China

This is Not Freedom

Being ignorant among the crowd demonstrating
In the streets, opening an umbrella against tear gas
This is not freedom

Erecting in the square a white plaster statue of
The Goddess of Democracy, fitting someone else’s mold
This is not freedom

Stopping a tank, telling the tank
To step aside at the very moment history is about to lose
This is not freedom

—Mai Mang, About Freedom, 2016

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