The final sub group among the pro-Beijing forces was grassroots organizations that emerged in late 2013, such as Silent Majority and the Voice of a Loving Hong Kong. These groups also feared the potential economic and social consequences of the proposed three-day campaign and believed OHKLP was ruining the chances of universal suffrage being actually implemented. There were doubts about how many members these grassroots organizations actually contained. Some among their members spoke no Cantonese (one of the official languages of Hong Kong). Often times these organizations paid for lunch and visits to tourist attractions for those that participated in their rallies. Their goal, nonetheless, was to show that there was popular support denouncing OHKLP, and to prevent the implementation of civil disobedience. The Founding of and Initial Steps Toward the Referendum. Benny Tai You-ting initially called for the use of civil disobedience in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, a newspaper dedicated to current affairs and financial news, on January 16th, 2013. In the subsequent week, Tai was able to launch a citywide discussion of his “Civil Disobedience as the Most Powerful of Weapons” following an interview with the online site InMedia that gained significant attention throughout Hong Kong. Alluding to the success of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the law professor contended that pro-democracy activists needed to escalate tactics to signal resolve in pursuing genuine universal suffrage. He envisioned a crowd of 10,000 people occupying the heart of Hong Kong’s financial sector, the Central District. These pro-democracy forces would peacefully resist, but would also accept being arrested as the legal consequences of their actions. It was imperative for Tai that demonstrators surrender themselves; that would give forces the moral high ground and prove that they abided by the rule of law. Tai
The final sub group among the pro-Beijing forces was grassroots organizations that emerged in late 2013, such as Silent Majority and the Voice of a Loving Hong Kong. These groups also feared the potential economic and social consequences of the proposed three-day campaign and believed OHKLP was ruining the chances of universal suffrage being actually implemented. There were doubts about how many members these grassroots organizations actually contained. Some among their members spoke no Cantonese (one of the official languages of Hong Kong). Often times these organizations paid for lunch and visits to tourist attractions for those that participated in their rallies. Their goal, nonetheless, was to show that there was popular support denouncing OHKLP, and to prevent the implementation of civil disobedience. The Founding of and Initial Steps Toward the Referendum. Benny Tai You-ting initially called for the use of civil disobedience in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, a newspaper dedicated to current affairs and financial news, on January 16th, 2013. In the subsequent week, Tai was able to launch a citywide discussion of his “Civil Disobedience as the Most Powerful of Weapons” following an interview with the online site InMedia that gained significant attention throughout Hong Kong. Alluding to the success of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the law professor contended that pro-democracy activists needed to escalate tactics to signal resolve in pursuing genuine universal suffrage. He envisioned a crowd of 10,000 people occupying the heart of Hong Kong’s financial sector, the Central District. These pro-democracy forces would peacefully resist, but would also accept being arrested as the legal consequences of their actions. It was imperative for Tai that demonstrators surrender themselves; that would give forces the moral high ground and prove that they abided by the rule of law. Tai
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