by Rachel from Hongkong

Attending political seminar funded by the government is one of the responsibilities of being a volunteer. If that happened in China, it would definitely become a kind of fostering in patriotism, which is for me a brainwashing national education. Therefore, I was expecting something different in Germany. Writing it out can also be a good conclusion to the seminar.
Rather than talking about politics, the seminar is more like talking about sociology. What I believe is, when we talk about justice, actually we are talking about good life and good society. Well, of course there are different philosophies which people are suggesting different good lives like Confucius, Christianity, Muslim, the Greek philosophies and Buddhist. And when we live together, we want to have a good society. When we talk about democracy, we are talking about autonomy to our lives. We want to voice out and we don’t want to be ruled by someone who makes a decision just because of the interest of a small amount of people. Everyone’s vote is equally counted in an election. Of course, it is not always working. Although we have democracy to express our opinions, we are still under the ruling of capitalism. We feel like we can make a lot of choices but still being manipulated by businessmen. Our ways of life, our goals, how we use our time and even the prices of us are manipulated by capitalism. In Hong Kong it is like everything including human are priced. If you are productive and having a great economical value, then you gain more. Well, that’s why our chief executive saying the teenagers or people participating in the movement have no stake in the society. Economics growth is everything.

I studied History which is considered as a useless subject in the society because it is not a profession and cannot earn much. It doesn’t fit in the rules of capitalism. I struggled a lot because people don’t see the value in it and it is always being looked down. Maybe that is one of the reasons I come to Germany. Escape. Yet, we can’t really escape from that. I mean how can you escape from capitalism? That’s why looking at different examples of democratic communist communities is interesting. People in the community say that’s your freedom to do anything. It is like no one gonna judge you. They are like a model or experiment to me. It would be fine in a small scale of community but what if we are talking about a country? The cost of administration is very high in a direct democratic communist community. And in this community, everyone is expected to be radical and critical when they decide. It is again about education.

I come from Hong Kong which is one of the most “capitalist” cities in the world. People are so proud of free market and low tax rate. The policy of the government is not to interrupt the free market. The result of that is Hong Kong is the least affording housing city in the world for nine years. If the people don’t eat or drink for 21 years and the price of property remains unchanged, then people can buy a house.

If you are a left-wing supporter, talking about democracy and communism, is considered as an idealist in Hong Kong. It seems impossible to change. That’s why they are just dreams. Well, at the other way round, you can’t live without dreams. Every little thing makes a difference. The hypothesis of capitalism is human is selfish and all people are choosing to gain the greatest interest. Well, in communist community, the connection between people is trust. Do we believe that people are all kind and trustworthy? When we want good life and good society, do we believe the goodness in people? I really don’t know. It is an interesting question.

The best thing in this seminar is the field trips visiting Hannover. We went out of the classroom and take a look at the real situation. What surprised me is drug rehabilitation center is placed in the city center but not far away from it. At least it is being seen. Talking and meeting new people or surprise people makes me excited. That’s life!

As always, saying something is easier then working it out. Well, well done is better than well said.