Affective solidarity: how guilt enables cross-generational support for political radicalization in Hong Kong

Abstract

The extant social movement literature tends to regard the youth as radical actors and senior citizens as conservative actors. However, the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in Hong Kong exhibited strong solidarity among protesters across generations, despite the radicalization of protest actions over an extended period. These phenomena contradict Hong Kong's traditional political culture, which favors peaceful and orderly protests and the worldwide trend where radicalization often leads to internal division in movements. By analyzing the data collected from onsite protest surveys in December 2019 and January 2020 (N = 1,784), this paper presents the mediating role of guilt in shifting senior citizens from opposing radical actions to supporting them and feeling solidarity with militant protesters. We find that the relationship between age and feelings of guilt is stronger among respondents who experience state repression. The findings shed light on the affective and relational dimensions of protest participation, showing how the traumatic conditions under which different social actors are welded together by shared emotional upheavals facilitate ingroup identification and affective solidarity.

Transnational Activism During Movement Abeyance: Examining the International Frontline of Hong Kong’s 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill Movement

“…Guilt-driven solidarity could be linked by a sense of responsibility, a feeling of injustice, and guilt-stimulated anger (Kleres and Wettergren, 2017;Thomas et al, 2009). Tang and Cheng (2021) find that guilt has a mediating effect on support for radical actions and the feeling of solidarity in the Anti-ELAB Movement in Hong Kong. Transposing guilt feeling to the context of diaspora mobilization, diasporas express guilt especially when a disastrous event takes place in their home countries.…”

The Intervention of the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in the Norms of Citizenship in Hong Kong

“…Even after the Umbrella Movement, the moderate and radical flanks remained two fractions of the pro-democracy camps that could not be compromised on many issues, including movement tactics. Therefore, the widespread acceptance of radicalisation during the Anti-ELAB Movement became a phenomenon that attracted scholars who attempted to explain the circumstances using various approaches (Lee, 2020; Lee et al, 2021; Tang and Cheng, 2021b). The comparison between dutiful citizenship and engaged citizenship is one of the major perspectives used to explain the value change in a society.…”

“…However, an impressive degree of solidarity among the movement’s supporters was maintained during the Anti-ELAB Movement, despite the radicalisation beyond the original norms of protests. This puzzling phenomenon has attracted explanations from different perspectives (Lee, 2020; Lee et al, 2021; Tang and Cheng, 2021b; Tang et al, 2020). Due to the spread of violent protests and the widespread support for radicalism, public discourse has centred on arguments around certain citizens being affected by misinformation, which led them to accept illegal behaviour.…”

Queer processes of Hong Kong as a global formation post‐2019: LGBTIQ+ Hong Kong migrants and their experiences in Taiwan

“…Cultural and knowledge workers, such as journalists and writers, have become a noticeable presence within Taiwan's diasporic Hong Kong community, as Hong Kong is no longer a place where their opinions are tolerated. Though having known and worked with each other for many years, Alex and Michelle became partners only after they have settled in Taiwan: Studies have highlighted how collective emotions fostered political feelings during the Umbrella and Anti-ELAB Movements (Li, 2021;Tang, 2021;Tang & Cheng, 2021), as, for example, reflected in the affective intensities of protest art (Liao, 2022;Lowe, 2021). As Hong Kong residents have limited access to political participation, it is unsurprising why emotions have been a driving force for public mobilization and social movement formations.…”