Hong Kong Outlanders
社團法人台灣香港邊城青年
The Hong Kong Outlanders were formed during the 2019 demonstrations against the extradition bill in Hong Kong by a group of Hong Kong young people. Our work primarily consists of seeking to connect Hongkonger groups, with Taiwan locally and internationally. This includes researching Hong Kong policy and advocacy on such policy, including asylum policy for young people who have not yet come ashore.
Those who came to Taiwan for work or study may have come to know society in the course of their lives. Gradually Taiwan is no longer a foreign land, but home, and they hope to stay here. In the course of the 2019 demonstrations, we believe that there were things we could do from outside. From sending protest supplies to Hong Kong starting in July, or the 929 Support Hong Kong and Oppose Authoritarianism demonstrations, tens of thousands of Hongkongers in Taiwan aimed to support Hong Kong.
Our activities include public gatherings, flash mobs, talks, Lennon Walls, shows, discussions, youth camps, screenings, and other means of promoting Hong Kong issues. With the passage of the National Security Law in 2020, we have come to cautiously reflect on our future in Taiwan. In 2021, we continued to assist with allowing Hongkongers to speak about their experiences.
"What took place in the past continues to take place and it takes place next to you". Hong Kong's past has gradually come to disappear under totalitarianism. In 2022, we began the GUAKALI: Hong Kong Life Stories Book Project to allow speakers from Hong Kong to pass through Taiwan, to pass on Hong Kong culture and its recollection.
"Because this is a struggle between freedom and dictatorship, as well as between human rights and personal gain." The Hong Kong Outlanders are also concerned with civil society issues internationally, whether local issues in Taiwan, the resistance of Tibetans, supporting Burma, or supporting the A4 Movement in China, you can see our shadow. In the spirit of pursuing democracy and freedom, we hope to connect with partners in civil society from each and every corner, to stand together. To allow Hongkongers to continue the spirit of resistance in our movement, we will require more thinking on universal human values.
“Even heavy rain can never wash away the determination and persistence of the Hong Kong people. “
The group concerned with political refugees changed its name to the Hong Kong Outlanders and began to take public stances for Hong Kong.
With the outbreak of major protests in Hong Kong in June 2019, opposing the passage of laws that would have allowed for extraditions to China--abbreviated as the Anti-ELAB Movement--Hong Kong college and graduate students in Taiwan formed a group concerned with political refugees.
With the passage of the National Security Law, the Chinese government clamps down on Hongkongers' ability to organize events. To protest this, the Hong Kong Outlanders formally registered as an organization in Taiwan.
Hong Kong lecturers were invited to various high schools and junior highs in Taiwan to tell their life stories of Hong Kong, as well as what took place once they no longer had the democratic freedoms they once enjoyed. They also showed books unable to be sold in Hong Kong alongside books that were formerly banned in Taiwan, to allow participants to understand Hong Kong's past history and present.
A research plan was launched to investigate Hong Kong issues and policies, using three different methods including questionnaires, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups to collect more than 500 responses from Taiwanese and Hong Kongers in Taiwan.
