Thread by @doctorow

Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement has been routed by China's brutal, authoritarian government. The #612strike movement went into high gear on Jun 12, 2019 and endless months, the protesters embodied indomitable spirit, technological shrewdness, and creative exuberance.

1/

For many of us supporting the protests from abroad, the most iconic images weren't the street-battles or the masks, but rather, the incredible visual art of the movement, which saw the city plastered with #BeWater posters:

archive.org/details/HongKo…

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Today, those poster-walls are erased, with only their ghosts lingering: painted over rectangles, scraps of glue and wheatpaste. They speak loudly. As @HongKongHermit says in their thread of images, "I can still hear you."

https://twitter.com/HongKongHermit/status/1314536637762764802

3/

If you follow my work, you know that every day I do a retrospective of still-significant blog headlines from 1 year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, and fifteen years ago:

twitter.com/search?q=from%…

twitter.com/search?q=from%…

twitter.com/search?q=from%…

twitter.com/search?q=from%…

4/

Reviewing these old posts every morning is an important part of how I understand world events. Revisiting the things that frightened, inspired, excited and puzzled your earlier selves is a very powerful way to putting the events of today into perspective.

5/

My Hong Kong uprising posts were in my retrospectives all summer long, as we rolled through the anniversaries of so many victories and defeats. Seeing these erased, haunted walls this morning on Twitter was like a punch in the chest.

eof/