United for Democracy: Global Solidarity with Hong Kong in Dublin

by KM Tue Oct 07, 2014 13:38

The US would love to break Hong Kong away from mainland China or to goad Beijing into overreacting to the demonstrations, and that is what it actively seeks to achieve through NGOs, Dr. Conn Hallinan, from Foreign Policy in Focus, told RT.

RT:The protests have continued unabated for almost a week now, with Friday marked by street clashes. Where do you see it going from here?

Conn Hallinan: The thing is that the demonstrations themselves certainly have their own legitimacy. Hong Kong is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. I think the minimum wage in Hong Kong is around $3.20 an hour. I think what you have is a kind of a layer of very wealthy on the top, and then a layer of the most of the people in Hong Kong that are legitimately stressed by the cost of living, the cost of education, etc. And of course most people want a say how they are governed, and the way that they are governed. My concern with some of the Hong Kong demonstrations is that this is a case in which the US is also very active through non-governmental organizations, specifically the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the US Agency for International Development, and other groups like Freedom House. Those organizations are less concerned with democracy than they are destabilization. Those same groups were very active in Ukraine, prior to the coup. In fact the US poured about $5 billion into Ukraine over the period of several years and led to the situation perfectly where legitimate concerns about corruption were turned into a coup d’état. My concern in the case of China is that there is tension between the US, and China, and Japan over the East and South China seas. And then these demonstrations started up. My concern is that legitimate demands may be manipulated in favor of things that don’t really have to do with democracy and economic well-being...

by KM Sun Oct 05, 2014 23:31

Hong Kong Protests: Now The Hard Part, Kick Out The US, Build National Consensus

By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers

When protests in Hong Kong exploded, knowledgeable people looked for US involvement. It was not hard to find. The overt intrusion of the US is available in budgets, documents and websites; the covert involvement has not yet been uncovered but is no doubt there. What does US involvement mean for the credibility of the protest movement and the future of Hong Kong? How should Hong Kong activists respond?

The issues raised by the protests, lack of democracy and an unfair economy, are very real. But so are the concerns of Beijing for economic growth and continuing to lift people out of poverty, something China has done remarkably well . Those who seek to transform governance and create a more equal economy now have a more challenging task than protests, they must build national consensus on their issues in Hong Kong and in China's leadership. The Chinese People's Daily quoted a Chinese-American author who wrote the Occupy Central leadership, Yin Haoliu, said: “Democracy is a step-by-step process that cannot be approached in haste, otherwise it will bring about troubles.” How quickly those steps advance depends, in part, on how well the democracy movement organizes.

Now that the US has been exposed, it needs to be removed. US goals are very different than the people in Hong Kong. The US is in the process of encircling China militarily and economically.

by fred Thu Oct 02, 2014 01:52

is this yet another US sponsored "colour revolution"?
Or in this case an "umbrella revolution"
It has some of the tell tale signs.

Remember Obama's "pivot to the east" speech
only time will tell

Some other views on the hong kong unrest:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/01/occupocalypse-no...kong/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/01/chinas-long-game...tral/