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[PS: This episode could also be called, OMFG, what did I commit to learning to do? Whyyyyyy??? LOL]
Wondering what’s cooking in Hong Kong? Watch the documentary “Rebellion: On the Front Lines of Hong Kong’s Uprising,” available on Amazon. Also check out Netflix’s “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower,” if you want to feel David vs. Goliath inspired about what your own human action could accomplish if you just got out there and tried.
“Rebellion” covers what began as spontaneous protests against an extradition law to allow suspects to be deported to mainland China, but has now blossomed into a full-blown popular uprising. Why now? Because as the protestors themselves state, they understand they have only one shot, one chance to resist, otherwise Hong Kong will be subsumed by the Chinese Communist Party, and despite what many misinformed Americans think, Hong Kongers know there ain’t no party in the Communist Party.
Just ask this guy, who was recently brought in for questioning by Chinese authorities, placed in some kind of weirdo jail chair, and questioned because of something he posted in a private chat group. Says Canadian Erza Levant:
“China spies on social media conversations. Then they bring dissidents in for a real-life chat. I’d say we’re AT LEAST five years away from that over here, so no worries.”
Erza Levant’s Tweet
In “Rebellion,” police and hired thugs, literally the Triad–funny how police worldwide always seem to know where to find helpful criminals, almost like, hmm, never mind–start to escalate the violence, eventually maiming and blinding a lady by shooting her in the eye. This shocks Hong Kongers, who, generally speaking, are a peaceful and polite lot, and brings more ordinary people to the streets in protest against police brutality on top of the demands for political reforms.
The most poignant moment for me is when the movie cuts to street graffiti that simply says (translated):
You have taught us peaceful protest is not enough…
Street Art
As a police accountability activist, I have to wonder: When American law enforcement watch the events unfolding in Hong Kong, or watch a documentary like Rebellion, who do they root for? The young, idealistic freedom fighters hoping to keep their quasi-independence from the murderous Commie Motherland, or do American cops now root for “law and order” so hard that they support the vicious, teargassing, bludgeoning police furthering Communist goals and hurting innocent people expressing their right to live free? I’m genuinely curious…
ADDED 12/4/19: Read Pat Buchanan’s take, In Hong Kong, It’s US vs. China Now.
Love learning stuff? Wonder why I think the way I do? Start with these: 7 Documentaries that make you go, “Hmm…”