“One interpretation of the world collapses,” a young Nietzsche had observed, watching the great sea of faith recede into the distance. “But because it was considered the interpretation, it now seems as if there were no meaning at all in existence, as if everything were now in vain. The untenability of one interpretation of the world awakens the suspicion that all interpretations of the world are false.” In Nietzsche’s time, the denial of meaning drew breath from the denial of faith. Today, it comes from being denied tomorrow. Today’s protesters have umbrellas, helmets and masks. They have LIHKG and Telegram and traffic cones, and they have medical workers and journalists and lawyers . But should the flame of their ideas go out – they will end up with exactly nothing. Today, this chant is heard everywhere on the streets: “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times.” When Edward Leung invented this rallying cry three years ago, the cause of “revolution” – whatever he meant it to mean – did not resonate. It gains traction now, not because the likelihood of its success is any greater or any less unrealistic, but because recent responses by our government have made it clear that what protesters (and I believe the rest of Hong Kong) have demanded, namely democracy, autonomy, and above all, good government, will never come to be unless and until the current political order is turned on its head. Nothing at all promises us a future beyond 2047 . Our licence to live as Hongkongers will expire in a mere 28 years. In any normal, healthy or functioning society, you would expect much lively discussion – most of it ultimately fruitless, true, but people would at least talk about it. We do not see that in Hong Kong. Political forecasts do not go beyond the span of a few years. Growing up, I had always found it strange. Like the Neapolitans living under Vesuvius, a great pall looms above our heads and we greet it with silence. Small steps by the government could defuse Hong Kong’s biggest crisis To this day, I still think there is something about the extradition bill that is profoundly nihilistic. It is not right on principle. It confers no conceivable advantage to Hong Kong, as, under Jiang Zemin’s Order 42, China cannot lawfully extradite its own citizens. It is not conducive to stability, and seems awfully unlikely to please Beijing given the political havoc it has wreaked upon both Hong Kong and its political game in Taiwan . It was a spiteful, cynical instrument created to hit back at the critics of the extant political order. Because Hong Kong remains at its core a lawful society, only so much can be done against the rabble-rousers. A bright mind in Carrie Lam’s cabinet must have decided then (or perhaps it was Lam herself): “Let us send them with a law to a place without the rule of law.” For the last 10 weeks, the flame of protest has burned bright. It has spread, changed shape and course. But in September, a new school year will begin. Many of the young protesters will face a choice between academics and politics, and many undoubtedly will choose school, or be made to choose. By then, we may expect a drop in numbers and a drop in morale. Our officials believe, or rather want to believe, that this storm is one that can be waited out. That it will end like the “umbrella movement” , that is to say, in absolutely nothing. They are mistaken. If protesters are denied everything, if, one day, they are forced to recant their ideals and renounce each other, that will not result in a peaceable population congenial to being ruled by the high hand of Beijing. Perhaps for the next generation it will. But not this one. Just because they no longer have a future to fight for does not mean their grievances with our current government, and indeed the way things work, will magically disappear. If nothing else, the protesters of tomorrow will be like those condemned to the sword in the arena. They will fight harder because they have nothing to lose and no future to speak of. That they will do until their dying breath. Hong Kong must pull back from the abyss or it may never recover When it is impossible to satisfy everyone and impossible to satisfy anyone, what follows is the denial of all political ideas great and small. In their stead, all that matters will be short, temporary victories over the political enemy. That is what I mean by “None for all. All for none”. This creeping nihilism will continue to grow and strangle civil society, unless and until the youth of today are convinced that they have a future . That is why it is a mistake to wait out the storm as the current administration seems intent on doing. It is the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation of high politics into the bloody brawl on the streets. When ideas become slogans and violence becomes normal , the cries of the oppressors and the oppressed will have become a chorus of misery. They shall cry no longer for peace or for revolution. Not for democracy nor harmony. Nor independence nor unity. Neither side will have anything to wish for except death and destruction upon the other. Tomorrow will no longer exist. Ronald Chiu is a student at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong