It ain’t easy being green
Or a Hong Kong Protester
It’s a match made in…
Well it doesn’t exactly look like Heaven.
Pepe the Frog.
A Nazi symbol of alt-right hate?
Or an internet troll gone too far?
In America, Pepe is a polarizing frog.
But in Hong Kong, Pepe means something completely different.
It’s a symbol of fighting for freedom against totalitarianism.
That’s at least how Hong Kong protesters have used Pepe.
Far from supporting Nazis,
they’re using it in their fight against
what they're calling “Chinazis”—
the Chinese Communist Party
On September 30,
Hong Kong protesters took a break from the tear gas
with a peaceful demonstration called Pepe’s Way.
Hong Kong protesters love Pepe.
They see him as one of them.
“Fight for freedom!
Stand with Hong Kong!”
Obviously this was before the Hong Kong government outlawed masks.
Pepe’s Way is a human chain,
well human and frog chain,
stretching for more than 2 miles.
“What does Pepe mean to you?”
“Unity.
It means all the Hong Kong people
united together to fight for freedom.
This is very symbolic character for Hong Kong people”
“So what does Pepe mean to you?”
“Liberty.
The courage to speak.
You stand against the oppression,
then you be the true Hong Kong local in here.”
Pepe’s Way is a reference to the Baltic Way.
That was when two million people joined hands
to form a human chain across the three Baltic states —
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
They were calling for independence from the Soviet Union.
Hong Kong protesters have been doing
human chains inspired by the Baltic Way since August.
But this one has a cuddly twist.
As long as you don’t get hung up by the alt-right neo-nazi thing.
Pepe the Frog is a common sight in these protests.
As common as…
Chanting.
“Fight for Freedom!”
“Stand with Hong Kong!”
Singing.
And police brutality.
I can only imagine that's what happened to this Pepe.
Actually, it’s a reference to the young female protester
who police shot in the eye with a beanbag round.
Pepe has become such a symbol of these protests,
there’s even a Hong Kong Pepe themed sticker pack for Whatsapp.
There are Pepes representing all the different Hong Kong protesters;
all the different...whatevers;
and there’s even the definitely unlicensed Pepe the Pikachu
and Pepe the Squirtle.
And it may be because of the extreme
police brutality protesters have faced,
that humor has become their greatest weapon.
And no one’s been arrested for laughing.
Yet.
With a government that’s increasingly unaccountable to the people,
art and humor have become some of the few avenues left
for people to express their discontent.
“Is it difficult to find humor when everything is so
serious and dark in Hong Kong right now?”
“Yes, sure, it’s very hard to find humor.
Yesterday we witness many many things that make us sad,
but we need to have a little bit of humor in the hard days
so we can have a long run and lead to victory.”
“Well the humor comes from sarcastic, like black humor.
To us, its not fun but we try to make it so we can be light hearted,
we can come out and we can tease each other,
like have you got one eye,
how many gas have you inhaled today,
it’s more like trying to hold on to our tears.”
So in Hong Kong,
Pepe is a symbol of unity, liberty,
and the black humor protesters use
to make fun of their authoritarian government.
It’s something that brings protesters together.
And that’s, of course,
why Beijing is terrified.
At the end of the day,
authoritarian regimes love to be laughed at.
And perhaps no one gets the joke quite as much,
as everyone’s friend, Pepe.