June 12, 2019, was a wild awakening for Hong Kongers. What began as peaceful resistance was met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons. Protesters were students, workers, elders. Armed only with umbrellas and makeshift goggles. It was the moment many realized the government would not listen.

Anyone else on Threads? Holy smokes. The platform is so toxic.

I bought this t-shirt at the Tiananmen Mothers stand in Hong Kong's Victoria Park one June 4th and wore it on a number of other June 4ths. Now if I wear it, especially today, another June 4th... I'll attract unwanted police attention and might even get arrested for doing so.

June 4. I came from a place that once lit candles. Now, even public remembrance is banned in Hong Kong. Those in power want to silence history. We cannot let them. If we still have the freedom to remember, then we must.

We are honestly living in the shittiest timeline.

Stop trying to make Hong Konger's advocacy issues partisan.

We need to learn about the past.

There's different political stripes, and then there's evil. What we're seeing now, is evil.

The uncomfortable truth is that many Hong Kongers (also Canadians & others) don’t truly believe in checks & balances, freedom of expression, or democracy. They embrace them only when it serves their side. When it doesn’t, they see them as obstacles/barriers. There are no principles.

Stop buying into US disinformation about Canada.

The trade war/ tariffs flipflop had us all confused.

Why is Canadian media headlining with NO TRAITORS in the foreign interference inquiry is just baffling to me. The report clearly says there are legitimate problematic and ethical concerns exhibited. Why isn't that alarming? Are we reading the same thing??

How do you build a Nation without its people? Without resources? Without talent? If nation-building is the goal, why tear each other down? Why belittle those who support but are just trying to survive? What are you really focusing on? I'm saddened by the state of my community.

The idea that joining xiaohongshu is sticking it to the man and that Chinese people all eat lobster for lunch is just so dumb it makes my head hurt.

There’s a wildly sophisticated propaganda campaign unfolding regarding Little Red Book (quickly rebranded to REDNote btw - media literacy anyone?), and the discourse is split between red-scare screaming alarmists and 'the West is always lying' apologists. Insanity.

This was way before all of his attacks on Canada. Current temperature check: they still are very much on the wagon and don't understand.

Speaking from a comms/strategy POV, this photo & tweet reveals that Chrystia Freeland doesn't have a team that knows what it's doing. How did this go out? 4 phones is the opposite of populist appeal. 3 cups for tea refills? Decrepit table? Didn't bother to turn around to look at us? Chaos

When white 'leftists' have a total lack of solidarity w/ *their exact equivalents* in China - who are censored, persecuted, in prison, dead, or hiding - I'm talking community organisers, labour activists, indigenous & decolonial activists, feminists, queer advocates... they are doing A Racism. Deal.

Some people don't understand soft power and it shows.

You know the other day I was surrounded by new newcomers (most were HKers) who asked me (and we're semi-complaining) why Canadians seem to hate Trump.

Fams, I'm trying to raise awareness in my day job around the pervasiveness & scale of gender-based violence (GBV). We put ads w/ the high rates of sexual assault in Vancouver neighbourhoods, asking folks to help declare GBV an epidemic. 💪🏻 Support & check it out: ywcavan.org/hiddenepidemic

This is all of us living through collective trauma. I feel like I'm a completely different person with different priorities, values, mannerisms, and even the way I speak and my tolerance for profanity has changed. And I haven't even touched on my circle of friends, work and community organizing.

YSTL again reminds us that today hasn't happened in isolation, it isn't the beginning, its not the end & importantly that there are millions of Hong Kongers still in the city that really fucking love Hong Kong.” (我哋真係好撚鍾意香港) and are navigating the oppression the best they can.

Law professor Benny Tai sentenced to 10 years in prison for “masterminding” a plot to win an election and change the political system from writing through lawful means. This is what Hong Kong has become. 47人案．判刑｜欲取過半議席圖癱瘓政府‎ 戴耀廷囚10年 www.hk01.com/article/1071...

I am nervous, stressed and scared. I think many people in Hong Kong are. Those with hearts anyway. Because the sentencing of the Hong Kong 47 (well, 45 of them; since 2 were found not guilty) is something that affects us all -- though, of course, them and their loved ones so much more.😔

😢

1/My colleague Fu Ting writes on a recent new, but unnoticed clampdown on independent bookstores in China - and how some are finding new homes overseas. At least a dozen have shuttered the past few months alone, with the owner of one arrested: apnews.com/article/chin...

You'd think by now my stomach would stop dropping everytime I read news out of HK

45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong face sentencing—punished for standing up for the place they love. Some had to plead guilty, caught in a system that criminalizes dissent: apnews.com/article/hong-kong-prodemocracy-activists-sentencing-f2c36e5da3e974f54595447050280eee

We're in a happy bubble now. But folks will be in another shock when they translate YouTube videos or social media accounts of diaspora influencers/ KOLs. This happy place is dissociated from reality. Bluesky can't just become another echo chamber.

I’ve spent most of my recent years showing the Canadian gov't & public that foreign influence is real & that foreign states are threatening dissidents in diasporic communities. Now, I see foreign entities smiling as big-money corporate influence does the dirty work, leading to mutual outcomes.

Check out our new report on foreign interference in Canada based on a nationwide survey here:

Also, per the secondary title of the *2009* article: "Actor thinks country shouldn't have more freedom" variety.com/2009/film/ne...

I would have thought this was just a joke if it wasn't posted by @hongkongfp.com.

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100%

I don't see a path forward that doesn't involve creating a social stigma toward billionaires.

As folks resume travel to Hong Kong and enjoy your vacation in the region, please remember the repression that's still happening and what that means for local communities.

Ok so something is going on in #China - students are cycling in their thousands from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng in the evening. Authorities are getting nervous youtu.be/FXIFqEUboAE

I honestly can't stress it enough. To everyone trying to analyze the recent US or BC elections, people's realities are what PERCEIVE to be their realities. Factchecking won't change minds. Start digging in and meet people where they're at. We're in a alt media/comms game now.

I... did not know this site was so based that it's named after the Chinese name that @jay.bsky.team's Mainland mum gave her, symbolising freedom of the people from Chinese govt oppression.

Following.

Honestly we just need to show them Beijing's own headlines.

Moots over at Twitter (I mean x) only know me for my organizing/policy analysis/ equity+ activism work/ foreign affairs commentary. But folks don't know me for my art 🥹.

I wrote most of this in 2020-2021, and reading it now, some of it is really cringe. But I won't apologize for the cringe, and I also won't 'update' the text to remove the cringe. Because if I ever not feel when I look back on what happened to my city, I can no longer be able to call myself a HKer.

Fighting Words A thread on HK protests slogans in 2019-2020. Everything in *very loose* chronological order - important and interesting to see how the movement and its hopes evolved through the months. Source: Apple Daily (Sep 27, 2019)

Hopping over. The other space is suffocating.