Hong Kong Lennon Wall

 

Washington, DC: ‘CCP must lie in order to cover up the terrible things that they’re doing in China, in Hong Kong, and around the world. To do this, they use narrative warfare to control what people see as the truth.’

One of the few social media channels to fearlessly cover China is the popular and respected China Uncensored YouTube channel (1.95 million subscribers). To ensure editorial independence, Chris Chappell co-owns America Uncovered LLC—along with co-producers Matt Gnaizda and Shelley Zhang. Together the team not only produces China Uncensored, but three other shows as well, the longer form podacst China Unscripted, America Uncovered and Gamers Unbeaten.

In this edition of “Indo-Pacific: Behind the Headlines” we speak with Chris Chappell, the New York-based creator and host of China Uncensored about their Hong Kong Lennon Wall.

Q: What’s the idea behind the Hong Kong Lennon Wall?

A: Five years ago, the China Uncensored team was in Hong Kong, covering one of the biggest protests in human history. I will never forget watching 2 million people march through the streets of Hong Kong. They were protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s trampling of Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy. I felt incredibly inspired by Hongkongers’ courage.

In 2020, the CCP took advantage of the Covid pandemic to impose a National Security Law on Hong Kong that essentially made protesting illegal. They instilled fear and silenced Hong Kong’s civil society. Today, many Hong Kong activists are imprisoned or in exile.

So to make sure people remember the Hong Kong protests, we created a digital version of one of the things Hongkongers did five years ago. They put up sticky notes on walls all across the city with political statements, and called each location a “Lennon Wall”—which has its roots in the anti-communist movements in Eastern Europe in the 1980s. Making a Lennon Wall is extremely illegal in Hong Kong now, though, so we created a digital version online.

This new Lennon Wall is not just for Hongkongers. It’s for everyone, anywhere in the world. My hope is that people who feel powerless against the CCP can feel empowered to do something, even if it’s small. Thousands of people doing something small adds up to something big. Go to https://hklennonwall.com/ and post your own message on the wall. And share it with your family and friends. Our initial goal was to get over 10,000 unique posts, but we hope to get many more.

War Is A Racket

Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye", was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.

He became widely known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering, U.S. military adventurism, and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States.In 1935 he wrote the exposé War Is a Racket, a trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. His views on the subject are summarized in the following passage:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." (read more)

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

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