The entry into force of the national security law in Hong Kong is far from having slowed it down. This July 9, Joshua Wong posted on Twitter a call to protest all over the world, entitled "Friday for freedom: Free Hong Kong!" (Freedom Friday: Free Hong Kong!). A risky message when you know that "Free Hong Kong" is now part of the slogans prohibited by the new liberticide law. But since the beginning of his engagement, he does not want to give anything to Beijing.
The context
The future activist was only 8 months old in 1997 when Hong Kong, which was under British sovereignty, was returned to China. It undertakes to respect the principle of one country, two systems: the territory will be able to keep its economic and legislative system, as well as its way of life for 50 years. That is to say until 2047, date which quickly becomes the horizon of Joshua.
2012: courses in "moral and national education"
Very quickly, he fought for Beijing to respect its commitment with Hong Kong. At 14, he founded the group of student activists Scholarism with school friends, including Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Nathan Law.
The group organized a year later demonstrations against the introduction of "moral and national education" courses scheduled for the start of the new school year in September 2012 by the new chief executive Leung Chun-Ying, chosen in March.
The latter's manuals praise the Chinese Communist Party, and ignore certain events in history, such as the bloody repression of Tiananmen in 1989.
The movement is gaining momentum, and Joshua Wong begins the media appearances, where he describes these courses as "brainwashing". On September 8, he experienced his first victory: the government announced that these courses would not be imposed in Hong Kong schools.
2014: universal suffrage in Hong Kong
In 2014, Joshua Wong supported law professor Benny Tai in his fight for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. Because since the handover to China, it is Beijing which chooses the candidates for the post of chief executive of the territory.
On September 26, he organized a student demonstration outside the government building, which he escalated with other students before being arrested and placed in detention, where he would stay 46 hours.
This event launched the "Umbrella Revolt", so called because the demonstrators took umbrellas to protect themselves from the tear gas launched by the police.
Joshua Wong gives many speeches and quickly becomes the figure of revolt. But this time, the demonstrators do not succeed: the situation between the police and the demonstrators deteriorates, so that Benny Tai decides to surrender to the police.
The young activist, he does not want to give up immediately, and starts a hunger strike. At the end of the fifth day, he was so weak that he had to move in a wheelchair, and he stopped on the orders of his doctor.
After this first setback, Joshua Wong and his comrades think about acting differently than on the street. In 2016, they announced the end of Scholarism and formed a political party, Demosisto. The latter advocated a referendum to determine the sovereignty of Hong Kong after 2047. In the elections for the Legislative Council, he won a seat with Nathan Law, who at the age of 23, became the youngest elected.
2019: extradition law
The party is organizing the first demonstration in 2019 against the new government bill to extradite people from Hong Kong, especially to Beijing.
Joshua Wong, in prison for his role in the 2014 revolt, was released on June 17, 2019. When he left, he directly called for the resignation of the head of government, Carrie Lam, elected in 2017.
After months of monster demonstrations (one of them reached 2 million participants according to the organizers, 1.44 million according to a study by the Hong Kong media Stand News, for 7 million inhabitants), it announces the permanent withdrawal of the extradition bill on September 4, 2019.
But that is no longer enough for Joshua Wong and the protesters, who have since had new demands. The subject of universal suffrage is notably put back on the table. From Taiwan, he calls the demonstrators to continue. "The people of Hong Kong will not stop until Hong Kong is a place of democracy and freedom," he said.
However, the protest movement faltered, before being completely interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
2020: the national security law
To put an end to the revolt, the new director of the Beijing liaison office proposes to apply a law on national security. It prohibits "treason, secession, sedition and subversion". More concretely, it punishes political opinions such as support for independence or greater autonomy of the territory. Despite a resumption of protests to oppose it, it was imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020.
In danger, pro-democracy activists are now facing life in prison. Joshua Wong and his cronies quit the Demosisto party the same day. The party announced its dissolution a few hours later.
Nathan Law announced on July 2 that he had fled to continue acting abroad. Joshua Wong remains in Hong Kong.
On July 6, he urged the international community to stand in solidarity with the Hong Kongers. He then came out of the court, where he was arrested a little earlier for his role in the 2019 protests. Alongside him, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, his lifelong supporters.
Since June 30, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada have threatened, if not already implemented, reprisals against Beijing.
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