I come from Germany and I currently study Putonghua at SYSU in Guangzhou. I often go to Hong Kong and every time I go I meet activists at autonomous 8a. When I think of autonomous 8a, of the place and of the people who run it, then I see it as the gate to Hong Kong with all the people around 8a who welcomed me and allowed me to understand Hong Kong’s society and activism.
我來自德國，現正在廣州中山大學學習普通話。我經常會到香港，每次總會到自治八樓見一見不同的行動者。當我想到自治八樓這個空間和經營它的人，我會視之為一道通往香港的門。圍繞著這個空間的人，歡迎我的到來，亦讓我認識香港社會和香港社會運動。
In Germany, I took part in social movements and social centers for about two decades, I engaged in environmental, tenants and labour struggles, supported refugees, LGBT and many more, I organized cultural events, political sharings and summer camps with activists from all over Europe. And it is through this summer camps that I met activists from Hong Kong for the first time. Two activists from autonomous 8a came to our summer camp in Europe and told us about the social and political situation and struggles in Hong Kong and also invited us to visit Hong Kong ourselves.
在德國，我花了20年時間在社會運動和社會中心(social centers)運動中，參與環境，租客，勞工，難民，性小眾等等的抗爭。我曾經組織過文化活動，政治分享會，及聚集來自歐洲各地的行動者的夏令營。在營中，我第一次認識到來自香港的行動者。兩個自治八樓的成員來到我們的夏令營中，向我們講述香港的社會政治形勢和抗爭，同時亦邀請我們親身到香港。
Since these first personal exchanges me and other activists from Europe have visited Hong Kong numerous times and 8a was always our first address. The activists around 8a have organized many sharings with me and other visitors from Europe about tenants struggles, labour issues, general political, economic and social situations, cultural topics and many more which enabled us – activists from Europe and Hong Kong – to better understand the differences and commonalities in both regions and to learn from each others’ experiences and to get inspired by each others’ creativity.
有了這些面對面的接觸，我和其他來自歐洲的行動者因此多次來到香港。每一次，自治八樓是我們到步後，首先會去的地方。自治八樓的成員和我們組織了很多分享會，內容包括租客抗爭，勞工議題，政治，社會及經濟情況，文化議題等等。來自歐洲和香港的行動者互相理解到各地情況的異同，互相在對方的經驗中學習，從對方的創意中得到啟發。
I still remember vividly how untiring and meticulously we discussed and compared every detail of the housing situation in Hong Kong and Germany, public housing (which has been discontinued in Germany since 10 years), rent contracts and rent control until well after midnight. Or how we shared experiences of working in service sector jobs in Hong Kong and Germany and struggling for better work contracts.
我依然記憶猶新，一次我們孜孜不倦，鉅細無遺的討論和比較香港和德國兩地的住屋情況，從公共房屋(德國已暫停公屋十年)，租約，到租金管制，直到夜深。另一次，我們各自分享在香港和德國的服務業工作，及爭取更好勞動合約的經驗。
Every time me and other activists traveled back home to Europe we would bring along lots of impressions and material from Hong Kong and share it with people in Europe, from discussions to film screenings in Berlin and elsewhere and thus made more people aware of the specific situation and experiences of activists and grass root people in Hong Kong.
每一次我和其他行動者回到歐洲，我們也會帶著從香港所得的認識和資料，在柏林和其他地方進行放映和討論，向其他人分享，因此讓更多人關注香港基層和行動者所面對的情況和經歷。
I have personally learned so much from this exchange and I know that others did too. In our highly globalized world we have to share the knowledge of the living, working and housing conditions of grass root people around the world in order to understand how these are effected by global developments and global capitalism and in order to struggle for better living conditions together.
我自己從這些交流中學到很多，我知道其他人也是如此。在這個高度全球化的世界，我們需要分享對在不同地方的底層人民的生活，工作和住屋情況的認知，了解他們是如何受全球發展軌跡和全球資本主義影響，為更好的生活條件共同奮鬥。
Building bridges between countries and continents is therefore indispensable. autonomous 8a with its space for sharings, its equipment, its continuing and consistent work over more than a decade, its unchanged address easy to find for visitors, its knowledgeable and welcoming activists and its huge network and reputation abroad is undoubtedly invaluable in this regard.
因此，在國與國，洲與洲之間建立橋樑是不可忽略的。自治八樓作為一個共享的空間，以它的物資，超過十年的恆常穩定工作，十年無變過便利訪客的地址，眾多見識廣博且友善的行動者和在外建立的龐大連結和聲譽，在這個層面上，它的價值無容置疑。
I look forward to continue this cultural, social and political exchange among grass root activists in Hong Kong and Europe and I hope we can enable many more people to participate in this.
我期盼能持續和香港及歐洲關心底層的行動者，進行文化，社會和政治上的交流，我希望我們能讓更多人參與其中。
I dearly wish autonomous 8a all the support needed to continue with this great work!
我祝願自治八樓能夠得到所需的支持，繼續進行他們的工作！
Best regards,
Chris
Berlin and Guangzhou, July 2017
柏林和廣州 2017年7月
共治八樓 