Activists Adopt Pepe Memes in Hong Kong Protests
The controversial meme character Pepe the Frog has been adopted by demonstrators in Hong Kong opposing legislation that would allow extradition from the special administrative region to mainland China.
Over the weekend, a young woman was injured after being struck in her right eye during an anti-extradition bill demonstration. Video of the woman was widely circulated online, leading protesters to cover their right eyes with bandages as a sign of solidarity, according to the Straits Times.
Disturbing image. A woman got hit in her eye by projectile fired from the #TsimShaTsui police station. Reports said it was a bean bag round that went through her goggles. Online sources said her eyeball has burst & she might be permanently blind in one eye. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/fuY2Ebvo53
— Frances Sit (@frances_sit) August 11, 2019
On Tuesday, a photograph of the woman holding a sign featuring a depiction of Pepe along with the words "Police Shot My Eye" reached the front page of Reddit, where many noted the illustration's similarity to the popular PepeHands Twitch emote.
Numerous photographs of other Hong Kong protest signs, in which Pepe is often shown wearing a yellow hard hat, surfaced online as well, leading some to claim that the character has become a "resistance symbol" among anti-extradition bill activists.
Protesters are using pepe as a resistance symbol in HK. pic.twitter.com/Sr651PPBuH
— Lulu🌈🍔⚡💪 (@luulubuu) August 14, 2019
During the 2016 United States presidential election, Pepe became widely associated with the alt-right following the circulation of racist depictions of the character, leading the official Hillary Clinton presidential campaign blog to publicly condemn the meme as a "symbol associated with white supremacy."
In a post submitted to /r/HongKong earlier this month, Redditor Chocobean claimed that Pepe was "not at all associated" with Donald Trump or white supremacy in Hong Kong, while calling for viewers to "take back" the character from those who would use it for distasteful purposes.
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Duke Countu
Shouldn't be suprising that a symbol often used to denigrate and ridicule tyranical political correctness here in the West would also be adopted by true liberty-lovers elsewhere in the world to o[ppose other forms of totalitarianism.
Killer "KEEMSTAR"
Imagine 2050 kids studying pepe in their history books
Krupam the Oldfag
Claiming that Pepe is a symbol of alt-right is like claiming that black eagle is a symbol of Nazism.
Shmeelio
they do
Daretobestupid
When you get right down to it, Pepe has ALWAYS been a symbol of defiance and resistance, in one form or another; I like this form though.
YoutubeDemonetizationTeam
I'm liking this new symbol of freedom
can't wait for the protesters to wave a giant feelsgoodman flag when they win
Neoontime
Pepe is literally one of the most popular emote derivatives on twitch, which has 15 million daily users from around the world. So yeah, Pepe reached these 15 million people all before this white supremacy bullshit started. Why can't it still escape those rumors whenever it's mentioned? There needs to be an internet 101 class to teach this simple shit.
Don
Yea I often mention that to people who aren't aware of all the Pepe Twitch emotes. Those emotes have no ties to politics or bigotry and remain very popular to this day.
goo fak ye salt
Just goes to show that memes can mean whatever you want them to. One mans nazi symbol, is another mans symbol, of liberation from the red lie.
Cuttlefish
Agreed, although it's not just limited memes either. For exampe, the swastika originally meant to represent good things in various cultures and religions, especially in Hinduism, before it became appropriated by nazis (and there are people, especially in the east, who still use the swastika for it's original intent).
Break
> tfw national socialism has always been in violent defiance to communism
Marchenko Divided
>Tfw Communism is violent defiance of capitalism
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Red123
I'm happy to see the little guy become a symbol of freedom justice.
Feels good man.
DirkDiggums
Pepe is universal
Mzuark
Oh God, it's spreading