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Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
cykonot@mas.to ("Cykonot") wrote:

Hong Kong protestors say:

"Do Not Split."

Do not condemn the people on your side who embrace tactics you disagree with.

Do. Not. Split.
#doNotSplit

Yet if the movement is leaderless and anarchic, it isn't chaotic. It has guiding principles that allow participants to self- regulate even as the movement constantly reinvents itself. Among those principles is ("do not split"). Protesters use the expression to say that no one in the movement should condemn or obstruct the actions of fellow protesters they disagree with. People who oppose a given action should sit it out, but not try to prevent it.
The use of force, in particular, is a divisive issue. Some insist on the necessity of keeping the protests peaceful, so that they will seem morally legitimate and may gain sympathy from the broader public. Others — especially younger protesters or protesters who consider that the lengthy sit-ins of the Umbrella Movement failed — believe that some measure of force has become necessary; otherwise, the government will simply ignore them. The “do not split” idea acts as a bridge between these two factions by promoting mutual respect for diverging views within the protest movement.