[June 23th: Denise Ho having made the decision to sing in Hong Kong without Lancôme’s support, as we announced on June 15th, this petition launched on June 6, has lot its immediate purpose.
By leaving this petition on line after the 19th june concert, we however wish to remind them of our commitment to the values written in their own code of ethics ““We are committed to respecting and promoting Human Rights, namely by reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights dated December 10, 1948”. We hope that Lancôme has not forgotten this commitment and that it will stand by it in Hong Kong like everywhere else in the world.] 

Lancôme, the global cosmetics brand part of the L’Oreal group, just cancelled a concert it was sponsoring in which Denise Ho, a pro-democracy Hong Kong singer was supposed to participate.

This decision, officially for « safety reasons », happened after the online publication of a Chinese newspaper article criticizing the event and calling for a boycott from Chinese customers.

Denise Ho, who was one of the first to be arrested during the « umbrella movement », does not believe in this official explanation. Neither do we ! “Freedom, justice and equality, said Denise Ho, are values that Hong Kong people cherish. If the defense of our rights and convictions causes us to be penalized, it goes beyond my personal case, it is our entire system of values that is targeted”.

As a philosophy teacher (now retired), I think my duty is to speak out for freedom, for human rights and for the victims of a state’s crackdown ; I as a French citizen, I think french companies must defend these values and promote artists like Denise Ho who fights for democracy, that’s why I launched this petition on Change.org.

Beijing has for long successfully banned musicians in favor of Tibetan independence but seems now able to force foreign companies into censoring artists and personalities who dare to oppose the political stance of the Chinese Communist Party. The “Miss world” contest got rid of “Miss Canada” who advocates for human rights after China refused to grant her a visa; they went as far as to delete any mention of her (and of the Canadian candidacy) from their website.

We cannot accept that Lancôme, in their way the ambassador of France – country of human rights – in Hong Kong, sacrifices the freedom of thought and expression to their commercial policy. We cannot accept that French companies have to bend to the political stance of the Chinese Communist Party.

We therefore ask you, in this petition, to come back on your decision and to organize, as originally planned, the concert with Denise Ho; otherwise we will boycott Lancôme products.

We intend to support the rights of Hong Kong people to defend the values of “Freedom, justice and equality” which are also ours.

Béatrice Desgranges

Français

中文版