Leaked Comics, Annotated
MASSIVE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!
I am annotating the leaked 'The Promise' pages. There are some rather interesting historic references that shed light on what is happening/will happen.
Notes:
I have utmost faith in the quality of the art and the intentional writing of the script. ATLA has proven over and over again that it does not do things accidentally. All through the series we see cleverly inserted references to real life politics and situations. And since this comic is approved of by the creators and they had a hand in writing the script, I will assume that these things are intentional here too, and I will treat them as such, since any interpretation without that premise is rather mute. But more about that later.
Sum
up: You put an over-compensating 17 year old, a naive 13 year old and a man-child in charge of the fate of the world. This will end well. No, really.
But back on topic:
There are several issues I take with their approach:
1.
I do not think dismantling - at least the older - colonies is a good idea. Kicking people out who have lived there for up to 150 years is not okay. That is 4 generations. No one seriously considered kicking everyone out of Hongkong in 1999, and that was 'only' 100 years. This is vengeance and not justice. And definitely not a 'peaceful and harmonious' solution.
2. Aang thinks he's a neutral party is all of this and does not seem to understand that most of the FN, including
the colonies, will not agree on that.
"Harmony Restoration Movement"
Before I get into what this means, let me refresh the times ATLA has done this before i.e. made reference to the political system in China. This is by far the only time.
Let's start with the most blatantly obvious. Aang is the Avatar, his people who live in temples and are enlightened were killed by the Fire Nation. Obvious dig at Tibet and the Dalai Lama is obvious. Down to the clothes.
The second major dig is "Lake Lao Gai". Laogai is not a made up phrase, quite the contrary:
Laogai (simplified Chinese: 劳改; traditional Chinese: 勞改; pinyin: láogǎi), the abbreviation for Láodòng Gǎizào (勞動改造/劳动改造), which means "reform through labor," is a slogan of the Chinese criminal justice system and has been used to refer to the use of prison labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Other minor ones include: Kuei is a play on the last Emperor Pu Yi, down to the name i.e. Kui 傀 (pronounced Kuei) means 'puppet'. The last emperor is referred to as the 'Puppet Emperor'.
But back to the "Harmony Restoration Movement". This one is either referring to Harmonious Society a term used by the current government:
While initially the public's reaction to the idea was positive, over the
years "Harmonious Society" has become a satirical placeholder for
"stability at all costs." The government often uses "Harmonious Society"
as a euphemism to justify the suppression of dissent and the tight
control on information in China. Some social commentators have pointed
out the irony that in building a "harmonious society" the country has
become less just, less equal, and less fair.[2]
Or to the Boxer Rebellion, which was about removing foreign influence from China after the Opium Wars.
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" (義和團 - Yìhétuán), or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" (known as "Boxers" in English), in China between 1898 and 1901, opposing foreign imperialism and Christianity. The uprising took place in response to foreign "spheres of influence" in China, with grievances ranging from opium traders, political invasion, economic manipulation, to missionary evangelism. In China, popular sentiment remained resistant to foreign influences, and anger rose over the "unequal treaties" (不平等條約), which the weak Qing state could not resist. Concerns grew that missionaries and Chinese Christians could use this decline to their advantage, appropriating lands and property of unwilling Chinese peasants to give to the church. This sentiment resulted in violent revolts against foreign interests.
Either/Both options are not so subtle hints that the idea of this movement is wrong from the get go. I personally think it is a combination of both i.e. forcefully removing the foreigners/colonies after the war points towards the Boxer Rebellion parallel, the 'making them shut up about it' to the modern usage of the word 'harmonize'.
The goal was/should for the nations to live in harmony, not to create another unjust situation in the name of retribution.
