Hong Kong residents are protesting for democracy in huge numbers on an ongoing basis. While we have our own problems with the Trump administration trying to corrupt U.S. democracy, the Hong Kong protesters need support. Democracy knows no race, no culture, no geographic boundaries.
The British turned over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) in 1997, with the promise that Hong Kong would retain autonomy and not be subject to the PRC’s communist system for at least 50 years. Since then the PRC has been degrading that democracy.
The response has been street protests. The Umbrella Revolution protests of 2014 were replies to changes to the Hong Kong electoral system that allowed the Chinese Communist Party to prescreen candidates for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and eliminate those the PRC did not like.
In 2016 candidates for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council were prescreened by the Electoral Affairs Commission for their political beliefs. Many pro-democracy candidates were prevented from running because their views were allegedly “unconstitutional”.
The latest mass protests began in March and April of this year, when the Hong Kong government proposed legislation to allow Hong Kong residents charged with crimes to be extradited to the PRC for trial. “Crimes” includes protesting in favor of democracy. The PRC has a notorious reputation for controlling trials and jailing/torturing democracy advocates, attorneys and protesters of all kinds. The protests increased dramatically in June; organizers said 1.03 million people, a record-breaking number, attended a June 8 rally.
Since then, the people of Hong Kong have taken to the streets in large numbers on a regular basis, often on the weekends. Given their experience with past protests that remained in one place and were overrun by the police, the current protesters use social media to select protest sites at the last moment and change to new locations as needed.
The Hong Kong police apparently have encouraged criminal gangs (“triads”) to attack protesters. The police have also engaged in violence, including rupturing the right eye of a female first-aid provider by firing bean-bag rounds.
While the Hong Kong government has not proceeded with the extradition legislation, it has refused to withdraw it. The protesters’ demands now also include investigations of police brutality, an independent inquiry of police brutality, the release of arrested protesters, a retraction of the official characterization of the protests as "riots", and direct elections to choose Legislative Council members and the Chief Executive.
For further information, see FreedomHKG and its open letter.
For the latest news on the Hong Kong protests, see the Hong Kong Free Press.
To follow the protesters and share their posts, see:
Those in the U.S. can do the following:
Call your representatives (find their number on callmycongress.com):
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Ask them to support the call to suspend future sales of munitions and crowd control equipment to the Hong Kong police.
- Ask them to support passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (H.R. 3289) (S. 1838).
Alternatively:
- Use this Action Network link to automatically find your representatives based on your address and provide an editable letter that asks them to co-sponsor the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.
- Reference: Pelosi Statement in Support of Hong Kong Protesters
Those in Canada, the UK and the EU can see support suggestions at: https://github.com/hongkonggong/beyond-lennon-walls/blob/master/README.md
If you would like to donate, see the following (some require online translation from Chinese):
Donate to groups that are supporting protesters on the ground:
- 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund (612人道支援基金) (PayPal: 612fund@atd.hk) [comments in both English and Chinese with built-in easy translation]
- Spark Alliance HK 星火同盟 (PayPal: hkworkxshop@gmail.com) [comments in both English and Chinese with built-in easy translation]
Donate to these non-profit, independent news organizations so they can continue to provide coverage of Hong Kong:
- Hong Kong Free Press [English]
- Inmedia 香港獨立媒體網 [Chinese language only]
- Stand News 立場新聞 [Chinese language only]
- Factwire (PayPal: factwire) [Chinese language only]
- Hong Kong Citizen News 眾新聞 [Chinese language only]
Donate to groups supporting journalists on the ground:
- HKJA Journalist Protection Fund 香港記者協會保護記者基金 [Chinese language only]
- Radical HK 基進報導 (on top of being a news organization, they provide sign language interpretation at many events) [Chinese language only]
Donate to these civil society research organizations:
- Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute 香港民意研究所 [both English and Chinese]
- Civil Rights Observer 民權觀察 [Chinese language only]
Pitch in for supplies that protect people during police operations from this online store (but keep in mind they're currently backlogged on logistics):
- HK Protect 香港保護: 捐贈裝備送給前線 [Chinese language only]