Alex Lo Tells Us What We Already Know:  The U.S. Chooses Whose and What Rights Matter

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Alex Lo is one of my favorite journalists; he writes for one of my favorite non-left newspapers, “The South China Morning Post.” This morning he wrote a piece, which while merely stating the obvious, does so with remarkable clarity and understated eloquence.  The title of his article: “The United States is once again selective in caring about rights.”

He opens by saying “Americans only care about democracy, freedom and human rights when they can be used against enemies, and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is testament to that.”  Of course, it would have been better if he had said the American government, or even better yet,  The Capitalistate, “only cares about democracy, freedom and human rights when they can be used against enemies, ” as immediately after President Trump signed the Act European Union States stepped in to offer their support to the raging rebels tearing Hong Kong apart.  This was very much the point of my article published just today:(https://countercurrents.org/2019/11/the-hong-kong-revolt-a-view-from-the-left-in-response-to-brancati-and-law).

Instances of American attempts to foment dissent among the people of its “enemies” in order to undermine their power by creating chaos in their nations has been ubiquitous. Few places in the world have not been impacted by this strategy: from Cuba to South Sudan, from Libya and Iran to the nations of Central and south America.  This was the case with the anti-Chavez coup in Venezuela, the attempted coup against Maduro, and the recent coup against Morales in Bolivia.  It was certainly the case in Chile when Allende was overthrown although in the case of Chile, stringent sanctions which brought the Chilean economy to its knees were also employed and proved to be successful. It has long been the case with Cuba and Russia, although it has failed dismally in both cases.  In fact, the list of U.S. attempts to overthrow governments by fomenting dissent amongst its people,  is too long and the details too many to express in a single article. (for more details see: https://www.globalresearch.ca/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list-of-u-s-regime-changes/5400829) (https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_andre-vltchek-on-us-empires-destabilization-efforts-vs-authentic-revolutions/ ), (https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/20/mapped-the-7-governments-the-u-s-has-overthrown/)

These attempts have been both well organized and well planned through an internally related system of tightly knit organizations.  Aside from the CIA itself, primary amongst them is the  US Agency for International Development (USAID) which is a cover for CIA agents under the pretext of helping the poor and oppressed of the world.  In today’s Europe, USAID has openly stated its goal as “Countering  Malign Kremlin Influence – as a framework to help democratic institutions safeguard elections, counter propaganda and misinformation, and avoid dependence on Russian energy.”  It has focused on the Ukraine, Georgia (which is currently experiencing protests against Russian influence) and Moldova. USAID Assistant Administrator Brock personally stated that the U.S. is committed to its strategic interests across a region that is important to the U.S.  When Putin responds to U.S. intentions by either closing down NGOs that have ties to and/or are funded from abroad, the response in the Western press has been to point to the unjustness and repressiveness of Putin’s actions.  They are labeled as just another instance of the denial of democratic freedoms in a country in which the people are completely cowed into submission.  The West never says that Putin’s response is perfectly rational in light of what has become the standard operating procedure of the United States, which is to use and fund organizations whose sole purpose is to provoke the people of Russia into swarming into the streets, marching, demonstrating and engaging in acts of destruction demanding “democracy.”

The same plan of action has long been in place for China.  While USAID operates outside US territory, other sister organizations operate both outside and within America to further dissent in China and offer the appearance that the people of America are fully behind their government’s goals .  One of these is the National Endowment for Democracy, which since it was founded in 1983, has been used mainly as a “soft-power” vehicle to advance the U.S. foreign policy and military agenda through sowing chaos in countries targeted for “regime change.” Prominent investigative journalists made claims over the last few years that the NED is “dedicated to meddling in other countries’ affairs, interfering in elections, toppling elected leaders and spreading public relations campaigns to sow chaos against countries that resist U.S. agenda.” It is currently operating on American soil by providing funding for demonstrations in support of the Hong Kong activists slated to take place in Washington DC.

Yet another demonstration, is being organized by U.S. government funded group called Citizen Power Initiatives for China, which defines itself as committed to promoting democracy in China through “overseas” support and assistance.   It has circulated posters for the demonstration online  carrying the image of the so-called ‘Chinazi’ flag – an altered version of the Chinese national flag with the yellow stars arranged to form a swastika and with a hammer and sickle placed in the center.  This flag first appeared at a demonstration in Hong Kong on September 15, alongside a banner which portrayed Carrie Lam as Hitler against a backdrop of yellow swastikas.   The Hong Kong demonstrators claim that using the term “Chinazi,”  and drawing comparisons between the Nazis and the Chinese government is justified in order to draw out the parallels between Holocaust concentration camps and China’s internment camps in Xinjiang.  Clearly it does not suffice to call China “undemocratic” but rather, it must appear to be every bit as fascistic as Nazi Germany.

Fascistic indeed!   As Alex Lo concludes, “Six months of civil unrest in Hong Kong and not a single protester has been killed by police, despite wild stories, lies and fabrications by the rioters and their supporters. Terms such as double standards and hypocrisy do not even begin to describe the US bill and the outrageous motives behind it as America proves ready to turn Hong Kong into a frontline in its new cold war against China.”

But then Alex, are we really surprised?

Mary Metzger is a 74 year old semi retired teacher. She did her undergraduate work at S.U.N.Y. Old Westbury and her graduate work In Dialectics under Bertell Ollman at New York University. She has taught numerous subjects, from Public Sector Labor Relations to Philosophy of Science, to many different levels of students from the very young to Ph.D. candidates, in many different institutions and countries from Afghanistan to Russia. She has been living in Russia for the past 12 years where she focuses on research in the Philosophy of Science and History of the Dialectic, and writes primarily for Countercurrents. She is the mother of three, the grandmother of five, and the great grandmother of two.


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