Observation and Reflection after the Sitong Bridge Banner Protest: "Courage is acquired in practice, and trust is also grown in connection and joint action"

On October 13, protester Peng Lizhou hung two banners on the Sitong Bridge, a transportation hub in Beijing. Not only did he put forward six demands, but he also called on everyone to join in the action to remove the "dictatorship thief" Xi Jinping. All content related to the protest on the Chinese Internet has undergone comprehensive censorship and deletion, with little room for sharing and discussion. The banner of Sitong Bridge and the courage of Peng Lizhou have inspired and inspired many overseas youth/student groups to create and post posters on and off campus to catch brave people. In the past two weeks, we have seen that different protest slogans have been continuously spread online and offline at home and abroad, creating a huge ripple effect and opening a window of accelerated politicization. As "non-pink Chinese students and overseas youths" who are concerned about China issues, on the one hand, we are excited and excited to see more and more international students begin to participate in civic action; on the other hand, we have also observed The difficulties and opportunities encountered by the poster-up campaign, as well as the diversity (or lack of) richness of the poster content, have produced various reactions of identification and disapproval.

How to understand the current situation of overseas Chinese youth activists from this ripple effect, and how to think about what other actions can be taken are issues that we need to face together.

(This article is compiled from online discussions, and the following is a summary of the participants' speeches.)

Opportunities and challenges experienced in the process of communication

Fear is a popular keyword in submissions on platforms like @North Square and @citizendaily. Indeed, fear can be one of the main challenges facing overseas students who want and are engaging in action; it affects not only whether we act, but also how we act and with whom we connect as a community. We first need to acknowledge everyone's fears, because a large part of fears are real and real. However, we also have a complex relationship with fear.

On the one hand, many international students are distressed by being forced to come out of the closet politically, and they are also distressed by people in other communities who are puzzled and criticized for their fears (for example, they think they are too conservative and politically indifferent). The screenshot of "A French colleague asked me why he is the only one" has gone viral. Behind this question is the gap in Western democracies' understanding of China's centralized censorship and surveillance system. People need to start to face: Russia, Iran and other state apparatuses are no longer on the same level as China. The level of control in China has gone down to the smallest detail, and everyone is under surveillance. The whole society is highly atomized, and the bonds of society are completely destroyed. In such a centralized society, we can only see lone wolf-style actions, and only lone warriors. Therefore, we also agree with the comments of Duan's article "Beijing Sitong Bridge Protest" - instead of scolding the small number of resistance, we should pay more attention to this person's voice. In a place where the default is silent, having a voice is a form of resistance.

On the other hand, we are also well aware that we need to resist this fear rooted in our bodies — the most iconic and intimate manifestation of the violence and censorship of the state apparatus.

We need to train ourselves to refuse to be the outward and inward claws of the state apparatus. Overseas, we have certain conditions, and we also need to step out, examine, and manage our fears. Also in the process of breaking through fear, we realized that everyone's default value is loose sand. We need to think together how to rebuild community and trust in this relatively safe and free place, and push the overseas community forward and outward as much as possible. Below, we briefly discuss the challenges and opportunities encountered by non-pink overseas youth when they engage with other communities.

1. With other Chinese students

For the Chinese youth who put up posters inside and outside the school, their concern is not from the harassment of local people or local law enforcement agencies, but from the reports and even violence of the "little pink" around them. On the one hand, they have noticed that there are many foreign students around them who are usually more politically apathetic. They have also received political enlightenment because of the banners and slogans of Sitong Bridge; Reposted "Idioms". How to screen Chinese classmates who are standing in the middle ground around them for dialogue and build trust, and how to deal with the opposition and poster tearing of the "little pink" around them are troubles for many overseas activists.

Some international students in the middle area may not dare to pay attention to the issue of Sitong Bridge in the public space, but there is still the possibility of dialogue in the relatively private space. A friend shared that he studied in a campus with many Chinese and foreign students. Last week, I saw a poster posted by someone else in the bathroom. People passing by can get some reports on the incident through the QR code on the poster. ta observed that some Chinese people are afraid to take pictures, nostalgia or scan codes. But at the same time, he also heard two international students talking to each other in the bathroom: "Do you dare to scan?" "Then I'll give it a try." Because of this relatively confined space and posters, TAs "saw" the existence of this news and formed a preliminary exchange. This friend shared that if our slogan takes the form of ubiquitous, it will make people have to discuss. Some friends also shared that many people have responded to tear-up posters in their respective locations. For example, after the "You can't tear up your thoughts. Thoughts are eternal" posters on the side of regular posters, the response posters are temporarily unavailable. torn up again.

There are also some people who feel relatively safe because there are many friends from overseas students with the same frequency, because there have been activities on campus with friends from Hong Kong and their Chinese friends, and they have a certain foundation of community trust and can quickly find a few. Like-minded friends carry out the activities of putting up posters and banners together. A sharer concluded that the personal relationships that are usually accumulated and the relationship between individuals and other communities are very important in mobilization activities.

2. Contact with activists in Hong Kong and Tibet

Many overseas Chinese youths expressed their cooperation with Hong Kong people for the first time in this protest. A sharer mentioned that after the banners that were hung on campus were cut out by their international students, students from the Tibetan and Chinese-American communities in the school helped to hang them back up. It is precisely because of this opportunity that they began to establish a real connection with each other. On major contribution platforms, we have seen many people begin to reflect on their attitudes towards Hong Kong citizens' protests.

But unlike the Tibetan protesters in Hong Kong who have more experience in action, young people from the mainland usually act on their own, and overseas students who lack local support are sometimes reluctant to go to large gatherings or demonstrations. Some mainland youths also feel their "timidity" and various worries about lack of identity, family members in China, and returning to China are often misunderstood by other communities with more organizational experience as being overly conservative and politically indifferent. These experiences made us realize that there are cognitive differences between communities, and this is precisely what we need to do more dialogue and connection.

At the same time, we actually have a lot to learn from Hong Kong people, Iranian rebels, and other ethnic groups, other communities of international actors, such as methods of communication and communication, and how to shape our subjects and narratives in Western societies. We also have to learn and try to get out of our own fear and safety zones. Centralized surveillance should not be a panacea for not taking our own responsibilities.

3. With (Left) Asian Americans and Other Native North American Communities

In recent years, under the mainstream "hostile China/anti-china" public opinion in the United States, many Asian-American organizations are very wary that the demonization/otherization of China will turn into violence against the local Asian-American community. Therefore, many Asian-American groups and organizations will not criticize China or stand up for the voices of protesters from China. But such a perspective itself is discriminatory, and indiscriminately equates with the concepts of state, regime, and people. We have also observed that many Western left-wing communities have similar attitudes. Based on their criticism of US-led Western imperialism, they see China as the antithesis or victim of US/Western ideology. Criticism of China is thus equated with recognition and continued support for the expansion of Western imperialism. Also, wearing a rose-colored filter to see China as a beacon of socialism. In fact, these viewpoints, like many "little pink" viewpoints, are based on a single social cognition concept of binary opposition and indistinguishable concepts. Many overseas young people who have contact experience said that we still need a lot of dialogue and deconstruction in contact with these communities.

Looking for space for overseas action under the scrutiny of large transnational centralized scrutiny

As international students, we have always been looking for a balance between the two extremes : on the one hand, we need to face up to the predicament and build a safer space; on the other hand, we do not want this fear to further help the state apparatus against ourselves and the community. review. We’re still going to tell the stories of actors who have come forward, creating our own narratives in places that seem empty. Under this premise, what else can we do or continue to do?

1. Create and promote discussions on more intersecting and diverse issues

The content of the Sitong Bridge banner is particularly important because he clearly lays out several demands and how to achieve them: strikes, strikes, and recalls. But at the same time, this poster also has many limitations with the similar posters that emerged in the early days of the poster campaign. On platforms such as the popular contribution accounts @North Square and @ Citizen Daily, we observed that the political enlightenment of many Chinese students began after experiencing and witnessing the "zero" epidemic prevention policy and the tragedy it caused in the past two years. Participating in poster posting is also the first time many people have engaged in political action.

However, based on our observation of some phenomena in the Black Lives Matter movement in the Asian-American and overseas student communities, we hope that this awakening and empowerment is not limited to our own groups . We hope to broaden the understanding of overseas students to other groups, and also want to convey connection and support to other communities that are oppressed.

Slogans are not only for propaganda, but also for education. Make a slogan that says what we think, but also considers why people care and how to reflect on it. Especially in the face of overseas groups, we need to restore the original appearance of things and the environmental background in which they happened. If the slogan only contains anti-Xi/anti-communism, it will neither explain clearly the dilemma we face, nor hit the key points of systemic problems, nor is it conducive to forming a narrative, and it will be difficult to arouse more resonance. We concluded that, first of all, bilingual posters are important . Second, posters with intersecting issues are more connected to other oppressed communities. For example, there are posters about standing with other oppressed communities and other actors.

According to everyone's sharing, friends from the mentioned communities (for example, Tibet, Hong Kong, Iran, etc.) were very moved when they saw these intersecting posters. Cross-community connections are not only more conducive to the attention and dissemination of others, but also help us understand that the empowerment of self and community needs to be based on understanding the multi-faceted and public nature of oppression. Self-empowerment cannot stop at speaking up for one’s own rights and interests, it needs to connect and expand one’s own rights and interests to other oppressed and marginalized communities.

2. Don’t romanticize actions, embrace complexity in the process

As more and more people participate in the action, we also observe a lot of romanticized and revolutionary renderings of the action. The reality is that very few people stand up to speak up and act, and it is extremely difficult to convey information in the Jane Chinese world. We cannot count how many people have been motivated and politicized by the banner of the Sitong Bridge, but what is certain is that it has made people who are concerned about this issue more politicized and action-oriented. These people who paid attention, spoke out, and participated in the poster-posting operation were all restless about the courage on the bridge, they all felt a great shock, and they all wanted to do something. And in the process of doing something, we found more gaps, more dilemmas, more incomprehensions. All these dilemmas and opportunities cannot be brought about by a one-time poster, a one-time event, or a one-time voice to bring about a complete change. They have to be practiced for a long time. The slogan in the poster requires our daily, small, responsible and continuous attempts.

3. Concrete risks and strive to build “nearby”

Back to fear, our "feeling" of fear is very real, but our "recognition" of fear and "assessment" of risk are very abstract. Also based on the fact that most people don't know where the red line is, and the state machine is constantly blurring this red line, we are very likely to be conducting constant self-censorship and discipline them unintentionally or intentionally. But such thinking continues to discipline and narrow our space for action. A sharer said that before going out to participate in the activity of putting up posters in the square, he had been very nervous and his body would tremble. But after participating in the activity, he felt that " courage is gained in practice" . Another friend responded, " Trust also grows in connection and joint action. " Frictions and gaps in understanding with different communities also need to be discovered, communicated and constructed in practice.

We need to proactively turn abstract fears into concrete safety assessments and strategic responses so that together we can share our fears and embrace each other's courage.