Nobody could have foreseen the revolution that arose so suddenly and changed Hong Kong’s destiny, and nobody could have known how the fate of this small territory of only 7 million people would alter the world’s calculus.
The events in Hong Kong jarred Taiwanese awake to the threat that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to the world, giving them a sense of crisis that put the brakes on the momentum that pro-China forces built up by performing so well in Taiwan’s 2018 nine-in-one election.
The alarm bells of Hong Kong’s unfolding events were heard loud and clear in Taiwan, allowing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to secure a landslide second term.
They were heard further afield, too, with happenings in Hong Kong signaling the start of a growing distrust of the CCP throughout the world.
I participated in that revolution. Like many other Hong Kongers who rose up to protest, I was reluctant to relive the trauma of those events in a movie theater.
Nevertheless, as Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow (周冠威) has shown the experiences of those who were there in his documentary film Revolution of Our Times, I understand that it is incumbent upon overseas Hong Kongers to spread the spirit of the protests throughout the world.
This is especially true in Taiwan, which is facing the same hegemonic threats that Hong Kong once confronted.
This film, which presents the revolution that changed Hong Kong forever, is unlawful to screen in the territory — that in itself is absurd.
The film records how Hong Kong became subjugated by China’s authoritarianism and, more importantly, how China managed to conceal or corrupt truth and humanity.
During the protests, people would say: “Yellow and blue are political; conscience is black and white.”
Blue represented support for the police, while yellow represented support for the protesters. At the core of the revolution was the idea that whatever one’s political opinion, it should not go against one’s understanding of right and wrong.
When one is dealing with the difference between right and wrong, silence is the enemy, and there is no such thing as neutrality.
Hong Kong officials and the police, acting out of their own interest and to protect their careers, did whatever the authorities in China wanted them to do.
Their continued assault on social justice and the rule of law in Hong Kong was what propelled the revolution to high octane levels.
There is nothing inherent about freedom and democracy. If they are to be maintained, each and every person needs to play their part in the process.
Revolution of Our Times was screened in Taiwan just as Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion and events in Hong Kong serve to remind us how valuable and fragile democracy and freedom are.
Power needs to be monitored and kept in check if we are to prevent dictators such as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin from making cruel decisions to destroy the lives of millions of people and societies that have taken years to build.
Taiwan, like Hong Kong and Ukraine, is a victim of totalitarianism. Taiwanese cannot afford to just observe from the sidelines. This revolution of our times is not just the revolution fought by the people of Hong Kong.
Hong Tsun-ming, originally from Hong Kong, is director of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Yilan County branch.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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