A Study of the Jailing of Anti-Tyrannical Dissidents

The “Foreword” opens by Natan Sharansky (he only wrote his section: this is not made clear until the byline at the end) asking Lai in a Zoom interview, why he was not trying to escape. The obvious answer is: this is counter-revolutionary. If he had escaped, this book would not be written about him. As Westerners tend to value tragic prolonged imprisonments and assassinations over those who succeed in making changes, or flee to avoid struggle at the last moment. Tragedies are more dramatic than easy migrations… The author adds that in 1977 he had his “own experience with” a “refusal to understand”, when he “was arrested ‘for anti-Soviet activity and high treason.’” Sharansky was released after six years of American diplomats applying pressure on his behalf. The problem of political prisoners being held for succeeding in getting through with messaging that ridicules totalitarian regimes is one that needs to be studied in academic books to help figure out how we can help them, but also to figure out how the media should handle these cases to ease their suffering. Prisoner exchanges and concessions generate a motive to take more political-prisoners to use in bargains. Perhaps, a new approach to stop these arrests is figuring out how to stop corruption in politics, as if tyrants could not profit from illegally seizing power, there would be no reason for them to imprison those who describe their corruptions.
The book opens with a “Chronology” that helpfully orients readers on the timeline of Lai’s life. Lai was born a year before the “communists” took “power in China” in 1949. It includes details that are not mentioned in the blurb, such as that his “mother” was “sent to forced labor site”, which is why he had to work as a child-laborer. Another curious detail is that “five hundred” police officers were used to raid his Apple Daily on June 17, 2021: this is an incredibly giant number for a raid of a paper… And charges against him are as absurd as “illegally subletting part of” his “company’s office”, for which he received five years in 2022.
The “Prologue: The Troublemaker” starts with some dramatic details about a historical harbor, strip-searches, and traffic before a hearing. Most paragraphs include important information, such as that Lai was wearing “hearing aids” in court because he “had eye surgery not long before the trial”. And there is an important note that his “fortune” was “estimated” to be worth “$1.2 billion before the government came after him”, and he had “spent well over $100 million of his own money to fund Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.” These are extraordinary numbers that explain just how profitable arresting him and seizing his money has been for corrupt agencies that probably pocketed most of what they seized in the chaos.
“Chapter One: ‘Food Is Freedom’” continues to report facts in combination with the dramatic biographical narrative. For example, his “government documents state” that he “was born… thirteen months before what he believes is his actual birth date…” It would have been even more interesting if an explanation followed regarding why he believes this date is incorrect by over a year. In my research into ghostwriters, such discrepancies tend to hint at identity-changes or switches from one byline to another.
Glancing over the rest of the book, it is informative, and succinctly written throughout. Those who care about democracy across the world are likely to enjoy reading this biography to learn what the struggle for democracy is like in reality.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2024: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-fall-2024

The astonishing story of the billionaire businessman Jimmy Lai who became one of Hong Kong’s leading activists for democracy and is today China’s most famous political prisoner. He is feared because of his deadly critic and have a label as a troublemaker.