We're about to cover a HK solidarity panel: Our Voices Under Oppression: Human Rights And The Authoritarian State. Main speaker is Anastasia Lin, who was denied entry to China in 2015 for speaking out about human rights, plus Uyghur, Tibetan, Taiwanese, & HK speakers.
We're curious how Canada will be portrayed in this panel. Other HK solidarity events breeze by the state's violences to prop it up as a benevolent patron of "human rights" whose rightful role is to defend its bourgeois & colonial values globally.
Hopefully there will be space for anti-colonial & anti-imperial critique of the Canadian state. Time will tell! Panel should begin shortly.
Sherry Wong, ED of Alliance Canada HK, begins with land acknowledgement. Says that settlers must reflect on their privileges-our duty is to support Indigenous communities to decolonize & extend solidarity to Indigenous communities worldwide. 
First up: Anastasia Lin
Wong: You moved to Canada from China as teen. How did you confront the ideas you learned about the world from China? Lin: It took years to undo indoctrination. Education in China reduces 5,000 of culture into political slogans.
Lin: My father is a successful businessman, mom is a uni professor. These are they types that are encouraged to join the CCP. I had privilege to be an elite in communist society. Indoctrination continues through Confucius Institutes in the West.
Lin argues that mainland Chinese ppl are indoctrinated & have "subconscious" identifications w/ the CCP. This rhetoric seems to exceptionalize the role of ideology in China-as if Canadians aren't indoctrinated by settler-colonial, bourgeois ideology.
Lin says she never learned about Tiananmen Massacre & much of what she learned about history was wrong. But where do we find the truth of 20th ce Chinese history? Why has the CCP been repressing young Maoists over the past few years?
Lin's solution to indoctrination: individuals need to de-brainwash themselves. The question here is what is the alternative to CCP propaganda? Surely Western propaganda is just as corrupt & laden w/ violent contradictions.
Wong: A lot of CCP supporters come to pro-democracy events to harass attendees. We believe this is driven by misinformation by CCP. How can we reveal the truth? Lin: Some of it is misinformation, but it's communism hidden in patriotism. And they're getting paid.
Lin: It's important to get the authorities' protection. You need to say this country protects rule of law, human dignity, & freedom of speech. [Would land defenders facing down the RCMP in Wet'suwet'en territory agree?].
Lin ends by saying we need to be vigilant because our freedoms are being eroded.
Next: HK, Uyghur, & Taiwanese panelists join the stage
Speaker from Taiwan: My work in Canada is about protecting what I have & protecting it from being eroded & falling into the state of China & HK. I have my democratic countries to fall back on [CA + Taiwan]. I have freedom of speech, Charter Rights—I can trust them to do that.
Uyghur speaker: I'm from occupied East Turkestan. Came to Vancouver at 5. Lucky to have democracy & freedom in Canada. My advocacy is limited because I have family back in East Turkestan, some in camps.
Uyghur speaker: I'm also limited by Canada and China's economic relationship.
HK speaker: I'm privileged because I'm Canadian. We have freedom of speech & freedom of assembly. My rights were attempted to be suppressed, like by anti-HK protestors taking photos of us. Whether you're Canadian or not, if you're on Canadian soil you have to respect our values.
HK speaker: Even if I disagree with pro-China protestors, I support their freedom of speech & freedom of assembly.
Despite the brief nod to solidarity w/ Indigenous ppl at the beginning of the panel, there seems to be a consensus that Canada is a free & democratic society for all who live here. We're reminded of this passage by Cesaire:
Wong: Why are so many Western politicians wooed by the CCP? Lin: Politics is driven by media & culture & public awareness. We can influence that. We need to expose the truth.
Taiwanese speaker: Reason is money. It costs money to exist. Uyghur speaker: It's mainly money. We have to remind the politicians that the money they're receiving is blood money. [Panelists seem to be suggesting that politicians are bribed by CCP directly??]
Wong: How can we support those oppressed from Canada? Taiwanese speaker: Speak up. Talk to MPs, mayors, MLAs. Vote for a government that will support your cause and human rights. Lin: Voice support.
Did the Taiwanese speaker just contrast speaking against China w/ speaking against climate change to argue that the latter has no agent that can repress you? Have they heard of Indigenous land defenders?
Crowd's questions largely evince a moral panic about CCP "infiltration", hope the moderator chooses to ask this one: "Can you speak to the bigger forces of global capitalism [that] influences genocide and the search for power that keeps oppression in place? China is one player."
One audience Q is "Do you think our Canadian government has the obligation to ensure our immigrants and foreign students to not only follow our rule of laws but to understand, learn, and practice our basic morals and values such as freedom of speech and human rights?" -_______-
Audience Q: Why don't a lot of Chinese ppl & even the world not know about Uyghurs? Uyghur speaker: Money. There's a sense of power that CCP is giving people so they won't speak on it.
That's the end of the panel. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to ask panelists how they reconcile their characterizations of Canada as "free" & "democratic" w/ Canada's ongoing, genocidal occupation of Indigenous land. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sorry to have misspelled @chercywong's name & missed the others': Jane Li (VHKPOActs - part of @alliancecanhk), Shalina Nurly (Vancouver Uyghurs Association), & June Liu (speaking about Taiwan).
