Students Stand in Solidarity with Hong Kong
By Chris Carey
Students, activists, Hong Kongers, and proponents of democracy from across the DC area gathered on Friday, October 11 for the Students for Hong Kong rally in the shadow of the Basilica. Organizers and participants alike hope that this expression of solidarity with the plight of Hong Kong will propel campuses across the nation to take similar actions.
In Hong Kong, what started as protests against a proposed extradition bill in June, has evolved into a full fledged battle between the authorities and protestors over the rights of Hong Kong to exist as as a semi-autonomous state from mainland China. Hong Kong has managed to retain relatively democratic system of governance since 1997 when the UK handed its governance to the People’s Republic of China; however, bit by bit, in practice and through legislation, Hong Kong’s autonomy has dwindled.
Across the world, defenders of democracy look to the actions of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong as clashes between police and Hong Kongers escalate.
“Nothing represents a greater threat to liberalism than the Chinese Communist Party,” said Rory O’Connor, one of the event’s organizers and freshman politics major, on his rationale for the show of support for Hong Kong.
O’Connor and his team brought many key figures in the international fight for democracy to campus on Friday to speak, such as Salih Hudayar, founder of East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, an organization dedicated to the Uyghur people’s fight for freedom from China.
“The event today organized between the College Democrats and the College Republicans is truly a great sign,” said Hudayar. “This is something that we should see even in Congress, political parties standing up against China.”
Hudayar has been a proponent of democracy for years, and a majority of his immediate and extended family rests in prisons throughout China for their insubordination against Chinese control of East Turkistan.
“We are rallying around Hong Kong, because if they do not succeed, then they will ultimately end up like us in concentration camps,” said Hudayar.
Among the speakers was Brigadier General Robert Spalding, former Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the White House.
“It’s good that American students are showing solidarity with the young men and women of Hong Kong who are fighting for their freedom, and it shows that the spirit of democracy and freedom is alive and well on our college campuses,” said Spalding on the importance of the event.
This solidarity was stressed by the dual involvement of the College Democrats, and the College Republicans, who both expressed their belief in the importance of such a demonstration by sponsoring the protest.
Additionally, members of the wider DC community, and the world wide stage, attended and took part in the event to express their own support for the Hong Kong movement.
“It’s a campus rally initiated both by the College Republicans and the College Democrats, which speaks volumes about the bipartisan nature of supporting Hong Kong,” said Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Konger activist and PhD student at Georgetown. “I think it’s a very important moment for Hong Kong that the world is really watching,” he added.
Also in support of the event and the movement was Tsultrim Gyatso, a representative of the Office of Tibet, who wished to express his belief in the continued importance of such protests across campuses worldwide.
The final speaker of the day was freshman politics major, Juan Carlos Mora, one of the coordinators and champions of the issue on campus.
“An attack on democracy anywhere is an attack on democracy everywhere,” Mora said.
Through the spotlight on this event, it is the hope of the students involved, activists who spoke, and leaders who planned the demonstration that national change will be fostered, and that campuses across the United States will take a firm stance against the Chinese Communist Party, and seek to join in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong.
