CJ Day
Chants of “Free Hong Kong” filled the air of Prexy’s Pasture yesterday as UW students protested China’s actions towards the city of Hong Kong. Protestors in masks and bandanas carried handmade signs with slogans writing “Censor this” and chanted the Pledge of Allegiance to raise awareness of the issue on campus.
“I’d say our primary goal right now is to just raise awareness about what China is doing,” said Mason Bailey, a UW student who helped organize the protests. “These things, they’re not being shown a lot in the main news sites people use, so people don’t hear about it unless we do something.”
This protest came after many American and Chinese companies have punished their employees for speaking out about the situation in Hong Kong regarding China deporting criminals in Hong Kong, said Bailey. Bailey specifically cited the NFL and Blizzard Entertainment, the publisher of popular video games Overwatchand World of Warcraft as companies who have censored employees based on their stance on the Hong Kong protests. Bailey said he is afraid that as Chinese investors gain more influence, more American organizations will forbid people from speaking out.
“We’re doing these protests now, because we might not be able to in the future,” he said. “Someday soon, it might be too late.”
Other students taking part in the protest said they already felt at risk for speaking out. Many refused to speak on the record, due to fears of retaliation from professors or other faculty within the Chinese language department.
“We’ve had people come up to us and tell us that some of the Chinese students here won’t be very happy with us,” said Bailey. “But mostly, people seem to be pretty receptive of what we have to say.”
Bailey said students mostly did not overtly show their support, sticking to more subtle signs of solidarity like nodding or giving thumbs-ups. Many students seemed ambivalent to the protest, walking by without giving them any acknowledgement.
“It just doesn’t really matter to me what China or whoever does,” said Jackson Clarke, a student who walked by the protestors on his way to class. “It’s just like, what do they expect to accomplish here in Wyoming? It’s not like China’s across the street or something.”
The protestors do not see much need for changes at the local level, but they still plan to continue their demonstrations until the end of the week. While they may not have any issues in Laramie to solve, they plan to campaign for change in Hong Kong until their demands are met.
