Choi Yuen village land resumption and anti-express rail link movement in Hong Kong : a study of new social movements

Abstract

The Anti-Express Rail Link (XRL) Movement began a new chapter for 21^st century social movements in HONG KONG. The movement began in 2008 as an apparently isolated land resumption incident involving Choi Yuen Village in the remote area of New Territories and ended in early 2010 after a series of protests with physical confrontations. I have studied the protestors’ personal profiles, motivations, ideologies under the belief mobilisation theory, and the extension of protest approaches. I found that the Anti-XRL movement has undergone four phases of transformation: Phase I is a traditional strive by the villagers and the involvement of experienced social activists; Phase II is the involvement of non-aggrieved young protestors who process post-materialistic ideologies; Phase III is the involvement of young people with perceived grievances towards upward mobility, and the outbreak of physical confrontations. Each phase paved way for the development of another. I concluded that successful frame alignment is the key to massive mobilisation of non-aggrieved protestors. Also, protestors with stronger perceived grievances in upward mobility tended to adopt confrontational approach and take escalated physical actions during the protests, led to series of physical confrontations in the later stage of the movement.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology