LettersEconomic benefit is not why Hong Kong must reject anti-mainland discrimination
- Readers discuss prejudice against mainland migrants, ways to encourage food donation, the danger of a nuclear arms race, and the hard work of service workers
In the editorial, you argue that Hongkongers should be more accepting of immigrants from the mainland because they bring skills that are helpful to the economy. While agreeing with the conclusion, I think this instrumental view of immigration misses the nature of Hong Kong’s discrimination problem.
Underneath some Hongkongers’ deep prejudice against mainlanders is a reactionary world view that is more compatible with a monarchy than with any modern republican state, democratic or not. It is the view that some people are better than others based on their birth. And it has nothing to do with the real or perceived economic benefits immigrants bring.
No one, for example, would deny that domestic helpers bring a huge amount of economic benefit to Hong Kong, enabling countless Hong Kong people to seek higher-paid jobs than housekeeping. But discrimination against domestic helpers is as prevalent as that against mainlanders.
The real or perceived deficiency in economic contributions cannot explain the discrimination. The reason that people in the rest of the world are against racism is not the utilitarian calculation that racism is bad for the economy, but the enlightened belief that all people are created equal.
Before having a revolution against the perceived threat of authoritarianism, as some people have hoped, it seems Hong Kong would do well to have a proper republican revolution against the pre-enlightenment hierarchical world view, a process most countries in the world had completed before the 20th century.