Open Source Organizational Methods of the Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Movement

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Oiwan Lam, citing prof. Francis Li:

"The anti-extradition campaign was kickstarted with a rally on April 28 hosted by the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), a local NGO coalition. The massive rallies on June 9 and June 16 were also hosted by CHRF as the law requires that all demonstrations have a police permit. Moreover, the coalition has strong connections with the pan-democratic sector and Li adds that a majority of its supporters are political liberals and moderates.

In addition to a central organising platform, Li highlights the many other periphery protests and actions mobilized online through the LIHKG forum and Telegram mobile message channels. He was also quick to note that these spontaneous networks were not associated with the CHRF and the members of these platforms were not following instructions from the CHRF or any other pan-democrat lawmakers.

During the campaign, the public figures acted like facilitators by providing assistance to the already protesting crowds. Li states that if a public figure attempted to make a speech or give instructions in any way during the protests, the crowds would boo at them. They didn’t want to be led.

On the LIHKG forum and Telegram open groups, popular comments, and suggestions were pushed to the top. The protesters would use the platform for brainstorming protest ideas, and someone would pick up the most popular ones and form a team to follow up and draw a plan.

Li compared this method to a kind of open source technology organisation where someone proposes a central code and another person easily picks it up afterwards to develop their own products. A decentralised organisation model like this is considered more creative and effective. It encourages participation and the cost of failure is minimised as many teams are in operation and one or two failures would not affect the whole production line.

For Li, new communication platforms such as LIHKG and Telegram facilitate this type of decentralised organisation. Telegram allows for public channels with tens of thousands of subscribers while LIHKG’s Reddit-like crowd ranking function allows people to know opinions are the most popular.

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According to the survey done on June 21, among the young protesters, 86-89 per cent found telegram to be an important communication channel for organising.

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According to Li, the decentralised organisational model works well for single-issue defensive campaigns but it might not necessarily be the best long-term approach. After the government redraws the bill and the campaign puts forward a list of new demands, without a centralized organizing body, it would be difficult to negotiate with the government as no one can represent the campaign." (https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/21/organisation-future-hong-kongs-open-source-anti-extradition-law-movement/)