By Rainer Shea

When people praise the anti-Beijing Hong Kong protests, it’s typically vague as to which forms of Chinese oppression that they believe are being rightly resisted. The supposedly heinous extradition bill-which was proposed in response to a case where a man murdered his girlfriend and wasn’t allowed to be prosecuted because he had committed the crime outside of Hong Kong-isn’t even on the table anymore. So which specific Chinese transgressions are now provoking the continued efforts at insurrection in Hong Kong?

Despite the vague claims that China is suppressing “democracy,” the reality is that the problems in Hong Kong are due not to too much Beijing influence in the island but too little. The island’s government is run by a capitalist kleptocratic oligarchy that’s carried out damaging policies like the deliberate increases in real estate prices, and there’s no substance to the claim that China is in any way exerting its influence to make life worse for Hong Kong’s residents.

Since the grievances of the protesters are based in legitimate hardships, their intentions are theoretically good. But Hong Kong’s U.S.-fundedpolitical advocacy groups and Western propaganda outlets have propagated the idea that China is to blame for the island’s decline in living standards, which has persuaded many people in Hong Kong to side with the colonialist, anti-socialist agenda of the anti-Beijing protests. As a result, these protesters have become dangerous disruptors who carry out aggressive violence to advance their right-wing goals.

As the staff of Fight Back News wrote this month, “The Hong Kong protests are an attack on socialism.” They explain that:

The Hong Kong protests are absolutely not driven by or in the interests of the working class, whether in Hong Kong or mainland China. For one, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) has come out strongly against these protests. As one of the largest labor organizations in the region, the Federation represents 410,000 workers in transportation, logistics, manufacturing, infrastructure, construction and other major industries. Many of their 251 affiliated unions have actively campaigned against the protesters’ calls for a ‘general strike’.

Nor have working-class neighborhoods in Hong Kong joined in the months of rioting and unrest. An NPR investigation published on August 14 looked at the North Point district, one of the city’s largest working-class neighborhoods, and interviewed construction worker Xiao Yongli. Along with his neighbors, many of whom are migrant workers, Xiao warned protesters against coming into their community.

The protests serve the interests both of Hong Kong’s billionaires (who would be in better standing if China’s authority were entirely gone from the island), and of the U.S./NATO empire (which has been using its political advocacy organizations in Hong Kong to undermine China’s authority since the start of Hong Kong’s break from Britain’s authority). It’s undeniable that the protesters are aligned with this imperialist agenda; the Civil Human Rights Front, a core organizer of the protests that has ties to the CIA front group the National Endowment for Democracy, supports one vocal faction that openly advocates for outside intervention from the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan in order to “liberate” Hong Kong […]