Is God Our Sau Zuk, Comrade or Friend, with Reference to the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Movement and Fratelli Tutti?

Abstract

“Is God on our side?” is a question that people might raise at a time of social conflict. During the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, this question was framed in terms of sau zuk (手足, brotherhood and sisterhood) and comradeship (同志, tongzhi). The former represents the pro-democracy camp while the latter represents the pro-Beijing camp. God wants to be friend to both, but in a way different from their expectations. The Bible and Fratelli Tutti suggest that God as friend shows a preferential option for the poor, and this portrayal comes closer to the term sau² zuk¹ than “comrade”. At the same time, the sau² zuk¹ enrich a practice of social friendship by displaying what suffering in solidarity is. God as friend not only empowers the sau² zuk¹ to live a historical life patiently with a vision of justice, and to overcome the dichotomy of friends and enemies, but also unmasks the hypocrisy of comrade’s friendship.