A Man of His Word?

I'd reather be dead in a ditch than still in the EU after October 31st, declared Boris Johnson.  Well, those millions of us Brits who value our rights as European citizens can be glad that we will not lose them for at least a while longer, but sadly Boris's claim seems to be, as Jeremy Corbyn has pointed out, another broken promise.

The Teargas Sutra

Among the mass of remarkable street art inspired by the current protests, this striking one in Nam Cheong caught my eye.  I love the way it blends a Banksy-style image of a weary protester resting with inspiration from a much older Asian tradition.

Cycle of Violence

How much intelligence does it take to recognise that if you curtail all peaceful channels for expression of opinion and for achieving much-needed change, only violent channels remain? Apparently more than the pathetic Hong Kong government can summon up.

The Sleep of the Volunteers

While Hongkongers are eagerly adopting a new anthem of resistance, already on YouTube in multiple versions on numerous instruments and translated into several foreign languages - read its history here - the government is presumably pressing ahead with its (already failed) plan to enforce "respect" for China's official national anthem - March of the Volunteers - through legislation.  This would make it illegal, among other things, to change the words of the anthem.  I am not sure what the implications of this are for translations into other languages - there are already many, including an English version performed by the legendary American singer Paul Robeson even before the founding of the PRC (which ironically later hounded the anthem's lyricist to his death).

Robeson's version (see the link) has different words to the current official ones, which come out in English as:

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!

With our flesh and blood,let us build a new Great Wall!

As China faces its greatest peril

From each one the urgent call to action comes forth.

Arise! Arise! Arise!

Millions of but one heart

Braving the enemies' fire! March on!

Braving the enemies' fire! March on!

March on! March, march on!.

Another (slightly less clumsy) version:

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves
With our very flesh and blood Let us build our new Great Wall
The Peoples of China are in the most critical time,
Everybody must roar his defiance.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Millions of hearts with one mind,
Brave the enemy's gunfire, march on!
Brave the enemy's gunfire, march on!
March on! March on! March on, on!

Out of curiosity I fed the Chinese words of the anthem (from here):

(( 义勇军进行曲))
起来！不愿做奴隶的人们！
把我们的血肉，筑成我们新的长城！
中华民族到了最危险的时候，
每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。
起来！起来！起来！
我们万众一心，
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
前进！前进！进！

into Google Translate, and got this [my emphasis]:

Stand up! People who don't want to be slaves!

Make our flesh and blood into our new Great Wall!

When the Chinese nation is at its most dangerous time,

Everyone is forced to make the final snoring.

We are all united,

Take the enemy's gunfire and move on!

Take the enemy's gunfire and move on!

go ahead! go ahead! Into!

stand up! stand up! stand up!

So as Hong Kong's protesters no doubt mark China's National Day tomorrow with mass singing of "Glory to Hong Kong", let us all look forward to the final snoring of the PRC!

Hong Kong Police adopt new motto

Suspicious Minds

The government has officially denied the rumour that a protester was killed by the police action in Prince Edward Station a few days ago.  Meanwhile the police stated that reporters were removed from crime scenes to protect the privacy of suspects.  Seeing what the police already get away with in front of the camera, if I was one of the protesters, I would rather endanger my privacy than risk what they might do to me when no one is filming them.

At least one of these pictures is adapted from the indispensable  Hong Kong Free Press.

BS Johnson, PM

Life Goes On

History repeats itself

Shaking up British politics

The Brexit Party Thurber style, or Britain goes to the dogs

Stirring the Pot

Hear, Hear

Pompeo and Circumstance

It is obvious that Trump and his evil crew are itching to start a war with Iran - perhaps hoping for a Falklands effect.  However, that only worked for Margaret Thatcher because she won the war she entered. 

Being someone who neither studies history nor learns from it, it may have escaped Trump's notice that the Iran Hostage Crisis was the largest single reason why Jimmy Carter failed to win a second term as President.  However, you can be sure the Iranian authorities haven't forgotten.

Both Sides Now

You could believe that Donald Trump is sincere in his condemnation of racism following recent mass shootings - or you could look at his past record of racist statements.  The choice is yours.

The End of Empire

Between 1975, when I arrived in Hong Kong, and the end of colonial rule in 1997, I cannot recall a single time when the Hong Kong Police used tear gas.  Today, it is almost a daily occurrence.  Things sure get better, don't they?

The cop who wasn't there

So, let me see whether I've got this right.  According to Yau Nai-keung – Assistant District Commander of Crime Yuen Long - the police were called to the scene of a possible crime, but hung around for 2.5 hours waiting for all evidence of the crime to be erased before they actually went in to check it out.  This seems a distinctly odd method of policing - in fact, its sheer absurdity reminded me of Major Major in Catch-22, who only sees people in his office when he's not in his office.

Nasty Woman

Pro-government Legislative Councillor Ann Chiang - the one who falsely suggested a local expatriate blogger was a foreign provocateur, and who called for a government ban on protests just before her own party stages one today, asks why Civil Human Rights Front convenor Jimmy Sham has "never mentioned his sexual orientation" in relation to his role in the Front.  Could it be because his sex life is:

• a) irrelevant to his political activities; and
• b) none of her damn business?

I'm liberal, but to a degree

Turning Point

Yesterday's dramatic storming of the LegCo building was hardly “extreme violence”, as Carrie Lam characterised it – few heads were bashed – but it was a hugely dramatic act of targeted symbolic property damage.  I know I am not the only one wondering whether Beijing agents were involved in stirring up the action with the aim of discrediting the protest movement - which might help explain why the riot police presence inside the building evaporated as soon as the protesters broke through the glass door.  

Be that as it may, over the past few years the Hong Kong government has been systematically narrowing the scope of allowable political discourse.  Consider for example:

• LegCo expulsions
• Election candidate disqualifications
• Anti-filibuster rule changes
• Basic Law “reinterpretations”
• Forced “respect” for the symbols of the ruling regime
• The ban on the Hong Kong National Party
• Expulsion of journalists
• Barring entry to Hong Kong by perceived opponents of the government – not just wild-eyed revolutionaries, but sober British Parliamentarians
• Pushing through highly unpopular legislation without adequate scrutiny
• Hysterical over-reaction to minor public order offences during protests (what we might call the fish sandwich syndrome) – contrasted with a completely spineless response to cross-border political kidnappings
• More restrictive conditions for protests
• Reining in of academic freedom
• Declaring various topics off-limits for discussion in schools
• etc. ad nauseam.

The problem with this strategy is this: the more that certain political views are excluded from normal channels of expression, the more their expression will take other – and almost certainly less peaceful and less controllable – forms.  Add in unaffordable housing and the totally unacceptable extradition bill, and the inevitable outcome is the shock of yesterday's kerfuffle.

So Carrie Lam, if you really want to get things back to normal, what must you do?  The answer is simple: stop it.  Everything on my list above, just stop it.  Drop the extradition bill completely.  Forget about the Lantau white elephant reclamation project, and use the money to give Hong Kong's senior citizens a dignified old age instead.  Face up to the vested interests of the property developers and the Heung Yee Kuk and get serious about housing.  And if Beijing won't let you do any of this, then at least you can regain the respect of the Hong Kong people for trying, and we can all stop pretending that One Country Two Systems still retains any shred of meaning.