Democracy, Hong Kong and USA

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 598 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2020

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Democracy, Hong Kong and USA Free Thinking

Hong Kong has seen elections postponed, pro-democracy protesters arrested and a sweeping new national security law imposed by Beijing this year outlawing sedition and subversion. Rana Mitter asks whether Hong Kong can retain its unique identity and how the city's culture can help us make sense of these turbulent times. And, is there Trumpism without President Trump? Following the fortunes of the Republican Party in the US elections, we consider where the ideas associated with the 45th president sit in the history of conservative political thought.

Tammy Ho is Associate Professor of English at HK Baptist University, and a specialist on Hong Kong identity in literature

Zuraidah Ibrahim is deputy executive editor of the South China Morning Post, the main English-language newspaper in the city, and she is the co-author of Rebel City: Hong Kong’s Year of Water and Fire

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Professor of Chinese history at the University of California and the author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, based on meetings with many of the Hong Kong protestors

Colleen Graffy is Professor of International Law at Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law. She served in the George W Bush administration as deputy assistant secretary of state for diplomacy

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Centre and a regular columnist for the Washington Post, as well as the conservative journal National Review. His recent book is The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism

Producer Ruth Watts

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps
0:21.2	it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream
0:26.1	van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:32.1	Hello, I'm Rana Mitter. In a time of turbulent politics, in today's Arts and Ideas podcast, we'll be talking about
0:39.1	democracy and dissent in Hong Kong and the United States. Join me just after this.
0:45.1	Pst, do you like ideas? Big ones, satisfying ones, crunchy ones, ones that make you go,
0:52.4	oh, I like that. Tell me more. My name's Matthew Sweet,
0:55.6	and between you and me, the BBC Arts and Ideas podcast is what you need. We kind of do everything,
1:01.3	really. We'll navigate Plath, Pankhurst, Derrida, we'll tell you what to do on a date with
1:06.5	Carrie Grant. We do the big questions about art, sex, death, democracy, conservatism, colonialism and cows.
1:14.6	And here's the thing. We like booking people who know what they're talking about.
1:18.4	So consider us a safe haven from the chancers and the rentergobbs and the I Reckonistas.
1:24.5	So click on us, the Arts and Ideas podcast.
1:27.3	We can't guarantee satisfaction,
1:29.9	but we'll always strive to give you it, or the right kind of dissatisfaction.
1:34.9	Hello, we're living in an age of black and white politics. The nuances and shades of
1:39.8	grey that democracy is supposed to accommodate increasingly seem to be swept out of the picture.
1:44.8	Today, we're finding out more about two very different societies, Hong Kong and the United States,
1:50.5	and asking whether confrontational politics is there to stay, and whether freedom, dissent,
1:55.3	and nuance will be the casualties. I'll talk to two thinkers from the American Conservative
1:59.9	movement and ask whether Trumpian politics
2:02.3	disappears when the man himself leaves the White House, or whether the ideas might come back in a new
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.