Come join in a democracy classroom session!

I’ve been following the developments in Hong Kong with some interest, spending (quite a lot of) time following updates on Twitter as one protest after another crops up in the city.

It’s really interesting to see how things are unfolding in Hong Kong, how people are organising and standing in solidarity, and the different tactics that different groups of people have decided to employ. It’s also been interesting keeping an eye on the reactions to the protests, particularly to things such as the actions of the police, or the decision by a relatively small group of protesters to storm LegCo.

So we figured that it’s as good a time as any to get together to talk about our thoughts and reactions to the Hong Kong protests, and examine what this tells us about our attitudes towards activism and civil resistance in general.

It’s not about coming to a consensus about whether we think the Hong Kong protests are good/bad, or whether we approve/disapprove of what they’re doing (to be honest, I don’t think the people of Hong Kong particularly care about what we think)—it’s more about having the space to engage in discussion, face-to-face, about the underlying values, principles and priorities that we have when it comes to questions of democracy, activism, and protest.

All views are welcome as long as you are engaging in conversation in good faith! (Basically, the first rule of democracy classroom is, “Don’t be a dick.”)

We’ll be holding two sessions, both 2pm–4pm, on 13th and 14th July. Please RSVP by registering on Eventbrite, so we can get a sense of turn-out!