Occupy Hong Kong? Gweilo Citizenship and Social Justice

The 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive has been the catalyst for recent campaigns for social justice. The date marks twenty years since the handover of British colonial rule to China (through the 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration) and democracy itself is again being questioned. Ultimately, Hong Kongers are concerned with universal suffrage and specifically that the chief executive is elected from just 1,200 members of an electoral committee in a city of more than 7 million people (Census 2011). Occupy Hong Kong took hold of several areas of the city in 2014, with campaigners employing the use of nonviolence and civil disobedience to challenge social and political injustice; their mantra was “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” (OCLP). Through a postcolonial lens, this article analyzes the political engagement of fifteen white Hong Kong city workers. The biographies of the research participants differ: Some are permanent residents who are the children of pre-1997 expatriates, and others more contemporary economic migrants. Underpinning this research is the Cantonese term gweilo, which is particularly useful in explaining “whiteness” in Hong Kong, and I use it to investigate claims about their apparent apathy. Its nuanced definitions and meanings are especially significant in the postcolonial era and contribute to broader discussions of citizenship and social justice in the city.