Chapter 1 introduces the background of the Umbrella Movement, a protest movement that took hold in Hong Kong in 2014, and outlines the theoretical principles underlying the analysis of the role of media and communication in the occupation campaign. It explicates how the Umbrella Movement is similar to but also different from the ideal-typical networked social movement and crowd-enabled connective action. It explains why the Umbrella Movement should be seen as a case in which the logic of connective action intervenes into a planned collective action. It also introduces the notion of conditioned contingencies and the conceptualization of an integrated media system.

scholarly journals The Australian industrial system in the era of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110128
Author(s):  
Michele O’Neil
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
National Level ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Paid Leave ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Decentralised Systems ◽  
Australian Economy

COVID-19 caused sudden and serious damage to the Australian economy. The effects have been spread unevenly, and highlighted the shortcomings of over-reliance on insecure forms of work. The lack of any form of paid leave for casual and other insecure workers undermined the public health response, and was emblematic of the broader consequences of insecurity. Despite its limitations, Australia’s industrial relations system responded to the challenges of the pandemic in a way that less regulated and ‘decentralised’ systems would not have been able to. This article argues that the union movement was critical to Australia’s successful response, and that the award system proved to be an adaptable mechanism to deliver change at a national level while ensuring that the representative voice of workers was heard, and basic industrial protections were not jettisoned. Industry bargaining would have also been a beneficial tool to deal with economy-wide issues of this kind. The article urges that the lessons of the pandemic be learned as we move to a recovery phase and that we ensure there are more secure jobs, better bargaining rights and improvements to basic protections to ensure that workers’ rights are not eroded.

Book review: Wiesława Kozek: NSZZ „SOLIDARNOŚĆ” IN THE FRONT OF NEW CHALLENGES SINCE 1989

2021 ◽  
Vol 562 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-32
Author(s):  
Dariusz Zalewski
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Simultaneous Use ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Empirical Material

The analysis is based on interviews with four leaders of the Solidarity Trade Union (Lech Wałęsa, Marian Krzaklewski, Janusz Śniadek and Piotr Duda) with the simultaneous use of extensive research achievements on the trade union movement, also co-created by the author, The basic hypotheses that were examined concern the rooting of "Solidarity" "In the popular Catholic tradition and anti-communism, which, according to the author, significantly influenced the process of the evolution of" Solidarity "as a social movement and was / is an obstacle in its functioning as a trade union. The book's empirical material is unique, and the possibility of comparing the opinions and interpretations of various events related to the history and the present of the Association, presented by the interviewees, gives the book a unique character.

Stages of Hong Kong’s democratic movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-380
Author(s):  
Benny Yiu-ting Tai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
Democratic System

Bill Moyer observed that there are eight stages in a social movement: seeming normal, exposing injustice, ripening conditions, taking off, losing heart, winning the majority, reaping success and consolidating achievement. For more than 30 years, Hong Kong people have been striving for democracy. Applying Moyer’s model, Hong Kong should be now at a stage close to reaching its ultimate goal of establishing a genuine democratic system in the territory after years of work, especially the triggering event in September 2014 and the occupation during the Umbrella Movement. However, Moyer’s model cannot be mechanically applied to the case of Hong Kong in light of the unique situation faced by Hong Kong people. Hong Kong’s authoritarian sovereign holds the final key to Hong Kong’s door to democracy. Unless there is a significant shift in the balance of powers in the Chinese polity, Hong Kong’s democracy may be so near and yet so far.

Nationalistic education in the Hong Kong and the Macao SARs of China

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric King-man Chong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Education ◽  
National Identification ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyse the role and implementation of nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs) since their respective handover of sovereignty to China in the late 1990s. Both SARs face the educational need to cultivate a Chinese national identification among the students after the sovereignty changes. While Macau SAR has enjoyed a relatively smooth implementation of nationalistic education towards which Macau’s schools and students are largely receptive to nationalistic programmes since its handover in 1999, Hong Kong SAR Government’s nationalistic education was met by reservation from some parents, students and civil society’s groups under allegations of “political indoctrination” and “brain-washing”. The Hong Kong civil society’s resistance to National Education culminated in the anti-Moral and National Education protest in Summer 2012 and then Hong Kong schools and society. This paper attempts to provide an overview and analysis on the development of nationalistic education in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and to give some possible explanations on the factors that lead to differences of perceiving and responding to the nationalistic education between both places. Design/methodology/approach After conducting a literature review, this study utilises different sources of data such as curriculum guidelines, previous studies and other scholarly findings in examining the development of civic education and national education policy in both SAR societies, as well as in discussing the possible developments of nationalistic education in both SARs by making references to previous studies of citizenship and nationalistic education. Findings This study found out that different relationships between the two SAR Governments and their respective civil society, the extent of established socio-political linkages with China, as well as the introduction of a core subject of Liberal Studies in Hong Kong secondary schools, which emphasises on multiple perspectives and critical thinking skills, are some plausible factors that explain different stories and developments of implementing nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macao SARs. Research limitations/implications For giving suggestions for a nationalistic education in both Chinese SARs, first, there should be an exploration of multiple citizenship identities. This will allow people to choose their identities and thus facilitate their belongingness in terms of local, national and global dimensions. In addition, there should be an exploration of a Chinese national identification with different emphases such as knowledge orientation and critical thinking so as to cater for youth values. Promoting the idea of an informed and reasonable-in-thinking patriot could also be a way to ease the concern that building a national identity negates a person’s freedom of thinking. Originality/value This paper attempts to compare and analyse the different responses to the same policy of enhancing nationalistic education development in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs of China. Some plausible explanations were given based on political, social and educational factors, as well as youth value oritentations. This paper would be an attempt to show that a top-down single-minded orientated nationalistic education may not work well a society such as Hong Kong, where civil society and youth values are quite different than that can be found in China.

scholarly journals Civil Society and Pro-Democracy Social Movements: Troubled Relations Within Authoritarian Regimes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murad Nasibov
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Organic Solidarity ◽  
Mechanical Solidarity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Conceptual Relationship

This article tries to conceptually lay down the troubled relations between civil society and social movements within authoritarian regimes. This is done by, first, bringing clarity to the conceptual relationship between civil society and social movement and, then, applying it to the authoritarian context, still theoretically. Following the “hints” of the Eastern European intellectuals of the late 1970s and the 1980s and building on the appropriation of Durkheim’s differentiation between mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity, the article distinguishes two types of solidarity: associative solidarity and action and collective solidarity and action. Civil society is proposed to emerge on associative solidarities (and their actions), while social movements build on collective solidarities (and their actions). Furthermore, associative and collective actions are identified to be progressive and transgressive, respectively. Consequently, the proposed theoretical account is applied theoretically to the authoritarian context and several hypotheses are proposed on the relationship between civil society and pro-democracy movement within authoritarian regimes.

scholarly journals The ‘drifting Generation’ without a Helmsman. Main obstacles in shaping the Relations between the Political Parties and the Youth in Poland

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-351
Author(s):  
Radosław Marzęcki
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Efficient Communication ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Discourse Understanding

Abstract In the article the author presents data to identify the most important obstacles hindering efficient communication between political parties and Polish youth. The main assumptions accepted by the author are related to the belief that the Central and Eastern European countries are still trying to figure out ways of dealing with the key challenges related to transformation – the (re)creation of the civil society and a new, democratic culture of political discourse. Understanding that all social change is evolutionary and is a part of some social movement, the author assumes that the post-communist societies now face a chance to meaningfully accelerate this process. The chance is related to the young generation of citizens – often of the same age as the democracies themselves.

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