Rights campaigner bids Hong Kong a reluctant farewell
Professor Michael Davis reflects on the political struggle as he leaves the city after more than 30 years
When Professor Michael Davis landed in Hong Kong from his home in Hawaii to take up a job at Chinese University teaching politics more than 30 years ago, the human rights law expert may not have realised he could not have picked a more fascinating destination for his research interests. Over his three decades in Hong Kong, Davis has witnessed – and participated in – numerous social movements. He took part in protests backing the pro-democracy drive by Beijing students in 1989, the campaign to oppose a controversial national security bill in 2003, and the marathon debates on the city’s constitutional reform that eventually triggered the Occupy sit-ins of 2014 among many other movements. Davis, whose graduated students have fanned out across the city and political spectrum to pursue careers, will retire from the University of Hong Kong’s law school and move to Washington in the United States this summer for a fellowship with the National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit organisation. Ahead of his reluctant departure, he shares with the Post his views on stagnant political reform, unseen pressures on academia and his love of the city he has spent half his life in.
Why did you decide to move to Hong Kong three decades ago?
I heard about a job in Hong Kong. I lived in Japan before for a couple years and Hawaii is a really Asian place. So to me, Hong Kong seems to be a more attractive option than some schools in the middle of America.
I do work across Asia, all the way from India and Afghanistan to Korea, China and Tibet. The whole region has continuously been in some level of constant crisis. As a constitutional expert who focuses on development, it seems I am in the laboratory of the world for the problems that interest me.
Do you see yourself as a human rights lawyer, a scholar or an activist, and why is that so?
Probably all of the above. I think my attraction to academic work was to be involved in processes of social change. Mostly in my early days in schools, the Vietnam war was going on. Lots of us were protesting against the war and I think that introduced me to social activism. When I went back to Hawaii, I was a lawyer for native Hawaiians and the indigenous people’s movement. As an academic, I think I am stronger if I am not just marching on the streets but offering analyses and explanations. It is like being a witness but that doesn’t mean you are passive.