2019, Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protest "And I think to myself, what a wonderful world."

Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protest

Sham Shui Po, August 5th, 2019
12:20am
Yen Chow Street
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong.

thelastpeanut (Author of the Video) (2021-04-29, 11 hours ago)

I’m genuinely touched by the sudden influx of attention, but I want to humbly remind everyone that each protester you see in this video is now either in jail, in exile or in some form of hiding. Most can’t escape, and now that the decades-old Hong Kong democracy movement has been completely crushed, they’ll likely live the rest of their lives under Beijing’s authoritarian rule. The protesters knew it would probably end like this, but they did it anyways, hence the rallying cry of “攬炒”… “if we burn, you burn with us”.

Most of my friends now suffer from PTSD, depression or perpetual anxiety. Words and ideas that were once debated in public are now whispered in private - or not at all - out of fear that a neighbour or co-worker or family member overhears and decides to report you. I don’t think calling Hong Kong a police state is an exaggeration anymore, and it’s only the beginning.

Maybe it’s too late for Hong Kong, but you can still learn from what happened here. I hope you realise that you’re not alone, that your pain and yearning is shared by countless silent strangers, and that when enough people speak as one, you can move the needle of history. I’ve seen it happen.

Most of all, I hope you remember us.

It’s indeed good to appreciate that we’re in the EU and not under the direct influence of Russia/China, places where life is quite different. We have relatively a lot of freedom over here. Of course, there is room for improvement and criticism. But compared to other parts in the world we should count ourselves as fortunate.

It still doesn’t go far enough, otherwise we wouldn’t be interested in a different socioeconomic system :slight_smile:

Let’s hope that the current socioeconomic system will remain stable enough to leave room for the non-violent activism that we advocate. Because doing what we do should be seen as a luxury, that we have the time, opportunity and freedom to do so. Once it goes down the road like in Hong Kong it will be very hard to be an educational movement.

Civil disobedience like is practiced by Extinction Rebellion still has some use and is respectful. But full blown violence against a totalitarian state would not fit TZM and I hope we’ll never get to that point. More the reason to benefit from the freedom and opportunities we have for activism here and in other countries outside of the EU. So let’s get some Projects going! :tada:

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