"Democracy Manifest" (also known as "Succulent Chinese Meal", amongst other names) is an October 1991 Australian news segment video by reporter Chris Reason. The Guardian, in 2019, called it "perhaps the pre-eminent Australian meme of the past 10 years".[1] YouTube has several postings of the video with more than a million views each.[2]
The video shows a man being arrested by Queensland police at a Chinese restaurant. As the police forcibly detain him, he remarks in a stentorian[3][4] tone, "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest!", "What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?", "Get your hand off my penis!", and after an aborted attempt by a police officer to headlock him, "I see that you know your judo well."
The video was recorded on 11 October 1991,[4] but not uploaded to the Internet until 2009. A mystery developed about who the man was and what the incident involved, with theories centring on Hungarian chess player Paul Charles Dozsa, known for his dine-and-dash exploits. In 2020, an Australian man, later identified as Jack Karlson, appeared in a music video by Australian punk rock band the Chats and revealed himself as the man in the now-viral 1991 video.[5] Karlson, who had been a serial prison escapee, was arrested for credit card fraud by the Queensland Police Service.[6]
- ^ Zhou, Naaman (30 December 2019). "From iSnack2.0 to Tony Abbott's onions: the best Australian memes of the decade". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ Butler, Josh (5 March 2020). "The 'Democracy Manifest' Meme Guy May Not Be Dead, According To The Chats". 10 Daily. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Barnes, Terry (9 August 2024). "How Jack Karlson became immortal". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
Karlson himself had a deep, stentorian and highly theatrical voice
- ^ a b Biron, Dean (1 June 2022). "Succulent Chinese meme". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
In stentorian tones as my fellow officers and I wrestle him into the car
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Newsteadwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bull, Lawrence (11 February 2022). "His 'Succulent Chinese Meal' rant became a classic meme but the arrested man has a complicated past". ABC Australia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2022.