You Must Take Part in Revolution, Graphic Novel

In the near-future, will Hong Kong even have a future? Only a grim, dystopian one, at least as it is envisioned by dissident Chinese artist Badiucao (now based in Australia) and Hong Kong-born American journalist Melissa Chan. In fact, the outlook for freedom and democracy in general is rather pessimistic in Chan’s graphic novel, You Must Take Part in Revolution, illustrated by Badiucao (a pseudonym for his own protection), which goes on-sale today wherever books and comics are sold.

Chan and Badiucao, closely collaborating on the book’s editorial direction, slightly alter the history of the 2019 Umbrella Movement, to heighten the Orwellian implications of the resulting chain of events. The student activists scrupulously avoided any form of violence, fully understanding the Chinese Communist Party would seize on such actions to justify a brutal crackdown. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they did anyway.

Andy, an American expat, whose parents immigrated to American after participating in the Tiananmen Square protests, joins the Umbrella Movement, feeling an apostolic connection to their idealistic but ill-fated activism (Tiananmen looms large throughout the graphic novel). He quickly befriends Olvia and Maggie, but their lives divert in very different directions after the clampdown. Olivia presumably disappears into Taiwan, but Maggie is arrested for planting an explosive device on a police car, which unintentionally kills a father and his young child.

Andy cannot forgive her for betraying their ideals and giving the Party an excuse. Neither can she, but the years Maggie spends laboring in slave-like condition while confined to a political prison will give her time to seek some kind of atonement. Fortunately, the Tibetan in the neighboring cell helps her navigate her journey within. Andy also evolves, undergoing American military commando training, in hopes of liberating the now divided island of Taiwan.

If you want to read something depressing, You Must Take Part in Revolution (ironically taking its title from a Mao quotation) will surely do the trick. Basically, it imagines a world in which China grows increasingly aggressive and oppressive, because America so thoroughly compromised its own democratic principles to effectively oppose it on the world stage.

It would be nice to argue they overstate the fascist potential of Pres. Schroeder, who is repeatedly identified as Trump’s spiritual heir (but she is a woman, so, yay, glass ceiling broken). Unfortunately, that is a much tougher case to make in the wake of the Ukrainian horror show in the Oval Office. Nevertheless, Chan unambiguously indicts the CCP oppression of Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, while also depicting ominously ever-present Chinese surveillance.

So, give Chan and Badiucao credit. They are equal-opportunity doomsayers. Fittingly, Badiucao’s art is arrestingly dark and stark. It mostly consists of black and white inkwash, but Badiucao carefully employs flashes of yellow and red, two colors that hold enormous symbolic resonance in Hong Kong, for dramatic emphasis.

Obviously, You Must Take Part in Revolution is a cautionary tale, but is there anyone left who is receptive enough to listen? In some ways, it echoes the warnings of the Hong Kong anthology film Ten Years, which was a huge hit when it released locally, but clearly its warnings went unheeded. Regardless, fans of dystopian imagery will be in awe of Badiucao’s art. Recommended for its visual style and urgent message, You Must Take Part in Revolution goes on-sale today (3/4) at comic retailers.