Joshua Wong: Unfree Speech
Joshua Wong was still a teenager when he rose to international prominence as a leader in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, protesting increased Chinese Communist Party intervention in the city’s electoral system.
A lot has happened since. Wong has served two prison terms and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s co-founded a new political party, Demosistō, and written a book, Unfree Speech. All the while, the protest movement in Hong Kong has simmered on, boiling over last year into extraordinary mass protests and brutal police confrontations.
With Sally Warhaft, Wong will discuss the evolution of Hong Kong’s democracy movement and the impact of COVID-19. Assembly restrictions enforced due to the pandemic have hampered demonstrations and possibly cleared the path for more authoritarian rule in the city. In mid-April, more than a dozen high-profile pro-democracy activists were arrested.
How does Wong expect these arrests to impact Hong Kong’s legislative elections in September? What effect might a weakened United States and an emboldened China have on the One Country, Two Systems principle that grants Hong Kong special autonomy?
Wong will reflect on these questions and more on Tuesday 12 May.
Watch the stream below.
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Featuring
Featuring
Joshua Wong is a Hong Kong student activist and politician born in 1996. He serves as secretary-general of pro-democracy party Demosisto, which promotes democracy and progressive values through street activism and international advocacy. He has been named by TIME, Fortune, Prospect and Forbes as one... Read more
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year, a Wheeler Centre podcast about Australians’ lives in the fog of ... Read more
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