📡Guardians of Hong Kong
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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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#Memory #HongKongChronicles
Are these three sets of numbers making someone unhappy: 721, 831, 101?

A fanart of based on Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki' animated movie, which was spotted at Prince Edward station, was vandalised.

Perhaps it was an attempt to cover up the three dates that mark some of the most serious cases police brutality incidents in Hong Kong.

7.21 Yuen Long Triad Attack
8.31 Prince Edward Police Attack
10.1 Police officer firing live rounds at a Pro-democracy Student

Image: Ng Yi Ling / FB
https://www.facebook.com/1474101479504603/posts/2748916075356464/

#ProtestArt #FanArt #HayaoMiyazaki #SpiritedAway
#NeverForget
#RTHK deletes shows from internet, Bao Choy: The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting

//The news has led to concern that the bulk of RTHK‘s archival content — which, for years, has been freely accessible on the two platforms — will no longer be viewable, including episodes that reported on Hong Kong’s political turmoil since the 2019 protests, and the national security law....

Since the arrival the new Director of Broadcasting Patrick Li in March, who has no media background but introduced a massive editorial overhaul, ten RTHK television episodes have been censored before they were broadcast. Meanwhile, at least five top executives have resigned or took early retirement amid a staff exodus.

One episode of the documentary programme Hong Kong Connection – which investigated the July 2019 Yuen Long mob attack near an MTR station – would be among the episodes set to be removed from the internet.//

Read full article here:
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/05/03/hong-kong-broadcaster-rthk-to-delete-shows-over-a-year-old-from-internet-as-viewers-scramble-to-save-backups/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #May3

#BackUp #Blockchain #Memory #AntiELABProtest
#ProtestArt #Creativity
The Second Anniversary of Hong Kong's Pro-democracy Movement: Memories don’t fade, Revisiting #LennonWalls from 2019

During the #AntiELAB movement in 2019, citizens in Hong Kong spontaneously built Lennon Walls all over the city to make their voices heard.

Harvey, a photographer, visited many areas of the city and took hundreds of shots to record every detail of the Lennon Walls.The photos were stitched together to become panoramic images of the Walls.

With Harvey’s permission, Stand News was able to share three of his works as an interactive webpage for readers to visit these virtually rebuilt Lennon Walls from 2019.

See here:
https://beta.thestandnews.com/interactive/回憶撕不走-重見-2019-連儂牆

Source: Stand News #Jun30

#Memory
#Kowtow #Censorship
Universities in Hong Kong Dismantle June 4th Tiananmen Commemorative Symbols: "A Christmas Present for Beijing"

On December 24, 2021, the Management of the Hong Kong Lingnan University (#LU) removed and destroyed a commemorative relief of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre that was installed on campus since 2010, without any notice and conscent from the students.

The action coincided with the dismantling of other commemorative statue and sculpture by two other universities in Hong Kong right before Christmas day.

According to the vice-chair of external affairs of the 43th Student Union of the Hong Kong Lingnan University, Tang Kin-Wah, the relief and the statue of the Goddess of Democracy arrived in Hong Kong in 2010. Under the coordination of the Federation of Students and the Alliance, the two commemorative structures had exhibition tour in all universities in Hong Kong, starting with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) and ending in the Lingnan University.

Back in 2010, after discussing with the university management, the student union at Lingnan University handed in a plan stating that they hoped to preserve the relief permanently on campus. Later on, the Student Union was allowed to restore the relief and convened a permanent installation ceremony with the help of the university management. The ownership of the relief belongs to the Student Union.

After the University managemeng secretly and forcefully removed the relief on Christmas' eve on 2021, some alumni made a trip back and placed white flower on the now-empty site. They described the act as an "assignment" that the university president Cheng Kwok-hon "turned in" to Beijing. "It is his [Cheng's] Christmas present for the Central Government at the end of 2021," the alumni mocked.

Source: InMedia #Dec24
https://bit.ly/3J9LOzn

#University #Censorship #June4th #Memory #Brainwashing

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The Pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31702

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31710

Chinese Students Shocked Watching HKU's Removal of Pillar of Shame, Believes in Power of Witnesses
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31704

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31710

City University of Hong Kong Demands Student Union to Remove Pro-democracy Monument
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31730
#NeverForget #AntiELAB
2.5 years after
#721YuenLong Mob Attack: Who Owns the Truth Now in 2022 Hong Kong?

January 21, 2022 is the 2.5-year mark of the 7.21 Yuen Long Mob Attack. On July 21, 2019, pro-democracy protesters, train passengers and pedestrians were indiscriminately attacked by white-clad gangsters in Yuen Long. While the Hong Kong police had allegedly turned a blind eye, the question once posed by #RTHK's news program #HongKongConnection resurfaced: in 2022-Hong Kong, who owns the truth?

Watch RTHK's "7.21 Who Owns the Truth?" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/4rImPpE3p2U

The news documentary was produced by former RTHK journalist #BaoChoy on the first anniversary of the attack in 2020 and had won accolades including the Press Freedom Award.

Choy examined various video evidence, tracing the attackers to various pro-China groups. She also interviewed one of the victims, who was able to identify his attackers from the surveillance camera footage provided. The victim lamented that he had to identify the suspects before the journalists, since the police did not invite him to take part in any investigation. The victim wonders if the police wanted to investigate at all.

The journalist, moreover, traced the association of some of the attackers to various village representatives in Yuen Long, partly by checking car license plates against the government's vehicle registration database. However, the authorities then arrested and fined Choy for making "false statements" when accessing the public-available database. It was the first time such a charge was laid against journalists using the vehicle database.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (#HKJA) criticized the move, stating that checking public records had been a common investigative tool in Hong Kong.

In May 2021, RTHK began to take down videos over one year old from their online platforms. This documentary is now no longer available on their official website, as are the programs chronicling the 2019 Anti-ELAB movement.

Meanwhile, the police and state media had made concerted effort to rewrite the Yuen Long attack into a clash between "invading" protesters and those defending Yuen Long. However, another investigative report by Stand News discovered that the alleged call to protest in Yuen Long was likely fabricated, and was ultimately dismissed by discussion forums.

Watch "Tracing the Source - Investigative Report by Stand News" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/Gch5ikVyI80

After the implementation of the #NationalSecurityLaw, pro-democracy news outlets, like #AppleDaily and #StandNews, have been pressured into shutting down. Their libraries of articles and videos, including interviews and video footage of 7.21 and many other events during the movement, had gone offline. Though netizens scrambled to back up the data, the records made by these news outlets in Hong Kong cannot be easily accessed by the public, and some may possibly be lost forever.

Two and a half years after the attack, Hongkongers today find very little room to publicly remember the events that transpired. Gatherings that merely hinted at support of the movement are suppressed by police wielding both the anti-gathering rules introduced at the start of the pandemic, as well as the #NationalSecurityLaw.

Meanwhile, the deep rift between the police force and the general public as a result of the 7.21 attack had not been healed, as the Force and its supporters cling to their version of events, which are regularly cited by pro-government and pro-China media.

For now, it is up to individual Hongkongers to investigate, record, document and remember the events they have seen, heard, and experienced during the pro-democracy movements.

Source: RTHK; Stand News

Subtitles by Real Hong Kong News

See also:
"Tracing the Source" - 7.21 Yuen Long Attack Investigative Report by Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30599

30 months after, Hongkongers refuse to forget
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31954

#Memory
#Resistance
Chinese Students Protest Against Removal of #TiananmenMassacre Monument at #HKU

On January 17, 2022 at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), students from China launched a flashmob protest against the university management's removal of the #PillarofShame, a monument commemorating the victims of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing.

The students laid flowers, handbills that read “Pillar Gone, Shame Still”, documents about the history of the pillar and red stain from dragon fruits at the original site.

Around ten security guards surrounded the area on high alert, checking journalists’ passes on the site. The guards removed the students‘ display within 2 to 3 minutes, calling the display as “pieces of trash”.

Source: InMediaHK #Jan17
https://bit.ly/3FHSRM

#NeverForget #Memory #Remembrance #University
#June4th
New School for Democracy Announces Rebuilding #PillarofShame in #Taiwan: "One Pillar Falls, Thousands More Will Be Raised"

In December 2021, #TiananmenMassacre memorials in three universities across Hong Kong were taken down within 48 hours. They included the Pillar Of Shame in the University of Hong Kong (#HKU).

On December 24, 2021, Taiwan's New School for Democracy announced their plan to rebuild the pillar at the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. They will also invite the pillar's creator #JensGalschiøt to unveil it on the June 4 night vigil in 2022.

"HKU tore down one pillar, but thousands more are being raised across the world," said the School. A 3D scan of the original pillar at HKU has been made available online for download.

The New School for Democracy also held a press conference titled "Don't Trample Human Rights and Affections with 'National Security'", in which they voiced their solidarity with Chinese human rights activists Zhang Zhan, Guo Feixiong, and Tang Jitian. The group called on Beijing to release the the three detained activists and let them be reunited with their families.

President of the New School for Democracy Association Zeng Jianyuan decried HKU's actions as destroying the university's spirit of autonomy.

Destroying "the Pillar of Shame for June 4", as he called it, is equivalent to erecting an invisible pillar of shame for academic freedom. Zeng announced that the Pillar will be rebuilt in Taiwan, and it will carry the memories of the Tiananmen Massacre as well as Hong Kong's Anti-ELAB movement.

Source: RFA; Citizen News #Dec25
http://bit.ly/3ql3TSt

====
Related News:
Activists Preserve HK's Tiananmen Memorial Pillar in Digital 3D Model: "They Can't Silence Us All" [Oct 30, 2021]
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31330

The Pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record on Twitter [Dec 22, 2021]
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31702

#Monument #Memory
#PressFreedom #Solidarity
Hongkongers Rebuild Article Archives of Apple Daily and Stand News

Source: Luminant HK, Collection.News

#Memory #PreservingHistory

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#PressFreedom #Solidarity
Hongkongers Rebuild Article Archives of Apple Daily and Stand News

Since the shutdown of #AppleDaily and #StandNews last year, a group of Hong Kong netizens had been hard at work building a platform to preserve their articles, so that they may once again see the light of day.

The article archives are now viewable online: https://collection.news/

The two Hong Kong news media companies, particularly Apple Daily with its 26-year history, had produced well over 2 million articles. Over a 10-month period, the Collection.News team rebuilt the archives of 2,375,868 text articles and 3,046,000 photos, and hosted them online using their own funds.

The archive's development team describes themselves as a group of Hongkongers who wish to preserve the city's history. They declare no affiliations with any news media groups. As the threat of National Security Law continues to loom over the city, the team found it necessary to operate anonymously, and does not accept donations. They had made their software open source, so that in case their website was shut down due to unforeseen circumstances, there would still be hope that the archives could be rebuilt once again.

The website's Chinese name 果靈 ("Spirit of Fruits") draws inspiration from the writings of 20th century philosopher Tang Chun-i. The team wishes to remind #Hongkongers that "we are not flowers and fruits that had lost our roots. Our spirit can take root everywhere, and ought to sprout in every heart."

"Though Apple Daily had died, we wish for everyone to own a little Apple seedling," they wrote on their website.

Source: Luminant HK, Collection.News
https://www.facebook.com/luminanthk/posts/522014396224956

#Memory #PreservingHistory