Pankaj Mishra: "Hong Kong is a great clamor"

The acclaimed author on Asian history shared some insights with the New York Times about Occupy Central:

Hong Kong came into existence as a hub of global capitalism, and that is what it has remained, under two regimes. But that cycle of materialism could not go on forever. A new generation is always likely to have a different sense of its place in the world, or what the good life consists of, especially if it has been exposed to the wider world.Then there is also the cycle of modern capitalism, which doesn't distribute its benefits evenly and in fact dispossess many. It began to seem oppressive to a substantial number of people who have neither the means nor the desire to join it — actually, the anxiety that your prospects and sense of possibility is shrinking can be more intense on a small island that is increasingly subservient to a big country.

More: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/sinosphere/2014/10/29/q-and-a-pankaj-mishra-on-the-hong-kong-protests/