Hong Kong and Lebanon: demonstrators, expats and agents-provocateurs.
- Christopher Bauer
On both sides of Asia, in Hong Kong and in Lebanon, people are protesting. At first glance very different, both movements share a single, ancient theme: power over people must be in the hands of the people and they are opposed by forces that wish to deny this. The circumstances by which both arrived at these junctures in their collective lives are different but the desire of their opponents to rue without accountability is the same. While the means of struggle and also the means of repression might differ in the future, at least one element is common to both. Those that wish to deny their two people’s their fight will use one of the classic mechanisms of repression: a manufactured fear of the foreigner.
In Hong Kong, demonstrators are carrying American flags and pictures of Donald Trump, thanking him for his support. This shows a profound misunderstanding of the American political situation in that Trump only reluctantly signed the congressional bill that will do nothing of substance to protect the people of Hong Kong.
Beyond this, Hong Kong’s well-wishers should be alarmed by the very presence of American flags and pictures of the president- any president – for the quickest out for any authoritarian regime is to blame its problems on foreign agitators. We see this happening in Venezuela. We see this in Iran, where the regime blames the current economic discontent, not on internal mismanagement but on the United States intelligence services and a perineal favorite, the “Zionists.”
In Lebanon, the political party Hezbollah has accused the Americans of fomenting the current demonstrations by citing the fact that the President of the American University of Beirut went into the streets to talk to his students. His words, quoted on the on the Al-Manar TV website (http://english.almanar.com.lb/858464), were considered evidence of foreign inference despite the fact that Dr. Fadlo R. Khuri is Lebanese who counseled against violence. The word “American” is sufficient, although using that university to drum up faux anti-Americanism is complicated for Hezbollah since many of its members are probably graduates of AUB, a university with famously loyal alumni.
Dr. Khuri was doing his duty. The same cannot be said for any expats or tourists who, having nothing better to do at the moment, decide to add a little drama to their lives. There is a certain arrogance that is almost missionary-like in those who insist on taking part in the history of countries not their own. At the very least, the foreigners seem willing to endanger entire movement for the sake of a few selfies and a couple of anecdotes once safely at home. One hopes that in Hong Kong and Beirut and indeed in any such cases, that foreign expats, especially American, stay away: they are never of any use to the movements and only have potential harm as captured “agents” or “spies.”
In Hong Kong, one foreign student has already been arrested and mercifully released; he is Japanese and one can imagine a different scenario should some silly American be caught. Societies always tend to punish more severely foreigners than natives for identical offenses, especially those considered political. Note, dear Americans, full of good intentions if somewhat less in wisdom, you will not be rescued by a Seal Team Six; you’ll be lucky if an embassy sends you a list of lawyers you can hire.
Lebanon has always been a political pawn in the chess of great powers. It is a nation that has been holding its breath since 1991 and has found this to be no longer possible. Yet Lebanon might well emerge intact and with a new sense of national purpose. If so, it will not occur due to the actions of American, or German or British or whatever student or visitors; pressure can be applied, however, in one’s home country, especially if one’s home country is in Europe, less so if one’s home is Trump’s America.
In Hong Kong, one might well suspect that at least some of the demonstrators carrying American flags and copies of that ridiculous Trump head on Rocky’s body are agents of Beijing. Perhaps the most extreme of the demonstrators are also more comfortable in Mandarin than in Cantonese. In previous attempts to discourage the people of Hong Kong, the Beijing regime has utilized Triad thugs, revealing along the way that the Communist regime not only still has organized crime but that it tolerates and even abets it.
It is difficult to see a happy ending for Hong Kong. One can imagine a situation developing in which Beijing declares an inability of the Hong Kong government to control its own affairs and announces that it is forced, reluctantly to be sure, to enter Hong Kong and restore order, as order has been “restored” so many times in so many places throughout history.
