Fighting Words (Part 3)

21 May, 2026

The third part of the thread started in Fighting Words (Part 1) and continued in Fighting Words (Part 2).

Most of the below appeared/ became prominent from November 2019 and beyond. They also are a bit different in flavour as the fire-and-brimstone and fatalistic slogans documented in Fighting Words (Part 2). They are still indescribably angry, but many also are looking back to the real fundamentals of why HK revolted - and I don't mean just for the city, but the reasons why people struggle against power - and beyond the barricades of what happens after the defeat.

Is it sad? As a HKer, yes. Are there regrets? As a HKer, no. 寧願最後徒勞無功 也不選擇無動於衷, 因爲我哋真係好撚鐘意香港.

C: 香港人, 反抗!
E: "HKers, resist!"/"HKers, revolt!"

'反抗!' became the new '加油!' on exactly 4th Oct 2019 when the HK govt implemented the anti-mask law under old colonial laws (yes, it was ironic). Because the law was targeted at protestors masking up* - and many were, even woleifei at peaceful gatherings - HKers got extremely pissed off at what seemed like another right taken away, another step towards authoritarianism. It also explains why there were a lot of masks in the 香港人, 反抗! mansuen. It was artists saying 'fuck off, we have the right'.

The phrase would evolve once again in November with the death of Alex Chow. But we will get to that.

*It lead to the rather strange position during COVID when masking was both against the law, and required by policy. The contradiction basically meant arbitrary (or not so arbitrary) enforcement: if the authorities have an axe to grind, mask or not, you could be arrested.

**You'd notice the last example below doesn't say 香港人, 反抗! but instead says 記者們, 反抗! Or, 'Journalists, resist!' The pro-democracy movement mostly considered the HK press as allies in the fight against authoritarianism than a neutral party, even if they are impartial. And they would be correct. But a thread for another day.

You pass the law, we start the war
This is not really a protest slogan, not in any meaningful sense. But it popped up right after the anti-mask law and I think illustrates how far HKers have shifted in terms of how they thought about themselves and the movement.

While as early on the protests, citizens really emphasized the peaceful nature of the movement and bristled at the idea that protestors were rioting (remember, one of the original 5 Demands was for the government to retract calling protesters 'rioters'), by October 2019, you had some going 'Yep, we own this. That's us. We're ready to go to war against the regime.' It was long past the time to be embarrassed about being called rioters, they are soldiers now.

C: 不是有希望才堅持 是堅持才有希望 (or some variant)
E: Persist not because there's hope - persist so that there can be hope

From Oct 2019 onwards, HK pro-democracy slogans tart to drip with a sense of sadness. Outsiders may not entirely appreciate this, but while HKers are idealistic when the protests started, they were realistic. I don't think anyone ever truly thought the city could ever win against the might of Beijing. That said! As this slogan suggests, the uprising was never because there was a hope in the world for success in the fight for true suffrage. The revolution had always been about defying the central government to create a space where whatever hope HKers may have for a better world can live on. So that we can fight another day - that's what we did after Umbrella after all. But also so that those who come after us can find inspiration, just as HKers did from June 4th, from the Baltics, from Chile from etc... Those who struggle do not struggle alone.

C: 你若放棄 誰衛我城 (or some variant)
E: If you give up, who will defend our city?

See Part 1 at Fighting Words (Part 1) See Part 2 at Fighting Words (Part 2) See Part 4 at Fighting Words (Part 4)

#slogans