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April Fifth Action Wikipedia

The April Fifth Action (四五行動), named after the first Tiananmen incident of April 5, 1976 (also known as the April Fifth Movement) is a very small and radical socialist group in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The most famous member of the group is Leung Kwok-hung, better known as "long-hair" locally.

Although the group strives for a socialist, revolutionary ideal akin to Che Guevara, they have ironically aligned themselves with the pro-democracy camp in its opposition to the governments of China and HKSAR, to call for more democracy / power away from the government to the people. The group is well known for its aggressive and "civil disobedience" style of actions to protest against governments of China and Hong Kong during celebrations and visits of state leaders, often resulting in confrontations with the police. Its members have also been prosecuted for disrupting meetings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). Their utter lack of regard for the Hong Kong law is due to their Marxist belief that change for the good can only be achieved through a virtual revolution (transformation), not just reform.

Its most famous member, Leung Kwok-hung has contested but lost in both the 2000 LegCo elections and 2003 District Council of Hong Kong|District Council elections. But 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. He finally succeeded in the Hong Kong Legislative Council election, 2004|2004 LegCo election and became the first member of the April Fifth Action in the Legislative Council.

He has been the most controversial winner since he refused to take the standard oath which all legislators must take, and preferred to adopt his own version. Leung Kwok-hung has gained most of his popularity due to his very strong, if not radical, stance on issues, calling for change for the indecision and inefficiency that has paralysed the Hong Kong government due to weak leadership under the Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. Whether the Hong Kong citizens will truly adopt his Marxist belief of revolution to achieve this change is a matter for the future.

Last Modified:   2005-04-13