How one of Bruce Lee’s philosophies is inspiring the Hong Kong protests

The Hong Kong protests have crossed the 100-day mark, and also transformed into a struggle for greater democratic rights on the island.

File photo of protestors in Hong Kong | Photographer: Justin Chin | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The Hong Kong protests crossed the 100-day mark on Tuesday, 17 September, with no signs of ending even as the Chinese government refuses to yield to the protesters’ demands. 

What began as an agitation against an extradition bill, which would have allowed for suspects to be extradited to mainland China, has now metamorphosed into a struggle for, among others, greater democratic rights on the island. 

The movement has sustained despite being leaderless and beset by meagre resources and a lingering feeling that it is unlikely to achieve the goals of democratisation in Hong Kong. It has also so far repelled the mighty Chinese government, which has shown its willingness to use all possible tools required to quell the demonstrations. 

One of the reasons for its longevity comes from the philosophy of one of Hong Kong’s most famous sons — legendary actor Bruce Lee. The protesters have imbibed Lee’s “be water” philosophy, which calls for mimicking the flow of water. 

As such, the protesters have been agile — spontaneously shifting locations; anonymous — concealing their identities; and destructive — turning aggressive when necessary. 

ThePrint looks at the various aspects of the Hong Kong protests and tries to understand what explains their sustained success.  

Leaderless but structured 

While the protesters are not taking orders from one appointed leader, there are a lot of popular faces identified with the movement. Activists such as Rick Hui, Agnes Chow, Joshua Wong, Jimmy Sham and Max Chung Kin-ping have emerged as important mobilisers and spokespersons. 

Regardless of these recognised faces, the Hong Kong protests are predominantly a leaderless movement. And thus, arresting the supposed popular faces has had no real impact on the movement itself. 

But having over a fourth (nearly 2 million) of the island’s population come out and protest in a relatively coordinated fashion, over successive weekends, is no lean task. This has been achieved by putting in place a robust structure — where each individual knows their task. 

For instance, the Hong Kong protests have wizards and firefighters. “Protesters who throw petrol bombs are known as ‘wizards’ while teams who extinguish the fizzing tear gas canisters fired at them by police are dubbed ‘firefighters’,” notes a report on Yahoo News. 

One of the key features of the protests has been the use of violence, though not every protester is involved in violence, and this is the case by design. 

The people who indulge in violence against the police are referred to as the “braves”. They are at the frontlines and often spend hours taking on riot police. A special category of braves — known as the “charge boys” — is the first layer of the braves. 

Another category of protesters, known as the “scouts”, climb onto tall buildings to track the arrival of police and in turn inform the others via Telegram.  

‘Be like water’ and pop-up protests 

The most prominent influence of Bruce Lee’s “be water” philosophy is reflected in the protesters’ modus operandi. “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water,” Lee had said during a 1971 TV interview. 

“Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” 

This idea is reflected in the protesters’ “pop-up demonstrations” strategy — which involves spontaneously moving from one spot to the other. They have discarded old methods, such as sitting at a single place for hours together. They build makeshift barricades and block the streets but rarely stay at one place for too long. 

As a consequence, by the time the police manages to mobilise and respond to a protest, the demonstration has already moved to a different location.  

Technology and tactics

Technology has played a major role in allowing the protesters to coordinate their actions and evade a police crackdown. They use encrypted social media platforms such as Telegram and LIHKG to communicate and decide on a new location for the protest. These platforms are beyond the cyber-surveillance of the Hong Kong and Beijing governments. 

“Chat groups (on Telegram and LIHKG) can have tens of thousands of members, and a polling function allows the participants to vote on what action they should take,” notes a report in news website Popular Mechanics. 

Often the police shut down the telecom services to ensure that the protesters can’t communicate with each other. On such occasions, the protesters use walkie-talkies and Bluetooth-run smartphone platforms such as “Airdrop” and ‘Bridgefly” to communicate. 

According to some estimates, Hong Kong has about 50,000 CCTV cameras and these coupled with China’s “facial recognition technology” could be used to quell the demonstrations and arrest those involved. To evade arrests, the protests use facial masks and helmets to hide their identities. They have also used laser pointers to dazzle and confuse the police. 

Tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray have been widely used by the Hong Kong Police to crush the protests. Responding to these, the protesters have come up with techniques to neutralise the tear gas canisters. In addition, they use masks, respirators, gloves, and helmets to protect themselves.  

On violence and nihilism 

Across several interviews given by Hong Kong protesters, there seems to be a consensus on the use of violence. Most argue that they have been carrying out peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations since 2003 and those have failed to deliver. 

Thus, they contend that when nothing has worked, vandalism and clashing with riot-police have become legitimate forms of action. Though only the braves indulge in violence, a large part of Hong Kong’s population supports their actions.