The Umbrella Revolution

Since the beginning of fall, the streets of Hong Kong have been bustling with student protesters fighting for the right to have a democratic government. Led by a skinny 18 year old with black glasses,  Joshua Wong has "whipped up crowds with fiery speeches" into action against the current communist ruling party. The protests began in September when Mr. Wong rounded up two hundred Hong Kong students and blocked the entrance to a government building, unhappy with the lack of a democratic process promised to the people of Hong Kong. Police countered with force, blinding people with tear gas and pepper spray, and arresting Mr. Wong and his fellow rebels. This had the opposite affect it intended to have. Word spread on social media and thousands more joined the movement. Since then, many have been beaten ruthlessly by police officials, as well as the Chinese Mafia working for the government.  "To shield themselves from the pepper spray, they've use umbrellas, which have given  the movement a symbol and a name: The Umbrella Revolution."

To understand the Umbrella Revolution, it helps to understand Hong Kong's history. In 1842, China lost Hong Kong to Great Britain in the First Opium War. The small colony eventually experienced democracy for the first time under British rule. However, in 1997, due to the Treaty of Nanking, the British government handed Hong Kong back to communist China, depriving them of democracy, and other rights. The "One Country Two Systems" treaty signed in 1984 was a promise that Hong Kong for the next fifty years would have freedom of speech and other basic rights that the mainland does not have. Still this worried many Hong Kong citizens. They knew they would be deprived of their rights. And they were, the Umbrella Revolution is the fight for what was theirs and should be today.

History repeats itself. In 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests ended in gruesome cold blood. Police officials were unsuccessful in breaking up a peaceful protest, the government brought in the Army and murdered, arrested, or disposed of hundreds possibly thousands of innocent citizens. One of which was 'Tank Man', an unidentified person that stood his ground in front of a convoy of tanks issued to destroy those that protested. Amazingly, China's inter web bans this sort of information that may make them look bad in their need to protect their communist power. This filter and censorship of these facts have been effective, barely anyone in the mainland knows about Tiananmen Square, and Tank Man and what happened that horrible day. This lack of freedom to know a people's own history is not acceptable, and Joshua Wong and his raging followers are fighting to end secrecy and earn democratic freedom for Hong Kong.

Nobody knows what will happen in the near future to Hong Kong, these courageous protesting students, China, or even my mother's home country, Taiwan. China claims Taiwan is theirs, however, Taiwan has their own president, language, culture, currency, democracy and has never been under communist rule. Based off what they are seeing in Hong Kong, Taiwan is getting nervous as well. As China gains power, and cracks down on human rights, brave people of Hong Kong and their Umbrella Revolution must stand up and fight for their freedom.