A Fearless Pop Star Turned Democracy Activist Explains Hong Kong’s Violent Stand-Off

Singer and protest leader Denise Ho is taking the city’s fight to the world.

Vincent Yu/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

A new surge of violence swept Hong Kong last weekend, continuing what appears to be the deadliest period of the months-long pro-democracy protests so far. As November began, a 22-year-old student fell one story from a parking garage and died following clashes with the police, sparking a dramatic escalation between protesters and authorities. Ten days later, riot police shot and critically wounded a protester at point-blank range. Another man was doused with flammable liquid and set on fire by protesters on the same day, after voicing criticism of the movement. 

Last month, Mother Jones Podcast host Jamilah King interviewed Denise Ho, a Cantopop star and one of the de facto spokespeople for this largely leaderless movement. Ho was already a prominent figure in Hong Kong, having gained fame for putting out hit albums since the late 1990s. But more recently, Ho has embraced civic activism as an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, and a proud member of Hong Kong’s LGBTQ community, after she came out in 2012. In 2014, Ho was arrested for marching in what was known as the Umbrella Movement, when pro-democracy demonstrators deployed umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas and conceal their identities.

“Right now, it is very, very much like a war zone,” Ho told the Mother Jones Podcast, during a recent trip to New York City, where she was appearing at the Oslo Freedom Forum. “Police charging onto people, arresting and beating up people on the streets. Something that we never thought would happen in Hong Kong on a daily basis.”

Listen to the full interview with Ho:

As a result of her activism, Ho’s music, which blends rock, folk, and pop influences, has been banned on mainland China. She’s lost corporate sponsorships from companies like Lancome, who came under pressure from Chinese media. But she has embraced her new role, using her celebrity and her songs to support political causes.

“In Hong Kong or in Asian communities, it is actually very rare for a celebrity to be involved in politics or any social movements,” says Ho. “In these very difficult times, I do think that there is a very important role for songs and any sort of art form.” She sees art as a form of “therapy for the people,” and notes that with the internet, artists are able to evade some of the inevitable government censorship.

Now, the civic infrastructure in Hong Kong is on the brink of a meltdown, with subways experiencing partial shutdowns, university classes being cancelled, and barricades going up in the streets. Ho reminds listeners that the ramifications of the violence and the demonstrations could extend beyond its borders. 

“Hong Kong is in this very global fight,” she says. “If Hong Kong falls, if our systems fall, if our judicial and legislative system fall, the Chinese reach could easily go even further into different areas of the rest of the world.”

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate