Beyond Lennon Walls: Ways to support the Hong Kong protests from afar
Setting up a Lennon Wall or joining in a rally may be the most visible way to help the Hong Kong protests from abroad, but it isn't necessarily the best. Below are some other ideas on how to support the protest from afar.
Last updated 23 December 2019. Based on anonymous submissions. Maintained by Jason Li and Lokman Tsui.
This document in other languages: 繁體中文, Português, Italiano, Español, Deutsch, Français, Русский, 日本語, 한국어, Nederlands, ไทย
💰 Donate
Donate to groups that are supporting protestors on the ground (both groups' PayPal accounts are not working at the moment):
- 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund (612人道支援基金) – most reputable, financially transparent
Spark Alliance HK 星火同盟 – recommended by frontline protesters. Their bank account is currently suspended so they recommend buying these gift cards as a form of donation.(accounts frozen)
Donate to these legislator-backed crowdfunding campaigns:
- Sue the Abuser - helping victims sue the police over alleged mistreatment.
Prevent Imprisonment of Online Expression - a judicial review challenging the government's injunction against posting and sharing incendiary content online.✅ 24 Pro-Democracy Legislators' JR campaign - a judicial review to suspend the government's Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation and Emergency Regulations Ordinance.✅
Donate to groups supporting journalists on the ground:
- Radical HK 基進報導 (on top of being a news organization, they provide sign language interpretation at many events)
HKJA Journalist Protection Fund 香港記者協會保護記者基金✅
Donate to these non-profit, independent news organizations so they can continue to provide coverage of Hong Kong:
- Inmedia 香港獨立媒體網
- Stand News 立場新聞
- Factwire (PayPal: factwire)
- Hong Kong Citizen News 眾新聞
- Hong Kong Free Press
Donate to these civil society research organizations:
- Civil Rights Observer 民權觀察
- Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute 香港民意研究所
- Liber Research Community
Pitch in for supplies that protect people during police operations:
Free MyHK supply station team (PayPal: freemyhk@gmail.com)(Suspended)HK Protect 香港保護: 捐贈裝備送給前線 (this online store is backlogged and takes 7-60 days to deliver supplies)(Ceased operations)
🧓🏻 Organize within your community
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🆕 Persuade your organization to sign this letter urging the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women "to examine gender-based violence committed by the Hong Kong Police Force." -
If you’re part of a community group, association or organization, publish a statement in support of the protestors. If possible, band together with other groups to sign a joint statement.
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Hold discussions within your diaspora communities, with folks who are on the fence or self-identified centrists. But approach with caution if folks are already staunchly against the protests.
🇺🇸 For US residents/citizens
Call your representatives (find their number on callmycongress.com):
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Ask them to support the call to suspend future sales of munitions and crowd control equipment to the Hong Kong police.
Ask them to support passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (H.R. 3289) (S. 1838).✅
References:
- Pelosi Statement on Withdrawal of Hong Kong Extradition Bill, Sept 4, 2019
- Pelosi Statement in Support of Hong Kong Protestors, August 6, 2019
- Rubio Comments on Withdrawal of Hong Kong Extradition Bill, Sept 4, 2019
🇨🇦 For Canadian residents/citizens
Contact your current MP and MP candidates (find the former here):
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Ask them to introduce a motion in Parliament in support of the Hong Kong protests.
- Ask them to introduce legislation similar to US's Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
Sign these petitions:
e-2268 (Hong Kong) at the House of Commons, sponsored by MP Michael Chong.(Petition closed September 11, 2019.)Support Democracy and Human Rights in Hong Kong, launched by Canada-Hong Kong Link Toronto, Canadian Voice in Hong Kong, Civic Education Society Vancouver and Friends of Hong Kong Calgary.(Petition offline.)
If you live abroad, remember you can still register to vote in Canada.
🇬🇧 For UK residents/citizens
Contact your representatives (WriteToThem helps you look who yours is):
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Tell them that you support the recent decision to stop selling crowd-control equipment and tear gas to Hong Kong.
- Ask them to uphold the 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration
Alternately, use Stand with HK to send an pre-written email to your MP that asks them to uphold the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Also, donate to Hong Kong Watch, "a UK-based registered charity which researches and monitors threats to Hong Kong’s basic freedoms, the rule of law and autonomy as promised under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle..."
🇪🇺 For EU residents/citizens
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Urge them to pass Joint Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Hong Kong (RC-9-2019-0013_EN)
🇨🇭 For Swiss residents/citizens
Contact the EDA or Ignazio Cassius, or your representatives in the National Council or Council of States:
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Urge them to make a statement in support of the protesters in Hong Kong and against the excessive police violence there.
🇯🇵 For Japanese residents/citizens
Sign these petitions:
🇰🇷 For South Korean residents/citizens
Contact members of the parliament to express concern about and solidarity with the protesters of Hong Kong:
Post a petition to the Blue House.
🇦🇺 For Australian residents/citizens
Sign the parliamentary petitions below. (Note: they "will not publish your information online, but your name will be included in the final petition presented to the House of Representatives.")
(EN1032) Add Human Rights Clauses to Trade Agreement with Hong Kong (closes October 9th)(Petition closed.)(EN1029) Bring Hong Kong's predicament to the United Nations Human Rights Council (closes October 9th)(Petition closed.)
🇹🇼 For Taiwanese residents/citizens
Contact your legislator (find them using this or this website):
- Tell them you are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong.
- Urge them to make a statement that they will protect Hong Kong's political offenders and protesters.
Donate supplies to Fridays for the Future, PCT (contact them) that has been batch mailing them to Hong Kong.
(Taiwan information via chihao & co.).
🇳🇱 For Dutch residents/citizens
Contact politicians to express your concerns and ask for support and solidarity. Ask for political support from the government for the protests in the form of a motion:
- Groenlinks
- VVD
- CDA
- D66
- Ministerie van buitenlandse zaken
- Send a message to Stef Blok Minister of Foreign Affairs on Twitter.
🤳🏼 Spread the word on social media
Some tips on spreading the word on social media:
- Don't post unverified information.
- Post trigger warnings before revealing images of blood and violence.
- Think about your audience: Do your friends really want to read seven heavily-captioned posts, or do they prefer a single post summary?
- Engage carefully with friends & family: Sometimes it's best to agree to disagree and move on for now.
- Engage carefully (or not at all) with the trolls: Do you really need to win that argument on the internet with someone you don't know?
More about this by Reddit user @vikingbiochemist: Don't drown the signal in noise: Unsolicited advice for the fine people of this sub from a PR professional.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Send us your suggestions of other ways to help on email or by making a GitHub pull request to this project.