[Source to Anthony Kwan to the photograph taken above]
Right now, Hong Kongers are protesting against China’s attempts to pass the Extradition laws in Hong Kong, which will potentially give China the power to “extradite political opponents without local legislative oversight” outside of their immediate domain (mainland China).
[Source, The Washington Post]
That means China will be able to entrench and rid of Hong Kong politicians, protesters, and activists who are against China’s political invasion. China will be able to dismantle Hong Kong’s political independence more easily for if the Extradition laws are passed, Hong Kong would be forced to hand over such individuals (more or less deemed “enemies of the state” by China’s government) to China and be punished by China’s terms without any say by Hong Kong’s jurisdiction.
I have decided not to put the more graphic images and videos on to this post because I understand not everyone is able to stomach blood or want to reblog an “unpretty post.” But please give me a bit more of your time if you would like to gain something out of reading this as it appears everyone nowadays likes to be cratered to and have a gain in everything.
Here are links to articles that give a great overview of the stakes and what is going on.
CBSN has a great news video that gives you a sense of what is going on:
In light of this issue, I’ll be the first one to say, I am guilty of turning a blind eye to international issues occurring in the world, but this time…I felt something slap me in the face.
I was first made aware of this issue by watching my friend post videos onto her instastory, and I’m just laying in my bed watching videos and seeing images of protesters getting bloodied by riot SWAT sent to dissipate peaceful protesters. They were exhausted, but not from getting beaten up, tear gassed, and being threatened by the SWAT – they were exhausted because no matter how much they tried to reason with people behind the plastic wall, they were unheard.
Hong Kong wants to keep their civil freedoms and they know that China will take them away. As someone, myself, who has visited Mainland China will tell you, the censorship over there is not to be trifled with. You can’t access Tumblr, Google, Google Maps (any apps that run on Google’s interface), Facebook, Youtube without a good and reliable VPN. China does this to make it easier to control over the people they govern and feed them the information they want to.
China will ban keywords and phases from web searches if they find it necessary. For example, they recently banned Winnie-the-pooh from web searches because a comparative meme was undermining Xi Jinping’s image (China’s President). Laughable as that may sound, it goes to show how far China’s government will go in order to maintain their image, their dominance, and their power over people.
Videos of violence subjected upon Hong Kong protesters are numerous, but what hit home to me was when one mom finally stood up against a throng of SWAT, just her in this dark grey and yellow mist from all the gas that had been released….just her crying in the middle of the empty road and torn…..and screaming and pleading to the SWAT to stop. She was so emotionally broken down, but she was still trying to get some sense into the SWAT. [video with translations]
And I cannot stop my tears from rolling down my face every time I watch it. And it’s not because I understand Cantonese that makes it more heart wrenching, it’s because I too have been in a similar state like hers when I’ve been so emotionally drained in an argument that all I have left is the volume of my voice – yelling in frustration because reason and words no longer reaches the other side.
It must have been even more taxing on her throat considering how hazy the air is from gas, how dried out it must be. How much strength and anguish must one feel to stand up to yell despite your safety, to stand up against something you know is wrong and get shot point blank. Rubber bullets or not, the protesters have done nothing to deserve that sort of treatment.
I could not ignore her pleads. She knocked sense into me, those kids she mentioned, I could have been one of them. I cried. I cried because a part of me felt like she was defending me too. She isn’t anyone special, guys. She could be anyone we know right now defending for civil rights and defending you because she cares.
Perhaps I am readily rallied to the cause in understanding how important that part of the world is to me, and I admit my own hypocrisy. I’ve ignored other causes before, and “oh” at things….but I can now see how these issues can hit closer to home than you would like to think.
Hong Kong is an example that your liberties can be compromised anywhere in the world even in first-world nations.
What you must understand is….
Although Hong Kong is not a nation, it has had it’s own government and laws that make it possible for them to govern themselves and keep their own civil liberties, which is a stark contrast from how China governs their nation, which has heavy censorship and will take necessary action to maintain a firm grip and control over its people. China had already started to overstepped the political boundaries before the Extradition Laws, but now they’re at a huge turning point.
Let me put things into perspective, if you live somewhere largely metropolitan or a place that has democracy, imagine everything around your city or town is not a democracy and is threatening to take away your civil liberties with a law that will cut through your government proceedings. And so you attempt to overturn this with all the power you still retain, but your city is now under martial law. That is essentially what Hong Kong is like right now.
Hong Kong is a very metropolitan place like New York City, and in some ways even more metropolitan and stream lined than the Big Apple (I can say this cause I’ve visited Hong Kong, and live in NYC). Hong Kong also has many businesses and a strong presence in the global market. But now imagine this liberal and booming spot like New York City being swallowed up by a communist nation, who could fathom such thing? But it is very real and happening right now. It is almost too surreal, right? But Big Brother is watching.
To go back to what I promised you earlier, what do you have to gain from reading what is going on?
The answer is: R E S I S T A N C E
We may not be able to fly to Hong Kong and join them in their fight, but I don’t want innocent people to keep getting hurt without being heard. China has a media black out on the issue within their nation because they don’t want their own people to turn against them, and if they could, they would have wanted to black out media internationally.
In addition to hurting protesters:
Yes, they’re arresting protesters in hospitals.
And China is going to great lengths to do this because passing the Extradition Laws will be very beneficial.
In educating yourself in the issue, you have become more aware and less likely to turn away from a future issue that is similar. I understand that it is incredibly emotionally taxing to emphasize with a cause that is quickly becoming violent, but you do yourself a personal favor in resisting evils rampant in society and in the world.
When there’s a bully in school and you see them hurting someone smaller than them, but that smaller person keeps getting up over and over again to get beaten down. Wouldn’t you want that smaller person to win for sticking up for themselves?
But all right, let’s say you too are weaker than that bully and you can’t help the victim, what can you do?
You enlist help from other people. You tell other people about what is going on. You rally help from other people. Even if that bully’s parent is the principal for that school and is a complete tyrant, who can defend the tyrant from the scorn and criticism from everyone around them?
China’s government is that bully. It’s wrong to act that way and they know it and they want you to remain ignorant of it and turn a blind eye. They want you, the international viewer, to look away from they’re doing and what business they have with their own people. They don’t want you to judge to them. They don’t want your opinion. They don’t want you to intervene in what they’re building up to. And China’s government is not an evil entity per say, but their intentions have definitely hurt people and continually oppressed them. The evil I’m referring to specifically is what is latent within the intention of said oppression and the result from it – that terrible core infesting within the intention.
Here’s what I want you to take away from reading this far:
I want you to become someone more aware of what is going on and be in on the resistance. You may not think you play a role, but pressure from a mass of people, even a silent one, can be a true presence and menace to a regime that is trying to scramble to rise as a superpower in the world. I want that bully, that system to feel the pressure of the world staring at it and feel that pressure pressed on them, applied onto them with a even firmer stance than their own, to halt its control and pressure them to change.
But even more so….I don’t want the protesters’ cries to go unheard. They are fighting and the worst thing that could happen to them now is not being jailed, but to be jailed or killed without any one knowing why because no one gave a damn. That would be the greatest dishonor to what they are trying to accomplish.
It is because we are privileged enough to sit here comfortably behind a screen that we should give a damn. Because we are privileged to live in a nation that still allows us to have the freedom of speech that we must see to it that these protesters are heard and acknowledged in their attempts to keep the same rights we simply just have.
I know that I do not have a very large following, but I cannot sit around and do nothing about it. With the little influence that I have, I hope to spread this news to at least 10 people and then that ten can spread to 2 or 5 or another 10, but to remain silent would definitely be the wrong choice.
So, I’m not writing this as to plead, but for you to take one step back to look at the larger picture and then take one step forward towards a collective path for peace and civil rights for all.
Just knowing what they stand for is already a big step forward. Because one day when you’re in pain you’ll want someone to be there to help as well. If you’re fighting for a good cause, you would want someone to hear you too because that would mean your efforts were acknowledged.
And Hong Kong isn’t the only one being targeted by China’s government, there’s still Taiwan which is another state/nation that has been trying to keep China’s government away from taking its political Independence. China also monitors ethnic minorities within mainland China in order to keep order and the status quo in check. There’s a lot at stake for millions of people and we’re not completely isolated from their issue. Because again…China is a rising superpower and they have some skeletons in their closet that they don’t want outsiders to dish out and criticize them for.
Finally, I will end with this post with a video from laowhy86, an American Youtuber who lives in China whose sentiments are similar to my own. He elaborates more on why the protest is crucial and how scary the situation is by discussing the Tienanmen Square incident:
Feel free to comment, add links to the post that could help others understand more of what is going on, like, and reblog.
Or you can reblog this post that is more pleasant to look at if you don’t want this hefty post on your blog.
Thank you for your time, I hope you have gained some more sympathy and empathy….and hope in this world because I have so much respect for the Hong Kong protesters. I certainly feel more grateful for the rights I have while others struggle to keep theirs.
Edit: I added this video from serpentza who elaborates more on the implications and how surreal it is for a place like Hong Kong, one of the most influential economic hubs in the world, is being taken and wither away by China’s Government:
