學民思潮 | |
Merged into | Demosisto |
---|---|
Formation | 29 May 2011 [1] |
Founder | Joshua Wong |
Dissolved | 20 March 2016 |
Type | Student activist group |
Headquarters | Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island |
Website | scholarism.com (archived) |
Scholarism | |||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 學民思潮 | ||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 学民思潮 | ||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Study Person Thought | ||||||||||||||||
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Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy [3] student activist group active in the fields of Hong Kong's education policy,political reform and youth policy. [4] It was reported to have 200 members in May 2015. [5]
The group was known for its stance on defending the autonomy of Hong Kong's education policy from Beijing's influence. [6] [7] [8] It was also the leading organisation during the 2014 Hong Kong protests,better known as the "Umbrella Revolution".
Founded by a number of secondary school students on 29 May 2011,the group first came to media attention when they organised a protest against the Pro-Communist "moral and national education" put forward by the Hong Kong government in 2012. At the height of the event,120,000 students and members of the public attended the demonstration and forced the government to retract its plans to introduce "moral and national education" as a compulsory subject in schools. [7]
Scholarism ceased functioning in March 2016. Core members including Joshua Wong,Oscar Lai and Agnes Chow formed a new political party Demosisto in April.
Originally formed as "Scholarism – The Alliance Against Moral & National Education", [9] Scholarism was the first student pressure group that protested against the "Moral and National Education" school curriculum [3] put forward by the Hong Kong Government in 2012. The controversial subject ignored the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and tried to present the Chinese Communist Party in favourable light. [7] The group was one of the few organisations that took part in the protest outside the Hong Kong Liaison Office after the 1 July March 2012. [10]
In August 2012, members of Scholarism launched an occupation protest at the Hong Kong government headquarters to force the government to retract its plans to introduce "Moral and National Education" as a compulsory subject. Fifty members occupied the public park beneath the government offices, and three of the protesters began a hunger strike. [11] The protest lasted until September 2012.
After rising to prominence during the movement against the "Moral and National Education" the pro-democracy students remained active in the social and democracy movement in Hong Kong.
On 23 June 2013, Scholarism issued a statement which stressed the necessity of civil nomination for the 2017 Chief Executive election. [12] [ non-primary source needed ] By late August, Scholarism drew up a charter and began lobbying democratic Legislative Councillors to sign it, which would commit their parties to make civil nomination through universal suffrage the number one priority during the coming campaign for the 2017 Chief Executive election. The charter was signed by People Power, League of Social Democrats, Neo Democrats, and Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre. [13] The Civic Party signed on with reservations, and the Democratic Party, Labour Party and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood refused to sign it as they disagreed that public nomination should be the only way to put forward candidates. [14]
In September 2014, Scholarism launched a class boycott with the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), protesting against the National People's Congress Standing Committee's (NPCSC) decision on the restricting nomination procedure of the election of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. [15]
On 26 September, the class boycott was held on Tim Mei Avenue and the square outside the Legislative Council Complex, as an organisation applied to hold a celebration event of 65th anniversary of the People's Republic China at the Tamar Park. It was also the day on which Scholarism hosted the class boycott movement for secondary school students. Joshua Wong, leading activist of Scholarism, pronounced the boycott statement. At 10:30 p.m. when the assembly came to the end, Joshua Wong, all of a sudden, called for the crowd to "retake" the Civic Square, around which fences were built two months earlier. Led by members of HKFS, hundred of protesters climbed across fences and tore down the barriers around the flag stage. The police surrounded hundreds of protesters, and then further mobilised towards the Civic Square and clashed with the protesters. The police pepper-sprayed them and displayed their batons. In chaos, it was reported a protester was having a heart attack. The police force originally refused to let the medics enter, and later permitted under the protesters pressure. At 10:52 p.m. police handcuffed and arrested Joshua Wong for forcible entry to government premises, disorderly conduct in public place and unlawful assembly. As visible wounds were found, he was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital for medical inspections before sent to the Central Police station. Many people on site were sent to the hospital because of injuries or feeling unwell. The police and protesters fell into stalemate later on.
The raid on the Civic Square triggered the massive occupy protest in the following days, as more protesters were called in support of the students being carried away from the Civic Square. At the night of 27 September, HKFS and Scholarism organised another assembly. Having declared the assembly unlawful, police blockaded Exit A of Admiralty MTR station and bridges outside the Central Office Complex until the size of the crowd caused the police to lift the blockade. At 1:30 am, 28 September, Benny Tai, co-initiator of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement, declared the official launch of the "Occupy Central" campaign. In the afternoon, as more and more people flooded to Admiralty in support of the students, the police completely blockaded the access to the government headquarters. Later, the protesters began to occupy Harcourt Road which police responded by using tear gas, triggering widespread occupations at Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.
Although the protests were fruitless in the end, Scholarism remained its leading role in the following 79-day occupy movement.
In February 2016, Oscar Lai Man-lok, a core member of Scholarism, revealed that he, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow Ting planned to form a political party and field at least two candidates to run in the Legislative Council elections in September. Lai subsequently quit Scholarism to support Civic Party's Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu in the Legislative Council by-election for New Territories East, as Scholarism refused to officially endorse a candidate between the pro-democratic Civic Party and the localist camp Hong Kong Indigenous's Edward Leung Tin-kei in the election. [16]
In March, an online news outlet IBHK reported that the group, would be disbanded. Scholarism's Facebook page said on 16 March that it was at present working on its future direction and would announce if it reached any decisions. [16] Scholarism officially ceased functioning on 20 March 2016. The group had a sum of HK$1,450,000 in its bank account, of which HK$700,000 was transferred to a new student activist group and the other HK$750,000 was transferred to a legal assistance fund to assist the lawsuits.[ citation needed ] Core members including Joshua Wong, Oscar Lai and Agnes Chow went on to form Demosisto. [17]
The Hong Kong Federation of Students is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four schools. The purpose of the HKFS is to promote student movements and to enhance the student body's engagement in society. Since the 1990s, the federation has taken an interest in daily events in Hong Kong, and no longer restricts itself to the areas of education and politics. The HKFS council (代表會) is convened by representatives of the university student unions. The representatives are elected by the university students. A standing committee is appointed by the council.
The 2012 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 9 September 2012 for the 5th Legislative Council (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012.
Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) was a single-purpose Hong Kong civil disobedience campaign initiated by Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man on 27 March 2013. The campaign was launched on 24 September 2014, partially leading to the 2014 Hong Kong protests. According to its manifesto, the campaign advocates for an electoral system in Hong Kong that is decided through a democratic process and satisfies international standards of universal and equal suffrage. With the first three stages of the movement – dialogue, deliberation and citizens' authorization – the civil disobedience that follows must be non-violent.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto until it disbanded following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law on 30 June 2020. Wong was previously convenor and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism. Wong first rose to international prominence during the 2014 Hong Kong protests, and his pivotal role in the Umbrella Movement resulted in his inclusion in TIME magazine's Most Influential Teens of 2014 and nomination for its 2014 Person of the Year; he was further called one of the "world's greatest leaders" by Fortune magazine in 2015, and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
The 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign, also known as 922 Class Boycott and 926 Class Boycott, is a student strike protesting the PRC Standing Committee of the National People's Congress's restriction on nomination system of the election of the Chief Executive in the 2016 and 2017 Hong Kong Political Reform. The campaign, jointly organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, was participated in by university students from 22 to 26 September and later also by secondary school students on 26 September. The student movement evolved into the 2014 Hong Kong protests in which several regions across the Victoria Harbour were occupied by pro-democracy protesters.
A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014.
The Umbrella Movement was a political movement that emerged during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) of 31 August 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive.
Lester Shum Ngo-fai is a Hong Kong social activist and politician. He was a leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and served as deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) from April 2014 to March 2015. He was a member of the Tsuen Wan District Council for Hoi Bun from 2020 to 2021.
The East Wing Forecourt of the Central Government Office, or Civic Square, is an open space in front of the East Wing of the Central Government Complex, Hong Kong, which is located in Tamar. It was once an area where protesters took part in protests and demonstrations. It was closed in July 2014, and reopened on 10 September 2014. For many, it represents democracy and freedom, and a place to express their discontent. It was occupied for a rally opposing the moral and national education school curriculum proposal in August 2012, and during the 2014 Hong Kong protests in September 2014. Since then, the square is closed by the government in order to prevent protests.
Alvin Cheng Kam-mun, also known as "Brother Four Eyes", is a Hong Kong political activist, a member of Civic Passion, and founder of student activist organization Student Front. In 2014, he led a rally in support of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement during the G20 Brisbane summit.
Liberalism has a long tradition as an economic philosophy since the founding of Hong Kong as an entrepôt which cherishes private property, the free market, and free trade. In recent decades, Hong Kong has earned its international reputation as one of the "freest economies in the world". As a political trend, liberalism has become the driving force of the democratic movement since the 1980s which is mainly represented by the pro-democracy camp which strives for the universal suffrage, human rights and rule of law in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, localism is a political movement centered on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local culture. The Hong Kong localist movement encompasses a variety of groups with different goals, but all of them oppose the perceived growing encroachment of the Chinese central government on the city's management of its own political, economic, and social affairs. Issues of concern to localist camp include land use and development, cultural and heritage conservation on the left, parallel trading and the increasing number of mainland immigrants and tourists on the right. On the autonomy of Hong Kong, many of them advocate the Hong Kong people's right to self-determination, while milder elements advocate for greater autonomy while remaining part of China, and the most radical call for return to British rule or full independence as a sovereign state. Certain right-wing localist camp also advocate for a more aggressive and militant approach in defending popular interests.
Localist groups, or localist and self-determination groups, are the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local lifestyles and opposed the perceived growing encroachment of the Chinese government on the city's management of its own political, economic, and social affairs.
Demosisto was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS). Scholarism and the HKFS were the two student activist groups which played an instrumental role in the 79-day occupy protests known as the Umbrella Revolution in 2014.
Nathan Law Kwun-chung is a mainland-Chinese-born activist and politician from Hong Kong. As a former student leader, he has been chairman of the Representative Council of the Lingnan University Students' Union (LUSU), acting president of the LUSU, and secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS). He was one of the student leaders during the 79-day Umbrella Movement in 2014. He is the founding and former chairman of Demosistō, a new political party derived from the 2014 protests.
On 17 August 2017, three Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong, were given prison sentences by the Court of Appeal for their roles in a protest at the Civic Square in front of the Central Government Complex in Tamar, Admiralty, on 26 and 27 September 2014. The events at the Civic Square helped set off massive pro-democracy protests, sometimes referred to as the Umbrella Movement, which lasted until police cleared the last of the protest sites in December 2014.
Agnes Chow Ting is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the 2018 Hong Kong Island by-election, supported by the pro-democracy camp, was blocked by authorities, due to her party's advocacy of self-determination and independence for Hong Kong. She was arrested in August 2019, during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, for her role in a protest at police headquarters two months earlier, and sentenced to 10 months in jail in December 2020. She was again arrested for the National Security charge of 'collusion with foreign forces' in August 2020, albeit released on bail the day after. After her early release in June 2021, she made no public announcements until December 2023, when she wrote on social media that she had already moved to Canada in September that year to study for a master's degree at a university in Toronto, and decided to go into exile.
Tommy Cheung Sau-yin is a Hong Kong activist and a former Yuen Long District Councillor. He is the former spokesman of Scholarism, president of the Student Union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the standing committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS).
Prince Wong Ji-yuet is a Hong Kong activist. A former spokesperson of Scholarism, she was involved in the Umbrella Revolution of 2014 and the anti-extradition bill protests in 2019.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Association for Conversation of Hong Kong Indigenous Languages Online Dictionary for Hong Kong Hakka and Hong Kong Punti (Weitou dialect)