The Listening Post

Hong Kong protests: Taking the streets, dominating the screens

As millions hit Hong Kong’s streets, China seeks to downplay protests. Plus, movies of South Africa’s apartheid era.

On The Listening Post this week: As Hong Kongers come out in millions, China seeks to downplay the protests. Plus, the B-scheme films – movies of South Africa’s apartheid era.

Covering the Hong Kong protests

“The world is watching” – that is the chant on the streets of Hong Kong as images of mega protests are beamed around the globe.

Two million people in a territory of seven million went out to stop the passage of a law that would allow suspected criminals to be extradited to mainland China.

We examine the dissonance between the coverage of the protests in Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as the effect the bill could have on journalists in the Special Administrative Region.

Contributors:

Denise Ho – singer and pro-democracy activist

Yuen Chan  senior lecturer, City University of London

Shirley Yam – vice chairperson, Hong Kong Journalists Association

Einar Tangen  political & economic affairs commentator

On our radar:

Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about how arguably the biggest news story of the year in Egypt went barely noticed by Egyptian media  deliberately; and Heshmat Alavi is back  the reportedly fake Iranian activist is reinstated by Twitter

The propaganda films of apartheid-era South Africa

We look at a slice of history: film-making in South Africa during the era of apartheid.

Among the subsidies the government offered to the film industry back then was the so-called “B scheme”. To qualify, filmmakers – who were mostly white back then – had to produce films with black casts, for black audiences, in a black South African language such as Zulu, Xhosa or Tswana.

But why would the apartheid government – with its policies of racism, oppression and segregation – help bankroll movies that were made – ostensibly – for the entertainment of black South Africans?

The Listening Post‘s Nic Muirhead explores.

Contributors:

Charles Mokatsane  cinema owner

Benjamin Cowley  CEO, Gravel Road Productions

Gairoonisa Paleker  senior lecturer, University of Pretoria

Tonie Van der Merwe  filmmaker