In the past week, cities all over the world have risen up to protest police brutality and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others—only to see peaceful marchers brutalized by the police themselves. In some places, these protests mark the largest acts of organized resistance in decades. But in others, protest has been a part of daily life for months, even years.
Hong Kong is one such city, where citizens have actively protested a sweeping extension of mainland China’s power since June of last year (and today, June 4, is the anniversary of the tragic events at Tiananmen Square in 1989). What began as a protest of a controversial extradition bill has expanded to what activists call the “Five Demands” encapsulating police brutality, incarceration, and voting rights. Through their highs and lows, the Hong Kong protesters have developed invaluable new strategies for 21st-century social resistance. And I wondered—is there something we could learn from their tactics?
I downloaded Telegram, an encrypted messaging app banned in mainland China but popular among Hong Kong activists, and was connected via a private channel that facilitates connections between activists and journalists. There I cold-contacted an admin, who asked me for two-step identity verification, then posted my name and interview request on a private message board.
A few hours later, I received an anonymous message: “They call me 103,” they said.
“103” told me little about themselves—they’re middle-aged and “working towards a fair, just, and free HK”—and are well-versed in the tools of resistance. I also spoke to Stacey, a veteran protester in her late 20s, and Maple, a 23-year-old worker in the luxury industry. All three of them offered actionable intel for protesters in the U.S. and abroad—from what kind of helmet you should wear to how you should communicate—while channeling the wisdom of the one and only Bruce Lee.
While there’s no uniform that suits every protest, different gatherings have different goals. Bear in mind that things can always change on the ground once resistance is under way. “You never know what cops are going to use,” says Stacey. “It’s not like you can choose, ‘Today I’m going to wear my tear gas outfit or something.’ ”
There are a few essentials you should be sure to wear if you plan to hit the streets: masks, goggles, long sleeves, and helmets.
“Unarmed citizens have no business trying to force things against modern, heavily armed forces with full backing of the state,” says 103. They were quick to point out that masks and goggles don’t equip you to confront police officers. Instead, “these really just buy you some time and opportunity to move away.”
Both Stacey and 103 also recommended wearing a helmet to protect against batons and rubber bullets. Stacey recommended getting the nicest helmet you can find, and 103 told me what to avoid: “Yellow construction helmets ain’t so good: they are both flimsy (cracks on a determined baton strike) and if the police/military is shooting, you’d stand out like a firefly at night.”
There’s a grim irony in the fact that the respirator mask is the essential tool in both major crises of 2020—COVID-19 and police-brutality protests. If you plan on any direct confrontation with law enforcement, Stacey says, the mask is a must, along with goggles. “If you’re not wearing them, once the cops fire tear gas, you’re done.” Keep your mask on and a pair of airtight swimming goggles around your neck, just in case. Long sleeves are a good idea, too, as tear gas and pepper spray can damage your skin as much as your eyes. The masks and goggles made for a wild combination when the Hong Kong protests reached their peak in 2019: “Everyone dressed like Heisenberg!”
Hong Kong protesters have also employed a 50-year-old resistance strategy called “black blocking,” where participants wear generic, all-black clothing to conceal their identity. This has been especially important in China, where the surveillance state is omniscient and citizens must go to extraordinary lengths to preserve their anonymity. Beyond protecting a protester’s identity, black bloc attire typically identifies the wearer as more radical than other protesters, to their peers and police alike. In some cases, it can signal that they are prepared for militant action like sabotage (protesters in HK have destroyed CCTVs and other surveillance tech) and direct confrontation with police. It’s an important and useful strategy that you should consider carefully before adopting. (For more information, anarchist activist and academic David Graeber wrote this helpful piece about black blocs during the Occupy protests in 2012.)
Whether you plan on wearing black or not, Stacey recommended bringing a spare set of clothes to change into after the protest, so authorities can’t recognize you as easily. It’s also smart to change if you get pepper spray or tear gas on your clothing.
When it comes to supplies, the most obvious might be the most important. “Keep your people fed and hydrated,” says Maple. Bring food and water for yourself and others.
Water is also useful in the event of pepper spray or tear gas. There’s no magic cure when it comes to handling tear gas, but rinsing your eyes with water or saline solution (not milk, which helps with capsaicin in pepper spray but not tear gas) is an important part of recovery.
In Hong Kong, umbrellas have been an essential part of the resistance. They can shield people’s faces from CCTVs and protect against pepper spray. In many instances, protesters have used umbrellas to form a Spartan phalanx and march forward toward law enforcement. And Stacey has seen them as a symbol and tool for solidarity between different factions of the Hong Kong resistance—moderate citizens will hold up an umbrella to shield a more radical protester as they change into black bloc attire.
Between an umbrella, bottled water, snacks, and a spare set of clothes, you may have quite a haul. Bring a backpack, and don’t worry about dropping it if you have to run. Your safety is more important than supplies. In Hong Kong, gear recovery and redistribution has become a great activity for those who might be uncomfortable with more radical action—“If I didn’t want to go to the front lines one day, I would stay back and collect gear to deliver next time,” says Stacey.
Once again, 103 had an important point about what not to bring. “Please, please don’t bring guns. I know y’all love your second amendment, but once lethal force is used, the escalation cannot be turned back.”
When it comes to planning a protest, different platforms have different uses. For spreading the word about an upcoming event, Stacey and 103 recommended Instagram, Facebook, and LIHKG, Hong Kong’s Reddit equivalent. Telegram, the encrypted messaging app, isn’t foolproof, but it remains the go-to platform for most activists who are working out the actual details of resistance.
During a protest, Hong Kongers employ different strategies. “On site, voice communication is invaluable,” says 103. “Walkie-talkies and radios, or the Zello app with earpiece—the former is best, they are outlawed in Hong Kong so we use the latter.”
If reception is poor, 103 recommends using Air Drop as an alternative to messaging—not only is it more likely to go through, but it’s an easy way to share maps with routes for marches. Visual aids like these are important—“Most people ain’t so good with even their local streets!” says 103.
Last but not least, there’s the oldest and most reliable form of communication—word of mouth. Stacey pointed out that once protests are posted on a central forum like LIHKG or Instagram, they gain momentum when people share amongst their friends.
Few have had as big an influence on Hong Kong protests as Bruce Lee. In a 1971 interview, the movie star and Hong Kong native gave a famous interview where he said, “Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Those words have become a rallying cry and organizational principle for Hong Kong activists. “ ‘Be water’ was the main theme and technique of last year,” says Stacey.
In practice, “be water” resistance is a type of pop-up, guerrilla protest. Protests change form and direction suddenly. By Air Dropping or Telegramming maps and updates, protesters disperse when police pressure gets too hot in one location, then reassemble in a different part of the city shortly after. Sometimes protesters share entrance codes for safe, friendly buildings so that groups can disappear from the streets on short notice. The point is to be agile.
“We realized there’s no point in getting arrested!” says Stacey. Move on when tension gets too high at any protest site—don’t get hurt, don’t get arrested.
Solidarity is essential among protesters and allies who support the cause from home. “Build a sense of communal support beyond the streets,” says 103. “A mass movement that can cause lasting, positive change requires more than actions on the streets. It is not enough to scream SHIT ISN’T WORKING, but also to build actions and proposals for how to make things work. Changes take time and patience. Many—most?—significant actions are invisible.”
Stacey noted how fragile a protest movement can be. “In 2014, one of the whole reasons the movement fell apart was because we weren’t working together. We were pointing fingers at each other,” she says. But as the political situation has worsened in Hong Kong, she found that old grievances gave way to new respect. “It’s all about teamwork,” she says. “The point is not ‘Are you radical or not?’ It’s finding something you can do for radicals. If you’re radical, find something you can do for a liberal.” She mentioned using an umbrella to shield an ally as one common example. Alternatively, be selective in how you attend rallies. If you’re not comfortable with aggressive protest action, attend marches and rallies on the early side. If you’re looking to engage police officers, come later. “All these years, I’ve learned the most important thing is not to blame each other. You can blame the cops, but don’t blame other protesters.”
103 put it even more simply: “Be kind to each other.”
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