Hong Kong Proves a Landslide Election Can be Won from the Left

I've been careful not to dismiss the Hong Kong uprising as another Western-instigated color revolution. The Hong Kong protesters have legitimate demands -- universal suffrage, for one -- and grievances -- police brutality, for instance. My complaint has been with the saturation coverage in the mainstream corporate media compared to the complete exclusion of the popular uprising in Haiti or the spotty reporting on the uprising in Chile.

Another complaint I have with mainstream media in relation to the Hong Kong protests is its hypocrisy. If similar protests were to take place in San Francisco or New York, with protesters building bonfire barricades and shooting wrist-rockets and flaming arrows at police, the organs of corporate opinion would demand a harsh crackdown if not the mobilization of the national guard (as happened during the Seattle WTO).

There was some trepidation in the West that Hong Kong voters would punish pro-democracy candidates for district council seats and vote instead for the pro-Beijing status quo. That's not what happened on Sunday. According to a postmortem by Javier Hernandez:

In a rebuke to Beijing, pro-democracy candidates captured 389 of 452 elected seats, far more than they had ever won. Beijing’s allies held just 58 seats, down from 300. It was a strong message from Hong Kong voters, with record turnout of 71 percent.

In the main post-election write-up provided by The New York Times (see "Hong Kong Election Results Give Democracy Backers Big Win"), the youth vote was credited with creating the pro-democracy landslide:

Regina Ip, a cabinet member and the leader of a pro-Beijing political party, said she was surprised to see so many young voters, many of whom tried to confront her with the protesters’ demands.

“Normally,” she said, “the young people do not come out to vote. But this time, the opposition managed to turn them out.”

Ahead of the election, the city’s leadership was concerned that the vote would be marred by the chaos of recent months. Some of the most violent clashes yet between protesters and the police took place last week, turning two university campuses into battlegrounds.

But the city remained relatively calm on Sunday as voters turned out in droves. Long lines formed at polling centers in the morning, snaking around skyscrapers and past small shops. Riot police officers were deployed near polling stations on Sunday.

David Lee, a retired printer approaching his 90th birthday, was among the earliest voters on Hong Kong Island and said he had come because he wanted democracy.

“This is important,” he said.

Some analysts had predicted that pro-democracy candidates would have difficulty making big gains. Pro-Beijing candidates are much better financed, and the district races have traditionally been won on purely local issues, not big questions like democracy, said Joseph Cheng, a retired professor at City University of Hong Kong.

But voter turnout soared to 71 percent, far surpassing expectations. Typically in district council elections, it is little more than 40 percent. Four years ago, after the 2014 Umbrella Movement increased public interest in politics, turnout climbed to 47 percent. This year, the number of registered voters hit a record.

If juiced youth turnout can work in Hong Kong, why not the United States? Instead of catering to swing voters and exurban independents, why not mobilize youth?

Bear that in mind as daily stories in the press begin to tattoo Medicare For All. It seems as if the mainstream corporate media, unable to break the support for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, is pivoting to attack their signature proposal.

There is rich irony that an outcome so sought in Hong Kong by Cold Warriors is dreaded here at home.