Occupation as Prefiguration? The Emergence of a New Political Form in the Occupy Central Movement

• Main Authors: Zhongxuan Lin, Shih-Diing Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Sun Yat-sen University 2016-09-01
• Series: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal
• Subjects: Hong Kong; leadership; occupation; prefiguration; representation
• Online Access: http://icaps.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/2375/CCPS2(2)-Lin-Liu.pdf

Situated in Hong Kong’s specific context, this article attempts to illustrate the practices and implications of “prefigurative politics” during the Occupy Central Movement. We argue that the occupation not only demanded, but also prefigured, new forms of democracy. But such prefiguration should not be seen as a pure “ethics” of politics, but rather as a new way of “doing” politics, raising deep questions about representation and leadership in contemporary protest movements. From the outset of the movement, there had been ensuing struggles over leadership among different actors in the movement, while none of them were able to assume effective leadership. The undecidability of leadership ultimately provided the condition for various kinds of experiments by the crowds themselves. We argue that these prefigurative practices have set seeds of possibility for future political processes, and imply the emergence of “occupation as prefiguration” as a political form in Hong Kong.