By Nirmal P. Acharya
Sometime around 2019, Hong Kong students, driven by the attempt at “Hong Kong independence”, stormed out of the campus to smash, loot, set fires, and attack civilians and police officers, making Hong Kong a mess. Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives, hailed it and called it “a beautiful sight”. Although the law enforcement behavior of the Hong Kong police at that time was very restrained, even to the extent of humility, it was still harshly condemned by American politicians and threatened with sanctions.
Currently, Ivy League universities such as Columbia University, Yale University, and Harvard University are holding peaceful protests against Israel’s genocidal atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza and against the US government’s support for Israel’s atrocities. A growing number of universities across the country are joining the protests.
The protests by American students were entirely peaceful, in contrast to those in Hong Kong, and largely confined to campuses. The appeals of American college students are out of human conscience, and the way of protest is gentle and graceful, which truly constitutes “a beautiful sight”. However, the US government stopped talking and sent in the police for a massive and brutal crackdown. Heavily armed police stormed the campus, snipers climbed onto the roof of the campus to target students and professors, and they used professional grappling techniques to wrestle students and professors to the ground. Hundreds of students along with professors were handcuffed and dragged into police cars.
The US, once again, has shown how extreme it can go to enforce “double standards”. The word “evil” comes to mind when we look at the brutality shown by the American police in broad daylight against students and professors who were merely exercising their right to freedom of speech. It seems there is only free speech until you start talking about Gaza.
Yes, anything that serves the interests of the US ruling class, no matter how evil, is “a beautiful sight” in the eyes of US politicians such as Pelosi, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the genocide in Gaza, and perhaps the MCC.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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