Grounding Mobility: Protest Atmospheres at Hong Kong International Airport

Abstract

Protest immobilities have political potential because of the affective atmospheres they produce. In 2019, the Hong Kong protest movement targeted Hong Kong International Airport in a series of sit-ins resulting in a two-day shutdown and cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. This article is based on participant observation and interviews with thirty-two people—aviation workers, tourists, expatriates, and demonstrators—who were present at one or more of the sit-ins, and it uses a perspective informed by work on affective atmospheres and social movements in geography. We demonstrate the political potential of four forms of embodied mobility– arrival, friction, waiting, and departing from the airport on foot. Arriving to unexpected scenes produced micropolitical change among passengers, as the fatigue of air travel heightened the emotional impact of the sit-ins. Frictions were politically generative because they forced passengers to slow down and notice the assembly. Waiting produced solidarities between different factions of the protest movement and generated animosity from previously apathetic passengers who were stuck. Walking was an anxious ordeal for those forced to depart the airport on foot after public transport was suspended. The article shows how demonstrators can resist, alter, and transmit affective atmospheres through the grounding of aeromobilities.

抗议的非流动性因其情感氛围而具有政治潜力。2019年, 香港抗议运动以香港国际机场为目标, 进行了一系列静坐抗议, 导致机场关闭2天, 1000多个航班被取消。本文考察了参与者, 对参加了一次或多次静坐的32名航空工作人员、游客、外籍人士和示威者进行了采访。本文采用情感氛围和社会运动的地理学研究方法。展示了四种形式具身化流动性（抵达、冲突、等待和步行离开机场）的政治潜力。航空旅行的疲劳加剧了静坐的情绪影响。因此, 意外场景的偶遇, 在乘客中产生了微观政治变化。冲突迫使乘客放慢脚步并注意到集会, 由此而产生了政治影响。等待导致了抗议运动不同派别之间的团结, 引发了对抗议不感兴趣的被阻碍的乘客的敌意。对于在公共交通暂停后被迫步行离开机场的人群, 步行是一种焦虑的折磨。本文展现了示威者如何通过阻断航空流动性, 来抵抗、改变和传递情感氛围。

Las inmovilidades por protesta tienen potencial político debido a las atmósferas afectivas que producen. En 2019, el movimiento de protestas de Hong Kong se orientó hacia el Aeropuerto Internacional de la ciudad, en una serie de sentadas que desencadenaron un cierre de dos días y la cancelación de más de mil vuelos. Este artículo se basa en observación participativa y entrevistas a treinta y dos personas–trabajadores de aviación, turistas, expatriados y manifestantes– que estuvieron presentes en una o dos de las sentadas, y usa una perspectiva informada por el trabajo sobre atmósferas afectivas y movimientos sociales en geografía. Demostramos el potencial político de cuatro formas de movilidad corpórea –llegada de a pie, fricción, la espera, y la salida desde el aeropuerto a pie. La llegada a escenas imprevistas produjo cambios micropolíticos entre los pasajeros, ya que la fatiga del viaje aéreo incrementó el impacto emocional de las sentadas. Las fricciones fueron políticamente generadoras porque obligaron a los pasajeros a reducir la velocidad y fijarse en la Asamblea. Las esperas produjeron solidaridades entre las distintas facciones del movimiento de protesta, y generaron animosidad. Las esperas produjeron solidaridades entre las distintas facciones del movimiento de protesta y generaron animadversión entre los pasajeros atascados, antes apáticos. Caminar fue un calvario angustioso para quienes se vieron obligados a partir del aeropuerto a pie después de que el transporte público fue suspendido. El artículo muestra cómo los manifestantes pueden resistir, alterar y transmitir atmósferas afectivas mediante la inmovilización de las aeromovilidades.

Key Words:

• affective atmospheres of aeromobility
• geographies of social movements
• Hong Kong
• immobilities
• mobility politics
• protests

关键词:

• 航空流动性的情感氛围
• 社会运动地理
• 香港
• 非流动性
• 流动性政治
• 抗议。

Palabras clave:

• atmósferas afectivas de aeromovilidad
• geografías de los movimientos sociales
• Hong Kong
• inmovilidades
• políticas de movilidad
• protestas

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Jedidiah Kroncke and Florin Serban who provided valuable expertise in the early stages of this project. Thank you to the interviewees who participated, and the people who introduced us to them. Thanks also to the three anonymous reviewers for helping to improve the article.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s site at: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2151405.

Notes

1 Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong and Taiwan, whereas simplified characters are used in mainland China.

2 The Special Tactical Squad, or Raptors, are a paramilitary unit within the Hong Kong Police Force established during the Umbrella Revolution of 2014 specifically to disperse protestors.

3 Mills barriers are portable, stainless steel “bike rack”–style barricades used for crowd control.

4 In the supplemental material online there is a video filmed on 12 August 2019 by an interviewee showing this scene.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the University of Hong Kong Research Committee’s Seed Fund for Basic Research for New Staff (Grant No. 201902159015).

Notes on contributors

Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto

BENJAMIN LUCCA IAQUINTO is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include mobility politics, tourism geography, and tourist–environment relations.

Lachlan Barber

LACHLAN BARBER was formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include built heritage, cultural policy, and the politics of mobility.

Po Sheung Yu

PO SHEUNG YU is currently a PhD Student in the Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include elderly mobility, the politics of mobility, and cultural geography of Hong Kong.