In Translation: “My only wish is that, from now on, there will only be a liberation camp”
Hello all, I am the brother commonly known as “I want to laam chau.”「我要攬炒」
My last public recording was at the August 16 rally at Chater Garden. Recently, I’ve heard that someone who wants to kill me has raised the stakes to one million. It’s caused me to start seriously considering how I should write a suicide note.
In 2019, for the first time, millions of Hong Kongers put their blood, sweat, livelihoods, futures and lives on the line as bargaining chips in the struggle against the regime, in order to achieve “laam chau” in the face of totalitarianism.
University campuses were besieged with bullets and the number of sacrificed, murdered and exiled warriors is immeasurable.
Yet, we succeeded in preventing extradition to China, we revitalised the slogan of “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times” that Edward Leung left behind, we produced an anthem that speaks to our identity; “Glory to Hong Kong,” we formed international alliances and we liberated the District Councils.
Different camps that were born between 2014 and 2016 finally learned to converge in 2019, but unfortunately recent times have seen them backtracking towards dead ends. Yellow shops, localists and pan-democrats are starting to once again become immersed in infighting.
REGARDING PAN-DEMOCRATS
In the early stage of the anti-extradition bill movement, certain pan-democrats started to make progress and reflect on their disagreements with localists and frontline tactics, because of the sense of crisis at the time. But the vast majority continued with the status quo as before, that is, continuing with 40 years of mistaken belief in the Communist Party, absolutely no determination to assume power, claiming the rule of law can still be defended. Aside from that, they worry about committee chairman roles, they say they are too busy to attend meetings, and they cast mistaken votes.
Recently, some pan-democrats, seeing the risk of being disqualified and in the aftermath of the mass arrests, want to backtrack. Internally, they propose to sever ties with the frontliners as a means of self-preservation. There are even some with such cold feet that they want to kowtow to the Liaison Office.
In the past 30 years, have they still not conceded enough? We come out to elect you for you to surrender to the Communist Party? If you don’t even dare to commit to veto all government bills until the five demands are met, and press ahead without election primary coordination, how can you persuade us to push for 35+ seats? I have no interest in personal grudges with pan-democrats seeing the light of day, but the bottom line is, any pan-democrat who lacks the determination to break the system must now step aside.
We Hong Kongers don’t want to defend a dead rule-of-law system; we want to liberate Hong Kong, start from scratch and rebuild a rule-of-law system that truly represents Hong Kong. The United States of America as we know it has its origins 200 years ago, when a group of lawyers and ordinary people saw that the rule-of-law system in North America was already dead. They not only had the courage to admit that the system they had spent their lives learning was already dead; they had a plan to create international space for themselves in North America, situated in between empires on which the sun did not set.
REGARDING LOCALISTS
So what about localists?
A portion of localists continue to regard themselves as infallible, insisting that theirs is the only way and criticising others with their ugly attitude. They laugh and jeer at the world, blabbering about yellow corpses, “yellow guards,” “LIHKG guards.” So is there really any difference between “hot dogs” and these other labels? Portraying oneself as a “victim of hot dogs” has become an excuse to seize the moral high ground.
After 2016, the reason that the localists went into a state of despair, apart from the tyrannical disqualifications and the pan-democrats’ fiery gaze, is because a group of people, having gone through the first stage of awakening, thought too highly of themselves. It is essential to know one’s limitations, and quite simply, nobody has the ability to judge whether the path they’ve taken is definitely the correct one. How can you assume your intelligence is so high and put so much pressure on yourself?
All along, what the localists have lacked is leadership ability and the attitude of using different means to achieve a common result. If they only understand their personal grudges and lack the will to assume power, then there is no bold vision to take awakening of identity out into the mainstream. In liberating Hong Kong, the biggest disadvantage the localists have is self-destructive infighting.
History is a cycle. Looking at global history, I cannot find many examples of a resistance effort that was successful because an unjust election was boycotted. Strategically, we must strive to enter the Legislative Council not because of financial incentive, but because of the recognition that the election brings. It is an international spotlight that can be used as a tool to break the system.
Anyone who doesn’t have the determination to “laam chau” along with their enemies, and who truly wants to preserve their lawmaker status without breaking the system, completely belongs to the “surrender camp.” 「投降派」
Anyone who spends all day taunting and jeering, accusing others of being communist spies or yellow corpses, completely belongs to the “cynical camp.”「⽝儒派」
While localists don’t know how to press their advantage, pan-democrats don’t dare to press their advantage. It’s nonsense, because the two groups have never been divided by left and right.
These days, the enemy Hong Kongers face is more powerful than the Soviet Union; on the road to liberation, street resistance, parliamentary politics and international alliances are all indispensable.
Without street resistance, international support and parliamentary politics would have no energy. Without international support, parliamentary “laam chau” and dodging bullets on the streets would all be for nothing. And without popularly elected lawmakers, the pressure of street resistance and international lobbying would be like sailing against the current.
REGARDING OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
In 2019, we relied on unity between peaceful protesters and frontliners, as well as “laam chau,” to prevent extradition to China. But after constant attacks on our defences, how many more times can we achieve this? Rather than passive defense, Hong Kongers should use their creativity and determination to proactively break the system. In this world, it’s not only the Communist Party that understands how offense can overtake defense.
To give one example, after our big victory at the District Council, apart from ridiculing Chris “PK” Tang once or twice and apart from crying foul when the government undermines the councils, have we really tried to break away from our opponent’s way of doing things? In addition to targeting 35+ seats, why don’t we use those public funds to establish rival upper and lower legislative chambers that truly belong to Hong Kongers?
On the one hand, we have 400 popularly elected district councillors. On the other hand, all Swedish cities have unexpectedly terminated all sister city relationships with China. This is a timely opportunity for Hong Kong’s parliament, in mutual cooperation with international alliances, to clearly show that Hong Kong is NOT China.
I humbly request that all district councillors jointly propose motions across their respective districts to empower a “laam chau” organisation, such as Fight For Freedom, Stand With Hong Kong, to work towards a sister city agreement for Hong Kong. I am personally willing to shoulder the risk of the epidemic to travel to Scandinavia and fight for such an agreement, for the sake of Hong Kong’s liberation. Even if such a plan were to wreak havoc on my lungs, “laam chau” groups in North America, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia are still available.
A “lower house” composed of district councillors that truly belongs to Hong Kongers can authorise global civil society groups and parties as “authentic representatives of Hong Kong” to lobby and communicate with other countries, as well as sign agreements on behalf on the councils. That authorisation can be effective only for individual successful motions, such as US sanctions or establishing sister cities, or else the same motion can authorise different representatives to take on their own tasks, in order to prevent a big collapse.
In the medium term, Hong Kongers can consider establishing a fund in order to provide for disqualified lawmakers in a lower house or upper house that truly belongs to Hong Kongers.
In the long term, we could even use our funds to conduct our own election, with our own chamber, in an all-out effort to break the system and achieve liberation.
Regardless of whether it’s the District Council or the Legislative Council, those who are elected bear the will of the people and have influence with the international community. That is the measure of their identity. In order to liberate Hong Kong, they cannot be afraid and they cannot continue with the old ways. Even if they are disqualified, your words and deeds are still measured the same way.
Hong Kongers, it is time for offense to overtake defense on the streets, in the parliament and in international lobbying.
Finally, recently the government and the Liaison Office have been blabbering about “laam chau” as a way to push the responsibility for the government’s failures back to Hong Kongers. I must reiterate again, “laam chau” is a means to fight against the Communist Party’s deprivation of Hong Kongers’ livelihoods, liberties, culture and democracy by forcing oneself down a dead end before being born again. “Laam chau” is not “burnism,” rather, it is “phoenixism,” because this is a necessary path for the phoenix’s rebirth. Hong Kongers, there is no room for compromise with the Communist Party.
My only wish is that people can wake up and no longer divide the masses into “localist” and “pan-democrat.”
My only wish is to say goodbye to the cynical camp, to the surrender camp, to the infighting, and have only the “liberation camp” 「重光派」 fighting bravely under the LegCo drum.
If we burn, you burn with us
