The ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong have co-opted an unusual symbol: the umbrella. After the publishing of striking images of front-line protestors parrying jets of pepper spray with nylon shields, social media began dubbing the protests the “Umbrella Revolution” and the “Umbrella Movement.”
The protestor in one photo, arms and umbrella raised amid clouds of tear gas, has been called “Umbrella Man” on social media, a reference to to the iconic image of Tank Man from the Tianamen Square protests of 1989. (Another Umbrella Man was the focal point of a John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory.)
In another photo, umbrellas are piled with other objects, blocking a subway exit.
#UmbrellaRevolution #UmbrellaMovement Umbrellas block an exit of Admiralty station. via @AgnesBun pic.twitter.com/8VAWsp2yQ8
— leungfaye (@leungfaye) September 29, 2014
Why umbrellas?
Umbrellas are common accessories during Hong Kong summers, used for shade in sweltering heat. In the past few days, temperatures have risen above 30 degrees Celsius. In a protest this June, umbrellas were as ubiquitous as they are now.
According to Ho-Fung Hung, a Johns Hopkins sociologist and an expert in contemporary China, umbrellas have been used as a protestor’s self-defense “sporadically.” This time, given the scale of the protests, organizers expected a strong police response and came prepared.
“The police have been using pepper spray quite liberally in their attempts to contain protests,” said Hung. “The protestors are organized, they’re very prepared. So you see this ocean of umbrellas on the front line.”
The umbrellas are probably reasonably effective in defending against pepper spray, said Hung, but less so against tear gas.
The image is a poignant one, and emphasizes the asymmetry of force: an innocuous household object held up against helmeted police officers wielding poisonous substances for crowd control. As one protestor wrote to the Atlantic: “When we felt threatened, we opened umbrellas and raised our hands.”
What is the meaning of the umbrellas in Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Revolution”?
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