Cover not available

Article published In: When Dialogue Fails
Edited by Anja Müller-Wood
[Language and Dialogue 12:1] 2022
► pp. 35–53

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

The parasites of language

“President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong”

 | Chapman University
Published online: 7 March 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00110.tan
Abstract
This article examines how “parasitical” political language can help explore a new understanding of oppositional opinions in a global context of political polarization. By parasitical political language, I refer to what speech act theorist J.L. Austin calls “infelicitous speech acts”, language that is used unsuccessfully. Jacques Derrida argues that these “incorrect” utterances can escape from an already determined context and extend to a more liberated kind of communication. To explore the potentially “positive” effect of parasitical language, this article examines the utterances of Hong Kong protesters prior to the 2020 US elections as infelicitous speech acts. Their radical political approach, surprisingly, spawned an anti-globalist activist subculture shared by protesters in other parts of the world.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
  • 3.Infelicitous speech acts in the Hong Kong protests?
  • 4.The collapse of the sensible and the breakdown of communication
  • 5.The residue from the collapse
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (53)
References
“About Coconuts.” (n.d.). Coconuts. [URL]
Africa Center Hong Kong. 香港非洲中心. 2020 (June 4). Facebook. [URL]
Austin, J. L. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Glasgow, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
baconmashwbrownsugar. 2020 (June 6). Twitter. [URL]
Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1997. Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chan, Christina. 2020 (February 15). “Hongkongers’ Prejudice and Mainlanders: There’s More to It Than Politics and the Virus.” Hong Kong Free Press. [URL]
Chong, Ja Ian. 2020 (November 17). “Support for Trump in Hong Kong and Taiwan is Unsurprising (But Misguided).” [URL]
Chung, Leung-cha 沖涼茶. 2019 (July 24). “香港人致中國政府: If We Burn, You Burn With Us” (Hong Kong People to the Government of China: If We Burn, You Burn With Us). LIHKG. [URL]
Creery, Jennifer. 2020 (June 6). Twitter. [URL]
Davidson, Helen. 2020 (June 13). “How the killing of George Floyd exposed Hong Kong activists’ uneasy relationship with Donald Trump.” The Guardian. [URL]
Derrida, Jacques. 1988. Limited Inc. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duangdee, Vijitra. 2021 (February 4). “#Milkteaalliance Has a New Target Brewing: Myanmar’s Military.” South China Morning Post. [URL]
Everington, Keoni. 2020 (April 29). “Photo of the Day: Australia joins Milk Tea Alliance with Taiwan.” Taiwan News. [URL]
Fanon, Frantz. 1967. Black Skin, White Mask. Trans. Charles Lam Markmann. New York: Grove Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feng, Zhaoyin. 2020 (October 4). Twitter. [URL]
“George Floyd Protests: Do Black Lives Matter to Hong Kong Protesters?” 2020 (June 20). South China Morning Post. [URL]
Global News. 2019 (December 1). “Make Hong Kong Great Again”: Protesters Thank Trump for Support, Sing U.S. Anthem.” YouTube. [URL]
Ha, Tai-wui Ji-dai 下體會自大. 2018 (October 12). “想問下 reddit 主流點睇 侵侵、左膠” (Can I Ask About the Mainstream Reddit Community/Leftard’s Perception of Trump?). LIHKG. [URL]
Hak, Ye Ji-chin 黑夜之前. 2019 (June 30). “有沒人諗過真係出動解放軍會點” (Have You Thought What Would Happen If the PLA Really Comes?). LIHKG. [URL]
“How Hong Kong Protests Are Inspiring Movements Worldwide.” 2019 (October 22). Deutsche Welle. [URL]
Hui, Mary. 2019 (October 16). “‘be Water’: Catalonia Protesters Learn from Hong Kong.” Quartz. [URL]
Hung, Yu Yui Ruth. 2014. “What Melts in the ‘Melting Pot’ of Hong Kong?” Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 8(2), 57–87. [URL]
Illmer, Andreas. 2020 (October 31). “US Election 2020: The Asians Who Are Rooting for Trump to Win.” BBC News. [URL]
Jameson, Fredric. 1997. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kong, Tsung-gan 江松澗. 2019 (December 12). “Arrests and Trials of Hong Kong Protesters.” Medium. [URL]
Lam, Oiwan. 2020 (June 16). “Remembering Marco Leung, the First to Die in Hong Kong’s Anti-China Extradition Protests.” Global Voices. [URL]
Lee, Bak Fong 李八方. 2008 (November 5). “Geqiang Youer: Aobama Laqing Xianggang” 隔牆有耳：奧巴馬辣慶香港 (Gossip: Obama Turns on Hong Kong Celebration Mode). [URL]
Leung, Hillary. 2020 (June 12). “The World Has Marched for Black Lives. Why Hasn’t Hong Kong?” Coconuts Hong Kong. [URL]
Link, Perry. 2021 (March 11). “Dr. Perry Link, Why Do Chinese Dissidents Support Trump?” CSUSB Modern China Lecture Series. YouTube. [URL]
Lucas, Ben. 2020 (June 5). Twitter. [URL]
Ma, Tracy. 2020 (July 31). “Why Protest Tactics Spread Like Memes.” The New York Times. [URL]
“Milk Tea Alliance Pushes for Democracy vs China’s Authoritarianism.” 2021 (April 14). ABS-CBN News. [URL]
Mitchell, Timothy. 2000. “The Stage of Modernity.” Questions of Modernity. Ed. Timothy Mitchell. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
miwaBB. 2019 (June 30). “有沒人諗過真係出動解放軍會點” (Have You Thought What Would Happen if the PLA Really Comes?). LIHKG. [URL]
Ordway, Denise-Marie and Wihbey, John. 2016 (September 20). “Presidential Debates and Their Effects: Research Roundup.” Journalist’s Resource. [URL]
Press TV. 2020 (November 25). “Japan: Trump Supporters Rally in Tokyo to Protest US Election Result.” YouTube video, [URL]
Rancière, Jacques. 2010. Dissensus on Politics and Aesthetics. Trans. Steven Corcoran. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John. 1977. “Reiterating the Difference: A Reply to Derrida.” Glyph: Johns Hopkins Textual Studies. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 198–208.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sbisà, Marina. 2007. How to Read Austin. Pragmatics 17(3): 461–473. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solomon, Justin. 2020 (June 6). “Hong Kong Black Lives Matter Event Cancelled Due to Coronavirus and Politics, Organizers Say.” NBC News. [URL]
“Sheminlian Fu Meilingguan Shewei Shengyuan ‘Black Lives Matter,’ Jing Zaiyi Xianjulìng Zulan” 社民連赴美領館示威 聲援「Black Lives Matter」 警再以限聚令阻攔 (League of Social Democrats Supports Black Lives Matter at US Consulate, Stopped by Police with Gathering Restriction Order). 2020 (June 7). Stand News. [URL]
Tanakasempipat, Patpicha, and Yanni Chow. 2020 (August 18). “Pro-democracy Milk Tea Alliance Brews in Asia.” Reuters. [URL]
United States Department of State. 2020 (August 28). “U.S. Relations with Hong Kong.” [URL]
“Women Xinkao Naicha: ‘Tai Youmo’ Jitui ‘Xiao Fenhong,’ Tai Gang Tai SanDi Wangmin Yuzu ‘Naicha Lianmeng’ Qikang Zhongguo Wangjun” 我們信靠奶茶:「泰幽默」擊退「小粉紅」, 泰港台三地網民籲組「奶茶聯盟」齊抗中國網軍 (We Believe in Milk Tea: ‘Thai Humor’ Drove off ‘Little Pink,’ Netizens from Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan Organized ‘Milk Tea Alliance’ to Resist Chinese Internet Army). 2020 (August 20). Stand News. [URL]
Wong, Brian, and Jeffie Lam. 2021 (April 2). “Top Opposition Figures Guilty over Park March – Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai and Veteran Democracy Campaigner Martin Lee among Seven Convicted of Organising and Taking Part in Unlawful Assembly.” South China Morning Post. A1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wong, Eric. 2008 (November 5). “Aobama Chenggong de Qishi” 奧巴馬成功的啟示 (The Inspiration of Obama’s Success). Metro Daily 都市日報. P20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wong, Rachel. 2020 (October 25). “Wanted Hong Kong Activist Finn Lau – behind the Faceless ‘Laam Caau’ Persona – Says He Will Seize Any ‘Chance of Survival and Give Back.’” Hong Kong Free Press. [URL]
“Why Are Some Hong Kong Democracy Activists Supporting Trump’s Bid to Cling to Power?” 2020 (November 12). The Guardian. [URL]
Yonden, Lhatoo. 2015a (October 30). “If the UK Can Act on Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities, Why Can’t Hong Kong Put an End to White Worship?” South China Morning Post. A15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015b (October 30). “It’s Time We Put an End to Hong Kong’s White Worship.” South China Morning Post. A15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Yingjin. 1997. “From ‘Minority Film’ to ‘Minority Discourse’: Questions of Nationhood and Ethnicity in Chinese Cinema.” Cinema Journal 36(3): 73–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhao, Bo. 2021. “White Supremacy, Nationalism, and Surveillance in Hong Kong’s Recent Political Turmoil: A Global Perspective.” Surveillance & Society 19(3): 379–383. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Li, Yao-Tai & Katherine Whitworth
2025. Mobilising Behind Trump for Democracy: The Case of Hong Kong. Geopolitics 30:3 ► pp. 1256 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue