On April 11, Hope Bird, an artistic and musical troupe to sing for the reunification of Korea and for promoting anti-imperialist struggle all over the world, performed in Lyon, France. 

The World Anti-imperialist Platform organized the European tour of Hope Bird. It started in Belgrade, Serbia which bombed by NATO 25 years ago, and continue to Bruxelles (Belgium), London (UK) and Marseille, Lyon and Paris (France). 

Le Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France (MJCF Rhône) moderated demonstration and performance. The emcee introduced Hope Bird and the purpose and background of its performance. 

After Hope Bird sang several songs – Song of May 1, 2, 3, he explained the theme of the performance, the  historical struggle of Gwangju Uprising in 1980. 

They played “There That Day in May 1980” and performed with Red Flag, singing “Under the mountains and streams” and “”Over the land and the sky down”. 

The representative of Hope Bird remarked “Many people around the world have suffered due to NATO and US imperialism. The situation of the Korean people have been in the same. Fighting against imperialism is the only way to achieve the true freedom and peace we want. Let’s make history with the power of the united people!”

They continued to sing “Do you hear the people sing?”, “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”, “Listen Yankee”, and “Bella Ciao”.

The speaker of the Platform gave a political speech, “Stop aggression, genocide, oppression and exploitation immediately!”.

She said “Today we are seeing in pain and anger that invasion, genocide, oppression and exploitation are the nature of imperialism. The U.S. imperialist aggressors, along with their aggressive military alliance NATO, manipulated the Ukrainian neo-Nazis to slaughter the Russian population for years and facilitate NATO aggression, culminating in the war in Ukraine in 2022 and the start of World War III.”

“The struggle for survival and freedom of French workers, farmers, and people, which is currently becoming increasingly fierce, is the hope and future of France. The essence of today’s international situation can be seen in the fact that the French Resistance struggle during World War II led to the strengthening of the world anti-fascist united front and victory in the world anti-fascist war.” she emphasized. 

They ended the performance and the demonstration with singing “The international”. 

Here is the full video of the performance and the demonstration in Lyon.