LEILDA FADEL, BYLINE: The year is 2035. A totalitarian United States run by an unpredictable and thin-skinned woman president is at war with a techno authoritarian China. The war splits Taiwan in two and a group of young people who meet in Hong Kong must each decide their role in the conflict. That's the plot of "You Must Take Part In Revolution," a new graphic novel by journalist Melissa Chan and dissident artist Badiucao.
The two have something in common. Neither can return to China because of their work critical of China's leadership and policies. They both join me now to discuss their new book. Good morning.
MELISSA CHAN: Good morning.
BADIUCAO: Good morning.
FADEL: Thank you for being here. So Melissa, where did this idea for the book come from?
CHAN: I was staring at my collection of graphic novels from when I was a teen and thinking about the state of the world. At that time, President Donald Trump had just lost the election. There was also the turmoil in Hong Kong, in terms of the protests...
FADEL: Yeah.
CHAN: ...The student protest, and I was born in Hong Kong. So there was a confluence of geopolitical events happening at the time, and I just thought I wanted to do something like this.
FADEL: And Badiucao, how about you? Where did this come from for you?
BADIUCAO: Well, like Melissa mentioned that the Hong Kong protest resonate in me very deeply. Thus when the idea come to make a fictional graphic novel about the resistance, it's irresistible that I have to do it.
FADEL: I want to get to the plot. I mean, as you both point out, it starts with the protests in Hong Kong and these young people who are pushing to keep their freedoms, but then it gets bigger and it takes on the U.S. and China's battle for supremacy in the world, and Taiwan at the center and its quest for sovereignty. Without giving away too much, describe the type of power each of the governments deploys in the story.
CHAN: It's really interesting. We know China is a techno authoritarian power now and I think we were sort of projecting and wanting to project what it would look like in the future.
FADEL: Right. 'Cause it takes place between 2019 and 2035, which isn't too far in the future.
CHAN: Yeah. You may recall then speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi going to Taiwan and how much tension there was at the time. And we started looking at each other and wondering whether there would be a conflict between the United States and China even before our book came out.
FADEL: Wow.
CHAN: But there was a weird relationship between fact and fiction and the interplay of that.
FADEL: As the book goes on, who is good and who is bad kind of gets murky as these two superpowers - the U.S. and China - fight over Taiwan. In the end, what is the message here?
CHAN: (Laughter) It's an interesting collaboration between Badiucao and I because Badiucao is an activist and I come from a journalistic background.
FADEL: Yeah.
CHAN: So what's been interesting in this process is that I think we might have different messages for the readers. When I look at protest movements around the world, you look at Hong Kong, but also in Thailand, in Myanmar, it looks as if taking to the streets isn't getting the kind of results that we used to see a few decades ago. And for me, it's a big open question in terms of how citizens hold their government to account and how citizens can also push for their government to become more democratic.
FADEL: What about you, Badiucao?
BADIUCAO: You know, artist is not really in the role to providing answers, but rather ask questions. I do hope that this story will reflect the direction of this world and be very blunt, particularly in the perspective of Chinese dissident artists that do not just seeing the problem is only in the Chinese government, but also seeing the decay of democracy in the West, particularly in America at this moment, and need to grow up, not relying on any certain force, but make our own choice and change by ourself.
FADEL: As an activist and artist, Badiucao, and as a journalist, Melissa, you've both been punished for your work. Badiucao, you do art that pokes fun at the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, that uses satire to shine a light on human rights abuses in China, and Melissa, your journalist visa in China was revoked for the work you've done. And I see censorship as a throughline in the novel as well. Is this drawing on your own experiences?
CHAN: Yeah, absolutely. I think that another reason for why I wanted to work on a graphic novel was that actually looking at DC and Marvel comics, I felt like so many people writing about authoritarianism in the fantasy world were Americans who might not have necessarily experienced living and working in authoritarian country. And so I thought that I did have something to bring to the table in terms of my personal experience of surveillance and working and operating in authoritarian governments.
BADIUCAO: For me, as an artist, I just have to try different medias and try different platforms. For my gallery practice, yes, the Chinese government will try their best to always ensure that my exhibition is canceled or the venue that holding my shows is harassed or under international repression. There's no guarantee that the space will be welcomed or safe.
FADEL: Yeah.
BADIUCAO: But the method to defeat it is just keep trying new things.
FADEL: Is this book a warning?
BADIUCAO: I do think the story carries a bit of nature of warning because the similarity between the plot and what is going on in this world. But more than warning, I hope this work is a reminder of what happened in the history, like the Tiananmen Massacre or the protests from Hong Kong. But more importantly, I hope this work will be a force of empowerment for the readers to realize that individual are just not a powerless force in the society.
That actually there is a lot of potential for individuals to make change in the scale of history, if we believe our choices, if we act now.
FADEL: Journalist Melissa Chan and artist Badiucao are the authors of the graphic novel "You Must Take Part In Revolution." Thank you to you both.
CHAN: Thank you so much for having us.
BADIUCAO: Thank you.
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