Not YET a protest

What happened today known as Jasmine Revolution #cn220 is more an indication of people power than a real protest.

A lot of people gathered there. Many came there because of the call. And many other people were just tourists and passers-by. Of course, a lot of police and national security personnel were present. People took photos and tweeted. Some of them just curious to know what the heck was going on, why were there so many people. But nobody chanted political calls, no one held sings.

Revolution? You can even call this a protest. Similar things happened when Google was forced out of China. People gathered there and gave their farewell at Google headquarters near Tsinghua University. They took photos of the scene and of each other, tweeted, blogged. And interestingly, Google employees took photos of the crowd through office window.

No one seemed to be talking. There was not likely any discussions. People don’t feel they have the freedom of talking about those events or other issues in front of strangers — i.e. people don’t feel having the freedom of assembly and talking about politics in public. I believe freedom will grow if you believe in and keep practicing it.

A tweet from @watchmen725 moved me very much:

Spectacular! For some time a lot of cameras overwhelmed the shitty faces of police. People would not back off. It was impossible to disperse the crowd. A fat national security tries to control the jasmine guy but he can’t. His every movement is blocked by the crowded. There was not any word other than the bouquet of flower. This is already very exciting.

Another tweet is even more encouraging:

A 80’s generation young man was put on the focus for receiving interview from a financial media and a news outlet from Hong Kong. He said “We must end the one party rule” when asked about his slogan.

There will be more shows of solidarity, more indications of people power. There will be the real thing.