Civil Disobedience And Identity In Hong Kong Amidst Protests

Policemen in anti-riot gear stand guard outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Opponents of legislation in Hong Kong that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China gathered outside the Legislative Council on Tuesday night ahead of a day of expected demonstrations and labor strikes.
Policemen in anti-riot gear stand guard outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Opponents of legislation in Hong Kong that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China gathered outside the Legislative Council on Tuesday night ahead of a day of expected demonstrations and labor strikes. Vincent Yu / AP Photo
Policemen in anti-riot gear stand guard outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Opponents of legislation in Hong Kong that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China gathered outside the Legislative Council on Tuesday night ahead of a day of expected demonstrations and labor strikes.
Policemen in anti-riot gear stand guard outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Opponents of legislation in Hong Kong that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China gathered outside the Legislative Council on Tuesday night ahead of a day of expected demonstrations and labor strikes. Vincent Yu / AP Photo

Civil Disobedience And Identity In Hong Kong Amidst Protests

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Hong Kong saw an estimated one million people take to the streets on Sunday to protest a bill that would enable extraditions between Hong Kong and territories with which it does not have preexisting extradition agreements. Dissent has spread to Hong Kong diaspora communities worldwide, and Chicago saw its own solidarity protest in Daley Square. Justin Tse, incoming assistant professor in humanities at Singapore Management University, was at the protest holding an icon of the Holy Martyrs of China, a symbol of Eastern Catholicism commemorating Christians killed in China during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Justin argued in a blog post on Monday that religion has played a significant role in enabling political dissent in Hong Kong and informs a tradition of protest that stands in opposition to a conception of Chinese national identity put forward by the Communist Party that is ultimately reductive and exclusionary. He joins the show alongside Samuel Chu, a contributing fellow with the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California whose father, Rev. Chu Yiu-ming, was one of the founders of the Occupy Central movement and was charged on conspiracy to commit public nuisance in April. They unpack the relationship between religion, identity and civil disobedience in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong diaspora worldwide.