"Carnivalisation"

The "carnivalisation" of protest in HK is getting out of hand. On Jan 1, 2010, we have a protest where there's supposedly 30,000 people gathering, mostly for universal suffrage 「還我普選元旦大遊行」, but also for 「釋放劉曉波」and 「廢除功能組別」Which are all fine, people should obviously have the right to make themselves heard in a free society. All these are good, worthy causes too.

But it doesnt stop there: in the same protest, there also groups with very diverse (too diverse?!) causes: 菜園村村民反高鐵保衞菜園村, 大埔圍村村民抗議骨灰龕興建, 婦團要求反家暴, 香港女同盟會及香港彩虹同志團體追求平等, 南土瓜灣關注組不滿沙中線遷站,全港重建區業主租客聯席促市區重建局在收樓增透明度, etc etc. Is it the need for critical mass, or lack of "slots" for protest (which can perfectly be the case), or just that we cannot even keep to one issue at a time? (a type of "carnivalisation"?)

This week, we have反高鐵停撥款大聯盟 hosting「官僚 O嘴本土經濟嘉年華」At least this time, they had the word "carnival" in it (?!) During the event and the rallying speeches, participants, mostly "post-80" (the hottest term in HK now) can vote for 「最佳表現議員」and「最Kai表現議員」. There's also people from 菜園村 cooking meals for people on-site.

Besides protests, when it comes to real celebration, e.g., of festivals, we HKers also cant keep it to one thing at a time. We had to put everything together. Maybe our attention span is too short? So we need "all in one's", with everything going on at the same time so that we are not bored? Take Xmas as example: this year, in TST on Dec 24, I saw people selling roses (Valentine's), kids wearing costumes (Halloween), countdown event (New Year's Eve), and TV hosts making auspicious greetings (Chinese New Year). So, we like our "all in one", Xmas is not just Xmas, its everything, all festivals rolled into one.