佔領期間，我曾經在往立會的行人天橋上，跟一位才思敏捷的朋友對談。
我們談到香港的未來，雖然樓下就是金鐘佔區別樹一幟的藝術風情，我們主要都在談旺角。朋友的觀點是：如果長沙灣和深水埗的勞動百姓能夠加入旺角佔區的話，是一股非常強大的變革力量。
當然這都沒有發生，佔領行動最終弱化為一場反面教材：「如何無法贏取友誼與影響他人」。
佔領雖完，後續的正本戲卻才剛上演，將佔領行動視為政治抗爭手段的支持者進入自省期，本土行動團體開始在更肥沃的起義土壤播種，走進厭惡走私客的社區，真正深耕細作。大埔、屯門和沙田的光復行動並不是一夜間發生的，本土行動成員累計花上過千小時，逐步建立論述、落區散播行動訊息以及建立信任。這並非單純的煽動群眾操作，相反，這是一群政治觸角非常敏銳的年輕人，透過深化社區行動，成功掌握香港最有力的變革力量：本土問題，本土人自決。
這正是當晚天橋上那位朋友所觸及的政治能量：當政府缺乏認受性又不負責任，而市民胼手胝足，五斗米已佔據生活大部份，如何將真普選的政治變革與生活掛勾？
本土行動者所推動的抗爭行動，人數由當初的十數人，轉眼上百，至今已變上五百多人甚至更多。2月15日沙田光復行動根本無法得知有幾多人是示威者或聲援人士，只可以肯定的說，除食肆外（香港人吃飯始終大過天）整個商場因行動而關閉了。
抗爭者開始明白到，如果他們能夠令沙田水貨場關門大吉，同樣也可以隨時令其他場所收檔。這類新式政治抗爭行動日後只會更多，參加者也只會與日俱增。
事實上，這是貨真價實的革命。毛澤東當年指出中國的革命力量源自農村包圍城市，今日同樣適用於香港。本土行動者的成敗關鍵，正是各個受到困擾的社區，居民未必對複雜的政治議題感興趣，但是本土行動的綱領跟他們切身生活問題緊扣，亦即是：
1. 停止殖民換血
2. 停止將香港當成一個超級市場和垃圾崗
3. 讓本土社區回復正常
4. 保護港人的本土核心價值
以上四點政治宣言迎合民心所向，力量無匹。民建聯要抗衡區內本土革命力量的話，蛇齋餅粽肯定要大大加碼了。
星火已燃，或成燎原俱焚之勢。火光中，很多人已破釜沉舟，無路可退。
（編按：Richard Scotford 為本地英文雜誌《bc Magazine》記者，一直關注近期各區的反水貨客行動。本文原以英文寫成，2月16日刊於 Richard Scotford 的 Facebook 專頁，由熱心網民 Takki Ma 翻譯為中文，謹此致謝。英文原文附列如下，供讀者參閱。）
During Occupy I once had a conversation on the footbridge leading to Legco with a very smart guy.
We talked about what the future had in store for Hong Kong, and even though the Admiralty camp lay sprawled out below us in all of its bohemian, artistic glory, our conversation was mostly concentrated around Mongkok. My friend's main point was, if the Mongkok Occupy could somehow get the working class masses living nearby in Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan on their side, then it really would be a powerful force for change.
As we know, that didn't happen and the Occupy petered out into a lesson of how not to win friends and influence people.
But it didn't end there, while those attached to the idea of Occupy, as a means of political struggle, entered a period of self-reflection, the localist groups had already begun to sow the seeds in a new, much more fertile soil for insurrection, the districts, nourished by the growing anti-smuggler sentiment. This wasn't an overnight thing. Before they could spectacularly explode onto the scene with the actions in Tai Po, Tuen Mun and Shatin, they had put in 1000s of man hours, slowly building the message in these districts and creating trust within the community. The whole campaign has been anything but mob tactics, but rather an outreach program by small groups of politically astute young people who have identified that the most powerful force for change in Hong Kong right now is local people tackling local issues.
This is the power that my friend alluded to on the footbridge that day in Admiralty. How do you make politics and a lack of an accountable government an issue with people who are just struggling to get by everyday and live? How will genuine universal suffrage change their lives?
Localist-driven protests have multiplied, from a few dozen, to a few hundred, to 500 to who knows how many. It was impossible to say how many people were protestors and supporters in Shatin yesterday. We can only say, they shut down the entire place, except for the food stores, cus this is Hong Kong and people always need to eat.
People now know, if they can shut down Shatin, they can shut down anything they want, whenever they want. There will surely be more to come and more people will tip towards this type of politics and protest.
In reality, this is real revolution. Mao got it right when he said the countryside was the force for change in China and in Hong Kong today, it's proving to be the same. The districts are where the fight for Hong Kong will be won or lost and the localists have already set out an attractive stall for people who are not interested in politics, but need urgent relief on their day to day stresses; or
*Stop swamping us with outsiders
*Stop using us as a supermarket and and a trash can
*Return our local communities back to normality
* Protect the values that we grew up with.
This is a powerful political manifesto that has mass appeal. The DAB will have to start dishing out a lot more bags of rice if it wants to win back the districts from the new localists revolution.
The fire is lit, certainly it could burn out of control, but many of these people have very little to lose right now.