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About Lausan

For generations, Hongkongers have resisted Western and Chinese imperialisms in an ongoing struggle against dispossession, exploitation, and erasure. Competing and successive imperial regimes have subordinated Hong Kong to their capitalist interests, constraining Hong Kong’s ability to build their own political futures. Worse yet, local capitalist elites have been more than willing to profit from this geopolitical entanglement.

Under these daunting conditions, the Hong Kong left has struggled to maintain a foothold in the mainstream. Though what constitutes “the left” in Hong Kong is far from clear, we hold the multiple meanings of this term and political category together in tension. Nevertheless, the left has been an active presence in Hong Kong’s history of direct action and political mobilization, from the dockworkers’ strike in 2013 to the grassroots resistance against the gentrification of Lee Tung Street. In this most recent uprising, Hongkongers have attacked the Emergency Regulation Ordinance, the Hong Kong Police Force and the rigged Legislative Council, all colonial holdovers defined by the collusion of government and business. We believe that by challenging these institutions, Hongkongers are laying the foundation for a decolonial politics. 

Through writing, translating, and organizing, we build transnational left solidarity and struggle for ways of life beyond the dictates of capital and the state. To that end, we hold multiple imperialisms to account. Trapped in the inter-imperial rivalry between the US and PRC, we see Hong Kong as an apt site from which to critique nationalism, neoliberal extraction, and the nation-state form, both here and elsewhere. Because our work is international in scope, we believe a radical imagination of Hong Kong’s future must center cross-border solidarity based on class struggle, migrant justice, anti-racism, and feminism.

傘 (“san”) is the character for umbrella, referencing our ongoing critical engagement with Hong Kong’s social movements. 流傘 is also a homophone of 流散 (decentralized/diaspora), referencing our dispersal across the world. Lausan is a collective of writers, translators, artists, and organizers. We have no founders, only members. We are 100% independent and volunteer-run.

關於流傘

世世代代的香港人一直在種種剝奪、剝削與抹殺之下，堅持不懈地抵抗西方和中國的帝國主義。接二連三的帝國政權在國際舞台上對弈的過程中不斷把香港壓制在一個以利益為中心、資本競爭為首的困局，持續地縮窄香港自定政治前途的各種可能。香港本土資本家從這地緣政治中乘機獲利更是雪上加霜。

在這般艱困的狀況之下，香港的「左翼」難以在政治主流中維持立足點，而它的構成與界限至今亦尚未明朗。然而，從2007年利東街居民反市區拆遷的民間抗爭以至2013年碼頭工人對抗低薪高風險工作的工潮可見，左翼是香港社會運動與政治動員中不可忽視的力量。香港人近年對抗的權力機制──例如：「緊急情況規例條例」、香港警察、受企業操縱的立法會──正是政府與資本勾結形成的惡果及殖民政權的遺害。我們深信香港人在抵抗此威權暴力的同時也奠定了解殖政治的基礎。

透過寫作、翻譯、以及串連運動，我們意圖建立一個跨國左翼團結的網絡，並且為了捍衛不受資本與國家專制拘束的生活而奮力抗爭，挑戰多源的帝國主義。正因為長期被挾持在美中帝國鬥爭之間，香港也成了批判國族主義、剝削性新自由主義、民族國家形態的最佳切入點。這種批判自然是國際性的，所以任何對於香港未來的進步化或基進想像，都必須先立足於跨越邊界的階級鬥爭、主張移工權、反種族歧視和提倡女性主義等等的跨國團結。

「傘」取自雨傘，意味著我們對於香港民主自決運動的相互反思與批判。 「流傘」也是 「流散」的諧音，除了體現我們跨國離散的處境，還隱喻反建制抗爭中去中心化之原則。流傘合作社並沒有創始人，只有橫向組織的成員，包括作家、翻譯者、藝術家和社會運動者。我們是一個百分之百志願者管理的獨立團體。

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Photo: Alex Yun for Lausan.