Opinion | Mistrust between Hong Kong and Beijing is now a threat to 'one country, two systems'
Alice Wu says the lack of trust between Beijing and Hong Kong is so serious that it now threatens 'one country, two systems'
An awakening. A conspiracy. A revolution. Call it what you will. What has been laid bare is how deeply entrenched social, economic and political problems erode trust and, when left unresolved long enough, breed crippling mistrust.
The way Hong Kong's social fabric has come apart in the past few weeks is testament to the fact that when put under enough pressure, for a long enough time, we will crack.
Pragmatism? The Lion Rock spirit? Forget it. Mong Kok, more than the other places of the "occupation", embraced anarchy. We've never been as close to the gates of Hobbesian hell as we now are.
The highly emotional tenor of this movement, revolution or stand-off, and the equally emotional responses - without much in the way of a possible way out - have taken the city down the slipperiest of slopes. But it hasn't happened overnight.
Bottled-up frustration over social ills, exacerbated by growing Hong Kong-mainland tensions - increasingly unaffordable housing, social immobility, extreme wealth disparity, a deeply lopsided economy and flawed political system - have been feeding the consternation for years. And let's not forget our politicians' preference for confrontation that has led us to this stage of brinkmanship.
Will we ever recover from the complete breakdown of trust across communities and within families, neighbours and friends? How? Distrust is by far the biggest obstacle to our democratic progress.
