Ten Thousand Hong Kong Teachers Marched

Thanks to a humble and supposedly faceless civil servant

Hong Kong big-four newspapers across the political spectrum are united once again after the Anti-WTO protests. Clockwise from top right:

- More than ten thousand teachers marched; anti-education reform, shouted "step down Mrs Law" - Hong Kong Apple Daily
- Nearly ten thousand teachers shouted "step down Mrs Law" - Ming Pao

- Too heavy for teachers; ten thousand angry protesters took to the street - The Sun
- Ten thousand people roared "step down Mrs Law"; one-fifth of teachers took to the street - Oriental Daily

Who is Mrs Law? Her soundbite of the year is "education reforms have being implemented in many schools. Why did only two teachers [commit suicide]?"

I am not sure if any civil servant has successfully provoked ten thousand people to take to the street in human history. This is quite remarkable anyway. But that's Hong Kong, which is neither a people's democratic dictatorship nor a parliamentary democracy.

Obiter dictim: Although the Oriental Daily and the Sun are essentially pro-Beijing / pro-authorities newspapers, the editors are quite happy to cover the protest. The positioning is known as "little scolding, great help" (小骂大帮忙). After all, unlike political reform, Hong Kong education policy has nothing to do with Zhongnanhai. And obviously, no Hong Kongers (indeed, no mainland Chinese, too) would pay for any ilk of the People's Daily.

Comments

[oiwan]

i have borrow your picture for an article on teachers rally. the website www.inmediahk.net is a non-profitable independent media. hope you don't mind. if you have objection, i will take it off at once...
http://www.inmediahk.net/public/article?item_id=93152&group_id=33

[Letters from China]

Oi Wan, Never mind about the image file.

The commentator at In Media said legislator Cheung Man-kwong had delivered a "very careful and proper" (十分谨慎) speech in the assembly demanding Mrs Law to resign.

According to the Ming Pao, Mr Cheung said, "What if Mrs Law turns down our requests? I think she should resign, change job, step down!" (如果罗太拒绝我们的诉求,怎麼办？我认为她应该辞职、转职、落台！)

This is plainly a populous speech in defiance of constitutional convention. It does not take a veteran politician to tell Mrs Law is now a easy target. But why should an administrator resign for policy reason? Should one hold the education minister, not the senior civil servant, accountable?

If civil servants are politicians, would the democrats (including Mr Cheung) then have any grounds to oppose the government's proposal of "patriotic education" (with Chinese characteristics) for the civil servants?