On July 1 2019, several hundred activists stormed Hong Kong’s legislative council complex. It was a group that had broken off from an earlier peaceful protest, one of the many that had been taking place over the months prior.
Pictures started flooding out of graffiti and damage done to the government building, of banners being hung in the building, of smashed glass.
Yesterday, when rioters stormed the US Capitol building, pictures from both events started to be posted online, drawing simplistic comparisons between them. But the differences between the two events couldn’t be more stark.
Sure, both events come down to democracy, but the two groups lie at opposite ends of a spectrum. In Hong Kong the protesters were fighting to hold on to the democracy that was being torn away from them, while in America the rioters were fighting against democracy — they didn’t like how their election turned out, so they threw a violent and deadly tantrum.
The comparison is made all the more offensive given the fact that in the past 12 months Hong Kong has rapidly had its freedoms stripped away by Beijing. The world has watched, and offered some words, but taken little action.
A National Security Law has been brought in that criminalises the vaguely defined ideas of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion. The protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time” has been banned — apparently it’s “subversive”.
Elections were postponed, supposedly because of COVID-19. Beijing passed a resolution forcing the removal of four pro-democracy lawmakers — a move that prompted their remaining colleagues to resign in solidarity.
Then on Wednesday, the day before the Capitol Hill siege, 53 pro-democracy officials and activists in Hong Kong were arrested under the national security law for their involvement in unofficial primaries for the election that never happened.
As things currently stand, democracy in Hong Kong appears broken. There are no elections to vote in, and even those who have already been elected aren’t safe.
The months leading up to the storming of the legislative council had been marked with protests both in Hong Kong and worldwide, triggered by the proposal of a controversial extradition bill. The protesters saw the bill for what it was: the beginning of the erosion of rights and democracy in Hong Kong that we’ve since seen play out.
In Hong Kong, pro-democracy protesters were regularly met with police violence. In the US, the Capitol rioters took selfies with cops. In the storming of the legislative council, the graffiti was targeted and specific, including the removal of the word “China” from the territory’s emblem, and the spraying of the phrase “It was you who taught me peaceful marches did not work” on a column. In the US, rioters scrawled “murder the media” on a door.
Graffiti. Damage. Chaos. Just because two things look the same in a frozen image doesn’t mean they are.
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Cky you are better than this. HK is not, and never has been a Democracy. To try and push the view that the Riots in HK were justified while the DC Riots were reprehensible is just ridiculous and shameful. Both Riots were reprehensible. I was in HK and the Rioters (I refuse to call them Protestors) refused to obey lawful police orders, vandalized and completely destroyed property, invaded, seized and occupied the airport and a University, assaulted anyone who disagreed with them, assaulted police and “doxxed” their ID details to the general public and murdered several citizens in the process of all this.
In comparison, the riots in DC were a picnic. The Western view of China is so one-eyed it is at the extreme end of hypocrisy. We find excuses for all the poor acts committed by Western nations (so called “liberal Democracies” yet denounce China for the same. We call sanctions imposed on Australia by China as “economic bullying” between the US does it it is called “sanctions” and is acceptable.
Macao also has “One Country, Two Systems” yet doesn’t have the same problems as HK and you need to question why they are successful and HK isnt.
“the Riots in HK were justified while the DC Riots were reprehensible” – this is 100% true. The HK protestors are heroes, the Washington mob a disgrace.
The Rioters in HK were not “heroes”, they were criminals and ultimately, its their childish, hissy fit that has placed HK where it is now.
Wanting something doesnt give you the authority to destroy and kill. That’s not Protesting, it is Terrorism.
Note how the author of this didn’t supply a ‘body count’ of all the 2020 protests in Amerika.
To base a contention that HK protesters have been subjected to greater violence, than Yank protesters, based only on this week’s protests is ‘cherry picking’ at the extreme
Last time I looked, which was a couple of months back, the body count of protesters in HK was zero.
OTOH, if you look for the UK Independent, from Nov ’19, you’ll find this headline and sub;
“Hong Kong protests: Man set on fire in ‘argument over national identity’ on day of clashes
Video of incident shows group of young men dousing an older man in liquid and setting it ablaze with a lighter”
You only have to look at the Bio of the Author to understand. I don’t care what political system exists, riots are criminal acts. You have your whinge, with a permit if required, and when ordered to disperse by the police, you pack your bongo’s up and go home. You do not invade Government buildings, burn amd destroy transportation hubs, occupy airports and universities, and, most importantly, you do not murder innocent citizens who are going about their lawful business. The right to protest does NOT supercede others rights to go about their lawful business.
Maybe we can agree on these points;
Point 1 fully agree.
Point 2 I dont think that anyone would have a problem with any lawful protest as long as they comply with the Laws of whatever country etc concerned.
The problem with all Protestors is that they think they have the right to override the rights of others to go about their lawful business. Consider Extinction Rebellion. I have no issue with their ultimate objectives, just their methods.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in HK – are you calling them all violent?
And the fact that HK was never a democracy seems as irrelevant as it has been for the many other pro-democracy rallies around the world.
Finally, the trigger for the HK demonstrations was the creeping introduction of the Chinese legal system. Are you prepared to defend that?
The Extradition Law that was “the cause” of this was in response to crimes being committed in other countries by HK Citizens and then fleeing back to HK to avoid punishment. It covered extradition to other countries and was not limited to extradition to China (that was just an excuse). HK had its chance to introduce it’s own National Security laws which it failed to do (unlike Macao).
The “hundreds of thousands” of people that demonstrated peacefully, respected others rights to go about their business, did not destroy property, did not occupy the Legislature and the University, did not kill other citizens and obeyed the law are not the issue. It’s the ones that committed these acts that are the issue. These Rioters were domestic Terrorists and should be treated as such.
HK has nobody to blame but themselves. No Government will tolerate such behaviour.
Crikey needs to get serious about reporting what is happening in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an order of magnitude freer than Australia. Stop feeding your readers the same poisonous soup that USA is sponsoring.
Why not do a truthful serious report about where this all started.
HKG did not have extradition laws . A young HKG guy took his wealthy HKG girlfriend to Taiwan and murdered her for her money. Taiwan wanted him extradited to charge him with murder. He still walks around HKG a free man. Why because the anti anything mainland China( Martin Lee twisted cohorts)lobby could use it to attack the mainland suggesting it was ALL about sending political opponents to China for trial.
Talk to some real HK grownups, people that actually think, and not the Trumpesque want to be’s, “one child little emperors” or the mindless brain dead that are so easily manipulated and forever line up in queues for for hours on end to get the latest McDonald’s monchichi 10 cent happy meal toy or egg custard tart. If you asked 999,000 of the ‘million’who protested originally to explain why they were protesting, none of them could explain.
I am a 7 year Gweillo permanent resident, born in Australia 65 years ago. Been around long enough to smell a rotten fish.
Crikey is feeding the same bullshit about life and what is happening in Hong Kong that Murdoch and other mouth pieces for US hegemony are pushing to undermine China’s growth to worlds most financially powerful nation by the end of this decade.
On most things I feel Crikey have it right (other than your clear lack of zealous support for Julian Assange and press freedom and your existence!) but on Hong Kong you have it so wrong.
If nothing else the world owes it to the distraught parents of a horrifically murdered, innocent besotted in love young girl who was murdered in the most callous way. A story that needs to be told. ..and while you are there dig a little and then share the true reality of what is occurring in one of the freest cities of the world … freedom to live your life without a million laws controlling every breath you take.
Well said.
Are the subs on holidays? Worthy of something from George Christensen.
“Are the subs on holidays?”… for at least a decade, if not longer.
Shame on you trying to justify the double standard. Polling showing 45% of Republicans supports the DC Riots and 70% believe the US 2020 election was rigged. I wonder what is the % of HK residents support the HK rioters ? A crime is a crime irrespective of politics.
Absolutely. You will find that the HK rioters do not have universal support in HK. Far from it actually.
Pelosi called the HK separatist riots, including the storming and vandalising of the Legislative Chamber “A beautiful sight to behold”
I rest my case.