Just Saying | Giving peace a chance with Hong Kong’s Lennon Wall War
- Yonden Lhatoo says a war is being fought across the city with pens for guns and Post-it notes for bullets, bringing out the best and worst, and providing a channel for the cathartic release of pent-up frustrations
There’s a war raging across Hong Kong these days and it’s as ugly as it is beautiful, bringing out the best and worst of this city.
It’s being fought on crowded streets, through tunnelling underpasses and along snaking footbridges, with pens for guns and Post-it notes for ammunition. Welcome to the Lennon Wall War.
The origins of this unique conflict date back to the Occupy pro-democracy protests of 2014, when youngsters plastered a wall outside government headquarters with colourful Post-it notes spelling out their frustrations and aspirations.
They drew inspiration from the celebrated Lennon Wall of Prague, which was set up in the 1980s following the killing of John Lennon.
While that one was all about peacenik graffiti and Beatles song lyrics, its progeny proliferating across Hong Kong offer some hope for harmony, but they also spew a bilious cocktail of pettiness, hate and resentment, tinctured with deep despair and utter hopelessness.