As a student, Laura Cha said no to war boycott

As pro-establishment figures urge students not to strike for democracy, Executive Council member Laura Cha Shih May-lung shared her own experience. In an interview, she recalled her college days in the United States in the 1970s, when classmates boycotted lectures to protest against US involvement in the Vietnam war. While most locals went on strike, a few overseas students like her stayed in class. "I was very practical. I'd paid! How could I not complete my studies?" said Cha, now chairwoman of the Financial Services Development Council. She didn't feel the war had so much to do with her, while her friends saw their brothers or fathers sent to fight. "I didn't think it was effective. The government wouldn't change the policy." The US left the war in 1973, largely due to public pressure.

Pro-democracy campaigners have found that parody is the best weapon against the anti-Occupy alliance's "whistle-blower" hotline to report school boycotts. In audio clips posted online, pranksters called the number to order take-away meals from Alliance for Peace and Democracy spokesman Robert Chow Yung. Another caller reported that Harry Potter planned to lead boycotts at Hogwarts school and urged the alliance to stop him. Images have also circulated with mocking slogans or Mark Six numbers on the promotional picture of anti-Occupy campaigners holding a placard with the hotline number. The alliance said yesterday the hotline had been suspended due to "excessive junk calls".