作者：曾洪伟

记忆回到2023年11月的美国加州旧金山。我和朋友在街头参与针对中国最高领导人访美的抗议活动。当时，对自由的渴望支撑着我们，但未曾料到，那只无形的手从未缩回，红色恐怖正精准地将阴影投射到我的生活里。

街头的影子与开枪的手势

在群情激愤的街头，一个异常的细节破坏了安全感。在马路对面的路口，一名身高约170公分、留短发、戴口罩的华人男子，正手持设备鬼鬼祟祟地对我和朋友进行近距离偷拍。

当我和朋友感到异样并试图上前制止时，他立刻转身穿过马路逃跑。而在逃跑的过程中，他突然转过身，对我们做了一个开枪的手势。那个极具恐吓意图的动作，在光天化日下的美国街头显得荒诞而冰冷，它在警告我们：反抗可能意味着肉体毁灭。

次日的血证与断裂的安全感

跨国镇压的残酷性在于，它的恐吓绝非虚张声势，而是会以极快的速度演变为现实的暴力。

就在抗议活动结束后的第二天，一位与我一同并肩参与抗议的异见人士，在机场遭到了不明身份人员的残酷殴打，致使浑身是血。前一天路口戴口罩男子的开枪手势，在第二天就变成了同伴流血的肉体事实。这种极短时间内的暴力升级，瞬间击碎了海外的安全感。它向所有发声者释放了一个清晰信号：即便在自由世界，你依然随时可能沦为被猎杀的孤立目标。

跨洋的盘问与隐性的株连

然而，红色恐怖的触角并不仅限于海外街头的肉体威胁，更致命的是指向国内家人的隐性株连与跨洋的信息追踪。

抗议活动结束仅仅几天后，远在中国国内的警察便突然前往我父亲的住所。他们向我父亲详细盘问了我在国外的具体下落，目前在海外做什么，并严令索要我最新的联系方式。得知警察正在国内追查我行踪的消息，以及父亲透露出的深深担忧，让我感到极大的震撼与不安。在这场跨国镇压的链条中，这种跨越太平洋的恐吓传递，本身就是一种隐性的“敲山震虎”，试图通过让国内的亲人陷入恐惧，从而达到让海外异见者失声的目的。

守望相助，保障安全

经历这一连串的变故，说不恐惧是骗人的。在很长一段时间里，我和家人都陷入了巨大的心理挣扎中。但恐惧过后的冷思让我彻底明白：对抗庞大国家机器的唯一方式，就是用组织的力量去对冲个体的脆弱。

正是基于这样的深刻痛感，我选择加入旧金山中国民主党，在合法政治团体的守望相助中寻找盾牌。在此，我向所有流亡海外、同样生活在跨国镇压阴影下的异见人士发出真诚的呼吁：请放下犹豫，打破孤立的状态，加入到民主党中来。我们只有融入一个有组织、有担当的成熟政治团体，互相帮助，才能把分散的微光汇聚成火炬，保障我们共同的安全，抵御潜在的风险。自由的土地不容红色恐怖跨境蚕食，克服恐惧的唯一方式，就是将那些在阴影里颤抖的个体，凝聚成并肩站立的钢铁盾

编辑：黄吉洲 校对：熊辩 翻译：戈冰

Shadows, Blood Evidence, and Family Letters

By Zeng Hongwei

My memory returns to San Francisco, California, in November 2023. My friends and I were participating in a street protest against the visit of China’s top leader to the United States. At the time, our longing for freedom sustained us, but we never imagined that the invisible hand would never retreat—that the Red Terror was casting its shadow precisely onto my life.

Shadows on the Street and a Gesture of Firing

Amid the heated atmosphere on the street, an unusual detail shattered our sense of security. At the intersection across the street, a Chinese man—about 170 centimeters tall, with short hair and wearing a mask—was furtively using a device to take close-up photos of my friend and me.

When my friend and I sensed something was amiss and tried to approach him to stop him, he immediately turned and fled across the street. As he ran, he suddenly turned back and made a gun gesture at us. That highly threatening gesture seemed absurd and chilling on a broad daylight American street; it was warning us that resistance could mean physical annihilation.

The Next Day’s Bloodstained Evidence and Shattered Sense of Security

The cruelty of transnational repression lies in the fact that its threats are never mere bluffs; they rapidly escalate into actual violence.

Just one day after the protests ended, a dissident who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me at the demonstrations was brutally beaten by unidentified assailants at the airport, leaving him covered in blood. The gun-pointing gesture made by the masked man at the intersection the day before had, by the next day, become the bloody reality of a comrade’s suffering. This rapid escalation of violence instantly shattered the sense of security we had felt abroad. It sent a clear signal to all who speak out: even in the free world, you can still become an isolated target to be hunted down at any moment.

Transatlantic Interrogations and Covert Retaliation

However, the tentacles of the Red Terror extend far beyond physical threats on overseas streets; what is even more deadly is the covert retaliation targeting family members back home and the transatlantic tracking of information.

Just a few days after the protests ended, police in China suddenly arrived at my father’s residence. They interrogated him in detail about my exact whereabouts abroad, what I am currently doing overseas, and sternly demanded my latest contact information. Learning that the police were tracking my whereabouts back home, coupled with the deep concern my father expressed, left me deeply shaken and unsettled. Within this chain of transnational repression, this trans-Pacific transmission of intimidation is itself a form of implicit “striking the mountain to scare the tiger”—an attempt to silence overseas dissidents by instilling fear in their loved ones back home.

Mutual Support and Safety Assurance

To say I wasn’t afraid after this series of upheavals would be a lie. For a long time, my family and I were plunged into immense psychological turmoil. But the clear-headed reflection that followed my fear made me fully realize: the only way to confront the massive state apparatus is to use the strength of an organization to counteract the vulnerability of the individual.

It is precisely because of this profound sense of pain that I chose to join the Chinese Democratic Party of San Francisco, seeking a shield in the mutual support of a legitimate political organization. Here, I extend a sincere appeal to all dissidents living in exile overseas who similarly live under the shadow of transnational repression: Please set aside your hesitation, break out of isolation, and join the Democratic Party. Only by integrating into a mature, organized, and responsible political group—and by helping one another—can we gather scattered glimmers of light into a torch, safeguard our shared security, and ward off potential risks. The land of freedom must not be eroded by the red terror across borders. The only way to overcome fear is to unite those trembling in the shadows into a steel shield standing shoulder to shoulder.

Editor: Huang Jizhou Proofreader: Xiong Bian Translator: Ge Bing