A Masquerade Of Universality: Rousseau

“I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.” ~ from Émile

Jean-Jacques Rousseau makes it all sound so decent and reasonable. His advocacy for a social contract that emphasizes a "common good" based on mutually recognizing a "common self" in others sounds ideal. It's essentially the golden rule - love your neighbor. Yet there remains an insidious paradox at the bleeding heart of this version of liberalism. It leaves little or no room for differentiation, for disagreement or particularity. Any form of dissent - any attempt to recognize difference - is heresy. As Charles Taylor has written, Rousseau conjures a particularism masquerading as a universal.

I encountered this inanity while living in Hong Kong. Despite the banal fact that foreigners differ in many ways from local Hong Kong citizens, any attempt at accommodation (ie: decrees or laws prohibiting racism) was seen as an unfair advantage bestowed upon a minority. If everyone is equal there can't be room for difference; racism doesn't really exist when Rousseau's quaint illusion of universality is to be maintained.

To be fair, "citizen" for Rousseau was fundamentally different than "human." A contract was a necessary evil needed to regulate citizens governed in a society of laws. As Hannah Arendt has pointed out, the problem with Rousseau is that society is made up of a plurality of humans and not a singular human collective. Rousseau made the mistake of suggesting that the plural can be substituted with the singular. The notion of "common good" is therefore nothing more than a particular viewpoint imposed on a plurality by a powerful elite. It's no wonder David Hume concluded Rousseau was "plainly mad, after having long been maddish."    

From The Shadows: Ghosts Of Tiananmen

(Via CDT)

Any country with as long a history as China has to contend with an equally long memory. The Communist Party has tried to circumscribe it by outlawing any discussion on the Tiananmen Square massacre that took place 23 years ago today. But language, like thought, is an impossible captive. The ghosts of the massacre haunt the Chinese and every year some new revelation emerges from the shadows. Chen Xitong, the mayor of Beijing at the time, has just renounced the official version of events, telling a Hong Kong publisher that the bloodshed at Tiananmen Square was “actually a tragedy that could have been avoided and should have been avoided...Nobody should have died if it had been handled properly."

(Former Beijing mayor, Chen Xitong, with Hong Kong publisher, Yao Jianfu via WaPo)

The book, titled Conversation With Chen Xitong, went on sale this past Friday in Hong Kong despite threats from mainland authorities to halt its release. Hong Kong, a special administrative region, is ruled under a "one country, two systems policy," and remains the only enclave of free speech in China. Every year since the 1989 massacre, Hong Kong has hosted a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. Last year, over 100,000 people attended.

(2009 Candlelight Vigil, Hong Kong, Via Yewco)

Hong Kong Harlequins: Tramps Like Us

"A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin

"Harlequin" sounds a little less krusty than "clown" and a little more dignified than "buffoon." Known as "Arlecchino" in Italian, its origins are believed to reside in the "Zanni" figure found in Commedia dell'arte...

Yuko and I got all made up for a fun day of tramping around Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island....

We braved the elements and slapped on our best trickster-faces...

Thanks to our friend & photographer, Turbo, for indulging two silly tramps...

Hong Kong Vs. China: A Restless Truce

June 4th is the twenty-second anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. A Candlelight Vigil is held every year at Hong Kong's Victoria Park to commemorate it, the only place in all of China free to hold such an event.

The Forbidden City, Beijing

The vigil has always irked Beijing and they've tried for years to undermine any sign of "subversion" in Hong Kong. Authorities have deployed an old party trick: accuse someone of straying from the official line and shady figures emerge from the shadows to shuttle the poor sod away. It's a favorite tactic used by regimes currently darkening corners of the globe such as Burma (Myanmar), Uzbekistan and North Korea. What they share, apart from gross human rights violations, is a thriving relationship with China.

The Great Wall

In the "Middle Kingdom" the politics of vilification enjoys a long tradition. Anyone or anything that's perceived to threaten the government is quickly branded as counter-revolutionary. It happened with deadly precision during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 when even esteemed cadres were not immune. Former paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, vanished twice, once in the late 60s and then again in 1976 after the death of Premier Zhou Enlai sparked the protests known as the Tiananmen Incident.

It happened again during the prelude to the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre when the student protests were growing. The Communist Party newspaper, People's Daily, published an editorial accusing a "small number of people with ulterior purposes" of stirring up student unrest, of being counter-revolutionaries and creating turmoil. This effectively sealed the fate of the organizers and as a result, hardened their resolve to demand concessions from the government. The editorial is generally regarded as a major cause of the stalemate that arose between the students and the government, eventually causing the massacre and the subsequent purging of Zhao Ziyang, the reformist General Secretary of the Communist Party.

Zhao Ziyang with present-day Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, Tiananmen Square, May 19, 1989

As with the events of Tiananmen, Beijing is currently displaying increasing hostility by using trumped-up accusations to silence dissent. The list is long and includes Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Lui Xiaobo and internationally acclaimed artist, Ai Weiwei.

"Marble Arm" by Ai Weiwei (courtesy of Galerie Urs Meile)

This form of government terrorism threatens regional stability. As the lessons of World War II prove, a country that deprives its own citizens of human rights will disregard the rights of others. While Hong Kong enjoys more freedoms than the mainland as a result of its status as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and "one country two systems" policy, Beijing has succeeded in tightening the noose in ever subtle and nefarious ways.

"Running Dog" Martin Lee with Nancy Pelosi

A few years ago, Beijing engaged in a so-called "patriotism campaign" to discredit the democratic movement. Martin Lee, the founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, came under fire from Xinhua, the Beijing government's mouthpiece, which demonized Lee as a "traitor." The China Daily, the Communist Party's English newspaper, also chimed in to attack Lee as a "running dog of colonialists." Lee's family was also targeted. Government officials in Beijing lashed out at his late father, noted Kuomintang (KMT) General Li Yin-wo, also denouncing him as a traitor. Lee's father resisted the 1941-1945 Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, as well as the communists. He's widely regarded as a hero, an embodiment of virtue and a prime example of what differentiates Hong Kong from mainland China. For how long this difference can survive is up to the vigilance of patriots like Lee.

Orpheus Ascends: Dylan In Hong Kong

"The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew"

*Updated below*

It's a rare privilege to be in the presence of a legendary artist celebrating his life and work the way Bob Dylan was doing last night in Hong Kong. It's even rarer to be center-front swaying with the one you love to "Forever Young" while he and his band of bruised renegades lay down the law:

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay, forever young

The last time Bob played here in 1994 he closed with "Blowin' In The Wind." He didn't even play it last night, despite the banshee screaming for it at stage right. Bob can't please them all, it's true, and his voice isn't everyone's cup of meat, but who cares? It's Bob Dylan...in fucking China! Well, technically the SAR, but that doesn't sound quite as novel. Lucky for us, he wasn't resting on any laurels. He gave an inspiring performance, smiling like a prancing dandy behind his keyboard, while his band smoldered or blazed through unexpected nuggets like "Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)" and "Blind Willie McTell."

I've seen Bob play four times before and this was by far the best. He was having a great time reveling in the moment - sweat dripping from his face and hair - before 3000-plus fans on the cusp of his 70th year. At times it was like watching your uncle doing the old soft-shoe in front of the mirror or a master poet caressing the contours of a familiar lyric:

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet

(via SCMP)

His band - Tony Garnier on bass, George Recile on drums, Stu Kimball on rhythm guitar, Donnie Herron on banjo, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel, and Charlie Sexton on lead guitar - were white hot, nailing the tightest rhythm and sweetest flourishes to the good ship Bob. Sexton played at least six different guitars, my favourite being the Gretsch White Falcon, as fat as a Cadillac, that he pulled out for "Highway 61 Revisited." At the end of the gig, Bob gathered the band around him as a farewell and disappeared, leaving his golden Oscar behind to watch over the hallowed stage as we reluctantly drifted for the exits. Yup, it was that good...AND he played over half of Highway 61 Revisited, too.

Set List

1. Change My Way Of Thinking
2. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
4. Tangled Up In Blue
5. Honest With You
6. Simple Twist Of Fate
7. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
8. Blind Willie McTell
9. Jolene
10. Desolation Row
11. Highway 61 Revisited
12. Spirit On The Water
13. My Wife's Home Town
14. Thunder On The Mountain
15. Ballad Of A Thin Man

Encore

16. Like A Rolling Stone
17. Forever Young

*Update*

I have to correct the South China Morning Posts' erroneous review posted on Expecting Rain. Bob played 17 songs, not 18 and he didn't sing all 10 verses of "Desolation Row" - he sang 5: #1, #2, #5, #6 & #10. And he DEFINITELY didn't do any "scatting."

Wang Dan: Barred From Hong Kong

"...the Tiananmen Massacre is still going on, only in different ways..." - Wang Dan

It should never have been in doubt; mainland dissident Wang Dan would have no problem arriving in Hong Kong from Taiwan, where he currently lives, to attend the funeral this Saturday of local patriot Szeto Wah. Hong Kong enjoys "one country two systems"; it has the legitimate right, according to its mini-constitution, to "a high degree of autonomy" from the mainland. But no. This autonomy doesn't extend to allowing a grieving countryman to visit and pay tribute to one of Hong Kong's most beloved sons. The long arm of Beijing pulls the strings and our much vaunted "one country two systems" has been exposed as nothing but a sham.

As Wang said, "Refusing me entry again tells the world that the 'one country, two systems' formula is a total lie, as the Hong Kong government has totally given up its right to autonomy, and Beijing's will prevails in all of Hong Kong."

"Execution" - Yue Minjun

Wang has paid his dues. He did time in prison on two separate occasions for his leading role in the 1989 Tiananmen protests. As a 20-year-old student from Peking University, Wang topped the list of most wanted "counterrevolutionaries" Beijing published after the June 4th massacre. He was finally released to the U.S. in 1998 for "medical reasons" and enrolled at Harvard where he obtained a master's in East Asian history in 2001 and a PhD in 2008. His PhD thesis was a comparative study of Chinese mainland and Taiwanese politics in the 1950s. Wang continues to advocate for democratic reforms and petition Beijing to allow him to return to visit his aging parents. In 2009, he spelled out four steps Beijing should implement to "begin to turn the tragic page of Tiananmen":

"First, it should pay reparations to the Tiananmen mothers who lost their children forever.

Second, the government should allow me and other forcibly exiled Chinese citizens to return to our homeland.

Third, the government should release the remaining political prisoners who were jailed for peacefully protesting in Tiananmen Square and more recent prisoners persecuted for their efforts to encourage human rights reform.

Finally, China's leaders should address the long-term objectives shared by the Tiananmen students and the authors of Charter 08 -- establishing the rule of law, guaranteeing basic human rights and ending corruption."

Death Of A Patriot: Szeto Wah

If you had to choose one person who embodied the moral aspirations of Hong Kong, a person whose love for justice extended to all of China, it would be Szeto Wah. He's been on the frontlines for almost forty years fighting relentlessly for human rights and democracy. But no more. Earlier this week he succumbed to lung cancer. He was 79.

Szeto began as his career in 1952 as a primary school teacher in the hardscrabble district of Kwun Tong, eventually becoming a headmaster. In 1973, he headed Hong Kong's first city-wide teachers' strike after the British colonial government tried to cut wages by a whopping 15 per cent. Realizing that teachers were vulnerable, he helped form the Professional Teachers' Union the following year. It's since blossomed into one of the city's largest with a membership of 85,000, including me.

Szeto Wah beside the "Pillar of Shame" at Hong Kong University commemorating June 4, 1989.

Following his success with the PTU, Szeto became a legislator and briefly worked with Beijing to draft Hong Kong's Basic Law - our mini constitution - in preparation for the 1997 British handover. This stint ended abruptly when Beijing turned the tanks on its own citizens in the early hours of June 4, 1989. In the weeks prior to the massacre, Szeto had founded the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which he remained in charge of right up to the end of his life.

In the fevered aftermath of the massacre, the group spearheaded "Operation Yellow Bird," the codename for a plan to rescue the leaders of the Tiananmen movement who were on the run in mainland China. He helped raise funds from the people of Hong Kong and smuggled them into the territory via underground and pirate channels. One was Wu'er Kaixi, now based in Taiwan and who is seeking to attend Szeto's funeral at the end of this month. Branded a criminal on the mainland, it's still not certain if Wu'er will be allowed to enter Hong Kong, despite our much lauded "One country, two systems."
These actions predictably earned Szeto the wrath of Beijing. He was banned from the mainland and villified as a subversive, but none of this phased him. He remained an unwavering advocate for democracy and for the vindication of the Tiananmen Square protesters, helping to organize Hong Kong's annual Candlelight Vigil every June 4th and supporting the "Tiananmen Mothers." When asked how he felt about China, he expressed the popular sentiment in Hong Kong, saying, "I am a patriot. I love China. I just don't like the government."

A memorial service will be held in Victoria Park on February 27 to pay tribute. The funeral will be held on January 29 at St Andrew's Church in Tsim Sha Tsui.

History Matters: Tiananmen Square

Tomorrow - June 4 - Hong Kong will host its annual vigil at Victoria Park to remember those who were murdered by the Chinese government in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square 21 years ago. It's the only place within China that holds such an event. Since the massacre took place in 1989, the government is still fighting the battle. But rather than use tanks and bullets, it's using the Internet and corrupted laws.


Yesterday, a sculptor was refused entrance to Hong Kong and then deported back to his current home in the U.S. Chen Weiming's crime was to create a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that stood in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Last weekend there was a demonstration on public property outside a shopping mall in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay to commemorate Tiananmen and the statue was confiscated by the police. This was, according to the Hong Kong Bar Association, an abuse of their authority and undermined the rule of law.

This is how history perverts the present in China. In a desperate attempt to bury a past injustice, Beijing ties itself into more knots than a contortionist at the circus. While these abuses are common occurrences in mainland China, Hong Kong is supposed to be immune under our "one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement. But no matter what Beijing does, it'll never be able to hide the truth of the horrific events that occurred in 1989.

Vino: Hong Kong Leads Asia!

It's a little-known fact that Hong Kong enjoys the highest per capita wine consumption in Asia. According to the International Wine and Spirits Report (IWSR), each adult drinks more than 3.5 litres of wine a year, significantly ahead of Japan (2.5 litres) and Singapore (2 litres).


Hong Kong is regarded as the gateway to the booming Asian wine market, which amounted to US$6.94 billion in 2008 alone and is projected to grow by an average of 11.5 per cent annually until 2013. The IWSR predicts that for the next three years, 50 per cent of the world’s wine consumption will be in just two countries – China and the United States. The mainland and Hong Kong are clearly the growth driver for worldwide wine consumption.


While Italy is the largest wine-consuming country, followed by the United States and France, the mainland and Hong Kong are leading consumers of spirits in terms of volume. As for wine, China is eighth in the world and is projected to grow by 31 per cent by 2013.


Red wine is by far the leading choice among Asians. In Hong Kong, red accounts for 80.6 per cent of consumption, followed by white at 16.1 per cent and rosé at 3.3. per cent. Although consumption of sparkling wine grew sharply between 2004 and 2008, it only represented 3 per cent of the volume drunk in Asia. Spirit consumption is slowing down and is expected to grow by 2.9 per cent, with vodka leading the way, followed by tequila and then rum.


In Asia, one bottle out of four consumed is imported, accounting for 59.8 per cent of sales. Last year, Japan remained the leading wine importing nation in Asia. France continues to be the leading supplier in the region and one in three bottles sold in Hong Kong is of French origin. Between 2004 and 2008, French imports grew by 41.8 per cent, while Chilean imports rose by 170.5 per cent and sales of Australian and American wines doubled.

Google Leaves China: No More Evil?

Back in 2006 when Google entered the Chinese mainland market, I wrote that despite the compromise, it had succeeded in opening the country up in a way that would ultimately erode China's draconian censorship laws.


Four years later that venture has come to an end. Earlier today Google announced it was closing its search engine on the mainland and redirecting all traffic to its Hong Kong site. This is a huge slap in the face to Beijing and the signs are they won't do the smart thing and just let it go. As Rebecca MacKinnon and others have pointed out, by continuing to keep this issue alive Beijing is insuring that censorship remains in the headlines, reminding its population of how much their own government is hiding from them.


Beijing won't be able to tolerate being outfoxed by a bunch of running dog lackeys of capitalist-imperialist oppressors. Ever since the row broke out in January over a series of hacking attacks Google said the Chinese government was behind, things have turned pretty sour very quickly. Google doesn't have much to lose - financially they were a distant second to the domestic market leader, Baidu, and the "stand" they've taken continues to earn kudos from anti-censorship advocates around the world. Here's Sin Chung-kai, a former Hong Kong Democratic Party legislator, supporting the move:



China, on the other hand, is succeeding in making its market look as welcoming as an acid pool to foreign investors, while at the same time providing its citizens with an uncensored view of the contempt it has for any freedom of thought. It'll be interesting to see how Beijing reacts to Google's presence in Hong Kong from now on...

Hong Kong: The Rabble Begins To Rouse

Poster of Chief Executive Donald Tsang as a communist Uncle Sam made by the group, "It's them, you and me."

I've been living in Hong Kong for almost 10 years and while the city's skyline is constantly changing, underlying conditions have remained the same, and in some cases have worsened. The statistics are staggering - Hong Kong has one of the widest wealth gaps in the world, the most Rolls Royce's per capita and the most millionaires per square mile, according to Forbes. Yet this filthy rich town is still without a minimum wage - McDonald's and other fast food restaurants pay HK $21 an hour, which is only about CAN $2.69...and it's LEGAL!

(courtesy of Christopher DeWolf)

One result of this disparity has been the rise of these "cage homes." Official statistics show that for a population of 7 million there are 150,000 Hong Kong people living in cages, cubicles, rooftop huts, hallways, benches, parks and streets. Government data from 2006 for licensed cage homes put the number at 29 apartments providing 1,292 cages for 878 people. The number is undoubtedly higher now.

It's baffling to see these seniors living in such dire poverty amid Hong Kong's opulence. More so when the so-called Confucian values of respecting and taking care of the elderly are celebrated as Chinese virtues. Hong Kong's new budget was announced yesterday and it contained little in the way of alleviating poverty, addressing the expanding wealth gap or providing for seniors. The rabble is beginning to rouse, however, as witnessed in the anti-government graffiti springing up around town.

Poster skewering chief secretary Henry Tsang as a "Devil & a political reform killer".

The Tiger: Happy Chinese New Year!

This is a special year - the Year of the Tiger! The Chinese Lunar New Year is tomorrow and all of Hong Kong is out and about shopping at flower markets, wet markets, running over to greet families or going out for some delicious food. Kung Hei Fat Choi!

The tiger represents toughness, generosity and wealth earned through hard work, traits I hope to benefit from this year. As the Putonghua (Mandarin) pronunciation of tiger (hu) is similar to that of luck (fu) this year is expected to bring prosperity and lots of good karma.

Here's a 1982 classic redux through Tehran 1992...

Hong Kong: The Big Durian

The Big Durian. There are a few Asian cities that lay claim to this title - Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur - but none of them come close to our beloved Hong Kong.

The durian is a tropical fruit that's hard and prickly on the outside, soft and sweet inside.

They also have a putrid odor: imagine a septic tank dripping with sulfur on a sweltering day. It's so bad there are some hotels that actually prohibit guests from bringing this stink bomb onto their premises. It's true - this bulbous, porcupine of a fruit is an acquired taste. But once accustomed to its flavour, the yellow, velvety flesh can prove irresistible. Just like Hong Kong. Yeah!


When the chaos and pollution get to be too much, Yuko & I go for a hike to unwind.

This is the view I fell in love with on my first trip to Hong Kong. I'll never forget the surprise I felt after hopping on a bus bound for Stanley Market and emerging from the Aberdeen Tunnel to find this beautiful vista of ocean and shoreline waiting for me. The south side of Hong Kong Island, only 20 minutes from the city center, is unlike anything else in this stinky metropolis.

This is Shek O, close to our place in Siu Sai Wan. Not quite a durian, but you get the idea. Linger long enough, cut through the prickly shell and discover its charms.

David Byrne in Hong Kong

The gospel according to David Byrne rolled into the HK Convention Center last night. It was his first time to perform here and he put on an awesome show (3 encores!) mixing tunes from his current collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today together with Talking Heads classics. He brought along a seven piece band – drums, percussion, keyboard, bass, three backing singers and three....cheerleaders! (dancers).

The new material was gorgeous, warm and expansive, a true realization of the secular gospel he has been pursuing with Eno. There were moments of ecstasy - "One Fine Day", "Life Is Long", "Everything That Happens" - and funky whigouts - "Life During Wartime", "My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)", "Once In A Lifetime". For "Burning Down The House" they slipped on tutus...

Set List:

Strange Overtones (Everything That Happens)
I Zimbra (Fear Of Music)
One Fine Day (Everything)
Help Me Somebody (Bush Of Ghosts)
Houses In Motion (Remain In Light)
My Big Nurse (Everything)
My Big Hands (Catherine Wheel)
Heaven (Fear Of Music)
Crosseyed And Painless (Remain)
Life Is Long (Everything)
Once In A LIfetime (Remain In Light)
Life During Wartime (Fear Of Music)
Air (Fear Of Music)
I Feel My Stuff (Everything)

Encore
Take Me to The River (Buildings And Food)
Poor Boy (Everything)

Encore
Burning Down The House (Speaking In Tongues)

Encore
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Everything that happens will happen today
And nothing has changed, but nothing's the same
And every tomorrow will be yesterday
And everything that happens will happen today