Joshua Wong (activist)

Early life

Joshua Wong was born in British Hong Kong on 13 October 1996, and was diagnosed with dyslexia soon thereafter. The son of middle-class couple Grace and Roger Wong, Joshua was raised as a Protestant Christian. His social awareness stems from his father, who often took him, as a child, to visit the underprivileged.

Wong studied at the United Christian College (Kowloon East), a private Christian middle school in Kowloon, and developed organisational and speaking skills through involvement in church groups. The 2010 anti-high speed rail protests were the first political protests in which he took part.

On 29 May 2011, Wong and schoolmate Ivan Lam established Scholarism, a student activist group. The group began with simple means of protest, such as the distribution of leaflets against the newly-announced moral and national education (MNE). In time, however, Wong's group grew in both size and influence, and in 2012 managed to organise a political rally attended by over 100,000 people. Wong received widespread attention as the group's convenor. On 27 September 2014, Wong was one of the 78 people arrested by the police during a massive pro-democracy protest, after hundreds of students stormed Civic Square in front of the Central Government Complex as a sign of protest against Beijing's decision on the 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform. 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.

Role in 2014 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 advocated for the inclusion of civic nomination in the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election. Wong as a student leader started a class boycott among Hong Kong's students to send a pro-democracy message to Beijing.

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."

Wong was accused by certain media outlets of receiving donations and conspiring with the United States during the movement; he was also criticised for opposing the government for no apparent reason, and considered as an extremist. Wong, in response, dismissed the allegations as baseless, and re-emphasised the non-violent nature of the movement.

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. 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. 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.

After Wong appeared at Kowloon City Court on 27 November 2014 he was pelted with eggs by two men. Li Wong, 27, and Cheung Ka-shing, 33 were arrested and each fined $3000 in August 2015. 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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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. No one was arrested.

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. A trial was scheduled for 30 September.

Hong Kong director Wong Jing endorsed Joshua Wong writing a tribute article to him due to his efforts to defend students' rights.

While traveling to Taiwan for a political seminar, "pro-China" protesters attempted to assault Wong at the arrival hall of Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport, necessitating police protection. It was later found that local gangsters are involved.

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. 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. After his decision to found his own political party, criticism against Wong has increased specially in different social networks.

Detention in Thailand

Joshua Wong was detained on arrival in Thailand on 5 October 2016. He had been invited to speak at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Thammasat University massacre, hosted by Chulalongkorn University. A Thai student activist who invited Wong, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, said that Thai authorities had received a letter from the Chinese government earlier regarding Wong’s visit. His request to see Wong was denied. Thai immigration confirmed that it had blacklisted Wong due to a request from China.

After nearly 12 hours of detainment, Wong was deported to Hong Kong. Initially, Wong claimed that the authorities refused to say why he was being detained. After his return to Hong Kong, Wong said that Thai officials provided bureaucratic documents concerning their actions just before Wong was deported.

Hong Kong Legislator Claudia Mo called the incident "despicable" and stated: "If this becomes a precedent it means it could happen to you or me at any time if somehow Beijing thinks you are a dangerous, unwelcome person". Jason Y. Ng, a Hong Kong journalist and author, stated that Wong's detainment showed "how ready Beijing is to flex its diplomatic muscles and [how it] expects neighbouring governments to play ball".

Wong eventually spoke with a Thai audience from Hong Kong via Skype.

Imprisonment

Joshua Wong, along with two other prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow, were jailed for six to eight months on 17 August 2017 for storming the Civic Square at the Central Government Complex in Tamar during a protest that triggered the 79-day Occupy sit-ins of 2014. The sentence also "halted their budding political careers", as they are barred from running for public office for five years.

Publications

Awards