Clockenflap 2017: Day One

The 10th edition of Clockenflap kicked off this evening in Central

It's that time again -- Clockenflap, a three-day music festival that kicked off tonight at Central Harbourfront for the second year.

The chilled out DJ Kulu

It was unusually hot today -- 27 degrees and temperatures are expected to plunge to 19 tomorrow and Sunday with some rain patches.

We got to meet a gentle soul this afternoon -- the legendary DJ Kulu -- yep that's his name.

He's from Hong Kong and went to the UK in the 1960s to learn graphic design but ended up in fashion photography instead. He did quite well for himself and grew to have a passion for jazz.

In the 1970s he started DJ-ing. He regularly held parties once a month in his photographic studio and said one time his partner went to India and didn't come back -- so Kulu just started spinning the discs.

He came back to Hong Kong in 1999 and has been seen around town with his trademark looks Chinese robes, straw fedora and Chinese goatee playing at various gigs. He's such a gentleman too, so polite and chilled.

Higher Brothers rapping under the PLA gaze...!

In contrast, Higher Brothers, a hip hop group from Chengdu, Sichuan province was getting the crowd excited as they rapped in Mandarin and a few words in English.

The most ironic thing was them rapping provocative lyrics with the PLA or People's Liberation Army building behind them. I wondered if they could hear what they were rapping...

Carrie Lam, Beijing Whisperer?

Lam tried to play down fears of greater control of Hong Kong by Beijing

During the 19th party congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the central government's "overall jurisdiction" over Hong Kong should be combined with the city's high degree of autonomy in an "organic way".

What does that mean?

For Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, it was a statement that Beijing was committed to upholding the "one country, two systems" principle that guarantees the city's semi-autonomy.

Xi is taking a greater interest in Hong Kong, good or bad

But how "semi" is "semi"?

Which is why Lam was keen on playing down perceptions that the central government was having greater control over the city.

"Sometimes it is because of some misunderstanding or oversensitive reaction," Lam said during an interview on RTHK television program Legco Review. "Sometimes someone says something out of their care for Hong Kong but it is seen as interfering in Hong Kong affairs. Sometimes the chief executive tries to explain the central government's policies but then I would be seen as currying favour with the central government.

"This kind of meaningless speculation and suspicion does no good to the successful implementation of the one country, two systems policy."

Is she saying we shouldn't read too closely into Xi's words?

Does she think we're newbies?

Every pronouncement from Beijing must be carefully scrutinized, though they can mean one thing one day, and something completely different another day. Or they can be twisted into whatever verbal pretzel the Chinese leaders want it to be.

For Lam to think we would be mollified by her comments, it only raises red flags.

In the meantime we're going to continue to see if we can gather more hints from Xi, while Lam's credibility as the Beijing whisperer is questioned.

Change Afoot in Harare?

General Constantine Chiwenga may be behind the possible coup in Harare

There were news reports this afternoon Hong Kong time that the military had put Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his family under house arrest, according to Major General S. B. Moyo, who made a statement on the state broadcaster ZBC.

While he and another uniformed officer confirmed Mugabe and his family are safe, and their security was guaranteed, Moyo said: "We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice."

No bloodshed, but tanks and soldiers are in the streets

He also warned that any provocation would be met with an appropriate response.

There is speculation that General Constantine Chiwenga who is leading what looks like a coup, is close to the former Vice President Emmerson Mnangawa, who was expelled from the government and governing ZANU-PF party last week.

These latest developments have a Zimbabwean friend of mine who has lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years very excited.

In my first newspaper job, he was one of the first photographers I worked with, a white Zimbabwean whose family had been there for generations. It was he who explained to me what Mugabe had done to his country since he took power in 1980.

Is this the beginning of the end of Robert Mugabe?

He was frustrated and upset when President mandated blacks take over farms owned by whites, causing racial backlash against whites, like his parents who had been there all their lives. They were told to go back to where they came from, but where? They were from Zimbabwe too.

His parents' farm was taken over, a place that his family had lived in for decades, which caused his father so much shock that he died of a heart attack soon after. His mother had to create a new life for herself in a small apartment with a tiny balcony for her to continue growing plants and flowers, a tiny fraction of what she was used to looking after.

The story he told me was very similar to Peter Goodwin's When a Crocodile Eats The Sun: A Memoir of Africa, a memoir that my friend YTSL lent me.

A powerful memoir of Zimbabwe

Ever since my friend told me about Mugabe, I would read about any news on him and be shocked and horrified by what he was doing to the country, particularly the insane inflation that rendered their currency worthless by the day.

Several years ago I caught up with my friend who had been going to Mandarin class. I asked him what for and he said to be able to get a Chinese passport. He was so ashamed of carrying a Zimbabwean passport and was ready to renounce his citizenship of his native homeland if he could get a Chinese one. I don't know if he managed to get it or not.

So I can imagine he is anxiously watching the news of the so-called coup that the military claims is not a coup, while there are reports people in the streets are happy to have anyone else but Mugabe.

We shall see what happens, but it may be the light at the end of what has been a very long and dark tunnel.

Student Activists Reboot Independence Campaign

Last year students handed out fliers suggesting independence after 2047

Some Hong Kong students are showing their Lion Rock spirit by reviving a drive in 18 schools and universities to promote separatism from China.

The campaign was launched today, where the young activists distributed separatism-themed fliers and stickers at school entrances, and put them on message billboards known as "democracy walls" on university campuses. They also set up street booths in Wan Chai, Kwun Tong and Yuen Long.

This time the fliers say that independence for Hong Kong is the only option to protect its people, which is a more direct stance compared to last year's that encouraged students to think about the city's future after 2047 by proposing independence.

Tony Chung of Studentlocalism is stepping up activism efforts

The student leaders are also vowing the groups will be more vigorous in their activism, one year after their initial campaign fizzled out.

Studentlocalism convenor Tony Chung Hon-lam, a Form Five student at Buddhist Mau Fung Memorial College, said they would hand out 2,000 leaflets and 10,000 stickers. Meanwhile the 20-year-old convenor of the Hong Kong National Front, who wanted to remain anonymous, said 12 groups were expecting to hand out fliers at schools before classes and all would man street booths after classes.

Last September, a campaign to discuss independence emerged at several schools when localist groups handed out fliers on the first day of school. Members of at least two groups were summoned by school authorities to stop.

The government left it to school managers to handle such activities and monitor independence talk. And this time the Education Bureau reiterated that advocating independence went against the Basic Law.

Lau Siu-kai doesn't think the kids will go far again this time

Lau Siu-kai, deputy director of a top Beijing think tank on Hong Kong affairs, did not expect the campaign to go far, and warned advocates they would likely find themselves further isolated from mainstream society.

"From what I see, the independence movement has become something of a small circle within the student community that is unlikely to affect society on the whole," he said.

We agree with Lau that it is a very small group of students who believe in independence. What's interesting is their determination to start their campaign again with more organization and greater resolution.

They won't get far, but why not let them do their thing? They deserve to have their voices heard too. What they are advocating is illegal, but let them figure that out for themselves instead of telling them over and over. Give them room to explore and debate.

The more you clamp down, the more resolved they become... just saying...