Democracy activists heartened by U.S. system’s resilience

JOHANNESBURG — Stunned and riveted by the riot that engulfed the U.S. Capitol, pro-democracy and human rights campaigners around the world also were reassured — because, ultimately, democracy held. The system was tested but not toppled.

“The institutions came through and defended democracy. That inspires me,” said Hopewell Chin’ono, an investigative journalist in Zimbabwe who is under pressure from authorities for calling for peaceful protests of corruption.

Out on bail from a maximum security jail where he was held for six weeks last year, Mr. Chin’ono is due back in court Feb. 18 to face charges of inciting violence and obstructing justice. The 49-year-old spoke by phone to The Associated Press from his goat farm before tweeting Friday that was being taken into custody again. His lawyers later confirmed the arrest — his third in six months.

For outspoken activists fighting often-lonely battles against political bullies big and small, there were moraleboosting lessons in President Donald Trump’s failure to cling to power by stirring up riotous supporters on U.S. lawmakers who were confirming President-elect Joe Bidenas his successor.

“The only people enjoying that spectacle were the dictators. They wanted that chaos; they were hoping that Trump would win. But they were disappointed, and thankfully, the institutions came through,” Mr. Chin’ono said. “For someone like me, for other dissidents who are criticizing their government in African countries and other places in the world, there is still no place like America.”

But the clampdown on dissidents elsewhere still went on.

Hong Kong police tightened their grip on the city’s embattled democracy movement, making 53 arrests Wednesday. That carefully executed mass roundup was rapidly overshadowed by the deadly rampage later that day in Washington.

Pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan worried that the Capitol rampage strengthens the hand of the Chinese territory’s Communist rulers in Beijing, offering a propaganda opportunity to denigrate democracy that Chinese state-controlled media seized upon. Mr. Lee faces charges of unlawful assembly for organizing a banned pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong last year.

“So it’s very disheartening in a way,” Mr. Lee said. “But for me personally, I believe that the system is more important than a person.”