SECOND TAKE
THE GUARDIAN: Constant adaptation the name of the game in protests
Activists worldwide have drawn on tactics and fluid methods used in Hong Kong
There is something uncannily familiar about the courageous protests against the military coup in Myanmar. They echo the country’s previous expressions of antimilitary defiance, but also evoke other scenes that played out more than 1,000km away. The helmets worn by those on the front line, the walls bedecked with scrawled slogans on colourful sticky notes, and the flashmob-style demonstrations, are all straight from the playbook of activists in Hong Kong in 2019. Literally, a manual of tactics, translated into Burmese, was shared thousands of times on social media.
The same trend was evident in Thailand, where prodemocracy protesters have demanded reforms to the monarchy and the removal of the prime minister, and it is not just an Asian phenomenon. Demonstrators in Belarus also held up umbrellas as security forces fired teargas. In Lebanon, they too used tennis rackets to hit back teargas canisters. Activists worldwide have drawn not only upon specific tactics used in Hong Kon...
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