Resistance to tyranny starts with the little things in life

Last night in a vegetarian restaurant, I heard the story of Lam Wing-kee, the owner of the bookstore in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Minutes, I hope everyone here will observe a minute of silence for her."

I didn’t care about the silence, so I took out my mobile phone to check. The first message was a cartoon: seven people lined up, six in black, and one in the middle was wearing a yellow raincoat. Less#We want to go on together.” Then he left a series of suicide prevention hotline numbers. Sadness comes from the heart. This sense of despair and disillusionment has been with me since the first Mr. Liang. At that time, I was worried that suicide would be contagious, and heroic suicide might lead to imitation and replication. Unexpectedly, the second one appeared.

After 6.9 and 6.12, I also suffered from a severe acute stress reaction. There were always images of violent conflicts in my mind. I was depressed, sad, restless, nervous, anxious, fearful, and angry. sleep peacefully. After self-awareness, I immediately sought help from professional psychological and emotional counseling, and with the confiding, telling, and company of my friends, my emotions gradually eased and stabilized. Over the past two weeks or so, Hong Kong people have been courageous and resourceful, united as one, and reopened some imagination space and possibilities for Hong Kong with various innovative resistance and advocacy movements. It has been overlooked that there are still too many activists who may still be struggling in the quagmire of depression. If they are not effectively relieved, they may sink, explode or fall.

Recently, I was reading the book "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twelfth Century" by Timothy Snyder, a professor at Yale University. In the twentieth lesson, the author wrote only one sentence: If none of us is ready to die for freedom, then all of us will perish in tyranny. I certainly understand the risks of pursuing freedom, and right now I am paying the price of being away from my loved ones at home. However, I have always been vigilant that even in the name of pursuing democracy and freedom, such advice or appeals that must pay for their lives and shed rivers of blood cannot be carried out. A few days ago, a friend asked me if Mr. Liang’s blood sacrifice was the reason why two million people took to the streets successfully.

Freedom and life, which is more important, each has its own considerations and choices. I am just wary of this kind of despair that must be fought with life and blood as chips. I am even more afraid that the disillusionment after the resistance is ineffective or cannot be effective immediately will infect everyone. The appeals and strategies of social movements have similarities and differences, but the threshold for participation should not be set too high, and different people can have different resistance methods. For the anger and despair on a larger scale, I can only extract some lessons and feasible usages from "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twelfth Century". I hope that we can all live well and use our best resistance to break the sense of powerlessness and disillusionment.

Resist from small things in life

Resistance can start in life, starting with the little things around you. These small things can be hanging slogans that you approve of on the doors and store entrances; providing a free glass of ice water and a toilet for people passing by during the parade; The media newspapers and periodicals can switch channels immediately when they see some programs that ignore the facts. If you can't take to the streets and participate in the sit-in, then start the struggle from the little things in life.

Exchange eyes and chat more

Tyranny intends to erase the distinction between people's public and private lives, to create barriers between people, to make each other strange, isolated or antagonistic. At times like this, we need to exchange glances with our friends more, care about others, chat, and support and encourage each other. Give those in action some warmth and motivation to persevere. After experiencing 6.9 and 6.12, many people have emergency emotional pressure, but they have not been effectively relieved. Please pay attention to the people around us, pay attention to their emotions, and give enough listening, understanding and support. If you cannot do it yourself, please contact the professional hotline. Professional psychological counseling and the support and assistance of relatives and friends around you may be the conditions to help people survive.

be wary of certain powerful professionals

Nazi Germany massacred six million Jews, and lawyers, doctors, media, and people who dragged corpses were all accomplices. Just imagine, if lawyers and judges insisted on not interrogating in secret, and not arbitrarily imposing the death penalty, if doctors insisted not to conduct medical experiments that violate ethics, if the media dared to expose the truth and called for vigilance against tyranny, if soldiers who were asked to shoot could raise their heads cm, would those six million people die like this? Looking at today's repatriation, the legal issues are framed. Why did the Legislative Council fail to effectively oppose and stop it and give it time for full discussion? Why can the police who promise to serve and protect Hong Kong people fire 150 tear gas bombs and several bags of rubber bullets at peaceful protesters? Why can the hospital give the police a channel to release the private information of patients? Have these powerful professionals become accomplices of tyranny?

Believe in the truth, donate to civil society

People in power like to say, you have your value, I have my choice, no one is nobler than the other. But we should not be confused by this logic, we should read more in-depth articles and believe in the truth. If we don’t have the ability to explore the truth by ourselves, let those who can do it, fund high-quality independent media, let reporters investigate and report in depth, and donate to the “Humanitarian Support Fund for Victims and Arrested Anti-extradition” to support Medical and legal fees for frontline actors.

Practicing substantive politics

After all, tyranny may win the crowd, but not the hearts of the people. Then what we can do is to get out of our comfort zone, connect with more people, your relatives, friends, alumni, different institutions, organizations, and even people and organizations that oppose you, to listen, to understand, to get through, To connect people with different backgrounds and different positions, unite people, practice the democracy you believe in, and live out what you want.

Hurry up and register to vote

What can prevent tyranny from seizing power through a seemingly legal and reasonable electoral system is to cherish your right to vote and every vote in your hand. Two million people have taken to the streets. If they can register as voters, they will definitely promote some changes in the system.

stand up with more

One more person who stands up means more strength and less anxiety. Just imagine what it would be like if all the seven million Hong Kong people except nearly 100,000 civil servants stood up. How does he settle accounts after autumn? How big a prison can he build?

When tyranny comes, also calmly deal with it

When tyranny comes, the powers collude with each other, they may go all out to maintain stability, and they may conduct a comprehensive review. In addition to being vigilant and resisting as much as we can, we must also strengthen our bodies and exercise our minds. Perhaps, the competition is who will live longer.