Was rewatching After UsAfter UsAfter UsAfter Us and i've been listening to a podcast on chinese revolutionary history. It's gotten me thinking a bit about how tragic it is that despite alternias long history of revolution they were ultimately destroyed before the people could realize any change on their own.
There's of course countries which have *failed* to complete the revolutionary process in our world (Germany, arguably france, numerous African and middle eastern states) but there is always still some hope in those contexts because the people and the memory of what was lost lives on. But on alternia it doesn't matter, there will never be any hope there will never be any justice because it's all to dust. Trolls live on as a species but largely disconnected from any cultural continuity.
I suppose this might make a more apt parallel a diasporized nation that's suffered from cultural genocide then but I struggle to think of any where the processes is so fully complete as in here. You could point to countries facing significant repression and which have been majorly diasporized and kicked out from their homeland (Palestine for one) but even in that case there is still hope and traditions still live on.
Returning to the comparison to china. Sun Yat-sen carried out ten failed uprisings against the Qing empire and western imperialism, there were innumerable attempted peasant rebellions and revolutions before him (the yellow turbans, the boxers, the Taiping revolution). All of this slowly built up to and was remembered by the eventually victorious but flawed 1911 revolution and the 1949 revolution. Regardless of my feelings on nationalism (i think it can be extremely harmful at times but i cannot help but feel myself pulled into the draw of national stories for freedom from oppression) there's something beautiful about the ability to remember the heroes who came before you that's been lost. Those who suffered died and it all came to nothing.
