For the last six months, the people of Hong Kong have risen up to defend their democratic rights against the encroachment of the Chinese state. Their fight has been met with brutal police repression ordered by Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, under pressure from Beijing.

After waves of demonstrations, people turned out at the polls in record numbers at the end of November to vote out regime-backed candidates in favor of pro-democracy parties, who won more than 80 percent of the seats. Labor scholar Eli Friedman was in Hong Kong in the lead-up to the election. Ashley Smith interviewed him about the movement, the challenges it faces, and the reasons why the international left should stand in solidarity with it.