From Hong Kong to Ferguson and New York

December 11, 2014

The masses of people who have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in recent months to demand democracy have been confronted with riot police commanded by the Chinese regime to squelch dissent with tear gas and batons. During the rebellions on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, this summer, the images of repression halfway around the world from each other linked the two rebellions together. In this statement issued after two grand juries refused to indict the police who murdered Mike Brown and Eric Garner, Left21, a network of left-wing forces in Hong Kong, sends solidarity to protesters against police violence in the U.S.

FROM HONG Kong to Ferguson and New York City, we send you our warmest solidarity!

No to injustice! No to white supremacy!

It was outrageous that the grand jury failed to indict Darren Wilson, who had shot unarmed 18-year-old Mike Brown. We agree with you that "The whole damn system is guilty as hell."

It was even more outrageous when, after that, the police officer in Eric Garner's case was also not indicted!

How can anyone trust the justice system when the police can shoot you dead, even though you are unarmed, before you even reach a court? And when a man is killed by a policeman using an illegal chokehold, and it is recorded on video, but the policeman is still not even indicted?

All the common-sense evidence points to systematic bias within the police, within the courts and within government. How can democracy exist when these state institutions of courts and law enforcement are ridden with injustice? It is clear to us that genuine democratic governance does not exist in American society.

Masses of people fill the streets of the Central district in Hong Kong
Masses of people fill the streets of the Central district in Hong Kong (Pasu Au Yeung)

In Ferguson, the jarring truth of racism and injustice explode with the case of Mike Brown, generating collective outrage against this system that produces these problems. We all know he is, sadly, only one of many casualties of racist America.

We are aware that Black and poor communities in America face state violence, not only in the form of police shootings. It manifests in other aspects of your lives: unemployment, racist welfare laws, disproportionate policing, housing segregation and health disparities.

We recognize that the police are not taking responsibility for your safety. Instead, not only do they squash dissent and free expression, they are sending in military ammunition into the streets of Ferguson. It seems that the U.S. government and the police forces in your country are willing to use aspects of the military violence they have imposed on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

To the community of Ferguson and to those who care about justice and racial equality in the U.S., we hope you keep going--keep fighting for what is right! Racial inequality is being used to justify and enable economic inequality and exclusion!


HERE IN Hong Kong, we, too, are fed up with our government doing things on behalf of the wealthy few, and being willing to use the police to keep us from speaking out about injustice and broken promises.

We have not had a genuine democracy, either under British colonial rule, nor now, under our "high degree of autonomy" within "one country, two systems" under the Chinese government. We have a small legislature dominated by the wealthy, and our chief executive was elected by only 689 votes in the last election.

Under our undemocratic system slanted towards the wealthy, our poverty rate has been climbing, housing has gotten less affordable, and 40 percent of our elderly are in poverty. The government has poured billions of dollars into development projects, refused to increased taxes on the wealthy, and still cries out that it lacks money to provide a decent universal elderly pension. In short, citizens are being excluded from the community's wealth, and the "order" and "harmony" we see in society is only the smooth surface hiding massive suffering and humiliation--of our own people, led by our own government!

All along, the Hong Kong government promised a system of universal suffrage and election of our own chief executive, but it has denied this over and over, despite the demands of hundreds of thousands of citizens.

The students, supported by wide masses of the public, have come out to occupy major parts of Hong Kong, simply to demand that the government keep its word.

But in Hong Kong, as we see now, speaking out against injustice and government betrayal of its promise of democracy can lead you to face pepper spray, water cannons, and batons--from our own police! It doesn't matter if we are students or doctors or journalists--the police have lost their control and, boosted by the unconditional support of the government, are willing to use maximum force on its own citizens to restore an unjust order.

Just like in Ferguson, we face a police force that has been given the task of basically punishing dissent--while claiming to uphold the law. This government and police force have rejected genuine dialogue, denied their obligation to heed the voices of citizens, and used weapons, threats and even proxy organizations to harass, stigmatize or silence protesting citizens.

Here, as in Ferguson and New York City, the laws, courts and legislative procedures claim to protect the innocent from abusers. The truth is we know that these institutions have been used to silence, jail and physically crush us, all in the name of the "law."

We know though, that the "law" and justice are not the same thing. We may not have the same struggles, but we share a common situation of government and police falsely claiming authority over us, and abusing their position of authority and of legitimized use of force to repress our voices and our just demands.

No more injustice! Enough is enough! Police are not our rulers! No to militarization! No to social exclusion!

Solidarity to Ferguson and to New York City! Black lives matter! From Hong Kong to Ferguson and New York City, resist state violence!

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