I watch "Revolution of the Times"

Movies don't take everyone into the dark,
but to lead everyone through the darkness,
Check it out in the dark, go back to the sun again,
You will understand how to face life.
─ Ang Lee

When I learned that Taiwan was going to release "Revolution of the Times", I would become one of the few friends who could go to the cinema to watch the movie. People who couldn't see it all said to me, "You have to watch it for us." I dubiously agreed. , In fact, what I thought in my mind was that everyone has a different understanding and feeling of this movement, and I can only watch it for myself. I was very afraid that my ignorance would consume the pain. After watching the documentary on the first day of its release, I dragged it on and off, and I didn’t even finish writing the piece I promised to write to my friends.

No matter the days are good or bad, time always flies by. Looking back today, failure is certain. I can accept review and sum up experience, but I refuse to criticize any protester in the movement with a critical attitude. Especially the youngest group who rushed to the front. Everything written below is only to express an attitude to those who have been brave - I understand your efforts.

afraid of dying

The biggest feeling I felt after watching "Revolution of the Times" was hearing the protesters say many times in the documentary that they were so shocked/surprised that they would die. Especially in the battle of PolyU, when they were under siege, their siblings tried to break out of the dirty underground waterway, the feeling of suffocation when escaping in a narrow space; in case of death in the sewers, no one knew the fear that no one would collect the body; the documentaries were faithfully recorded. . Only then did I know that the brothers and sisters were also afraid of death, and they were not just unscrupulous loneliness. At that moment, from a group of masked men in black, they became more real and three-dimensional, more flesh and blood. The equipment owned by the Hong Kong police is not an exaggeration to be called the government army, and the siblings have only petrol bombs made of glass bottles, bricks and other primitive tools of resistance, and there is no decent weapon that can rival the government army. I often laugh with my friends and say that the party who wants a revolution doesn’t even have guns, so what kind of revolution is it? In such a situation that the force is so unequal, it is a normal reaction for those who fought hard to have fear and fear of death. All this just makes me feel that the struggles I have had are so real, and their sacrifices are so precious.

not naive

"Revolution of the Times", which made me cry all over the place, actually had some laughs in it. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about sneering laughter, but the scene in which the brothers and sisters laugh when the liquid volatilizes and the incendiary bomb cannot be ignited, and the people watching the movie also laughed. This scene is really too Hong Kong people. This is our daily performance. When we encounter trouble or embarrassment, we make a foul language and laugh at ourselves to save ourselves. Although in the past few years, Hong Kong in our eyes has been too gentle to scold in the worst swear words, today, we only have a rude sentence to vent our anger, and more often we can only explode inwardly.

In the eyes of some who have been pursuing democracy for a long time, the movement is naive and the means of struggle are immature. The young people in Hong Kong were born in comfort and have not experienced any major social changes. The slogans are loud, but in fact, the words "recovery, revolution and struggle" have always been only literal understandings, not even basic effective strategies. Compared with the suppression of experienced opponents, it is even more impossible to make no mistakes at all.

I am an aging generation. I used to worry that the younger generation will lose all their brain power by focusing on pleasure, and it seems that only those ancient democrats are left to speak out in Hong Kong. After the anti-state religion incident, I really felt that the young people in Hong Kong were not as bad as I thought. Seeing young people begin to think about self-identity issues and actively participate in civil society issues: registering as voters, participating in political affairs, and conscientiously serving grassroots citizens, it has indeed brought me good hope. When it comes to the education that young people have given me, there is one thing that must be mentioned-the New Territories East by-election in 2016, this election made me meet Leung Tin Kei, and I was surprised to see that he ranked third with 15.3% of the votes, after that I started trying to understand why young people raised local issues. In 2019, Liang Tianqi has been imprisoned, but he once proposed that "Hong Kong people should have the right to decide their own destiny", "defend Hong Kong's core values", and "respect Hong Kong culture" are also some of the appeals advocated by young people in the anti-extradition movement. . If the anti-nationalism movement in 2012 was likened to the initial cry of young people on the stage, the Umbrella Movement in 2014 was a test for young people to step forward, and in 2019 it was a scene of young people rushing and taking us to climaxes. And this history book written by young people is far from the end. The ancients said that they were born in distress and died in peace, and the failure of the anti-extradition movement gave young people a chance to be born in distress.

As a conservative nanny, I have never been optimistic about local issues, and I also believed from the beginning that the anti-extradition movement would fail and end. But no one has the right to stop young people from pursuing their ideals, and I also believe that even if Chen Tongjia did not kill people in Taiwan, the dissatisfaction accumulated by society and the awakening of young people, the resistance movement would still be ignited by other fuses and go out of control. A group of scattered eggs slammed into a high wall, only to have broken shells on the ground. I can't bear to say that such eggs are childish. Their disobedience is enough to offset all childishness. Their far-reaching impact on society is sufficient. offset the mistakes they have made.

The failure of this movement is a foregone conclusion, and it failed to open a new page for Hong Kong. Now everyone is facing an unprecedented predicament. This time, it will not be a simple solution. I hope everyone can keep it. Courage, reborn in anger.

politicians

Two politicians have appeared in "Revolution of the Times", one is Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the other is President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. Both women have claimed to stand with Hong Kong and support Hong Kong people in their struggle for democracy and freedom. In the early years, whenever Hong Kong affairs were interfered with, the traditional pan-democrats habitually went to the United States to ask politicians to complain. Every time I saw the news, I would think: What can the United States help? What is the strategic significance of Hong Kong? There must be an exchange of interests behind any help. What do you exchange for it?

In October 2019, Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives unanimously passed the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act". President Trump signed the bill in November of the same year. Subsequently, the United States issued a sanctions list according to the bill, but it did not change the situation in Hong Kong in the slightest. The passage of the bill was largely a continuation of the U.S.’s hard-line policy toward China at that time and a response to the American people’s support for Hong Kong. Although the United States will further announce the "safe haven" plan, allowing Hong Kong people who stay in the United States to extend their stay and work, but the actual beneficiaries of Hong Kong people are very few.

Taiwan's Ms. Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected as president with a high vote in early 2020. On the one hand, she welcomed Hong Kong people to Taiwan, but on the other hand, it greatly extended the approval time for Hong Kong people to apply for stay or settlement, and simultaneously tightened investment immigration policies. Hong Kong people who have arrived in Taiwan to start an investment immigration business have to face a long and complicated review. Some Hong Kong people even cannot get the final settlement application permission for investment immigration due to various reasons, and have to return to Hong Kong or transfer to other places. The Taiwan side may be trying to prevent the infiltration of the so-called "communist bandits" by strictly examining and approving those who come to Taiwan. In fact, due to the lack of manpower and the difficulty of investigation, it is impossible to determine the origin of these Hong Kong people. Don't let it go. Watching friends leave with anger and sadness, all I can think about is that politicians' words are never to be believed.

For Hong Kong people, normal people will find ways to seek help in difficult situations, but please understand that people anywhere in the world owe us nothing and have no obligation to take us in. After these few years, everyone should be more sober to see that we can't pin our hopes on politicians, we can only rely on ourselves, show courage, and endure it with gritted teeth.

When it comes to the big proposition of freedom and democracy, it is not up to politicians to guard it, it must be fought for by ourselves. Maybe everyone feels that the future is dark and everything seems hopeless at the moment, but I choose to believe that the younger generation in Hong Kong will continue to accumulate and finally get what they want.

live

I think it's more important to think about how to survive tough times than to criticize past mistakes. I am pessimistic about witnessing miracles in my lifetime, but the future belongs to young people, so please stop making unnecessary sacrifices and live well.

We can write letters and correspond with them who are accused of "subversion of the country", "riots", and "collaboration with foreign forces" to exchange daily routines and accompany them to the day they see the light of day again.

We can read more and protect the freedom of our souls. Politics cannot be summed up in one sentence, "I want to pursue freedom and democracy." Politics is ugly and sinister. Know the opponent's methods well and obtain your own political values. The most important thing is to believe in your own power and be prepared that one day small powers will change the world.

We can educate our children well, encourage them to think independently, don't be shy about sharing what happened with them, and remember the beautiful Hong Kong in everyone's heart with them.

The most important topic of "Revolution of the Times" is that Mr. Li Yi mentioned in the interview that people must be independent of their own destiny in order to be truly free. Hong Kong people, let's encourage everyone!