Patience and Respect

Many of us wonder why the Chinese have allowed a very public demonstration in Hong Kong to go on for 2 months without clearing out the whole bunch of people there and arresting most of them.  They are just now starting to clear them out and it seems to be going smoothly.

To get some perspective, we might want to do as Time.com did recently and go back to Tiananmen Square.  At the Time article points out what we remember most about it was one man standing in front of a tank and living to tell the story.  see [http://time.com/2822290/tiananmen-square-massacre-anniversary].  The Chinese are usually patient in international relations and less so inside their own country, but the image of that man standing in front of a tank was powerful enough to make a repeat of it less likely.  We all knew one person can make a difference, but rarely is it so dramatic and so quick.  There is something about unarmed people facing down a military vehicle that arouses notice.  The Ukrainians in Kiev were a similar example, though they used Molotov cocktails to brighten up their cause.  

So, in looking at our own demonstrations of late, we can see the difference between those who have had experience with long-term public disruptions and those who haven't.  Ferguson brought in heavy weapons and vehicles to make a show a force, then fired off enough tear gas to clean up a small city.  I have been the innocent victim of tear gas on the campus of the University of Wisconsin when a brilliant patrolman rolled one down the steps of the building I was in, and it came to rest in the only exit on that side.  We were angry people who could not escape.  

New York had hundreds of police following along with much less trouble than one might expect from the crowd size.  We did see a window broken, but not much else.  New Yorkers are better behaved than the people of Ferguson.  The police gave them space and followed then along fairly close, but not close enough to be threatening.  They were professional and patient.  The demonstrators made their points without hurting the people around them.  It takes respect on both sides to make that happen.  I always wondered why that tank driver stopped.  It had to be respect for a man who would stand alone against something so big.  He might have moved if the tank had gone forward but we will never know.  What we do know is that one person can change the way even the harshest of governments respond.  The people of Ferguson missed a good chance to do something good for their respective causes and they will be forgotten for it.  

Thousands of people were killed at Tiananmen Square in the same kind of incident.   Before we lose our perspective, we should remember that respect for each other will go a long way toward living togehter in tight spaces.  Respect and patience.