My tug-of-war with the police - sharing from domestic feminist activists

This article is an excerpt of the summary shared by the guests.

Q: Can you share with us your experience in the detention center?

I was submissive and scared inside, and at one point I saw a girl yelling at the pre-trial police officer to fuck your whole family. The police officer also yelled at her to fuck you. I was very shocked and felt a little empowered. I felt that even if you are a fish on someone else's chopping block and your life is in someone else's hands, you can still reverse your position in this power relationship and express your dissatisfaction. . I feel less scared and in pain just looking at this girl.

Q: What was the support for you like at that time?

The state apparatus cannot use the behavior of outsiders to convict you of more crimes while you are locked up. This is something they cannot do. I know that many people have always been worried about whether expressing support outside will be bad for people inside. I hope to convey this message: Firstly , from a practical perspective, the police cannot punish people inside because of what people outside have done. receive worse treatment or a heavier crime. It is logically impossible and cannot be written into various files. Secondly, the benefits of solidarity: Let the state machine know that someone is paying attention to us at all times and cannot abuse or dispose of us at will, so that our situation inside will be better. Solidarity will not make your original conviction worse, but it will not lead to worse outcomes. It is also an opportunity for organizations to exercise community.

Q: How to respond to the police and support is actually a very complicated matter, and everyone’s subjective judgment is different. Can you share a story about your experience advocating for those who have been arrested?

Every case has a window period for support. It’s important to seize the window because it’s short, but it’s full of potential. This window is when you take the initiative. You are not passively waiting for the police to take every step. We have our own initiative and can have our own plans and rhythms to do something to achieve our goals.

Actions during the window period have two aspects. Actions on case process and actions on organizational solidarity.

Supportive actions must have a steady stream of material to attract media attention . If you just send a postcard, the action cannot move forward. There must be new action. These actions must have an element of presence, be eye-catching, and have the excitement of activism in order to become communicable material. Later the window for action was closed. All the partners were found and forced to move. The police were settling scores, and the situation was getting worse. Some police officers forced their partners to give them the contact information of the organizer of the arrestee's support team, and they were beaten. But this was a misunderstanding, and they identified the wrong person. Many friends can no longer live in [a certain city]. This is the price of action. We all expected there would be a cost, but my fellow activists weighed in on the costs and threw themselves into this show of support. The first is to provide moral support, the second is to support the shrinking space, and the third is to exercise community and organizational capabilities.

Even if the window of solidarity is closed, we cannot stop. Although the police said you have to stop this action, otherwise everyone will be detained. My assessment at the time was: I personally can do something more. All attention does not come out of nowhere, it needs to be carried out with purpose, design and explanation. And to maintain attention and have the meaning of a social movement, other actions must be carried out at the same time and support other actions. Otherwise, it is just a simple personal life. Throughout the entire process of solidarity, those who need to support are actually constantly trying, evaluating, and experimenting .

The process of solidarity may involve hearing a lot of unsolicited opinions and suggestions. My attitude is that people who don’t work are not qualified to give opinions . Some people will come to me and say, you are too weak and you should go to the police station to camp instead of leaving. Some people will say that it is worse for the people inside you if you make such a fuss. It is easy to point fingers, but it is difficult to work. As long as you work, there will be weaknesses and flaws, but if you don't work, there will be nothing, clean and tidy. So I will identify which suggestions and opinions are valid, experienced and feasible. Those are just the other person putting their own anxieties on me, and I will ignore them.

Q: In the past few years, what kind of police harassment have you encountered in your daily life? Can you share with us how you prepare yourself to deal with the tug-of-war with the police?

Residential surveillance is not living at home . Many people misunderstand. Residential surveillance is something like a black jail. Probably a building inside some resorts. There are people watching you 24 hours a day, and some will abuse you. Because there is no camera. On the contrary, it is safer in the detention center. If you hear that your partner or someone you care about is under residential surveillance, don't relax and assume it's okay.

Probation is not the same as being fine and free. Some cases are held in secret. For example, when family members are saving money and find that they cannot deposit it, they begin to wonder about the state of the arrested person. Finally, after asking many people, I found out that he was released on bail pending trial. The police took away the judgment, and neither my family nor I had access. After he came out, he was given a place to live and his family members were not allowed to see him.

We are not completely passive and cannot control our own destiny. We can also try to find our own leverage in bad situations. Finding your own way to deal with the police requires constant experimentation. I found that you can't pretend to be someone else. Other people's experiences are just reference. You have to be yourself and be yourself without disclosing information to the maximum extent . Because that is the safest and most logical way. Otherwise you will feel awkward and the other person will be able to see your emotions. Confronting the police is a highly focused affair, so have some fun with yourself. Keep me as an independent person, not a little animal that they can crush to death. This humor is a way to help myself maintain some balance. But maybe someone else can find another way. If you cannot avoid interacting with the police, you can encourage everyone to make more such observations and attempts.

It can be noted that some questions have no serious consequences and are just their daily tasks. There was another day-to-day conversation where we didn’t care what the other person was saying. The police would talk trash to me and I would talk trash back to me. After more experience, you will know the situations in which you can talk trash to each other, and you will understand that it is not that scary (if you are not taking notes).

There is no end to the tug of war with the police, and our goal is not to defeat the police, because in fact there is a huge disparity in your power. What we have to do is find ways to cope and survive.

Q: Many people may choose to show up as little as possible and contact as few friends as possible after being harassed by the police. Have you ever experienced such a period? What do you think of this way of coping?

I've definitely lost contact with a lot of people over the past few years. Firstly, I want to use WeChat less. Even if I talk about life-related information in the group, it is unavoidable occasionally. So there is no need for WeChat. But not everyone likes to use security software. In fact, I didn’t contact a lot of people. But then I heard an elder brother who worked as a laborer who had been in the labor camp several times say that before he went in, he felt that although he had encountered many problems and felt that everyone was together and the community would be there no matter what, but after coming out this time, he was in despair and everyone was in despair. They broke up, no contact on WeChat, and rarely talk on security software, let alone meet in person. Because everyone is afraid that contact will lead to harassment by the police. "Actually, it won't hurt if we contact each other and say hello." We just want to chat with good friends. In fact, it doesn't matter if you come to me to play for a while. The worst thing you can do is that you will be asked by the police to have tea with you. "

I was very emotional and ashamed after hearing this. Several years of surveillance also caused me to lose my daily routine and ability to contact many people. In fact, the connection between communities does not happen naturally. It requires someone to devote energy and time to organize and maintain it . Especially in high-pressure situations, if no one does this, the community will really fall apart. After listening to this, I decided that if everyone has a consensus that it is okay to be drunk by the police, then we can keep in touch. I have heard of cases where couples were separated after ten years of being together. There are some risks you can take , and he won't kill you. Drinking tea is an affordable price to pay for maintaining connections with our partners.

In fact, I am also an overly worried person and will exaggerate many fears, but this is a process . If you don’t want to be a neurotic person living in fear all your life, learn how to get along with this fear in the process. .

And how to deal with risks. The most important thing is not to transfer your fears to other partners . If you feel very scared, you can leave the sport temporarily, but there is no need to accuse others of your poor safety performance. Because only those who are working know how to evaluate their own work, and only in actual work can we know the risks of those things. The worst kind of partner is one who fantasizes about a host of crises and then uses those fantasies to force other partners to stop doing something. Moreover, if the crisis is exaggerated, there is no way to prepare for it, which is actually more dangerous. For example, as mentioned earlier, I feel that a lot of information is very sensitive, so I am not willing to share or discuss it with my partners. In the end, I lose the channel to understand various experiences, and in the end I suffer.