Samuel Chan | Reconnecting people despite losing others - support through personal interactions
Samuel Chan is an organiser of Conversations with the Courageous, a volunteer group that aims to raise awareness and support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement through personal interactions with local people in San Francisco.
He is also an organiser of the Hong Kong Affairs Association of Berkeley, a group that aims to raise awareness of issues related to democracy and human rights in Hong Kong among students at the University of California, Berkeley, and the general public.
Samuel was born and raised in Hong Kong. He was previously involved in the Umbrella Movement in 2014 and is now studying for a PhD in Political Science at UC Berkeley.
He also participated in Hong Kong’s protests in the summer of 2019.
“The whole movement has been a reconnecting experience for a lot of people, despite losing some others along the way.”
Journalist: Totoro
Illustrator: vanessalai.design
During the summer, I worked with a group of students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). We would do outreach in Hong Kong almost every single day, as well as provide supplies for frontline protesters.
One of the benefits of doing similar work in San Francisco is that we are helping to fill in the cracks for people who might not have the full picture of what is happening in Hong Kong from international media. Having conversations helps them to catch up with events as well as address any concerns that are not discussed in the wider media.
Another advantage is that the conversations we have help us connect with other organisations and build up coalitions, which often helps action to be taken, rather than trying to reach your goals alone. I have had discussions with groups from Tibet, minorities in Taiwan, and civil rights groups in the US, in order to understand each other’s difficulties and work together to solve them.
Some people come up to us when we do our outreach and say, “this is pointless!” and walk off, but otherwise we very rarely get an aggressive response from anyone.
Personally, my parents have always been moderate Democrats. When I was younger they took me to the marches on 1 Jul 2003*, so I consider myself lucky that they are supportive.
However, not everyone has that safety net. I have provided housing for my friends who can’t go home because their families disagree with the movement.
On July first this year, a student came into a CUHK meeting crying after a huge argument with her parents about her decision to join the protests. They said, “If you leave, you will no longer be considered our daughter”, but she left anyway.
I have also had to block some of my old friends who have been supportive of the police, but on the whole, the movement has helped me reconnect with some of my old friends in Hong Kong as we have gone through this experience together.
At the protests on 12 Jun** when the police shot lots of tear gas and used rubber bullets for the first time, I realised later that my cousins, high school classmates, and other people I knew had all been there. However, we did not recognise each other under our masks and goggles.
The whole movement has been a reconnecting experience for a lot of people, despite losing some others along the way.
Overall, I am optimistic. I do believe there is a way to ‘win’ domestically, but while I don’t think it is possible to overwhelm the police, frequent activity and strikes will wear down the government and help move things in the right direction.
I am less hopeful about international help. However, it is a long-term project and I see the outreach work we do as deepening that global support base.
Until then, I have trust in my fellow HongKongers.
“I’m Samuel, I am a HKer.”
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*On 1 July 2003, HongKongers protested the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill 2003, an attempt by the HK government to amend ordinances related to Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law which governs treason, secession, and subversion against the Central People’s Government of China. The bill was later shelved indefinitely following the protests.
**On 12 June 2019, protesters gathered to oppose a reading of Hong Kong’s extradition bill by the Legislative Council. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protests but the reading of the bill was called off.