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| 黄之锋 OSHUA WONG CHI-FUNG |
本周二是距香港警察用催泪弹和胡椒喷雾攻击支持民主的"和平非暴力"示威人士整整一个月的日子。警察的行为反而激发了数以万计的更多民众在这一晚占领街头，争取自由地选举香港的领导人的权利。
那一天，9月28日，我因参与政府大楼前由学生领导的公民抗命行为而仍被警察扣押，与外界隔绝。在被扣押46小时后，我终于获释。当我再次走上香港的街道，看到成千上万的民众为了争取民主权利而聚集在一起，我深受感动。就在那一刻，我知道香港已不再一样。
1997年中国收回香港主权时我还不到一岁。自那时起，普通港人唯一的选择就是在由少数权贵商家控制的政治制度中生活。包括我这一代人在内的许多人，都盼望终有一天北京的中央政府能信守多年来的承诺，港人能自由的选举领导人。然而，就在今年8月底，北京却裁定香港的政制将继续由权贵商家操纵，真普选成了泡影。
但这种形势不会长久。以年轻人为主力的抗议者正持续占领这座城市的多个主要区域，每天都向世人展示，只要有沉实坚定的决心，政治改变终将到来。我们的和平民主示威已经打破了国际社会关于香港只是金融都市、人们只在乎钱的错觉。港人盼望政制改革。港人希望改变现状。
我们这一代，即在香港回归中国后才渐渐长大成人的所谓90后一代，明白如果香港有朝一日变得与中国大陆的某一个城市并无二致，信息自由不再，司法独立不再，我们将遭受最严重的损失。因此，我们对北京方面和梁振英政府试图盗取港人未来的做法深感不满与失望。
对于90后一代的港人，香港作为我们成长的城市，与我们祖父辈、父辈当年的记忆相比，早已大不相同。我们的前人——他们中的很多人都来自中国大陆——只想要一件事：稳定的生活。一份稳定的工作过去一向比政治重要。他们过去卖力工作，没有要求过舒适和稳定以外的事。
我们这一世代要求的比温饱更多。在信息可自由流通，想法可自由交换的世界，我们要的是一件所有其他在先进的社会中生活的人都拥有的事：决定自己未来的权利。
香港并不乐观的经济状况也是我们不满的原因。年轻人的工作前景黯淡，房屋的租金及售价早已超出大部分普通港人能承受的范围，香港社会的贫富悬殊日益恶化。我这一代人可能是香港第一代比父母生活得差的人。
我的父母并非政治活跃人士。但在过去几个月，因为我在抗议活动中的活跃角色，家里住址被公开，我的父母频频遭受骚扰。尽管如此，父母仍然尊重我参与示威的选择。他们给我空间，让我参与自己认为重要的事。
不是所有年轻人都那么幸运。并非所有参与雨伞运动的年轻人都能得到父母的支持。他们回到家，会因参与民主活动而受到家人指责，很多人不得不就自己夜晚的去向而骗父母。我听说，有一些父母删除了子女手机中的联络人和社交媒体上的通信，以防止他们加入活跃人士的群组。
我们这一世代的政治觉醒并非始于一朝一夕。近五年前，年轻的香港人曾参与反对一项非常浪费的联通香港和内地的高铁项目。2011年，许多年轻港人，包括我自己在内，组织起来，反对北京试图强加给我们的、带有洗脑内容的国民教育计划。当时我14岁，我只知道身处北京的领导人无权用他们扭曲的价值观对我们洗脑。
但是，如果说人大近期关于香港普选的决定仍有正面效果的话，那就是让港人能从此面对现实。北京声称给予了我们一人一票的选举，但是一个只允许政府批准的候选人参选的选举与真普选是两回事。通过颁布这个决定，北京表明了对自1997年就在香港实行的"一国两制"的真实态度。那就是，对北京来讲，一国比两制更重要。
我认为，8月的决定和香港警方对抗议者的强硬手段——向人群施放八十多罐催泪弹、使用胡椒喷雾和警棍——是一个转折点。结果就是使整一世代的港人从旁观者的角色转化为行动者。它迫使港人从此站起来，据理抗争。
现在，许多中学生正在参与这次的民主运动：年仅13岁的学生罢课，还有各个年龄层的年轻学生彻夜留守占领区。他们优雅地抗议，尽管被警察和雇来的暴徒攻击。
有些人认为，中央政府的强硬立场意味着真普选是不可能实现的目标。但我认为，社会运动的本意就是争取将不可能变为可能的过程。而如今香港的统治阶层在未来将民心尽失，甚至彻底失去治理能力，该政权已输掉一个世代的年轻人。
将来，我或许因为参与这场运动而再次被逮捕，甚至被判刑。但我已有心理准备，如果坐牢是让香港成为一个更美好、更公平的地方而必须付出的代价，我甘愿付这个代价。
占领运动走至今天，最后会否取得成果，至今还是未知数。但不管如何，这场运动给港人带来希望。
在此提醒各位香港的统治阶层：今天你不给我们未来，他朝我们只会主宰你的未来。不论占领运动何去何从，我们还会夺回来属于我们的民主，因为时间是属于我们年轻一代的。
黄之锋(Joshua Wong Chi-fung)是香港学生活动团体学民思潮的联合创始人。
——纽约时报
Taking Back Hong Kong's Future
By JOSHUA WONG CHI-FUNG October 30, 201
Tuesday night marked one month since the day Hong Kong's police attacked peaceful pro-democracy protesters with tear gas and pepper spray, inadvertently inspiring thousands more people to occupy the streets for the right to freely elect Hong Kong's leaders.
I was being detained by the police on that day, Sept. 28, for having participated in a student-led act of civil disobedience in front of the government's headquarters. I was held for 46 hours, cut off from the outside world. When I was released, I was deeply touched to see thousands of people in the streets, rallying for democracy. I knew then that the city had changed forever.
Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, less than a year after I was born, the people of this city have muddled through with a political system that leaves power in the hands of the wealthy and the well-connected. Many of us, especially people of my generation, had hoped democratic change was finally coming after years of promises from Beijing that we would eventually have free elections. Instead, in late August, Beijing ruled that Hong Kong's oligarchy will remain in charge. Universal suffrage became a shattered dream.
But not for long. The thousands of protesters, most of them young, who continue to occupy main areas of the city are showing every day how political change will eventually come: through perseverance. Our peaceful democracy demonstration has demolished the myth that this is a city of people who care only about money. Hong Kongers want political reform. Hong Kongers want change.
My generation, the so-called post-90s generation that came of age after the territory was returned to China, would have the most to lose if Hong Kong were to become like just another mainland Chinese city, where information is not freely shared and the rule of law is ignored. We are angry and disappointed that Beijing and the local administration of Leung Chun-ying are trying to steal our future.
The post-90s generation is growing up in a vastly changed city from that of our parents and grandparents. Earlier generations, many of whom came here from mainland China, wanted one thing: a stable life. A secure job was always more important than politics. They worked hard and didn't ask for much more than some comfort and stability.
The people of my generation want more. In a world where ideas and ideals flow freely, we want what everybody else in an advanced society seems to have: a say in our future.
Our bleak economic situation contributes to our frustrations. Job prospects are depressing; rents and real estate are beyond most young people's means. The city's wealth gap is cavernous. My generation could be the first in Hong Kong to be worse off than our parents.
My parents are not political activists. But over the past few months, because of my prominent role in the protest movement, my family's home address has been disclosed online, and my parents have been harassed. Despite the aggravation, my parents respect my choice to participate in the demonstrations. They give me freedom to do what I believe is important.
Other young people are not so lucky. Many teenagers attend our protests without their parents' blessing. They return home to criticism for fighting for democracy, and many end up having to lie to their parents about how they are spending their evenings. I've heard stories of parents deleting contacts and social media exchanges from their teenage children's mobile phones to prevent them from joining activist groups.
My generation's political awakening has been simmering for years. Nearly five years ago, young people led protests against the wasteful construction of a new rail line connecting Hong Kong to mainland China. In 2011, many young people, myself included, organized to oppose a national education program of Chinese propaganda that Beijing tried to force on us. I was 14 at the time, and all I could think was that the leaders in Beijing have no right to brainwash us with their warped view of the world.
If there is anything positive about the central government's recent decision on universal suffrage, it's that we now know where we stand. Beijing claims to be giving us one person, one vote, but a plan in which only government-approved candidates can run for election does not equal universal suffrage. In choosing this route, Beijing has showed how it views the "one country, two systems" formula that has governed the city since 1997. To Beijing, "one country" comes first.
I believe the August decision and the Hong Kong police's strong reaction to the protesters — firing more than 80 canisters of tear gas into the crowds and using pepper spray and batons — was a turning point. The result is a whole generation has been turned from bystanders into activists. People have been forced to stand up and fight.
Today, there are many middle school students active in the pro-democracy movement: Students as young as 13 have boycotted classes, while teenagers of all ages have been staying overnight at the protest sites. They protest gracefully, despite being attacked by police and hired thugs.
Some people say that given the government's firm stance against genuine universal suffrage, our demands are impossible to achieve. But I believe activism is about making the impossible possible. Hong Kong's ruling class will eventually lose the hearts and minds of the people, and even the ability to govern, because they have lost a generation of youth.
In the future I may be arrested again and even sent to jail for my role in this movement. But I am prepared to pay that price if it will make Hong Kong a better and fairer place.
The protest movement may not ultimately bear fruit. But, if nothing else, it has delivered hope.
I would like to remind every member of the ruling class in Hong Kong: Today you are depriving us of our future, but the day will come when we decide your future. No matter what happens to the protest movement, we will reclaim the democracy that belongs to us, because time is on our side.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung is a co-founder of the student activist group Scholarism.
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