The 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China will be marked on Tuesday by demonstrations just about everywhere in Hong Kong (see BUZZ’s current story). According to the messaging app Telegram and social media, there will be protests on a day when everyone, who supports autonomy for Hong Kong, is asked to wear black at the Avenue of the Stars, Jockey Club Shatin, British Consulate, Hong Kong airport, Mei Foo, Wong Tai Sin, Mongkok, Tuen Mun, Tseung Kwan O, Victoria Park, Tsimshatsui, Harbourfront and Sheungshui.
Who’s behind this political action? Today we briefly profile the student activist group, Demosisto, and young leaders, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow. Both are precocious heroes.
Demosisto grew out of the student group, Scholarism, led by Joshua. Demo is from the Greek for people; sisto is Latin meaning to stand. The group was founded two years ago by Joshua, Agnes and Nathan Law, the youngest ever legislator in Hong Kong. Demosisto’s Twitter feed says “the protests of the past few months have left an irreversible scar on Hong Kong”. It runs a video showing masked pro-Communist Party thugs attacking young protestors with poles. Another film covers water cannon with blue-dyed jets hitting journalists. “The police appear to be trying to stop the press filming their crimes,” it claims. Then there is this statement: “Today we are rallying in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong and all who suffer under the oppression of the Chinese authoritarian state, including the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples.”
Issac Cheng, Vice-chairman of Demosisto, insists the group is essentially leaderless. It seeks self-determination for Hong Kong through non-violent means. “The movement is leaderless and organisation-less,” Issac said, “so there are no single leaders that can be leading the whole movement.” Nathan Law has resigned saying he needs respite from the “vortex of political storms” and time to “think about the road ahead”. Joshua and Agnes have been arrested.
JOSHUA WONG
Joshua, who has been jailed three times for his activism, has been called one of the world’s greatest leaders by Fortune magazine and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He rose to prominence when he organised a political rally in Hong Kong attracting 100,000 people. He was 15 at the time. Now 22 Joshua was educated by the Open University and United Christian College. He was a convenor of Scholarism, the student activist group that became Demosisto, and was one of the leaders of the Umbrella Movement five years ago.
In 2017 Joshua was imprisoned for six to eight months. While in Pik Uk jail, he wrote columns for The Guardian of the UK. In 2018 he was locked up for three months for contempt of court. This year he was sentenced to two months because of his Mongkok protests. This month Joshua has been arrested again. Released, he met the German Foreign Minister to howls of protest from Beijing. Two weeks ago he visited the U.S Capitol attending the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, further incensing the Communist Party.
AGNES CHOW
Agnes says she is inspired by her Catholic faith. She first emerged into the spotlight when she was a student at Holy Family Canossian College. Agnes spoke for Scholarism against the Government’s “moral and national education scheme” in protests outside the Central Government offices. The Government backed down. One of the founders of Scholarism, Agnes also protested over the restrictive electoral framework imposed by the Communist Party on the Hong Kong Chief Executive election. In 2017 she demonstrated against President Xi Jinping by covering the Golden Bauhinia Square statue with banners. She was arrested along with Joshua and Nathan.
Agnes, who speaks English, Cantonese and Japanese, gave up her British citizenship so she could stand for election in 2018, but the Electoral Affairs Commission disqualified her. CE Carrie Lam said people with political views like Agnes’s could not run for election, attracting widespread criticism.
Agnes was arrested at her Taipo home on the same day this month that Joshua and Nathan were also arrested.
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