Beta version of "Overseas Anti-Thief Offline Series Guide to the North"

Beta version of "Overseas Anti-Thief Offline Series Guide to the North"

Perhaps "you" once had such a soul: a soul that longed for freedom and a cry; perhaps "you" once also had faith in justice and held his own opinions in the indifferent jungle; perhaps "you" was in a totalitarian In the shadows and the wastage of time, just retaining a piece of free will exhausted the last trace of strength; perhaps "you" is gradually becoming like a father's resignation, turning a blind eye to everything in front of him - until the two flying banners on the Sitong Bridge Like shrill lightning piercing the night sky, those who may not know the existence of the same kind but do not want to hibernate stood up. They appeared in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Melbourne and even Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Tianjin. Like Peng Zaizhou, they use their own voices to tell the world that there is more than just Beijing in China.

"Strike and strike to remove the dictator Xi Jinping" may be the first time since 1989 that a slogan that directly challenged the CCP regime has appeared on the streets of Beijing and has been widely circulated. It also called on many overseas Chinese to go offline for the first time in their lives. Exercising the freedom of speech that the Constitution gives us, but we do not.

However, we who grew up in China may be familiar with Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development, but we have never been taught how to become citizens; Demonstration right, lack of experience in how to use democratic rules of procedure to make decisions in the community; and under the long-term atomization policy of the CCP, we do not know how to find each other, let alone talk about trust; compared to a Great Leap Forward demonstration A healthy community that can sustainably produce demonstrations may be even more meaningful , said, "We must best prepare for the moment when this regime is on the verge of collapse, ready to fight for our freedom and our future, but also for each other. fight."

Here, I would like to share some experiences of the six offline demonstrations in Paris and the three-year experience of maintaining the community. This is the beta version of "Overseas Anti-Thief Offline Connecting to the North". After that, I will collect and sort out the problems encountered by each community. , and then ask friends from Hong Kong and Uyghurs to make some supplements and update this guide to version 1.0 and 2.0 until it becomes a relatively universal booklet. Therefore, your experience in action and the problems you encounter are very important to the future manual . At the same time, friends with offline action experience in other cities are welcome to enrich this "Guide to the North" until it becomes a real "Guide" ".

1. How to organize offline actions?

0. Purpose

A. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the purpose of the action. What is your purpose?

After clarifying the theme, it is time to choose the time and place of the demonstration.

If it is to show solidarity with a recent news event, the time of action and the time of the news should not be too far apart. If responding to a historical event, or an appeal to a more general phenomenon, you can choose relatively commemorative dates, such as June 4th, March 8th. Also take into account the weather conditions.

The choice of location is also the meaning of the title. Different squares in each city have different historical and cultural significance, and some even affect the historical process of this country and even the entire human being, such as Place de la Bastille in Paris. , Place de la République and Place du Trocadéro. These prestigious squares may not be the first choice for overseas Chinese offline operations, because there are not many participants in the early stage of the operation, and other activities in the squares at the same time may cause interference to our own activities. Therefore, a square with historical commemorative significance, small and exquisite, and large flow of people is the first choice for the initial activities.

B. Who is the target audience? Foreigners or Chinese, rebels or little pinks?

If you want to attract more "moderate" Chinese, you may not use overly "radical" slogans; if you want Hong Kong, Uyghur, and Tibetan friends to participate, you may not use the "five-star flag" that may offend them.

The number of people at the event also affects the choice of venue, and events with fewer people are more suitable for static demonstrations rather than marches.

C. Different purposes will point to different action strategies. An offline action can be a formal demonstration or even a parade, but it can also be a performance art or a flash mob for a certain topic.

The latter is like guerrilla warfare, which usually does not need to be reported to the local police, but requires more careful consideration of how to gather, how to retreat, and how to create more easily disseminated images.

We take the demonstration ( https://youtu.be/SmU2QiFYl3M ) in Paris on October 16, 2022 to "welcome" Xi Jinping's ascension to the throne and support Peng Zaizhou as an example to sort out the process of organizing formal demonstrations and parades.

1. Law

A. Usually parades and demonstrations need to be reported to the local police, and the regulations and requirements vary from country to country.

Taking Paris, France as an example, whether it is a static demonstration or a dynamic parade, it is necessary to declare at least 3-5 days in advance. In fact, the declaration of demonstrations in Paris is very complicated. After the terrorist attack, the police station will no longer accept offline declarations in principle, and its official website indicates that demonstrations need to be declared two months in advance ( https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/ vosdroits/F21899 ). But at the operational level, the demonstration in Paris only needs to contact a police officer in charge of the matter 3-5 days in advance. After a cup of coffee with public funds, he will ask for the specific details of the demonstration, including the time, place, number of people and the demonstration. For the purpose, it will also inquire about the connection with other organizations, and some questions do not need to be answered in detail. In the police system, the information of protest applicants is relatively public. If you have more concerns about safety, you can ask local friends to apply on their behalf.

In France, after the application is successful, an approval will be obtained. In addition to the time and place information, there will also be some hygiene and noise related regulations that need to be complied with.

2. Process

The duration of static demonstrations is generally about 2-3 hours. Take me personally watching more than 50 demonstrations by Hong Kong people, Uyghurs and Tibetans as an example. Most of their main activities consist of two parts - representatives of various groups. Speak and shout slogans. However, most of the Chinese groups involved in the demonstrations for the first time may not have enough friends to dare to show their faces, so the event process becomes crucial. Even latecomers can still participate in the event.

Here are some common items in demonstrations. Friends who organize demonstrations can select some of them to add to the event process as appropriate:

A. Representatives speak, and representatives of friendly groups speak

B. Slogan, the slogan is generally composed of two parts, the host and the audience, and the audience part should be short and appropriate

C. Live performance

D. to discuss freely

E. Lennon Wall/Lennon Wall, carry sticky notes and pens, friends who do not want to speak publicly can write down their thoughts, or they can read them out on their behalf.

F, music, video playback

G. Live performance, chorus

H, silence, candle lighting

I. Performance art

J...

In fact, this is a list that can be constantly updated with new actions, and the flow of activities that seem to have appeared is always the same. The struggle requires more creative forms and new languages .

3. Materials

A. Banner

Simple banners can be made from light-colored sheets, and then handwritten with paint. The low-profile version can even be printed on A4 paper with one word per page, and then fixed on the sheets with adhesive tape. When fixing the banner, you can use an inelastic rope, tie it to a street lamp or tree near the event venue, and then use a clip to fix the rope and the banner at the same time, with more tape for backup. If it rains on the day of the event, you can buy waterproof spray in advance, or use waterproof paint directly.

B. brand

This is an era full of images and landscapes, and all materials have a propaganda function while taking into account the image when they are shot. When the media shoots the audience, they will give priority to the audience holding the placard. If more than one person raises the placard, the media will choose a more characteristic shooting. The audience may not make a sign when they go there spontaneously. The organizer can remind them, or they can make more and reserve them in advance. The minimum way to make a brand is to ask for some free cartons at the local supermarket, and then write or print the required text directly on the cartons. Depending on the weather, decide whether to cover them with plastic wrap for waterproofing.

C. the flag

At present, China's anti-thief group has not formed a consensus of high recognition, nor does it have a banner of high acceptance. But try not to show the five-star flag at the event to avoid hurting the feelings of Hong Kong, Uyghurs, Tibetans and other oppressed groups.

D. Bilingual propaganda

It's easy for passing locals to understand what's going on.

E, sound / loud voice

The square is empty and the flow of people is large. There are loudspeakers to convey the event information and attract more onlookers. Priority is given to products that are not plugged in, can play music at the same time, connect a microphone, have a high volume, and have a certain waterproof performance.

F. paper and pen

Friends who do not wish to speak publicly can write down their thoughts and have others read them out on their behalf.

G. Shopping cart/luggage/garbage bag

It is convenient for transportation and recycling of active materials. It is better to recycle the used materials by special personnel instead of discarding them at will. On the one hand, it can leave a witness to the history, on the other hand, there is often a large amount of personal biological information in the materials.

4. Division of labor

In the early stage of overseas demonstrations, especially demonstrations that lack offline connections and gather via the Internet, their organizational forms may be relatively decentralized, but even in a decentralized structure, the following issues still need to be considered:

A. Who can show their face?

B. Who is responsible for contacting the media?

In the early stage of overseas demonstrations, the demand for the activities to be reported is generally greater than the willingness of the media to report the activities .

The original intention of "decentralized" interviews is that they do not want to be represented, but in the form of "voices", it is easier to be represented by anyone who is willing to be interviewed, and this person can even be lurking in the community little pink.

After several activities, some active participants can spontaneously form an organization and send a "specialized person" to connect with the media. This "specialized person" may not be one person, but can be a two-person team, or a "media group" that takes turns speaking. . There should be more than one member holding the contact information of the media . It has happened in the Hong Kong community that a member, after obtaining the contact information of the media, "represented" the organization and made nonsense to the media.

If possible, it is best to choose among those who can expose their faces to the media.

C. Who is responsible for explaining the action to the audience and tourists?

Of course, "everyone" can be responsible for this, but "everyone is responsible" means that no one is responsible , and each important link needs to be undertaken by a dedicated person in the event.

D. Who is responsible for taking pictures?

It can also be held by "everyone", but it is better to be responsible for the photos disclosed to the public by a special person/multiple special personnel, so as to better judge whether the public photos have the risk of revealing the privacy of the participants, and at the same time, it can be better for the event. 's publicity. This is an era of picture reading, and no matter how well-written the manuscript of the event is, it is not as easy to spread as a well-prepared picture or two .

E. Who is responsible for dealing with pink?

F. Who is responsible for dealing with pink that may conflict, and who is responsible for security?

G. Who is responsible for emergency medical care?

These problems will not be encountered in most activities, but at least be prepared to deal with them.

H. Will there be a live broadcast? Is the broadcaster the media or the organizer’s own person?

For the media, someone needs to confirm with the other party, which areas can be photographed, and which areas are not recommended for privacy protection.

If someone from the organizer broadcasts the broadcast, the person who broadcasts is usually the focus of the conflict, and it is difficult to protect themselves, so another person is needed to protect the safety of the broadcaster (including the conflict and the broadcaster’s action line)

Each position should have some understanding of the risks (conflict, privacy, security) that it may face .

5. Publicity

In the past, demonstrations were mostly spread through Facebook, and people spread FB information to Twitter and personal social platforms, but in fact, FB is not in line with the Chinese people's Internet usage habits.

At the beginning of 2020, there were also demonstrations in memory of Li Wenliang in various parts of Europe (Paris, Bologna, London, Berlin, etc.), but the propaganda at that time was still spread through "human-to-human transmission" through Pincong and social platforms, which did not form a phenomenon.

After the Sitong Bridge incident, the activity of @citizensdailycn ( https://www.instagram.com/citizensdailycn/ ) and @North Square ( https://www.instagram.com/northern_square/ ) on Instagram has changed dramatically As for the dissemination of the event, many netizens with a sense of resistance went from online to offline for the first time by putting up posters, and under the facilitation of Citizen Daily/Century China, they created "Online Democracy Walls" in as many as five regions.

My personal experience may not have kept pace with the changing times, so this part may need to be reorganized by someone with more experience.

6. Safety

It is true that all actions have risks, and there is the possibility of being settled in the autumn, but the CCP’s long-term rule of fear often makes overseas Chinese who are first involved in demonstrations overestimate the CCP’s monitoring and enforcement capabilities overseas . At least for now, the CCP cannot put eyeliners around everyone, and the more it uses digital surveillance, we need to pay more attention to the safety of Internet use.

Don’t let the constant internalized fear become a barrier to action . In fact, the more people involved, the safer each participant will be, and the space for action is also expanded bit by bit. We can Much more than we imagined .

For participants who are first involved in demonstrations, perhaps some simple measures can moderately increase psychological security:

A. To cover the face, masks, sunglasses, masks, hoodies, head scarves can be used

B. Wear simple clothes that are not often used, and those who are more cautious can bring multiple sets of clothes to replace

C. Use pseudonyms/nicknames to communicate with each other in activities, and avoid nicknames overlapping with screen names

D. Avoid revealing personal and organizational information during small talk during the event

E. Take public transportation to leave after the event and avoid returning directly to the residence

F. Avoid posting pictures of the event on social networks after the event is over

These measures can greatly reduce the risk of being identified, but as a participant in ordinary overseas demonstrations, it is actually not worth the CCP to pay too much to find its true identity . Borrowing from "No Pink" in the article "Observation and Reflection after the Sitong Bridge Banner Protest", " Our feelings about fear are real, but our identification of fear and assessment of risk are abstract. Most of the People do not know where the red line is, and the state machine is constantly blurring this red line. We are all likely to be constantly self-censoring and discipline others, intentionally or unintentionally, and this kind of thinking is constantly disciplined and narrowed our available actions. In fact, in the past three years, there have been six demonstrations in Paris, and the total number of spectators may exceed 300. Many people have not taken any of the above measures to protect their privacy, but no one, including the organizers, has been implicated. Of course, if you need to return to China in the near future, you may still need to pay a little attention.

I personally participated in the Jasmine Revolution in China and rescued Chen Guangcheng. In 2012, I was arrested for "inciting subversion of state power". I have experience in dealing with national security and even national security. But to participate in an overseas offline demonstration, there is absolutely no need to use these experiences, even if the demonstration was named and criticized by the embassy. I agree with the opinion of a Kazakh friend. He said to me, "The more you do, the more open it is, the safer it is." We can discuss this point in detail in version 2.0 and 3.0.

2. How to maintain community organizations?

The French parade every day. There are more than 300 demonstrations in Paris alone a year. During the parade, everyone sweats and rubs shoulders. Everyone feels as if democracy and justice will fall from the sky through a sacred ceremony like the Square Movement. is an unrealistic fantasy . The demonstration is a one-time event. Even if a million-strong demonstration occurs in Beijing one day in the future, this demonstration may not necessarily change the process of democracy in China. In fact, what matters is not a demonstration, but Zizek's deafening question - "What about tomorrow morning?" Where did you wake up the day after the demonstration, and what will happen to the world? ? If we don't know how to win, we may never win .

0. Persistence

Compared with demonstrations, the community is long-term, and more importantly, it is the organization and maintenance of a local anti-thief community . A person's loneliness is hard not to be worn away by time, but a long-standing community can provide continuous support and strength for follow-up activities . Zeng Guofan once said, "Those who do important things should choose multiple substitutes as the first principle." In a decentralized era, "replacements" may not be needed, but the most important thing in the community is that no matter what happens, there are people. Keep running the organization . Although it may be a little disheartening to say this in a day when organizations everywhere are generally unformed, the identity of "rebel" is not immune to the inherent flaws of human beings - anger, jealousy, partisanship, each community is faced with problems and disputes There is always the possibility of division and dissolution. But most importantly, if you think it's the right thing to do, keep doing it, even if you start from scratch again .

As for how to build a community from scratch, @文信中国's "Online Democracy Wall" may help friends in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia to take shortcuts, but in other areas where "fathers don't love mothers," and the number of anti-thieves is small, Getting started may be more difficult. The Paris anti-thief community "Liberty Square" has tried to expand the size of the community in the following ways:

A. Most of the starting points are "person-to-person". The rebels in life will also know other rebels. A few people who are familiar and trustworthy can form the most primitive community

B. After "human-to-human transmission", activities such as movie screenings, book clubs, and salons can be held to attract more people to participate, and new members can be found from them

C. Through offline demonstrations, develop participants into "offline"

D. Actively communicate with other local communities, it can be from Hong Kong, or from Ukraine or Iran. If you learn that there is another Chinese who supports Ukraine and Iran, then Ta is likely to be your own.

1. Participation

It is easy for those who are new to the operation to romanticize the demonstrations and project their participation into the meaning of the entire event as a groundbreaking first (although in 2020, several cities have organized memorials for Li Wenliang. demonstrations, including the June 4 commemoration organized by international student groups in North America and Europe every year). This kind of optimism is harmless, but after the event, when the participants discovered that a demonstration of dozens of international students could neither change the status quo in China in fact, nor completely change the perceptions and attitudes of foreigners, or even change the pink around them, a kind of Emotions of failure and nihilism can affect the next action .

If you abandon romantic imagination and look at demonstrations more realistically, you will find that it is difficult for an ordinary event to have much impact on China and the local society. If it cannot change society immediately, then what is the point of demonstrations? I would like to have the following three points:

A. The most important change is not for the whole society, but for each individual participating. For the first time, many people have the courage to go from online to offline. When we take this step, we will strive for freedom for ourselves. freedom from fear. Putting up posters and chanting slogans is not a feat of heaven and earth, but it can be the cornerstone of a future feat . This is our first step to breaking atomization and conquering fear.

B. Like Mr. Peng Zaizhou, we have conveyed to the world that "China is not the only voice of Beijing". At least some Chinese people yearn for freedom of speech and constitutional democracy, and are willing to pay the price for it .

C. There is no war that ends in one battle, and no one can immediately change the world through one action. The process of social change may not be as fast as we expect. We need to adjust our expectations for results and time .

In fact, not only the sense of participation, but also the psychological state of each participant is very important. The community is a collection of different individuals. Everyone will have their own thoughts and emotions during the activity, especially when there is no expected success in the event. It is best to have a timely summary after each activity to see what can be improved and improved.

2. Security/Spy

Security issues are commonplace. Later, I may ask friends in the information field to sort out this part in detail. I will only give a brief overview here. Avoid using in-wall communication tools, browsers, and input methods for online communication. Signal is a relatively common communication tool. The security factor is high, while Telegram is used by the anti-thief group with a large proportion. When using Telegram, you should pay attention to cancel the access to the address book, and set the registered mobile phone number to "not visible to everyone" to avoid using other social networks commonly used. Avatar and username, group administrators should make group history information invisible. Minimize offline contact with local student federations, embassies and Chinese associations with red backgrounds to reduce the possibility of exposure.

The problem of spy/ghost/spy cannot be avoided by every anti-thief community, and the CCP started out with the intelligence system. A large enough community will definitely have gangsters infiltrating, and even if not at the moment, no one can guarantee that a member will not be bought/threatened in the future. The action of "catching a bandit spy" will greatly damage the trust between members , so the Paris community tries to think about this problem in reverse. If a "bandit spy" enters the organization, what does Ta hope to get? In addition to the obvious "gaining intelligence", Ta's main job may be "sabotage activities". No matter what the motivation of a member (some people are not suitable to work with), if he keeps sabotaging activities, spreading gossip in the group, and disrupting the group agenda, we can regard him as a "spy" , especially if he has an urgent agenda to advance We can properly ignore the opinions of this member; accordingly, if a person actively works every time and actively promotes the group agenda in a democratic way, then whether he is a real "spy" or not will not disrupt the activities of the group . At this time, it is only necessary to pay attention to the function of "bandit spies" to obtain intelligence. In addition to the most obvious personal identity information and addresses, there are also many kinds of intelligence. Who has a good personal relationship with whom, what is their economic source, and who has any clues It's all a kind of information. There was an undercover policeman in the UK who had been lurking in an environmental protection group for seven years, actively participated in activities, had sexual relations with more than a dozen people of the opposite sex in the group, and eventually repeatedly sabotaged the group's actions. This is a very exciting off-topic story: https://iyouport .substack.com/p/f2f

3. Other forms of resistance

Overseas demonstrations may be an exceptional moment for the Chinese to regain their citizenship. It gives us the courage to act offline, but it should never be the end of it. In the face of such a powerful state apparatus, our resistance must be more imaginative . In terms of form, there is no "ideal" action. The important thing is that "action" will shape new forms, and " resistance creates new order. " language needed ."

As a survivor of the old society, I try to imagine the future of the new society here:

A. Each community can try to create local self-media , share its views on domestic and foreign social news, and local life experience; if conditions permit, you can interview protesters in other communities and interview oppressed people of other ethnic groups to compete for the ecological niche of the “WeChat Official Account”.

B. Each community maintains communication and tries to connect more across countries and regions.

C. Focus on issues outside China, actively participate in local politics , and try to gain greater influence locally. In the days to come, we will appear wherever there is spark.

D...

The Brak Spring in 1968 failed due to the Soviet invasion, but the will of resistance and the pursuit of freedom of the Czech people were passed on all the way until the Velvet Revolution in 1989 - this is our perspective today, but if you put yourself in the shoes What about a Czech rebel in the 1970s? The democratic movement you participated in failed in 1968. The 1970s were far darker years than the 1960s, and no one around knew that more than ten years later would usher in a new future. Do you feel hopeless? Will you give up because of this?

Perhaps China in 1989 was the Prague Spring in the Czech Republic, and perhaps today's China was the Czech Republic in the 1970s, an era when it seemed to be the darkest moment, but it was only the dawn that had not yet come. The dawn was not a gift from the sky, but every The duty of everyone in the era . We may not be able to see immediate and desirable results in every demonstration, but each individual's small actions together build history and become the cornerstone of a free China in the future . Maybe today we can't win them no matter how hard we shed our blood, but it's my honor to fight alongside you.