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Joshua Wong, Secretary-General of the democratic youth movement Demosisto, tweeted a supportive post of Animal Crossing: New Horizons protest art on March 27. "I play the game, I just bought it a few days ago," he says in a call on Monday. "For lots of people around the world who play this game, they have to put their ideal life into the game, and for Hong Kongers, we have to put our protest movement and our protest sites inside the game."
This is the first time that Wong, 23, is playing an Animal Crossing game. On a normal day, he's an avid Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. fan. "Frankly speaking, without the coronavirus, I don't believe Hong Kongers would go through such a tremendous effort in decorating their islands to be a protest site," he says. After the outbreak of the coronavirus, he explains, it was difficult to organize physical gatherings. "We set up a livestreamed online assembly, but livestream assembly is still a bit...boring. With a new game out, we can have virtual protests, and we just have to use our creativity to make a new kind of protest tool." Is Wong making protest art of his own? "Yes, of course," he says, though he doesn't feel it's ready to be shown yet. "I'm not professional enough, I'm still collecting trees."
The group on the beach is made up of players from Hong Kong and they’re whacking pictures of Carrie Lam, their head of government. A banner laid out in front of them is familiar to anyone who followed news out of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory last year. The flag reads “Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now.”
But the demonstrations have stalled since Covid-19 first appeared in China late last year and spread across the globe. The pandemic gave the Hong Kong government, which called many of the demonstrations unlawful, an excuse to impose a lockdown, which it used to further crack down on pro-democracy activists. More than 8,000 people have been arrested since the beginning of the protests.
Like the rest of the world, Hong Kongers have taken to playing the newest version of Animal Crossing as a welcome escape. And they have brought their protest message and art with them.
“Animal Crossing is a place without political censorship so it is a good place to continue our fight,” says pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who is widely regarded as the face of the city’s 2014 Umbrella Movement. Wong remains an important figure in the current protests. “Even lawmakers in Hong Kong are playing this game,” he says.
Wong, who is the secretary-general of pro-democracy party Demosistō says he recently started playing the game himself. In a screenshot of his island, his character is standing in front of a tiny hut in jeans and what look like Timberland boots, holding a hatchet in his hands. His garden is decorated with a big black protest banner and portraits of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Carrie Lam, as well as a pink cherry tree in full bloom.
“Since the setting of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is that players start their life on a deserted island, we can decorate the island any way we like, and share the message we want to tell the world,” says Li, a student in her 20s, who did not want to give her full name.
The game allows players to design their own artwork and clothes and share them via QR codes. Hong Kong activists have used this to recreate their movement’s iconic designs and share them on social media and LIHKG, a local equivalent to Reddit that is popular with protesters.
Fung, another Hong Konger in her 30s who only wanted to give her last name, says she recently started creating her own protest-themed clothes in the game, which she then shares with friends.
“I just draw the thing I most care about and love, just like someone draws their (pop) idols … I draw 連狗連豬,” she says in a Facebook message, referring to Hong Kong’s unofficial protest mascots, a pig and a dog. “One of the selling points of Animal Crossing is that you have the freedom to do anything on your island.”
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USGamer - Animal Crossing: New Horizons is Fast Becoming a New Way for Hong Kong Protesters to Fight for Democracy
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/animal-crossing-new-horizons-is-fast-becoming-a-new-way-for-hong-kong-protesters-to-fight-for-democracy
星期一晚,我應邀請去參觀一個香港抗爭主題無人島。起機場門口迎接我嘅,係著住抗爭裝備嘅V仔。
迎接我嘅,係二月支持率淨返9.1%嘅林鄭、垃圾袋、同擺位好巧妙嘅糞便化石。抗爭口號亦都隨處可見,遊戲世界變成另類「連儂牆」
HeungYan:「動物森友會依家係全球熱門話題,我諗住藉著依個機會等多啲人可以同時關注香港。」
香港有一樣野叫「黃絲」同「藍絲」,曾經試過有黃色食店被蒙面人士破壞,唔少人都懷疑兇手係政府支持者。 而遊戲方面,HeungYan就話通常佢地會由外地入口,或者買下載版遊戲,或者幫襯黃色小店。