Wherever protests erupt, a familiar and now global kind of common sense is mobilized: dissent and disobedience are good, but they should be civil and nonviolent, for violence and incivility are morally wrong and strategically counterproductive. But in their ongoing protests, Hongkongers have called this received wisdom into question. They have clashed violently with the police, concealed their identity, evaded law enforcement, and expressed frustration and anger. Now in their seventh month, the protests have been extraordinarily popular and remarkably effective—not in spite of but because of such tactics of uncivil disobedience.
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05.15.20
