A Dystopian Take on Rising Authoritarianism and Resistance

Melissa Chan joins to discuss her career reporting across Asia and why she pivoted from journalism to co-creating the graphic novel "You Must Take Part In Revolution" with activist-artist Badiucao. We discuss the book's visual style (Chinese watercolor influences, Frank Miller's Sin City palette, and manga elements), the subversive Mao-derived title, and a near-future plot spanning Hong Kong to a 2035 war over Taiwan amid surveillance, drones, and AI. Chan describes choices around depicting resistance, representation, and hidden "Easter eggs," and reflects on the book's strong reception. Hosts: Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Ryan Vest Producer: Jordan Morning

You can listen to A Dystopian Take on Rising Authoritarianism and Resistance online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

A Dystopian Take on Rising Authoritarianism and Resistance is an episode from Horns of a Dilemma by War on the Rocks.

This episode is 37:12 long.

This episode was published on Mar 4, 2026.

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