Democracy Defenders in Exile

“Democracy is made by strangers. It happens when people who are different from you choose to trust one another enough to act together. That’s the social contract: take your private experience of injustice and believe you can join—even with those unlike you—to make change. That’s what democracy really looks like.”

“I used to think being right—on the side of justice and law—was enough. It isn’t. Moral truth doesn’t translate into political power without organization, trust, and structure. The powerful will outlast you unless you know where your power comes from and how to build it—something that survives longer than outrage.”

“Authoritarian regimes rarely rely only on loud bans. They teach you to silence yourself—and then teach your neighbor to report you. That’s how control takes root: not just through the knock on the door, but through the quiet fear that keeps everyone obedient.”

“Democracy isn’t built on partisan patronage or on waiting for heroes to save us. We live in a culture obsessed with extraordinary leaders and celebrity dissidents, but that’s dangerous. The fight for democracy only works when ordinary people believe they have power. I’m fiercely nonpartisan—I’ll work with any party that does the right thing and challenge any party that won’t. Real change happens when citizens, not saviors, force those in power—by interests and pressure—to do what justice requires.”

“China has positioned itself to reshape international human-rights norms by claiming the right to create laws, policies, and institutions that normalize censorship, surveillance, and other controls.” 

“Transnational repression is an evolving tactic in which state actors like China target diaspora communities. One epicenter of this is surveillance, including dual-use technologies that document protesters at, for example, Chinese embassies and feed images back to China. This becomes collective punishment: intimidation not just of overseas activists but of their family members back home through threats to jobs, pensions, housing, or their children’s schooling.”

“We often lose sight of whether there was an immediate impact. But when an individual or their family sees that their case has reached the attention of a United Nations independent expert, the symbolic value is priceless. For the individual, it’s still a big win."

“It's a do-no-harm principle that guides our work — and should guide all human-rights organizations. That begins with research methodologies: how you design a study, who you interview, how you conduct interviews, and being attentive to risks of re-traumatization. It’s also about mitigating expectations — people want to tell their story, but we have to make sure they understand the limits and the risks.”

“Working with smaller organizations that need the support—especially as a fellow or volunteer—gives you diverse experience and exposure. It forces you to take the academic and theoretical expertise you’ve developed and test those on the ground.”

“The funding cuts from the U.S. government have brought about chaos throughout the entire sector. The loss of those funds has forced civil society into survival mode.”

“Movements survive when people do: build a support system, make it a habit, and protect your mental health or we lose good advocates. You have to have a system, because I've seen too many cases where rights activists gave up when they didn't have a support system.”

“Oppression rises like water warming in a pot—turn up the heat slowly and the frogs stay, telling themselves it’s fine… until it boils, and it’s too late.”

“The Uyghur Region isn’t far from your life at all: cotton, tomatoes, solar panels—global supply chains touch your everyday choices. Once you’re informed, you can’t ignore it.”

“Censorship isn’t only silencing you—it’s making you speak their words, live their way, and believe their lies. It’s when you start censoring yourself before they ever have to. Please don’t waste your right to speak. Argue, question, write, post—use every freedom you have, because so many people in this world never get that chance!”

“You might not ever see a win, but you have to keep trying. There’s no option otherwise. Democracy is difficult. You have to keep working at it. You can't just take it for granted — if you do, you'll lose it.”

“What we get, as we legislate and use bully pulpits, is incremental change — slow change. When you think you are not making progress on your desired legislation, stop hitting for the home run and go for the base hit. Use whatever analogy you want: go for the first down instead of the touchdown.”

“Money often wins. We were trying to make sure people were aware of what was happening, but win or lose, you have to make the fight."

“Regimes say to those they isolate, ‘No one remembers you. No one’s fighting for you. You may as well just go along and do what we want.’ And what I assure this person then — and assure advocates all the time — is that we’re not going to forget them. They’re in our minds as we do the work we need to do.”

"Whether you are a human rights defender or part of a freedom movement, the first measure of success is survival. I often say: survive, strengthen, sustain, and succeed. If you can survive, you have the capacity to grow stronger, to sustain your efforts, and ultimately to succeed."

"You must ask yourself the question: why? If you are here for something beyond yourself—because you care about the cause, because you believe in it—then that purpose will give you inner strength to keep moving forward, regardless of the result. In school, we are often told to focus on ambition, success, and reaching a goal. But I always say: if you are a human rights defender, contribution is the goal. Take the example of working for the release of a prisoner. If your only goal is to see that person freed, you may feel disappointed or exhausted when it doesn’t happen. There are many factors beyond your control. But if your goal is to make every effort toward that release, then your conscience and your effort become your true measure of success. This way of thinking gives you strength over time. You experience less burnout, less stress, and less frustration—because you have already accepted the challenges that come with the work.

So, don’t focus solely on the outcome. The goal is secondary; your contribution and effort are primary. That mindset will sustain you through difficult times. In life, and especially in human rights work, there will be many challenges—but never give up."

"The resilience of the Tibetan people is strong. We believe in the timeless wisdom of Buddhism, a tradition of more than 2,500 years. The Chinese Communist Party is barely a century old."

“Even my birth is a human rights story. I was my parents’ third child, which made me illegal under the one-child policy. My mother hid during the day to avoid being caught and forced into an abortion, and my parents sold everything they had—including the broom in our house—to pay the fine so I could exist. Just by being born, I learned what it means for the state to decide who has the right to live.”

“Growing up in China’s education system, you don’t learn to think—you learn to memorize. School wasn’t about learning; it was about obedience. We had to recite every word and even memorize the government-approved meaning of the text—if you wrote what you truly thought, you’d fail. Only later did I discover the idea of free speech and realize that my childhood frustration had a name: the right to say what I think without punishment.”

"The fear of speaking out in China has gone so deep it’s become habit. Parents shush their children at the dinner table when someone mentions the Cultural Revolution—no police are listening, but silence has become instinct. Once fear becomes culture, censorship no longer needs a government to enforce it.”

“When I first came to the U.S., I saw Tibetans protesting outside the Chinese embassy and couldn’t understand why—they were supposed to be grateful for China’s ‘development.’ Over time, I realized how deeply I’d internalized propaganda. My advice to Chinese students abroad is simple: be curious, be patient, and don’t rush to have an opinion—truth takes time to uncover.”

“Courage doesn’t have to be dramatic. Take one step that’s slightly riskier than what you’d normally do—see how it feels. If you can’t take another step, stop; if you can, keep going—and find others who share your courage, because solidarity makes us braver than we are alone.”

“Americans are at a critical moment—please protect the precious rights you already have. You might lose a job or face criticism, but that’s a small price compared to the day when speaking out lands you in prison. You can lose freedom faster than you can imagine; just look at Hong Kong—it only took four years for every right to vanish.”