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A pro-democracy protester holds a banner in the part of Hong Kongs financial central district protesters are occupying November 2, 2014. Reuters picHONG KONG, Nov 2 Hong Kong police have been pushed and pulled in all directions during weeks of pro-democracy street protests, obeying orders to clear protest sites, allow protest sites to stay put, push back demonstrators and protect them from attack.

With no end to the standoff in sight, the police, long known as Asias finest, risk being cast as enforcers for an unpopular central government in Beijing or failing in their duty to ensure the city remains one of the safest in the world.

Your friendly bobby on the beat image... has been taken for granted in Hong Kong, said Steve Tsang, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in England.

If the police start actually using force then all those things that have been built up... will go out of the window.

In signs of goodwill, police have been seen washing out protesters eyes with bottled water after using pepper spray. Protesters have used their trademark yellow umbrellas to protect police in sub-tropical downpours.

But the force seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place, with uncertainty creeping into tactics. The use of tear gas only drew more demonstrators on to the streets. Protesters have since been allowed to block some of main thoroughfares, illegally, sparking anger from tradesmen and small businesses whose livelihoods have been hit.

China took back control of the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997 through a one country, two systems formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.

But Beijing said in August it would effectively screen candidates who want to run for city leader, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of democracy meaningless. Student-led activists have since taken to the streets.

When police stepped in to protect protesters from attack by opponents, they were swiftly accused of co-operating with triad criminal gangs, failing to make arrests and helping some of the assailants escape the scene.

People are saying the police are switching back to being licensed triads, said a protester who gave his name as Wong.

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The end of trust? Protests leave Hong Kong police in the spotlight

Catalan pro-independence demonstrators rally in Barcelona. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

I am Catalan and I have two reasons to want Catalonia to become an independent state as soon as possible. The first is to improve the quality of our democracy, and the second is to preserve and foster cultural diversity.

Having a smaller political unit allows greater democratic accountability. The determinants and consequences of political decisions can be better grasped at a smaller scale because the citizens have first-hand knowledge of the issues at stake: decisions that affect the landscape, conflicts among different social groups, the allocation of resources, alternative sources of energy, the potential for economic development of specific areas.

Having first-hand knowledge of these issues at the grassroots level does not exclude experts from being hired, when needed, to study certain problems and propose solutions, but it allows the people to have a much better critical appraisal of the experts work and their proposals. The quality of this critical appraisal corresponds to the quality of a democracy.

Most citizens in a small country the size of Catalonia (32,000 sq km with 7.5 million inhabitants) not only have an objective knowledge of the issues at stake with regard to particular political decisions, but most important are subjectively involved in them. They care about them because these decisions will one way or another directly impact on their lives or on those of the people they love.

A smaller political unit allows for a more humane political experience. In a smaller country, social activists and people working at the grassroots level have a greater chance of knowing each other personally and being able to pass on to each other relevant information in a direct manner; they also have a greater chance of knowing most of their political representatives personally.

Besides the structural link between size and democracy, I see contingent reasons that make me expect that an independent Catalonia will enjoy a better democracy. The indignados movement in Spain, which started in 2011, has identified many deficiencies in the countrys democracy: corruption is rampant and not being adequately investigated; the financing of the political parties is not transparent; there is no mechanism to depose political representatives who contradict their political programme and rule against the will of the people who voted for them; people are evicted from their homes by the same banks that profited from the rescue money provided by the European Union (the banks are rescued, the people are not); the health system is being privatised against the will of the majority; rich people pay comparatively less tax than those who are poor; renewable energy is not being developed despite there being enough natural resources and a popular will to do so; and city halls are being stripped of their decision-making power.

Independence for Catalonia is no guarantee that these issues will be resolved, but having to write and approve a new constitution would be a unique opportunity to work towards solutions to these problems in a much more comprehensive and radical way than is possible in an already constituted state. Many in Catalonia expect that the process of drafting a new constitution will elicit a political debate from the bottom up that could radically rethink our economic system, so that in the new Catalonia people and their basic needs cannot be treated as commodities. Many also expect a radical rethinking of our political system, so that institutions empower the people instead of stifling them with bureaucracy.

Along with improving the quality of our democracy, my other motivation in wanting independence for Catalonia is the fostering of cultural diversity. I do not consider our language, traditions and history better than anybody elses and I do not consider them in any way pure or able to be distinguished essentially from those of any other group of people. Our language and traditions are the result of complex processes of cultural cross-fertilisation and, as long as they are alive, I expect them to continue happily resisting rigid definition.

In their contingency and fluidity, they contribute to the worlds cultural diversity, and I expect the government of an independent Catalonia to celebrate and foster them in a much more congenial way than the Spanish central government currently does.

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Why I want independence for Catalonia

Anonymous ~ Message regarding Occupy Democracy
Anonymous ~ ~ 6pm_Trafalgar square_London ~ ~ Message regarding Occupy Democracy ~ ~ Game on ~ We are Anonymous UK We do not forgive We will never forget November 5th Parliament ...

By: S.U. WIZARD

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Anonymous ~ Message regarding Occupy Democracy - Video

Will Hong Kong have democracy? Balloons over North Korea; Pakistan joins an Asian bank.
NOTES: http://asianewsweekly.net/2014/10/27/will-hong-kong-democracy-balloons-north-korea-pakistan-joins-asian-bank/ October 27, 2014 Federation of Students ...

By: Steve Miller

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Will Hong Kong have democracy? Balloons over North Korea; Pakistan joins an Asian bank. - Video

Democracy 3: Social-Liberal Germany!
Want to see more? Make sure to Subscribe and Like! Facebook http://www.facebook.com/quill18 Twitter http://www.twitter.com/quill18 Streaming every Saturday! http://www.twitch.tv/quill18...

By: quill18

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Democracy 3: Social-Liberal Germany! - Video