Pride, not prejudice, in Hong Kong stand

AS THE umbrellas unfurled around Hong Kong and colourful tent cities sprang up in the key commercial districts of Admiralty, Mongkok and Causeway Bay - bringing the city to a

halt - it was clear that at the end of a long summer of discontent, the city had finally found its voice.

Dubbed the Umbrella Revolution by the media, this has been no essay in Marxist-Leninist strategy or a goose-stepping March on Rome. The peaceful and orderly civil disobedience campaign run by student groups and Occupy Central late in September to help the city take control of its political destiny has had all the elements of a prime time TV serial - drama, dreams, passion, pathos, force, and farce. Yet, it is no revolution and has been played largely by ear, unscripted, its rhythm rising and falling with news of each new police outrage and promise of negotiation.