Hong Kong protest (Half a year of resistance)

On December 19 2019 01:31 ETisME wrote:
It's hard to believe it's been half a year already, so much have been changed.

The anger, the pain, the sadness are at times unbearable, and have costed me sleeping less than 5 hours daily for a few months, sometimes with no sleep at all.

There were times I felt so desperate that I was going to be at the very front myself, risking getting shot by the police, risking jail time, just to hope that someone important or the world would pay attention and do something.

I was part of the telegram group that proposed the 5 demands with everyone.
1. Withdraw the extradition bill
2. Cancel the riot classification of 16th June
3. Independent investigation on the police brutality
4. Release all protesters
5. Universal Suffrage

The first few months we spend a lot on what to do:
- Should we throw bricks? How about petrol bomb?
- What do we need to defend ourselves against tear gas?
- How to build road blocks? How to slow down the police?
- How to escape police arrest? (some of their tactics are frankly ridiculous, they would literally kidnap protesters by hiding in a truck, dash out and grab protesters and leave)
- What do we do when pro Beijing thugs attack us?
- What do we do when it's just one pro Beijing guy looking for trouble?
- How can we keep the support from the people while protesting?
- Do we march if the police doesn't approve the march?
- Should we "decorate" the pro Beijing store?

Of cause there are more, like how to get international attention, what kind of protests we can do, let's design a flag, a song.

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And things just never gotten better.
- Suicides;
- Raped by police (and abortion);
- Blinded by police (including reporters);
- Framing protesters by putting weapons into their bags when arrested
- Police charging assault when they beat down the protesters so hard that he needs 10 stitches in the head, while the police only get a literal scratch.
- Police charging assault for the speaker too loud to his ear
- Police using live round to a protester without a single weapon at hand.
- Police worked with Pro-Beijing thugs who attacked indiscriminately, including journalist and a pregnant woman
- Police speeding up police van to ramp into protesters
- Police ramping protesters with a motorcycle.
- Attacks on universities
- Undercover cop
- Suspected murders (disappearing cases);
- Suspected arrested protesters transferred to Mainland China;
- Locking up Indonesian maid for her coverage of HK protest (including to have her removed her cloths to a male doctor) and eventually deported her back to Indonesia, despite her employers repeatedly confirmed she will extend the contract;
- Bit off ear by Pro Beijing thug;
- Knifing by Pro Beijing Thug that led to one protester never able to walk again;
- Pro Beijing driver crashing a taxi into a crowd of protesters leading to one never able to walk again (taxi driver is now back at work, while the protesters are charged with unlawful assembly);
Deliberately releasing Pro Beijing thugs attacking protesters and arresting protesters instead;
And more.

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The saddest part to see someone arrested, is not just that his heads are bleeding, or the police bashing his ankles for the fun of it etc.
It's when they try to shout out their names to the press and pedestrian, so that the lawyers and family can help, the police will cover their mouths.

And since there are so many very strange suicide cases, they would also try to shout out that they have NO INTENTION TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
The press will also make a remark how they have no physical injuries during the arrest (if that's the case), so that if there are injuries at court, we know they suffered physical assault in the station.

For people like me who are a little older, we normally have other kind of support.
Donation; food coupon for those whose family won't let them back home; drivers to help to leave the scene; strike; shop at pro democracy stores.

But right now, more than 6,000s have been arrested, and that's just the official figures. 40% are students, some are younger than 18.

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I guess what I write this blog is, please keep us in the back of your mind.
Things are quieter now because a lot of the front-lines are arrested.


This protest isn't about economy, it is about our way of living.
Like many of you, we are used to a free society, and CCP is trying to change that, replace that with freedom/democracy/human right with Chinese characteristics.

They think what they do in Xinjiang is morally right because they are fighting "terrorism" when they are using fascist methods.

We are still trying to find a way to do this long haul, but we need US' help, EU's help, Japan, Korea's help. We need all the help we need.

We still have weekly schedule for our protest, it's almost like daily to be honest but they are at a much smaller scale on the weekdays normally.
We haven't given up yet, not because we have hope, but that there's really no going back.

Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong isn't just a slogan.

CCP will export its model out and the world is although politically complex but it is also simple minded, driven by economy growth.
Any political regime will slowly accept and integrate CCP's model on monitoring and "maintaining" its society.
Unless you, being one of its citizens, remind them that there are individuals' right are to be protected and that you all value them highly.

Here's an album that has some of my best captures covering this protest, I hope this brings a more personal touch than what you see in the news:
https://imgur.com/a/uuDM8gh

here's a video for the recent huge march we had:

On December 22 2019 06:06 T.O.P. wrote:
What's the end game?

The purpose of protesting is to elicit a reaction and response. So what do you think the people in charge (Xi Jinping) think about this?

He's probably troubled by the large amount of un-patriotic people in Hong Kong. If people in mainland China thought this way, the CCP will not have power for long. Thankfully, people in mainland China largely support the CCP and dislike Hong Kong people.

Even though the problem is contained, he probably wants to squash dissent, lest it spreads to other regions of China.

Here's what i think will happen in a next few years. China will propose and put national security and patriotic education into law. The government will invest in police and surveillance to enforce their law. The education system will teach the pro-CCP viewpoint. The judiciary will be packed with pro-CCP judges.

The reality is that the CCP controls China. 50 years of autonomy is a privilege, not a right.

On December 22 2019 19:57 ETisME wrote:

I can see it says you are from Hong Kong, but it seems you aren't too familiar with the overall complexity of the situation.

50 years of autonomy is not a privilege.
It's a method to ensure CCP to keep Hong Kong financial success while it undergo whatever political changes China goes through.

In China, the party has control over your asset, you simply can't have a financial city based upon this economy model and a financial market is what China needs for its yuan to enter the world currency (the currency war).

Up to 70% of FDI of China still passes through Hong Kong.
And one country two system make sure Hong Kong remains a financial hub.
is also a method to disarm Taiwaneses, so that they would eventually integrate with China.

After Xi came into power, the politics progress in China has recessed almost to Mao's era, with unlimited term, consolidated power over party AND army, culture of personal worship etc.
That's not counting the insane amount of destruction over religion and minority.

Macau is what the CCP wants Hong Kong to be (which ironically is why it isn't a financial hub).
And CCP has never seen us as one of them, similar to Taiwan. And we know what they will do to a non obedient area (Xinjiang, Tibet etc)

This affected Hong Kong's autonomous status greatly, we see more integration with China that is putting huge strain in all sectors in Hong Kong.

Anti corruption (ICAC), law system, education (university headmasters mostly pro Beijing), media (most paperback are owned by China firms/gov).

So it's not really about the "end game", it's about doing whatever we can now to fight back.

It's exactly because how desperate the situation is, that we can't afford to just be pessimistic and do nothing.

The future generations will one day ask what did you do when freedom is eroded away in Hong Kong and what's your answer?
Did you speak up? Did you join the march? Did you do your best?

In fact I would say I am already being asked these questions, when the youth are sacrificing decades of jail time to protect the core value of Hong Kong.

So this time we are here to tear down the false hope/dream that by doing nothing, Xi will let HK be.
To me, this is even more of a wishful thinking.

And who knows.
There are period of time when Nazi seemed to have won the war, Dunkirk could have killed off so many allies; Pearl Harbour could have destroyed more US warships; UK could have surrendered when Nazi bombed almost all its airfield.

It's never about the end game. It's about how we respond to the situation and hope for the best.
There's no winning formula, but there's only one losing formula, and that's inaction due to hopelessness.

On December 23 2019 06:32 T.O.P. wrote:
I know CCP is awful. You don’t need to remind me.

Your response is exactly why the protest is a waste. It’s causing havoc for the sake of causing havoc. There’s no path to getting freedom from CCP.

If anything, this is the most we have ever progressed, by having the US ability to influence on HK politics.
We have entered a status of US and China's power play instead of overwhelmed by CCP political influence.

On December 25 2019 19:25 Shady Sands wrote:


You are crazy if you think this is a good thing for HK.

1. HK isn't a core interest for the US... it's a sideshow at best.
2. But beating up on your cause attracts tons of visibility - for good or ill.
3. The CCP doesn't care about what HK offers China anymore - they don't need international capital to the same degree that they used to; they see a comfortable path to eclipsing the US in absolute GDP terms international investment or no. (Whether this is the right call is an argument for another time).
4. However, the CCP does care about looking weak in front of Chinese citizens; the CCP won't care about losing international capital flows if it feels its absolute sovereignty over all of China is threatened.

Because of 1-4: by tacking so closely to the US, you've made yourselves a pinata for *any Chinese official who wants to look tough in asserting sovereignty without hurting something the US considers a core interest*. HK is going to die a death by a thousand cuts now - expect the PRC to push for Article 23; failing that, the PRC to encourage mainland businesses to decamp for Shanghai and Shenzhen; the US to encourage Western businesses to decamp for Singapore; and then for China to put HK under de facto sanctions for the next 24 years (until 2047). My base case involves HK's GDP shrinking by 20% in the next decade, and direct Chinese rule by 2025.

This is all thanks to the HK protests and district vote, which have induced the CCP to give up on helping the people of HK. It's never wise to to make the person who holds all the guns on your island decide your peace and prosperity is no longer important to them.