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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • [CHANTING]

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Right now China's

  • dealing with one of the largest political uprisings

  • it's seen since the horrific events

  • of Tiananmen Square in 1989.

  • This footage was shot last week in the streets of Hong Kong.

  • LIZZIE: You can see right there that the police started firing

  • tear gas into the crowds of peaceful protesters.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Dozens and dozens of people

  • have been injured.

  • But this is not 1989, and visibility of social media

  • is a huge reason people are hoping

  • this isn't going to turn into another Tiananmen.

  • LIZZIE: Exactly.

  • From hashtags to viral videos, student protesters in Hong Kong

  • are using everything they've seen

  • succeed since the Arab Spring.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Protests began with a student boycott

  • on September 22, after communist China reneged

  • on their promise of free and fair elections in Hong Kong

  • by 2017.

  • LIZZIE: That didn't sit too well with the people

  • of Hong Kong, especially the young people.

  • [CHANTING]

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: The demonstrators are now

  • demanding the resignation of Hong Kong's top official,

  • and they're being pretty resourceful

  • about getting the word out.

  • LIZZIE: This plea for help was released soon

  • after the protests began, and it's already

  • been viewed well over a million times.

  • -As a Hong Konger standing here in Wan Chai, I ask all of you

  • from all over the world, please help us.

  • Maybe all of you are born from foreign and democracy states.

  • You were born with democracy choices.

  • You have free election right.

  • But we don't.

  • Please help us.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: And if it looks familiar,

  • it's because it uses almost the exact same format

  • as one of the biggest videos of the Ukrainian protests

  • earlier this year that has almost eight million views.

  • -I am the Ukrainian, the native of Kiev.

  • I want you to know why thousands of people all over my country

  • are on the streets.

  • We want our courts not to be corrupted.

  • We want to be free.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: It was posted in February

  • just after demonstrations in Kiev

  • exploded as a result of new anti-protest laws.

  • LIZZIE: Just like the drone footage

  • that we saw earlier in the show from Hong Kong, protesters

  • in Ukraine have used the same technique to really show

  • the full scope of the situation.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: To ever get a point of view like this before,

  • you would have to rent a helicopter, right?

  • And nobody would ever be allowed to rent a helicopter

  • in this type of a situation.

  • Now you throw up a drone, and you can literally

  • see hundreds of thousands of people just standing there.

  • LIZZIE: Yeah, I know.

  • It's incredible.

  • But people aren't just using video.

  • I mean, look at the Arab Spring.

  • That's when we started to realize

  • how crucial social tools like Twitter

  • are to relay information.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Also, in Venezuela back in February,

  • people started to protest about massive inflation,

  • food shortages, public safety, all

  • by using the hashtag SOSVenezuela.

  • [TEAR GAS AND RUBBER BULLETS FIRING]

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Ex-pat Haydee Izaguirre

  • started it by launching the SOS Venezuela Facebook

  • page as a way to keep connected with her homeland in spite

  • of massive government censorship there.

  • LIZZIE: Hashtags aren't the only way

  • we've seen people unify their message.

  • I mean, we all remember in Ferguson,

  • people rallied against police brutality like this.

  • -Hands up.

  • Don't shoot!

  • Hands up.

  • Don't shoot!

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: The chant "hands up, don't shoot"

  • became synonymous with the killing of Michael Brown,

  • the unarmed teen who was shot by a police officer

  • back in August.

  • LIZZIE: And some say the protesters in Hong Kong

  • may have adopted the gesture after the police there began

  • tear-gassing the peaceful demonstrators.

  • [CHANTING]

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: Just a week ago, China blocked Instagram

  • on the mainland.

  • And now they're heavily censoring

  • Weibo, their version of Twitter.

  • LIZZIE: With the government so intent on censoring

  • their people, things like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

  • are the only way we can actually get reliable information.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: We put together a playlist

  • to catch you up on all these stories

  • and to show you how to get involved.

  • You can start it here or at the end of the show.

  • LIZZIE: Also, don't forget, we'll

  • be in the comments tomorrow night from 6PM to 7PM

  • after the show, just to answer your questions and hang out.

  • JACOB SOBOROFF: We'll see you guys there.

  • But first, to play us out from Ferguson, Prince Ea.

  • -Along with being smart, we all have to look inside

  • and change our hearts.

  • And that goes for white, black, ghetto, suburban, policemen,

  • and civilian.

  • No matter what costumes we put on or characters

  • we like to play, we're all humans at the end of the day.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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