Then & Now | Why Hong Kong independence movement is dead in the water
Long before handover negotiations began, those in the know understood China would never tolerate any separate state on its turf
Renowned British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin noted in 1958, in the essay “Two Concepts of Liberty”, that “concepts nurtured in the stillness of a professor’s study could destroy a civilisation”. History demonstrates that we underestimate the transformative power of seemingly wacky ideas – and the individuals who promulgate them – at our peril.
All it takes for evil to flourish – the old truism proclaims – is for the good to do nothing. And so it is with nonsense in academic life. Once superficially plausible drivel breaks the species barrier and crosses over from university seminar room to infect the general public, dangerous contagion begins. Interested parties – and Hong Kong has no shortage of those, right across the political spectrum – help feed the contamination, which begins its hard-to-stop advance into wider society.