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‘Unlike boyfriends, there is no other Hong Kong,’ activist confesses heartbreak from exile

蘋果日報 2020/12/06 16:21


When the anti-extradition protests erupted in Hong Kong last year, Glacier Kwong was in Germany, where she was taking a much-needed hiatus from activism.
Formerly the spokesperson of the civil organization Keyboard Frontline, Kwong was best known for leading the campaign against the Copyright Amendments in 2014, which succeeded in forcing the government to withdraw the bill that many considered a threat to the city’s internet freedom.
She went to Germany for her master’s degree two years ago in the hope to rest for at least a year. But as soon as the mass demonstrations across the city mushroomed into the largest movement on the territory, she knew her break was over. The activist immediately jumped into action, lobbying the government and organizing petitions.
The 24-year-old watched as each of her friends paid a heavy price for their beliefs. Fellow university student and head of the student union at the University of Hong Kong, Billy Fung, was convicted of criminal intimidation and narrowly escaped a jail sentence; localist leader Edward Leung was sentenced to six years in jail, while Ray Wong has fled Hong Kong to seek political asylum in Germany. “That’s what my friends looked like,” she says.
When Brian Leung pulled off his mask and read out the key demands of protesters after he and hundred others stormed the Legislative Council building on the anniversary of the handover last year, Kwong was astounded. “I kept thinking why my friends could just go all the way? I consider myself quite a coward in comparison. I am afraid of death. I would tell myself not to make too much of a fuss because I was scared.”
It was why she returned in May to help with the election campaigns of pro-democracy candidates, Gwyneth Ho and Kawai Lee. “I felt ashamed. I had considered running myself, but I dread how troublesome it would be.”
“It is not your turn yet,” Ho told her. “When we are all dead, you will know it is your turn.” The line has stuck with her. When she was asked to organize the petition, she knew, “that was my turn.”
In September, Kwong submitted a proposal to the petition committee at the German Parliament, calling on the federal parliament to formulate policies and to impose sanctions on China for imposing a draconian national security law on Hong Kong.
While her petition, endorsed by 50,000 people, has secured a parliamentary hearing about potential sanctions on China, it also caught the attention of Beijing loyalists. The CCP’s mouthpiece Wen Wei Po accused Kwong of violating the national security for colluding with foreign forces and urged the law enforcement to investigate.
From then on, she knew that she could never set foot in Hong Kong again, but it was a move she made without regret. “There’s no such thing as being well-prepared, but I knew it would happen. It was only a matter of time,” she says. At least for now, her exile seems more significant as it comes with a purpose. “Now you die for a more meaningful purpose, because the political show has directed the attention of more media and politicians to Hong Kong.”
Since the petition went public, Kwong has received intimidating messages, threatening her to stop campaigning. In Hamburg, she was followed around her neighborhood for days by an Asian man. When she ran into him again downtown and in another district, she knew something was up. Her friends have been offering her rides to ensure she got home safe and paying extra attention to her personal safety.
Kwong likens the feeling of hurling herself at advocacy work, during which she does not think too much about her own consequence, to jumping off a cliff. “I didn’t think that much at the time, but when emotions crept back in later, it was very scary.”
As thousands of young people are thrown into jail or forced on exile, the authorities’ determination to divorce Hong Kong from its younger generation has never been more apparent. “I always say we are abandoned by Hong Kong,” Kwong admits she is heartbroken.
“Like in a breakup, I keep asking myself what I have done wrong or not enough to end up where I am today. But knowing that I will make the same decision even if I can choose again for 100 more times, I know I have chosen the right path.
“It’s disheartening, of course. I often lock myself in my room and cry as though I break up in a relationship. You can always find a new boyfriend. But if you leave Hong Kong, you will never find another city that can make it up to you.”
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