Hong Kong exiles seek to preserve democracy’s memory through Lennon Walls in Taiwan

[ad_1] Exiled Hong Kongers wish to revive the town’s famed Lennon Partitions in Taiwan to function highly effective reminders of a democracy motion that Beijing has sought to erase, at the same time as no commemorative occasions had been allowed of their dwelling soil to mark the sixth anniversary of Hong Kong’s large anti-extradition protests.

Video: 'Lennon Wall' in Taiwan preserves reminiscence of Hong Kong pro-democracy motion “The Lennon Wall is a crucial collective reminiscence for us (Hong Kongers),” stated Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong, who moved to Taiwan’s Taichung metropolis in 2021. “From 2014 to 2019, it was the place the place we unfold our democratic calls for. Now the Lennon Wall and democracy and freedom in Hong Kong are gone.”

Hong Kong’s Lennon Partitions – named after musician John Lennon’s peaceable activism and impressed by Prague’s Velvet Revolution of the Nineteen Eighties – turned iconic options of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy motion, remodeling public areas into canvases for democratic expression.

Full of colourful shows of sticky notes, posters, art work, and messages similar to “We Hong Kongers by no means surrender”, Hong Kong’s Lennon Partitions allowed unusual residents to precise their political opinions and show their solidarity.

Lennon Partitions sprouted on out there public areas throughout Hong Kong, together with underground tunnels and on pillars exterior railway stations, throughout the 2014 Umbrella Motion and once more in 2019, throughout the anti-extradition motion when thousands and thousands took to the streets to protest a proposed laws that will permit felony suspects to be extradited to mainland China.

In Taiwan, the Lennon Wall in Taichung’s pedestrian underpass is the one such publicly accessible wall within the area, and Hong Kong exiles within the democratic island are eager to protect it, at the same time as they give the impression of being to determine extra such partitions, together with one in capital Taipei.

Amongst them is Wong, who together with his pals on Thursday marked the anniversary of the anti-extradition motion with a go to to the Lennon Wall in Taichung and sang earlier than it the protest anthem of the 2019 pro-democracy protests, “Glory to Hong Kong.”

Earlier this yr, a part of the Lennon Wall in Taichung was reportedly cleared throughout a daily cleanup and upkeep of the underpass by volunteers. This prompted an announcement from metropolis officers who stated they respect the wall as a logo of public expression and that any future cleansing have to be reported upfront.

Wong now leads efforts to protect and refresh the show on the Lennon Wall in Taichung, notably within the cleared sections, viewing it as each an act of commemoration and resistance.

“Disaster brings alternative. As a curator, I wish to flip the cleaned sections into artwork areas,” stated Wong, who involves the Lennon Wall in Taichung each week and pays out of pocket to reprint and submit high-quality artworks.

“If somebody tears it down once more, I’ll repost it — identical to we did throughout the 2019 protests. That persistence is the resilience of resistance,” he stated.

A girl stands subsequent to layers of notes on a “Lennon Wall” with messages of assist for the pro-democracy protests exterior a restaurant in Hong Kong, July 3, 2020, (Credit score: AFP) One other Hong Kong exile Fu Tang is at present searching for a location in Taipei to determine a everlasting Lennon Wall within the metropolis. He believes that defending these areas represents core Taiwanese values too.

“The Lennon Wall represents the appropriate to freedom of expression of range and tolerance,” Fu stated. “Defending the Lennon Wall just isn't solely about defending the liberty of expression of Hong Kong folks in Taiwan, but in addition about defending the necessary values of peace and tolerance in Taiwan.”

Fu believes the institution of a everlasting Lennon Partitions in Taiwan may also function reminders for the Taiwanese folks to cherish their present freedoms. “It additionally tells the world that Taiwan just isn't a part of China, as a result of there is no such thing as a room for Lennon Partitions in China,” added Fu.

Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has welcomed Hong Kong refugees by varied humanitarian applications, and plenty of Hong Kongers who participated within the 2019 anti-extradition protests have now made the democratic island their dwelling.

Amongst them is Tsai Chih-hao, who was one of many protestors who stormed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in 2019.

“As a protester, I'm very completely satisfied that I can nonetheless see the Lennon Wall in Taiwan,” Tsai stated. “There are nonetheless folks prepared to take care of it and permit individuals who come to Taiwan to go to it. Which means there are nonetheless individuals who keep in mind the 2019 anti-extradition motion and the efforts made by the folks of Hong Kong for democracy.”