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 By Jacques CLEMENT Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 2, 2019
Denise Ho has been pulled from concerts, her records are banned in China and she has been smeared as "poison", but the Cantopop star says standing with the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement outshines all the damage to her career. The short-haired 42-year-old is a rare and instantly recognisable face among the masked crowds at this summer's huge rallies. She marches with the masses, gives outspoken television interviews calling for democracy and condemning alleged police brutality, drawing attention to the crisis in her city on a Twitter feed with nearly 250,000 followers. It is a bold stance. From actor Jackie Chan to billionaire magnate Li Ka-shing, most famous Hong Kongers have chosen silence or made cryptic middle-ground calls for peace, as Beijing scours the landscape for critics. But Ho, who is now in Australia to spread the word about the protests before travelling to the United States, said she had "no regret" over her strident critiques of the mainland. She believes artists who stay quiet have made bigger sacrifices. "They have lost total freedom of speech. As a Hong Konger, it's my responsibility to stand up and stand with (the protesters). "This is really not the time to think about your own career and personal benefits," she added. The movement, which is avowedly leaderless, has few figureheads -- diluting the risk of infighting or the impact of arrests and harassment. "Of course, because I am a public figure or celebrity, people recognise me," said Ho at a recent event. But she explained, "there is really no leader, no particular organisation leading the movement. "And that's the beauty of it, and that's why this movement has been able to go on for such a long time." - 'They are not alone' - Initially sparked by opposition to a proposed law that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, the protests soon spilled out into a broader anti-government movement calling for democratic reforms. The protests have become increasingly violent and the weekend saw fires, tear gas and police beatings as a minority of hardcore protesters clashed with riot police in the city centre. Yet hundreds of thousands of people have also taken part in peaceful demonstrations across the city -- including last Wednesday, when Ho addressed a rally in central Hong Kong against alleged sexual violence by police. "I see myself as one of the participants of this movement. Hopefully I can give some moral support to these young people, to let them know that they are not alone in this fight," she told AFP. - Pop to protest- Ho is no stranger to activism -- she made the leap from pop to politics five years ago during Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, calling on Beijing to allow fully free elections. That won her instant opprobrium in China -- and her music a blanket ban. She had been an international Cantopop star, her ballads released under a stagename HOCC, who enjoyed success on the Chinese mainland. In addition to her music career she was a strident advocate for LGBT rights, having come out as gay in 2012, and also turned her hand to acting, appearing in a film by Hong Kong director Johnnie To. She joined the Umbrella Movement when it erupted in September 2014, just one month after her last visit to mainland China. Soon she joined pro-democracy protesters who occupied a central business district and was arrested when the site was dismantled more than two months later. As her reputation for outspoken campaigning grew, in June 2016 French cosmetics giant Lancome cancelled a promotional concert at which Ho was due to perform. The move sparked an outcry among Hong Kongers who said the decision was due to criticism from China's state-run media, after the Global Times accused Lancome of cooperating with "Hong Kong poison" and "Tibet poison" -- a reference to Ho's praise for the Dalai Lama. In July, Ho again infuriated Beijing by urging the UN rights council to put pressure on China over its "tightening grip" on semi-autonomous Hong Kong. The city was returned to China from Britain in 1997 and enjoys far greater liberties than the mainland. The Chinese government hit back, with a foreign ministry spokesman describing the singer as "delusional". But her activism has won new fans in Hong Kong. Ho is "so cool", a protester at a recent anti-sexual violence rally said, adding "she sacrificed everything" for her beliefs.
Attacked for gender, not views: HK women protesters facing troll army Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the financial hub's streets week after week in the biggest challenge to China's rule of the semi-autonomous city for decades. But female protesters posting support for the pro-democracy movement said they have experienced a slew of sexist online attacks in response. "They are not attacking my views or anything, they just attack me because I am female," said Hong Kong student Mickey Leung Ho Wun. The 17-year-old discovered a doctored picture of her at a pro-democracy rally was being spread on Facebook via a page supporting the city's police. In the original, Wun is standing next to a banner reading 'I am a secondary school student' but in the altered version, the sign reads 'I am not wearing any underwear.' "These are Hong Kong people who are pro-Beijing," Wun speculated of the users sharing the picture. Another young female protester, Ka Yau Ho, said a photograph shared online of her being detained by the police during a rally was altered so it appeared her nipples were showing. Celebrity Hong Kong singer turned activist Denise Ho said on Facebook the aim of the online attacks against her was to "ignore her will, ignore her vision, focus on her exterior and dress, and then demonise." These women said they suspected pro-Beijing trolls were behind the sexist abuse, as the majority of messages were in simplified Chinese -- predominantly used in mainland China. They added that the abuse has intensified since Beijing ramped up its hardline rhetoric over the protests. On Wednesday evening, thousands rallied against alleged police sexual violence, holding aloft purple lights in solidarity with abuse victims. Attendees shared the #ProtestToo hashtag, a play on 2017's global #MeToo movement that exposed sexual assault and harassment in high-profile industries -- and helped improve attitudes towards abuse survivors. But women at the protest told AFP they had stopped posting online as the rhetoric against the protesters increased. A spokesperson for Hong Kong's Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women said online harassment was "a weapon to harm women," adding that it was linked to outdated social norms and cultural values. - 'Constant barrage' - Social media has been a key battleground for both sides during the protests. Earlier this month tech giants Twitter and Facebook said they had suspended nearly 1,000 active accounts emanating from China, aimed at undercutting the legitimacy of the Hong Kong protest movement. Twitter said it had shut down a further 200,000 accounts before they could inflict any damage. Laurel Chor, 29, said as a female reporter covering the protests in Hong Kong she had received a "constant barrage" of abuse in her comments and Instagram DMs. "They were using words like whore or prostitute and bitch," she said. A Twitter post which called on people to shun a list of female Asian journalists -- including Chor -- was indicative of how "women do get disproportionately targeted and it is not only gendered but also racial," she said. Similarly, journalist Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, born in mainland China but writing about the protests from Australia, said her Twitter account was swamped by negative comments, including rape threats. "The insults that were towards me they were a really weird combination of nasty nationalism, sexism, and racism," she said. "I felt physically sick." It is not only pro-democracy demonstrators who have endured abusive gendered attacks. Photographs of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, have been superimposed onto scantily-clad models' bodies and pasted on walls in the city. Meanwhile, the wives of a number of serving police officers were identified by Telegram users who created a poll on the encrypted messaging service to vote on which wife they would rather "sleep with", a senior police source said. A Twitter spokesperson told AFP that "abuse, harassment and hateful conduct have no place on our service". Neither Instagram nor Facebook immediately responded to comment but Instagram confirmed they were actively investigating the issue.
Cathay warns staff face sack if they join Hong Kong strike Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 30, 2019 Cathay Pacific has warned staff they risk being sacked if they join a planned Hong Kong strike, as the airline intensifies its crackdown on employee support for the rolling pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong's flagship carrier, which has 27,000 staff in the city, has been accused of bowing to political pressure from China, whose aviation regulator has banned airline staff who have supported the demonstrations from working on flights through its airspace. In an internal memo to staff, a Cathay di ... read more
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