@lokman.org
writer, (recovering) academic, amateur activist. teach at graduate institute of journalism, national taiwan university. fellow @citizenlab.ca. he/him. writing a personal history of home and authoritarianism.
Historian of French Revolution here to say that in periods like this, squeamish compromisers do as much to drive radicalization as do ideologues. If you keep making excuses for the unfit king, eventually folks come for you and him.
Graph from NetBlocks showing network connectivity in Iran from February 24, 2026, to March 8, 2026. The y-axis represents normalized connectivity, ranging from 0% to 100%, and the x-axis represents the dates. The green line representing Iran's connectivity normal most of the time period, with a sharp drop on the morning of February 28. The drop in connectivity aligns with nation-scale internet blackout imposed during joint military strikes by the US and Israel. The minimum and current connectivity levels are indicated as 1% and 1%, respectively. The chart has a dark background with a red horizontal arrow labeled 'SHUTDOWN', indicates the period of disruption and includes the NetBlocks logo in the lower left corner.
โ ๏ธ Update: It's Sunday morning in #Iran where the internet blackout continues into its second week, with the incident entering its ninth day at hour 192.
Though technical infrastructure remains operational, only a heavily controlled domestic intranet is available to residents.
if you're in taipei, come join @thinkpanzer.bsky.social and me for a chat on how to improve journalist safety.
it's the first event im organising as a newly minted prof at the graduate institute of journalism at national taiwan university.
register here docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
"He says the federation will work with the Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism to obtain assurances for the independence of conference planners and participants."
These societies and organisations are GONGOs, funded and run through a system of state-led patronage.
โYou are going to โpromoteโ journalism in a place that works actively against itโ
why i think it doesnโt make sense for the world federation of science journalists to hold their conference in china.
www.science.org/content/arti...
A court on Thursday used Hong Kong's national security law to jail Kwok Yin-sang for eight months, in the first case against a family member of an activist living abroad, and wanted by authorities. n.pr/4qVSANO
thank you for the kind words.
of course it is not perfect. itโs work in progress, a project, like dewey said how democracy is always a work in progress, one i am excited to join.
also, the food is pretty damn good here.
but also, i am no (longer?) naive. i have the battle scars to show for it. i feel hopeful about taiwan, as a place where we can be kind to each other, where we believe the truth is part of the solution, rather than the problem.
i feel hopeful about this opportunity, the place, and the people here. i know, i know. hope, hope, hope. another friend said she was concerned, that she thought i was wildly optimistic or even overly romantic about taiwan. she might be right.
what would 24 year old me think of me, if he could see me now? i imagine he would think that iโve done some pretty cool things so far. i also hope that he is proud, that after all that has happened, we are still here, grinding it out, not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
i struggle with mandarin chinese, my 4th language. all this makes me think of the times my therapist would stop me if she sensed i was going into a spiral of self-pity. she would shift my perspective, by asking what the people i feel safe with and care about me, would say to me, if they saw me now.
i am not going to lie, there are moments where i feel really behind in life. here i am, 48 years old, starting all over, again. wondering if my body and mind and spirit will hold up. uprooting yourself, moving to a different city, culture, country, continent, is f* hard.
how can we accept and live with our fears, but at the same time also try to do the right thing? i donโt know the answer, even now. but i want to (continue to) find out. ๆไธๆใ
this is what i told him: to live with fear is not the same as to live in fear. authoritarianism wants us to live in fear. in fear of being our better selves, in fear of strangers and foreigners and sometimes even our friends and family, and in fear of standing up for dignity, truth, and kindness.
when i told a friend in amsterdam, over brunch, he hesitated and then asked, โbut arenโt you afraid? .. especially after everything you experienced in hong kong?โ i let the question sink in for a few heavy seconds. and then nodded, โof course i am afraidโ.
back in 2000, i arrived, bright eyed, a 23-year old exchange student from leiden university at the ๆฐ่ๆใ. the first time i lived abroad by myself. taiwan changed how i felt about myself. it eventually gave me the courage to pursue a phd in the united states. now i am back, 25 years later.
so i have news. i am starting a position as an assistant professor at the graduate institute of journalism at the national taiwan university, ๅฐๅคงๆฐ่ๆใ
Tear gas is banned in international warfare, yet classified as a โriot control agentโ that law enforcement can use for crowd control.
โIt just doesnโt work well, and it hits the weakest people the most, and causes the most complications in them,โ an anesthesiology professor at Duke University said.
CNN, please don't be so dismissive of Cantonese.
It is a proper language spoken by a lot of people (estimate around 80 million).
This from the same CNN reporter who wrote an article blaming bamboo for the Tai Po fire.
cc: @klustout.bsky.social
ๆ็ฉบ็ฉบ๏ผ็กไธ็ฉ๏ผ่ทฏ้้๏ผ็กๆญขๅขใ ไบ้ขไธญ๏ผๆตๆตช่ฃ๏ผ้คๆ้ซ่ๅๆ็ฒพใ ่ฑ้ชๆๅฅฎ้ฒ๏ผๅฐไนๆๅคๆ
ใ ๅๆคๆๅญๅ
ฉ่ฉๆ๏ผ ่ถ้ๆฅ๏ผ็ต้ๅๅ่กใ ็้็้๏ผ้ๆฏๆๆฐไบ็ฒพ็ฅใ ็้็้๏ผ้ๆฏๆๆฐไบ็ฒพ็ฅใ
Amidst chaos, flux, starve my body, grind my spirit. I persevere in hardship, am steadfast in adversity ... while youth lasts, we march forward together. Cherish, cherish, this is the spirit of New Asia!
@indexoncensorship.org reports:
"In Hong Kong, force majeure means political pressure"
tinyurl.com/5xn4c9be
#HongKong #NSL #CCP #Censorship
Exiled journalismโs biggest threat is something more mundane than censorship
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/exil...
When the Hong Kong fire occurred, initial international media coverage focused on bamboo scaffolding. This Orientalised and exoticised the tragedy, obscuring the fact that it was not just an accident, but an outcome shaped by long-term neglect and inequality, writes @tingguowrites.bsky.social.
Context: the #HongKong Government budgeted 77% more on promotion this year than in 2021 Legco Election.
i know it's a rhetorical question, but there's an actual answer:
www.instagram.com/reel/DR9GN_4...
(Chart by @kjoules.org) Hong Kong 2025 vs 2021 LegCo election, voting by hour
Here's a graph for the nerds
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why heโs so strong on it: โBecause weโre always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means itโs not about disliking immigrants. Itโs about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And thatโs a bad human instinct.โ
watching paint dry has never been more fascinating.
A 71-year old man was arrested by national security police for posting comments suggesting the central government and Hong Kong government were the ones causing chaos, and that Beijingโs disaster assistance was merely โperformativeโ
news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/comp...