Lausan’s mission has always been to share left perspectives about Hong Kong; writing on local struggles in Hong Kong, critiquing right-wing tendencies within the movement, and analyzing the complex geopolitical space that the city occupies. While our online publication has been a critical platform for us as a collective, Lausan is also more than that. Since coming together as a group, we’ve hosted panels and webinars, made art interventions, and collaborated with other leftist organizations around the world.
A major part of this work has been building solidarity abroad with Chinese immigrants and international students. We’ve organized with the Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco to counter narratives of Sinophobia in the US, and have worked with CEEP, Chinatown Art Brigade, as well as Chinatown organizations to share our perspective about Hong Kong. With the goal of building lasting solidarity, we’ve worked closely with college students to facilitate dialogue between Mainland international students and Hongkongers.
2019 was a tremendous year for dozens of anti-establishment movements around the world. Relating these movements to Hong Kong has been central to our work. That’s why we hosted a webinar with Seattle’s Pacific Rim Solidarity Network (Parisol) to give US-based organizers a platform to share their experiences of police brutality with Hong Kong activists. That’s also why we co-organized a panel with Puerto Rican activists and academics, Professor Yarimar Bonilla and Dr. Rocío Zambrana, to theorize sovereignty and its limitations in this era of nation states.
Lausan Collective is also composed of artists and creatives who have been making work about Hong Kong in creative ways. In November of last year, we participated in the Museum of Modern Art’s “R&D Salon #34: Anger,” where we produced a video about Hong Kong’s collective rage. Our members have also spoken at film festivals about the Hong Kong movement and contributed works to other curatorial projects.
Whether it’s organizing with local Chinatowns, hosting transnational solidarity events, or making creative interventions, we want to bring you closer to the work that we’ve been doing off the page and on the ground. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, this work is more urgent than ever. This is why we’re excited to announce the Lausan Blog.
