Leung Kwok-hung

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leung Kwok-hung
Traditional Chinese:		梁國雄
Mandarin
Mandarin	Hanyu Pinyin:	Liáng Guóxióng
Cantonese
Cantonese	IPA:	[lœːŋ kwɔːk hʊŋ]

Long Hair, Leung Kwok-hung, talking to reporter after anti-Japan protests in Hong Kong, April 17, 2005

Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄), also known as Long Hair (長毛) is a political activist in Hong Kong, China. He was born on March 27, 1956 in British Hong Kong with family root in Zengcheng, Guangdong Province, China. He is currently a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing New Territories East. In 2006, he joined the League of Social Democrats.

He is best known for his long, shoulder length hair and nearly always wearing a T-shirt with the image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Leung has vowed not to cut his hair until the government of People's Republic of China apologizes for its crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Leung is a self-proclaimed Trotskyist and a member of April Fifth Action, a radical socialist group. Leung contested but lost in both the 2000 LegCo elections and 2003 District Council elections. He considered the latter battle in 2003 a victory from the number of votes he got in a district which traditionally supports pro-Beijing candidates.

1 Biography
2 Long Hair's Career as a Legislator
3 WTO protest
4 Documentaries about Long Hair
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Leung ran again in the LegCo Election 2004 and succeeded in winning a seat in LegCo with 60,925 votes, an over 200% increase in votes compared to the 18,235 votes he received in the 2000 LegCo election.

Leung's key campaigns include universal suffrage, and working- and under-classes welfare. His political agenda include introduction of a liveable minimum wage and a comprehensive social security system, restoration of workers' right to collective bargaining, and setting a tax on business speculation.

He has been briefly jailed several times for offenses such as shouting from the LegCo's public viewing gallery and burning the Chinese national flag.

Although he expressed his fondness of Che Guevara and the ideals of revolutionary Marxism, Leung has yet to indicate a 'proletariat' revolution agenda on his election platforms, and many of his ideas and proposals would be readily accepted by most mainstream left (social) liberal and social democratic parties.

[edit] Long Hair's Career as a Legislator

Long Hair and other protesters demand release of Aung San Suu Kyi. (Retrieved 21 June 2005)

For the swearing-in ceremony of the Hong Kong Legislative Council on October 6, 2004, Leung's fellow members arrived in business attire. Long Hair, in contrast, wore a T-shirt with Tiananmen Square on the front and Che Guevara on the back. When he was called to come forward and take the oath, he raised his left fist, encircled with a black wristband, a memorial to those who died in the 1989 protests.

Leung had planned to alter his oath of office, but a Hong Kong judge said such a step would make it impossible for him to serve. Instead, Leung, highly revered as the hero of democracy, added his own messages to the standard oath. He demanded vindication for those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. He called for the release of political prisoners and an end to one-party rule on the Mainland.

Leung shouted at the ceremony: "Long live democracy! Long live the people!" He was then sworn in as a council member. Observers watched closely the reaction from the Mainland government, as Leung's statements touched upon a politically sensitive issue that is often considered taboo in official public settings.

In the aftermath of the Article 23 political storm and debate over freedom of expression, many were concerned about possible Mainland reaction to the incident. However, the Mainland government did not respond in any dramatic fashion.

Leung's populist and unorthodox style contrasts with the usually restrained atmosphere of LegCo. Rita Fan, the LegCo chairperson, seemed more concerned by Leung's attire for LegCo meetings than any of his political opinions. One legislator commented that "Legco has to get used to Leung, and he has to get used to Legco."

[edit] WTO protest

Leung took part in the anti-WTO protests in Wan Chai and was injured during the violent demonstrations. After the worst clashes of demonstrators with police on December 17th, 2005 (in what media would later call the "Siege of Wan Chai"), Leung was arrested along with 900 other demonstrators. As with almost all other persons rounded up on December 17th, Leung was released shortly after and was not prosecuted.

[edit] Documentaries about Long Hair

Over the years, there has been a few documentaries made about Long Hair. Three of the recent documentaries are listed here. "Not Only Long Hair, Not Only Ernesto Che Guevara" (2004) by 賴恩慈 Lai Yan-chi (毛 MO), "Long Hair Revolution" (2005) by Kempton Lam, and "Long Hair: The Little Soldier" (2006) by 陳清華 Chan Ching Wah (translation).