Joshua Wong (activist)

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This article is about the political activist. For the film director, see Wong brothers. For the musician, see Noughts and Exes.

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wong.
Joshua Wong
黃之鋒
File:Joshua Wong at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court at 11-45 on February 12, 2016.JPG
Joshua Wong at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court on 12 February 2016
Secretary-General of Demosistō
Assumed office
10 April 2016
Chairman Nathan Law
Personal details
Born Joshua Wong Chi-fung
(1996-10-13) 13 October 1996 (age 28)
British Hong Kong
Citizenship Hong Kong permanent resident
Nationality Hong Kong Chinese
Political party Demosistō
Residence Hong Kong
Education Open University of Hong Kong
Alma mater United Christian College (Kowloon East)
Occupation Student
Known for Convening Scholarism;
2014 Hong Kong protests
Religion Christianity[1]
Website wongchifung.wordpress.com
Joshua Wong
File:Joshua Wong Chi-fung.jpg
Wong Chi-fung in July 2012
Traditional Chinese 黃之鋒
Simplified Chinese 黄之锋

Joshua Wong Chi-fung (Chinese: 黃之鋒, born 13 October 1996)[3] is a Hong Kong student activist who is the secretary general of Demosistō, a political party. Before that, he was the convenor and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism.[3][4] He was a student at the United Christian College (Kowloon East), and is now a student of the Open University of Hong Kong.[5] He led fellow Hong Kong students in a massive Occupy protest in 2014 that demanded genuine universal suffrage. Due to his influence in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, he was named as one of TIME's Most Influential Teens of 2014, nominated for TIME's Person of the Year 2014.[6] and listed by Fortune as one of the world's greatest leaders in 2015.[7][8]

Early life

Joshua Wong was born in Hong Kong in 1996, and was diagnosed with dyslexia soon after.[9][10] The son of middle-class couple Grace and Roger Wong,[11] Joshua was raised as a Protestant Christian.[12][13] His social awareness stems from his father often taking him to visit the underprivileged, telling him he should care about them.[14][15]

Wong studied at the United Christian College (Kowloon East),[16] and developed organisational and speaking skills through involvement in church groups.[17] he started taking an active role in society in Hong Kong at a young age. The 2010 anti-High Speed Rail protests was the first political protest in which he took part.[18]

On 29 May 2011, Wong and schoolmate Ivan Lam established Scholarism, a student activist group which initially just handed out leaflets against the newly announced moral and national education (MNE).[17][19] The group went on to organise a petition and a rally in 2012 attended by over 100,000 people.[17] Wong received widespread attention as the group's convenor.[20] On 27 September 2014, Wong was one of the 78 people arrested by the police during a massive pro-democracy protest,[21] after hundreds of students stormed Civic Square in front of the Hong Kong Central Government Complex in a push for political rights and as a sign of protest against Beijing's decision on the 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform.[22][23] However, unlike most of those arrested who were freed soon afterwards, Wong remained in custody for 46 hours, until his lawyers moved a writ of habeas corpus.[24][25]

Role in 2014 Hong Kong protests

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Main article: 2014 Hong Kong protests
File:Joshua Wong during HK Protests 2014 1.jpg
28 October, Wong giving interview during the Hong Kong protests

In June 2014, Scholarism drafted a plan to reform Hong Kong's electoral system to push for universal suffrage, under one country, two systems. His group strongly pushed for the inclusion of civic nomination in the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election.[18] Wong as a student leader was to start a class boycott among Hong Kong's students to send a pro-democracy message to Beijing.[23]

During the protests, Wong stated: "Among all the people in Hong Kong, there is only one person who can decide whether the current movement will last and he is Leung. If Leung can accept our demands ... (the) movement will naturally come to an end."[26]

Chinese state-run media and pro-government Hong Kong newspapers allege that three years prior to the Democratic movement incident, Wong "received donations" and "met with US consulate personnel".[27] They regard him as opposing the government for no apparent reason,[28] and consider him as an extremist.[23] Wong has dismissed the allegations as baseless.[29] Wong states that the principle leading the protest is non-violence.[30]

Wong was charged on 27 November 2014 with obstructing a bailiff clearing one of Hong Kong's three protest areas. His lawyer described the charge as politically motivated.[6][31] He was banned from a large part of Mong Kok as one of the bail conditions. This ban covers the area enclosed by the following streets and roads: Fa Yuen Street, Dundas Street, Shanghai Street and Mong Kok Road. Wong is only allowed to be in the area while in transit.[32] Wong claims that police beat him and tried to injure his groin as he was arrested, and taunted and swore at him while he was in custody.[33]

After Wong appeared at Kowloon City Court on 27 November 2014 he was pelted with eggs by two men.[34] Li Wong, 27, and Cheung Ka-shing, 33 were arrested and each fined $3000 in August 2015.[35] Prosecutors filed a review petition, arguing that this ruling was too lenient. Magistrate Eric Cheung noted that the attack was premeditated and that the perpetrators lacked remorse and were uncooperative, and stated that a deterrent sentence was necessary to discourage others from committing acts of violence. On 9 November 2015 he sentenced Li and Cheung to two weeks in jail.[36]

On 2 December 2014, Wong and two other students began an indefinite hunger strike for to demand renewed talks with the Hong Kong government. He decided to end the hunger strike after four days on medical advice.[37]

Post-Umbrella Movement

Wong was arrested for questioning on Friday, 16 January 2015 for his involvement in civil-disobedience offences during the Umbrella Revolution. Wong stated: "I was held for three hours and I was arrested on charges of calling for, inciting and participating in an unauthorized assembly."[38]

The same month, an article appeared in the Pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po alleging that during his visit in 2011, Wong had met with the US consul general in Hong Kong Stephen M. Young. It suggested that Wong had links with the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, which had supposedly offered him military training by the US army. Wong replied to these accusations, saying these were mere fictional claims which were "more like jokes."[39]

Wong was denied entry into Malaysia on 26 May 2015, as he was considered "a threat to Malaysia's ties with China", largely due to the supposed "anti-China" stance shown by his role in organising demonstrations in the 2014 Hong Kong protests.[40]

On 28 June 2015, two days before a protest in favour of democracy, Wong and his girlfriend were attacked by an unknown man after watching a film in Mong Kok. The assault sent the two to hospital. Wong sustained injuries to his nose and eyes.[41] No one was arrested.[42][43][44][45]

On 19 August 2015, Wong was formally charged by Hong Kong police with inciting other people to join an unlawful assembly and also joining an unlawful assembly, alongside Alex Chow, the former leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.[46] A trial was scheduled for 30 September.[47]

Cinematographer Wong Jing endorsed Joshua Wong writing a tribute article to him due to his efforts to defend students' rights.[48]

Demosistō

In April 2016, Wong founded a new political party, Demosistō, with other Scholarism leaders including Agnes Chow and Oscar Lai and Umbrella leaders, after the original student activist group Scholarism was disbanded. The party advocates for a referendum to determine Hong Kong's sovereignty after 2047, when the One Country, Two Systems principle as promised in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law is supposed to expire. As the founding secretary-general of the party, Wong also planned to contest in the 2016 Legislative Council election.[49] However as Wong was 19 and is too young to run, he filed an application for a judicial review of the election laws in October 2015 to lower the minimum age for candidates to 18 from 21.[50] After his decision to found his own political party, criticism against Wong has increased specially in different social networks.[51]

In the media

  • 2015 Fortune – World's 50 Greatest Leaders (10th place)
  • 2014 Lessons in Dissent, a documentary film featuring Wong and fellow activist Ma Jai
  • 2014 Time Cover (Asia Edition)
  • 2014 Time – The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014
  • 2014 Foreign Policy – 100 Leading Global Thinkers
  • 2014 Time – Person of the Year 2014 (Reader's Poll – 3rd place)
  • 2014 YAHOO Top Ten Search Ranking – No.1 (Hong Kong)
  • AFP 10 Most influential people 2014
  • The Times – Young Person of the year 2014

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kuruvilla, Carol. Christians Show Support For Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests. The Huffington Post. 10 January 2014
  2. ↑ http://www.hkilang.org/NEW_WEB/page/dictionary Association for Conversation of Hong Kong Indigenous Languages Online Dictionary for Hong Kong Hakka and Hong Kong Punti (Weitou dialect)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Yik Fei, Lam . World's Greatest Leaders: 10: Joshua Wong. Fortune.
  8. ↑ AFP. H.K.'s Joshua Wong among 'world's greatest leaders': Fortune. 27 March 2015. Daily Mail.
  9. ↑ 《黃之鋒：好學生重新定義》, (Chinese), Ming Pao, 9 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ BBC News. Asia. 2 October 2014. Profile: Hong Kong student protest leader Joshua Wong. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  12. ↑ Moore, Malcolm. 2014. Portrait of Hong Kong's 17-year-old protest leader. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 December 2014.: "He is a strict Christian, and his parents Grace and Roger are Lutherans."
  13. ↑ Sagan, Aleksandra. 2 October 2014. "Joshua Wong: Meet the teen mastermind of Hong Kong's 'umbrella revolution". CBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2014.: "They raised him as a Christian – a religion he still identifies with. Wong recalls accompanying his father to visit some of the less fortunate in Hong Kong when he was much younger"
  14. ↑ Moyer, Justin. 2014. "The teenage activist wunderkind who was among the first arrested in Hong Kong's Occupy Central". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Leah Marieann Klett. 8 October 2014. ""Joshua Wong, Christian Student Leading Hong Kong Protests Will Continue To Fight For Democracy". Gospel Herald. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  16. ↑ Pedroletti, Par. 29, Sept. 2014. Les leaders de la mobilisation citoyenne à Hongkong. Le Monde. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 http://newleftreview.org./II/92/joshua-wong-scholarism-on-the-march
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Calum MacLeod,"Meet The 17-Year-Old Leading Hong Kong's Protests", USA Today, 2 October 2014
  27. ↑ Nile Bowie, "Hong Kong’s 'Semi-Autonomous Democracy' is a leap forward", RT. com, 30 September 2014
  28. ↑ 《學民思潮參與「倒梁」　防止洗腦教育再現》, (Chinese) 1 January 2013
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Frances Martel"17-YEAR-OLD PROTEST VETERAN JOSHUA WONG IS FACE OF HONG KONG PROTESTS", Breitbart, 3 October 2014
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Ejinsight. 29 June 2015. Joshua Wong dismisses Xinhua article on alleged CIA links. Hong Kong Economic Journal Company Limited
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Liu, Juliana. 2 August 2015. Joshua Wong: 'We had no clear goals' in Hong Kong protests. BBC News
  42. ↑ Ejinsght. 29 June 2015. Scholarism leader Joshua Wong, girlfriend attacked after movie. Hong Kong Economic Journal Company Limited.
  43. ↑ Lee, Jeremy. 29 June 2015. Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong and girlfriend injured after being attacked on street. The Strait Times.
  44. ↑ Ying-kit, Lai. 29 June 2015. Attack on Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong 'a threat to free speech'. Law & Crime.
  45. ↑ Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong in chilling assault, Yahoo News, 28 June 2015.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Wednesday 2 September 2015. Leader of Hong Kong democracy protests Joshua Wong to face trial. The Guardian
  48. ↑ SC Yeung. Ejinsight. Why is there a boycott drive against Wong Jing’s latest movie?. Hong Kong Economic Journal Company Limited. Feb. 4, 2016
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ South China Morning Post. Jason Y Ng. 'Baptism of fire for Joshua Wong and his nascent political party'. 29 de abril de 2016.

External links

Political offices
New title Convenor of Scholarism
2011–2016		 Organisation dissolved
Party political offices
New title Secretary-General of Demosistō
2016–present		 Incumbent
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