Karen Cheung at the NY Times:
Everyone wants to know how this is going to end, but no one has an answer. I know this: We are going to be living with the consequences of trauma for years. They can scrub the walls clean of the graffiti, but the horrific images will continue to eat away at us: a protester shot at point-blank range; a tear-gas canister erupting onto someone’s back, burning the flesh blue-black; a man pressed to the ground, bleeding profusely and teeth knocked out; a pair of punctured eye goggles. The trials for those who participated in the 79-day Umbrella Movement in 2014 have only just ended. We will spend the next couple of years watching the government throw hundreds, if not thousands, in jail.
Brian Leung, an activist who took off his mask and addressed the crowd occupying the legislature in July, said in an interview that what defined and united Hong Kongers was pain. I think we are now a generation defined and united by trauma. We hang on and let life bring us slivers of peace. When we’re done coping, we look again. We owe it to Hong Kong.
more here.