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The 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre is three weeks away. It'll be the 6th w/ all commemoration banned in Hong Kong. This looks back at the past five--2020-2024: dozens of arrests, prosecutions & imprisonments. open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

Former pro-democracy District Councillor Katrina Chan has published an account, here translated, of being fired from a job & a play in which she was acting all within 24 hours. It says much about the dynamics of repression & complicity in Hong Kong today. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/katrina-chan…

Four more of the HK45 have been released: Jimmy Sham, Kinda Li, Roy Tam & Henry Wong. Now eight in all. I've started this new post to track the releases; it'll be updated as more get out. Five more are projected to be released in July & August 2025. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/updates-on-t…

Intense repression in the past 3 days in Hong Kong: 2 arrests & 10 detentions for commemorating June 4 + arrests of 4 student union leaders, Joshua Wong & 5 for "bomb hoax" & promoting HK & Taiwan independence. This puts it all together in a timeline. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/intense-repr…

Jimmy Sham was released from prison on May 30. Since then, he's given two full interviews. This is a translation of the second. He discusses negotiating the "red lines" in the new authoritarian Hong Kong & the pain & difficulties of his prison experience. open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

On the same day HK-based China Labour Bulletin announced its sudden closure, the Hong Kong government announced for the 1st time a "joint operation" btw HK national security police & China's secret NS office in HK. What's going on?briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/what-happene…

On the longest day of the year, here are 11 books worth reading from the first half of 2025, as well as four older ones + some I hope to read in the second half of the year. Happy midsummer! open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

With the atmosphere for freedom of expression so suffocating in the new authoritarian Hong Kong, it's important to hear the voices of HKers who still dare to speak out, like playwright Candace Chong on the HK gov't's campaign to root out "soft resistance." open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

I worked w nearly every pro-democracy group in Hong Kong but it was LSD I felt closest to: their punk spirit, street politics, solidarity w the underdog. As Long Hair said, “Dude, the worst thing in life is to give up halfway. The 2nd worst is to kneel.” briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/memories-of-…

Over my now 5 years in the Hong Kong diaspora, I've been exasperated at how little progress has been made in political organization & development. The other day I heard Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on the radio, & it inspired me to give this piece a try. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/what-can-hon…

Western govts’ support for rights is mostly rhetorical. The US is now an active, serial rights abuser. Intl orgs are AWOL or increasingly ineffectual & irrelevant. People'll keep fighting for rights but the question's how in this new as-yet-undefined era. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/the-end-of-t…

Some Hong Kongers' solidarity w/ Ukraine has waned; some won't support Palestinians because the Palestinian Authority supported the NSL; some opposed Navalny. We shouldn’t pick & choose which oppressed people are worthy of our support. Stand w/ them all. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/oppressed-pe…

The past week's seen an outpouring of support for 4 Hong Kong girls orphaned by their mother's sudden death in Texas on Aug 19. They'd just arrived in the US as refugees in Jan. The generosity's commendable, but worthy HK diaspora groups are underfunded. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/not-just-ano…

Playwright Candace Chong has just made her 3rd post about the negative effects on the arts in HK of the regime's campaign against "soft resistance," using her own story to reveal its insidious censorship & blacklisting. A classic. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/candace-chon…

In 2025 I've made a conscious effort to present voices of Hong Kongers living under repression; this, at a time, when it's hard to find any voices (in English) of people living in HK, except sound bites. This post is a list of my translations, with links. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/hong-kong-vo…

Hong Kong political prisoner Tam Tak-chi's serving a total of 93 months in prison for shouting slogans at protests (sedition) & running as a candidate in a pro-democracy primary (subversion). Here's a report on a recent prison visit, both funny & sad. open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

Hong Kong political prisoner Owen Chow’s Patreon acct has published a text he wrote in February. “The Transformation of Solitude” is about how spending 3 years in solitary confinement, from age 24 to 27, taught him repentance & gratitude. Full translation: briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/hong-kong-po…

In the past five years, quite a few Hong Kong books have come out. Is a new HK literature emerging? And how important would that be to the struggle for freedom, decolonization & self-determination? open.substack.com/pub/briankernk…

Prisoner aid org Bonham Tree did this interview w a recently released young Hong Kong political prisoner about his challenges & goals in post-prison life. So far this year, 155 political prisoners have gotten out. Aiding their transition is a top priority. briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/an-interview…

6 years ago Cheung Man-lung was among 388 pro-democracy candidates elected to District Councils in a landslide victory at the height of the 2019 mass protests. Now he’s a bus driver. Amidst massive political crackdown, this is how he got from there to here briankernkongtsunggan.substack.com/p/from-distric…