ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an urban protest in Hong Kong, with specific attention to its origin, its development and its role as a viable form of collective action for advancing the interests of the grassroots. It shows the complexities of mobilizing the social base into an active social force, the intricacies of the relationship between the political context and an urban movement, and the strategy employed by the state to demobilize or even repress urban movements. The Aged Temporary Housing Areas (ATHAs) protesters attempted to mobilize both external and internal resources such as participants, organizations, skills and experience in order to win concessions from the government. In the late 1990s, the roles and functions of the community social workers (CSWs) and the volunteer organizers (VOs) need more attention. In the case of the ATHA protest, the VOs were recruited by the pressure group, the Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy.
