Hong Kong’s ‘pro-democracy’ movement allies with far-right US politicians that seek to crush Black Lives Matter
As a Hong Kong protest leader promotes far-right condemnations of US anti-racism demonstrations and activists shut down a Black Lives Matter rally in the city, Hong Kong organizers forge close ties with hardline Republicans in Washington.
by Ajit Singh
Part 3 - Hong Kong “pro-democracy” activists shut down Black Lives Matter rally
Hong Kong “pro-democracy” activists have gone so far as to derail the efforts to organize a Black Lives Matter rally in the city following the killing of George Floyd.
In a letter shared with the Hong Kong Free Press, event organizer Jayne Jeje, an African-American woman who has lived in Hong Kong for eight years, outlined the harassment she received that led to her cancelling the event.
According to Jeje, “pro-democracy” activists accused her of “working with the police to entrap people” and “being backed by the CCP [Communist Party of China].” On the social media event page for the rally, Jeje wrote that she was bombarded with “attacks” and hostile comments consisting of “mistruths, bullying, accusations, and profanity.”
Jeje wrote that she was accused of having “expat privilege,” grilled about “why the event was only about BLM, since HK lives matter too.” More concerned with co-opting the event to advance their own agenda than demonstrating solidarity, Hong Kong “pro-democracy” activists told Jeje that she “[did not] have the right to comment on BLM” unless she made the Hong Kong protests a focus of the event.
In this vein, Hong Kong protesters have recently appropriated the slogans “I can’t breathe” and “Black Lives Matter” for their own demonstrations.
Ultimately, due to this harassment and fear that “pro-democracy” activists would sabotage the event, Jeje and the other event organizers chose to cancel the Black Lives Matter rally.
“[We] made the painful decision to cancel the event, based on angry messages that we were cooperating with the police, or not including their issues or responding to their demands” wrote Jeje. “We feared they would come and purposefully ruin the event.”
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