Traum und Trauma - a #HongKong protest art thread.

The Siege of Polytechnic University began on 17 Nov and lasted nearly 2 wks. 6 mths on, we revisit our protest art to understand how our 'dreaming' became a nightmare, & examine the trauma and legacy left by the Siege.

1/23

By mid Nov, the hope & dreams HKers held seemed to be melting away. We had raged over HKPF shooting a student at point blank, mourned death of Chow Tsz-Lok, survived the Siege of CUHK. We were exhausted. But history doesn't care. It keeps happening, it keeps hurting.

2/23

While the PolyU Siege began on 17, HKPF's actual attack on the campus started a wk earlier, when the govt began firing at 6 major colleges in HK, culminating in the Siege of CUHK 11-15 Nov. We thought we were prepared for what's to come.

3/23
https://twitter.com/uwu_uwu_mo/status/1229994219982319616?s=20

We knew we'd see the uncalled use of water cannons by HKPF. But our art still lamented how Poly's famous red brick campus had been dyed blue. Our stomachs still turned when we saw how the force of the water cannon managed to crack a helmet like an egg.

4/23

We also knew we'd see the indiscriminate use of teargas. We've all witnessed how HKPF had fired a record-breaking 2000 tear gas canisters on a single day at students defending CUHK. We had no doubt they were capable of beating their own record for Poly.

5/23

The siege intensified on the 18th. While the city marched with a headful of dreams in June, by this point, as reflected in our art, we were afraid our worst nightmare would come true - that we'd see a repeat of 1989, that we'd have to watch our young people be killed.

6/23

I can't describe how it felt translating words of young ppl who thought they were live-tweeting their imminent deaths. I can't tell you how it felt reading these kids' hastily-written wills. Our art can't either. You either see the pain in these muted shades, or you don't.

7/23

Meanwhile, as the siege raged on, parents of those trapped inside gathered. They wailed for mercy, they cried for peace.

"Give me back my child..."
"Save our kids..."
"Let them come home, please."

Imagine thinking your child might die that very day. What would you do?

8/23

What would you do? When all seems lost, when our people is at risk, when our city is on fire, HKers decided there was only one noble option- we rise up. We will flood the streets with people and cars to pull away the HKPF, do a ‘Dunkirk', and save our kids.

9/23

We did it because our slogans aren't just nice words, they've become our creed; we rise & fall together. Our art, aimed to ignite hope in the Poly students trapped by the HKPF, proclaims "You are not alone". HKers, even in the darkest night, we will walk together.

10/23

Skirmishes broke out as crowds tried to take on HKPF. Meanwhile, PolyU students found ways to escape. We later learned some fled through the sewers. And-a favourite subject of our art-some abseiled down a bridge on a flimsy rope, to the road & waiting motorbikes below.

11/23

But for every one that escaped many more were arrested. One of the most infamous pics from the Siege is of HKPF rounding up volunteer medics, making them sit on the ground, hands zip-tied to their backs. Even as ppl bled inside Poly, even as ppl got crushed on the streets.

12/23

The Siege of PolyU is hard to talk about because it was senseless pain with no catharsis. After the skirmishes in the early days of the Siege, things just... dragged on. It forced HKers to look at their hopes, and question their strategies. Is the dream worth the trauma?

13/23

I don't know what the right answer is. I just know that on 24 Nov, while the siege was still ongoing, HK pan-Dems won in basically a landslide in the local council elections. Our art makes it clear: the pan-Dems won on the back of the sacrifices of those at Poly, CUHK, etc

14/23

And on 27 Nov, again while the siege was still ongoing, the HK Human Rights & Democracy Act came into effect. It requires the US to impose sanctions on CN & HK officials for human rights abuses in HK, and was something many HKers had been campaigning on for mths.

15/23

The PolyU Siege also gave us unexpected icons. Life Bread, with its distinctive blue checkered packaging, became a protest staple after HKPF mocked starving students trapped in PolyU for having to eat 'poor people food' like Life Bread, which most HKers grew up eating.

16/23

Another icon from the Siege is "PolyU Cook", the mask-wearing, American flag-waving volunteer cook who had vowed to stay & feed the kids with the dwindling food they had until he no longer could. He made good on his promise, but has since been arrested for his service .

17/23

A third icon is the Quiet Chicken, which has since become one of our Divine Beast. In Canto, its name means 'be discreet' & was used to warn ppl to not disclose PolyU escape routes, etc. If you ever see the Chicken, we don't want to know.

18/23
https://twitter.com/uwu_uwu_mo/status/1200666325238108160?s=20

Fun protest mascots & icons, the HKHRDA, the local council election victories... these don't seem enough for the collective trauma HKers endured over those restless nights. We have walked through the fire - why haven't our dreams been achieved? Where is our Revolution?

19/23

And yet, we're still here, fighting the good fight. These art pieces are from around the Siege - as bleak as things were, our art still held out hope, still held out for the freedom a butterfly or a brilliant night sky represent.

Even with our traumas, HKers will dream.

20/23

A strange bonus sidenote: For an event that's pivotal to HK's mvmt, those few days arguably saw more doodles of birds dropping dead from teargas than art on PolyU. My theory is because it's just so traumatic to a lot of artists.

21/23

But the art of little animals *is* art about PolyU, an indirect way for creators to process their rage over seeing innocent lives be endangered by police brutality. With 2 campuses ablaze in a week, it's clear it's not just the pigeon asking - "Why are you killing us?"

22/23

And for finishing this long thread - some graffiti left by those at Poly:
"Why has a university become a warzone?"
"Not accepting fate is our only weapon"
"I will protect my home."
...
See you all under pot-bottom.

23/23