HONG KONG, October 3 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst - Covert American backing of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong may backfire on the United States, Tony Cartalucci, an investigative journalist based in South-East Asia, told RIA Novosti Friday.
"When democracy becomes … a catch phrase for toppling one government and installing another - and in particular, a government that serves as a proxy for special interests, not the will of the people, surely the spirit of democracy is extinguished. I do think [US involvement in the protests] could backfire," Cartalucci said.
He added that Western establishment and capital has a significant role in the Hong Kong wave of mass demonstrations.
"Behind the so-called "Occupy Central" protests, which masquerade as a 'pro-democracy' movement seeking 'universal suffrage' … is a deep and insidious network of foreign financial, political, and media support," Cartalucci stated.
He named the US State Department and the so-called National Endowment for Democracy (NED), funded directly by Congress to the tune of $100 million annually, as major powers, affecting the protests.
According to Cartalucci, the understanding of democracy by those taken to the streets of Hong Kong largely relies on the concepts promoted by the Western media.
"The sort of people that join protests like this are those who have committed entirely to the West's paradigm of 'democracy', big government, and bigger businesses. They read Time magazine, watch CNN and the BBC. Really there is no hope for them to understand what they have become a part of," the journalist said.
He however stressed that the protesters should not be blamed and instead accused the protest leaders of manipulating the situation.
"It would serve no purpose to attack the protesters rhetorically or denigrate them, instead the leaders should be condemned for manipulating and exploiting the protesters," Cartalucci concluded.
Several thousand protesters in Hong Kong have occupied the central business district in recent days demonstrating against the Chinese government's plans to control the 2017 Hong Kong election.
Protesters claim Beijing has breached its pledge to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong, which was promised a high degree of autonomy when it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.
