Hong Kong’s Third Way: Augustine Mok’s Anarchist People’s Theatre

　　Augustine Mok Chiu-yu, renowned cultural figure in Hong Kong.

　　Since the 1970s, he has been active in cultural movements in the city. With his friends, he co-founded the magazine The 70s Biweekly, inspired by New Left thought and guided by anarchist principles, advocating against capitalism, colonialism, and bureaucracy. He organised social actions in a semi-cultural, semi-collective format, intervening in various social issues of the time, striving to combat the injustices prevalent under British colonial rule. At the same time, he and his peers were also concerned about mainland China, criticising Maoist communism and addressing human rights issues during the Cultural Revolution. Although The 70s eventually disbanded, Mok’s social activism continued. He adopted art—primarily theatre—as a medium to engage with society, staying true to his internationalist ideals by resisting both capitalist hegemony and nationalist authoritarianism. Through cultural and artistic endeavours, he sought to carve out a viable “third way” for Hong Kong society.

　　Over the past half-century, Mok has championed anarchist social movements in Hong Kong. This book takes this as its main focus, but its perspective extends beyond mere historical recounting.

　　Following the Umbrella Movement of 2014, the urgency of reflecting on Hong Kong’s identity and future direction became unprecedented. However, research and discussion on Hong Kong have long been limited, and when it became necessary to engage in deep and wide-ranging debates, the severe lack of discursive resources was starkly exposed. This book aims to address this gap. By tracing Mok’s anarchist art and social movements, it demonstrates how Hong Kong in the 1970s established its own unique tradition of leftist social activism. This tradition opposed both British colonialism, rooted in capitalism, and Maoist communism.

　　The book hopes that this exploration will contribute to the discourse on Hong Kong, offering new perspectives and aiding other studies. It aims to shed light on the emergence, flow, and interaction of ideologies such as localism, pro-China sentiment, and nostalgia for British colonialism in post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong.

Praises and Reviews

「第三條道路」都有不同的意思，其實也不一定是有別於左右派政治的其他選項。例如，在台灣，也許社會民主黨能代表有別於藍、綠政治的第三條路。同理，楊慧儀認為，安那其在香港之所以有成為第三條道路的潛能，是因為安那其不認同國家社會主義，對英殖時期也沒抱有任何懷舊的奇想。