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Protesters gather in Washington, DC on January 6, fuelled by President Donald Trump’s continued claims of election fraud. Photo: Los Angeles Times / TNS
Opinion
Opinion
by Aynne Kokas
Opinion
by Aynne Kokas

Storming of US Capitol: US lawmakers advocating for democracy abroad must look closer to home

  • The violent attempt to overturn the results of a legal election is an attack on US democratic institutions
  • Republican lawmakers who have been passionate in supporting Hong Kong democracy protesters should not in good conscience support such attacks
On January 6, US Capitol Police dispersed violent extremists who stormed the US Capitol. Armed throngs invaded Congress’ hallowed halls to undermine the peaceful transfer of power through certification of the Electoral College votes.

The US Capitol is only one part of the complex. Capitol Police also evacuated buildings around the Capitol, including the Library of Congress, where I was a fellow at the Kluge Centre before the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown.

As a scholar of US-China relations, what strikes me most is that while lawmakers condemn anti-democratic actions abroad, we failed our core institutions, those that seek to build a timeless democracy through knowledge.

When I was in residence at the library, the tunnels connecting the Capitol building and the marble-hewn collections felt like a ballast for the then metaphorically violent ideological explosions in Congress. Hill staffer friends would come across to the library for coffee to remember what the timelessness of democracy felt like.

With actual violence descending onto Capitol Hill, as I sat in my home under curfew nearby, it is clear that we were wrong to take for granted the possibility of long-term stability amid short-term chaos.

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Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol

Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol

Republican lawmakers have long been staunch supporters of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, arguing for the sanctity of the movement.

Senator Josh Hawley, a leading figure in the efforts to decertify the Electoral College votes, introduced a resolution in May condemning Hong Kong’s anti-democratic national security law. Senator Ted Cruz spoke at a Senate judiciary subcommittee meeting in support of pro-democracy Hong Kong activists in December.

Hong Kong protesters have only ever been a stage prop for Ted Cruz

Yet both senators fomented anti-democratic efforts to block the certification of legal Electoral College results. On January 6, Republican lawmakers condemned Hong Kong police officers after the arrest of 53 democracy protesters under the special administrative region’s national security law for their participation in and organisation of primaries for legislative elections.
But rather than forcefully advocating for the protection of democratic institutions, as they did for Hong Kong, protests at the US Capitol (and the leaders who support them) instead reflect efforts to stymie the counting of legally cast votes. The Post declared accurately that a “pro-Trump mob forced leaders to evacuate”. Republican leaders are turning away from democratic processes even as they continue to advocate for democracy abroad.

With violent protest literally within the halls of American democracy, it is essential to remember this commitment to institutions and the peaceful transfer of power. US leaders must affirm that they value representative democracy not only as a concept to use as a rallying cry against foreign countries but as a tool for the peaceful transfer of power in this nation.

The storming of the Capitol was frightening – for the people inside, the people of America, and the people of the world. Now is a moment to take that fear of losing something so precious as our fragile democratic institutions and use it as an opportunity for a renewal of the commitment to US democratic institutions within both parties.

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As I think back to my office in the Library of Congress, abandoned in March along with some power cords, an apple, and a tea set, in a Chernobyl-like exit from the scene, I wonder if the pandemic has stripped us of more than we even know.

We lost the chance to connect with the timeless spirit of American democracy, the impulse to protect the Gutenberg Bible and the aspiration to gather knowledge to support our democracy. Nooses, rather than school groups, stud the Capitol complex.

But as in with the images of Pandora’s box stored carefully in the library’s archives, the mobs left the most important thing intact – hope for the future. I still hope we can connect with the principles of our republic and the sanctity of our institutions to preserve the course of democracy not just in Hong Kong but in Washington, DC.

Aynne Kokas is a senior faculty fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Centre for Public Affairs, a professor of Sino-US relations at University of Virginia, and a former fellow at the Library of Congress

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