1
Greetings, my fellow citizens.
I am Joshua Wong, founder of Scholarism.
The warning light of Hong Kong's
political system is flashing red.
At 9:30, Joshua made his speech,
and we are getting ready
for Joshua to lead us.
I feel so sick.
You know, when you can't breathe,
because you're too nervous.
A crowd of 1500 is more
than I expected here today.
I want to know, where are the adults?
No matter what the price,
we can't dump this on the next generation.
This generation must complete our mission!
Now let's go take Civic Square together!
Have you been to Mr. Siu's class?
Can I see your paper?
No, he hasn't given the paper back yet.
Oh, he hasn't graded it yet?
Before I was involved in politics
I was just a normal student, a normal kid.
I went to school, put effort in
my studies, but those days are now gone.
Instead of just focusing on GPA,
why don't we try to care
about the city that we live
and the city that we love?
Hello, Hong Kong.
We are Scholarism, a student organization.
Please take two seconds and sign your name
to demand the government
withdraw National Education.
Defend freedom of thought.
Oppose brainwashing education.
The mainstream and the teachers
just teach us,
if you become an accountant or doctor,
or even you become the management trainee
of the investment bank,
you gain a successful life and future.
However, instead of asking society
to define what is success,
I would just ask why I can't define
what is valuable for myself
and what is important for the society?
It's the time for us
to show our disagreement
against interference
from the Communist Party of China.
I founded Scholarism
when I was 14 years old.
What we hope to do is just demand
for freedom of mind and freedom of speech.
To show our disagreement
to brainwashing education.
When I founded Scholarism, I knew
it was important to recruit members.
I met Derek
because actually we knew each other
from the Christian fellowship
in our high school.
and join the fight against
the National Education?"
China is a rising darkness
that destroys the things in Hong Kong.
But if you want to defeat Darth Vader,
then you have to train some Jedi.
We are totally not Chinese people.
We are unique.
Hong Kong people is Hong Kong people.
Bruce Lee is Hong Kong people.
Hong Kong is the place that I'm born,
I live, and the place that I love.
And the future of Hong Kong should be
decided by Hong Kongers
instead of the Chinese government.
The first time for me to meet CY Leung
is in March of 2012
because he organized a Facebook event,
and if your post under that Facebook event
can get the highest number of likes,
you can get a chance
to meet with CY Leung.
I just shared to my Facebook
and shared to Scholarism's Facebook page.
And finally,
I get around a few thousand likes
and I can meet CY Leung and ask him,
"Why do you still need to implement
the National Education?"
Hello, CY Leung.
I'm Joshua Wong and a sophomore.
Maybe you find it odd that students
show up at an event like this.
And we have exams, too.
Actually, I have one tomorrow.
We are from Scholarism,
the alliance against National Education.
What's the name?
Scholarism.
CY Leung just responded,
"Oh, what is Scholarism?
I haven't heard this name before."
And he pretend that Scholarism
is not a matter for him.
What do you have in mind?
We demand the government
withdraw National Education
and the brainwashing curriculum.
What are your reasons?
It says you'll get good grades if
your answers match the government's view.
If you cry
when the Chinese flag is raised,
you'll get a better grade.
Does it really say that?
Yes.
CY Leung was not interested
to what I say about National Education.
He just thinks I'm a troublemaker.
Why is it sagging?
Testing. One. Two.
Hello, citizens of Hong Kong.
We are Scholarism,
the group against National Education.
We have to spend a lot of time campaigning
in different neighborhoods.
Every day we have to hand out flyers.
I didn't realize it would be so hard.
Please take a look at our leaflet.
It's really unusual for students
to distribute leaflets on the street.
We're just trying to push forward
to gain more people's support.
But the problem is we still haven't
grabbed the general public's awareness.
I remember that I visited a poor family
when I'm 13 years old.
While I visited them,
we would preach the gospel
and also pray for them
because I'm a Christian.
And one year later, I went back
to that family and visited them again.
During that moment, I just realized that
just trying to pray for them
would not bring the change.
It's necessary for us to change by action.
Only independent thinking is the truth!
It's been a long day for everyone.
We'd like to thank everyone
for participating in Scholarism's rally.
What are you demanding
from the government?
We demand the government
withdraw National Education.
We can't have Communist China dictating
what is taught in Hong Kong schools.
Will you act more radically
in the future to stop them?
That depends on the government's response.
If the government insists
on implementing National Education,
Scholarism will have to consider
our next steps.
Yeah, the video really
makes us very popular.
And over a hundred students applied
and say, "Oh, we want to join you
and we want to join the fight
against the National Education."
Sit down. Let's start the meeting.
Forget about pouring water.
Everyone has to be more serious.
President, why would we be serious?
If you are serious about your position,
then lead the meeting.
How is everyone?
My name is Joshua Wong,
and I'm the founder of this group.
I'm the one most newspapers
have written about.
I'm Derek Lam.
I'm studying at United Christian College.
I'm repeating my senior year.
What's your job in Scholarism?
Making jokes.
He's responsible for announcing
through the loudspeaker.
According to the procedure,
everyone should introduce themselves.
I'm Agnes Chow.
Tonight, our guest is Joshua Wong.
He's everywhere these days.
If you don't know him,
you will after this show.
Scholarism must take all of your time.
It's true. I feel like I'm working
on Scholarism full-time lately.
I always forget
that you're still a student.
How do you balance your time?
When I'm not on Facebook
dealing with Scholarism, I'm studying.
My grades are not too bad.
It's impossible
that your grades aren't bad!
Are you in a relationship?
No, because I focus on my work.
My mom keeps telling me not to date
until college.
I should focus on studying now.
Everyone values youth,
but there's a difference
between how China
and Hong Kong value youth.
Youth in China do everything
their country tells them to do.
They are one with the country.
But you're different.
You encourage people to go on the street,
to protest, to be radical,
to object to National Education.
Our situation makes it necessary.
If the government didn't push
for National Education,
I wouldn't ask people to join us
and there wouldn't be these interviews.
Allowing the Communist Party to create
our curriculum is a huge problem.
The attitude of the police forces
is quite negative towards the activists.
The policemen will come
and ask a lot of questions.
Which organization are you from?
We are an organization called Scholarism.
You aren't going to have a rally here?
No, we definitely won't.
Of course our regime and government
try to scare us
from not joining social movement.
But I think, as an activist,
one of the things
which is very important for us
is not to be scared.
You don't have to surround us
with so many officers.
We're here every day.
We'll leave if nothing's happening.
It's cool. Continue.
It's really ridiculous for the policemen
to come and tell the activists that,
"We want to protect you.
That's why we keep our eyes on you."
Because what they want
to do is just protect the ruling class
instead of the grassroots in Hong Kong.
Defend freedom of thought!
Withdraw National Education!
Today we've successfully occupied
government headquarters.
We have over 100 Scholarism members,
citizens and volunteers gathered here.
What we're fighting for
is plain and simple.
We hope that the next generation
will have freedom.
Do you worry
about the police using force?
The police do not need to use force.
Scholarism insists on being peaceful,
rational and nonviolent.
So, we hope the police can also be
peaceful, rational and nonviolent.
We are occupying a public area
outside of the government headquarters.
And we named that place Civic Square.
I feel really excited,
but I also feel a bit nervous
because of the people's expectations
of me and Scholarism.
Around 6:30 in the morning,
someone woke me up
and told me that CY Leung
come to the square.
It's the second time for me to have
the discussion with the chief executive.
These students are not camping out
for fun.
Why are you neglecting
the public's opinion?
This is a three-year initiation period.
Scholarism objects to
National Education's "initiation period."
If we agree on the initiation period,
it means that we agree
with setting up National Education.
I'd like to ask if it's possible
to launch the initiation period
but not launch
the actual National Education?
These questions can be discussed
in the committee.
Visiting the students should not be done
just a few days
before starting the initiation period.
We are really disappointed by that.
Unfortunately, it seems
that he just hoped to do a PR show
instead of really
having a conversation with us.
During the first days,
I was quite depressed.
Only a few people come to support us.
Water seeps into the tents,
but the students won't give up.
We don't want the next generation
in Hong Kong
to have to study National Education.
Joshua, school starts in a few days.
What is your plan?
If CY Leung doesn't withdraw
National Education before September 3rd,
even though we have to go back to school,
we will carry on and continue to fight.
When I wake up, there is only
10 or 20 people inside the square.
There seems to be no hope.
But a miracle happened.
Joshua Wong!
Keep it up!
Scholarism!
Keep it up!
More and more people come to the square.
In the past few days,
there were not many protesters.
But today we've successfully filled
government headquarters.
We have over 4000 people here.
They're even blocking the roads.
The movement is for all people!
With no fear!
Occupy the government headquarters!
Escalate the movement!
All people occupying
government headquarters!
Immediately withdraw the curriculum!
I hope people can shout this last slogan
as loudly as possible.
CY Leung!
Withdraw the curriculum!
CY Leung!
Withdraw the curriculum!
Thank you, Joshua Wong!
We are willing to speak with our friends
who oppose National Education.
But the premise of our conversation
can't be just withdraw or not withdraw.
At that moment,
I'm really disappointed with them.
Tonight is our "black clothes" rally.
Come to the government headquarters
and join our protest.
We can put pressure on the government
through the power of numbers.
We have faith that we'll have more people
tonight than we've ever had before.
We've occupied government headquarters
for nine days.
Tonight we've completely filled the plaza!
We've completely filled a four-lane road!
We've filled the pedestrian bridges!
We've filled the park!
I believe a miracle is about to happen.
The turning point is here!
We are making history!
Withdraw National Education!
Withdraw National Education!
Our preliminary numbers show
we have 120,000 people here!
One hundred twenty thousand!
One hundred twenty thousand!
One hundred twenty thousand!
It just explode our mind!
And I just think,
"Wow, this is amazing!"
We did it.
A group of high school students
stand in the front line
and forced the Communist regime
to step backward.
We are part of the Hong Kong history.
If you had asked me a year ago,
I wouldn't have believed it.
We are a low-profile family.
We don't want to be famous.
Joshua is not trying to be famous.
We all said, "This is a miracle."
So amazing!
How could this really happen?
They say it's the first social movement
to achieve its goal
since the Handover in 1997.
And it was the only one
initiated by high school students.
The lesson that we learned
in the anti-National Education movement is
students can also make change
in the society.
Finally, we showed the power
of social movement
and showed the power of people
to our regime.
I feel a bit happy,
but still a bit afraid,
because we just won one battle
but not the whole war.
President Xi should let Hong Kong
achieve universal suffrage.
We have waited for this promise
for more than 18 years already.
What is our hope?
Our hope is that from today onwards,
Hong Kong is entering a new era.
We printed out leaflets, posters,
Internet promotions,
and it was like a real election.
I kind of speculate that
there might be 300,000 people voting,
and that might be
the best figure we could get.
But things came out totally unexpected.
We got 800,000 people voting.
We knew the public was behind us.
The decision
of the Chinese government today...
is so undemocratic and unjust!
Unjust!
We will fight
to change this unjust system.
We're even willing
to sacrifice ourselves for it.
It has become clear
that the time to compromise is gone.
It is time for total war!
Our parents say that joining
this student strike will ruin our future.
But what sort of future will we have
under the current political system?
Students need to show the adults
that they don't make all the rules.
Momentum is building up
until the 26th of September.
We think,
"Shall we occupy the Civic Square again?"
The retake of Civic Square was
the most symbolic thing that we could do.
Greetings, my fellow citizens.
I am Joshua Wong, founder of Scholarism.
A crowd of 1500 is more
than I expected here today.
At 9:30, Joshua make his speech,
and we are getting ready for Joshua
lead us to reoccupy Civic Square.
No matter what the price,
we can't dump this on the next generation.
This generation must complete our mission!
Now let's go take Civic Square together!
There's a moment where you thought, "Wow,
we are going to make some massive change.
And we are going to make history."
Joshua just ran off
and jumped over the fence.
And suddenly there's a group of cops.
And then they just surround Joshua.
When I was arrested,
I met Joshua in the police station.
I remember that he didn't have his glasses
and he even didn't have his shoes.
I feel really powerless
because nothing I can do.
I'm still in the police station.
And I just hope every member
of Scholarism are safe.
Free Joshua Wong!
I'm going to make
a very important announcement.
It's a long-awaited one.
I announce that
Occupy Central is officially launched!
Occupy Central is officially launched!
We are not trying
to hijack the Occupy action.
We are just trying to mobilize people
to join civil disobedience.
The problem is Benny Tai
planned the Occupy action
to be a formal, organized activity.
Just like holding a concert or a ceremony.
But the participants
of social movement is quite organic.
You can't force them to directly
follow your rules and regulations.
Social movement is social movement.
The people scream.
It's just like the image of hell.
Everyone was choking.
We tried to hide, but nowhere to go.
The policemen always claim
that they hope to protect the activists.
But if they want to protect us,
why they would hurt us?
It's not Hong Kong anymore.
You've heard rumors
like they would cut off Internet.
And rumors saying that the army is coming.
And as organizers,
you have a huge responsibility
to the safety of the people.
Are we really ready to sacrifice?
I feel there's a lot of pressure
after they used tear gas.
Because I'm the convener of Scholarism,
I should be responsible.
But this responsibility
is too hard for me to bear.
It's a picture that no one
could fully express with words.
Camps sprang up all over Hong Kong.
Central, Admiralty, Causeway Bay,
Mong Kok.
The media began calling it
Umbrella Movement or Umbrella Revolution
because lots of protesters,
they used umbrellas
to resist the pepper spray
from the police officers.
Being famous is just part of my job.
If you need to increase your influence,
if you need to let people
to support your idea,
the first thing you need to do
is to let others recognize you.
I think the government is quite naive
if they believe that
I will not continue to fight.
If we need to fight to achieve
universal suffrage and democracy,
it's necessary to join
into a long-term battle
towards the Communist Party of China.
It's hard to sleep on the road.
Every day it's hot and rainy.
I miss my bed and I miss the shower,
and I miss my mom's cooking.
But we were ready
for however long it takes.
We believe in civil disobedience.
We believe
in the principle of nonviolence.
We will stand firm until the last moment.
As an organizer,
I was not prepared to be responsible
for such a huge movement.
There's no relevant experience
in Hong Kong's history
that we could take reference from.
And we were just so tired.
But Joshua, he's a robot, because
he could devote himself, like, 24/7.
For me, he's a very good person
to learn from.
But sometimes I do not know how to...
How to become a friend of him.
He shows no emotions sometimes.
Some days I have cried
and I think that I can't continue
or it's really tiring and I want to stop,
but it's not the time to cry.
Because I have a commitment
in this movement.
After two months, a part of the citizens
started to feel very impatient,
and they wanted the whole thing to stop.
That kind of impatience
motivated our government.
Please abide by the court order
and leave immediately.
We have asked the police
to help the bailiffs execute their duties.
The police saw me and pulled me
out from the crowd.
They want us to stop the occupation.
But students do not agree on that.
So, we will continue.
No one can stop us.
The street clearance is coming,
and the goal of this movement
seems to be blurred.
I hope to wake up all Hong Kong people
and people around the world.
I want to reignite awareness
of the Umbrella Movement.
The support is slipping away.
So, we have to call the people back again.
So, Joshua did a hunger strike.
My parents know,
and I know it's really harmful to my body.
It's really tiring.
You will feel
your body doesn't have any energy.
But we have to continue to show
that the students will persist
to fight until the last minute.
Rebellion is not the way
to achieve universal suffrage.
As I've said before,
any kind of rebellious action is futile.
Eventually he stopped it.
He lasted to the very last moment
that he could afford.
I think the lowest point is...
I see how people lost their hope
in this movement.
If we cannot see any hope in the movement,
the movement can't continue.
It's hard for me to accept the fact
that the Occupy has ended.
Instead of solving the problem,
Xi Jinping just ignored the people
who have raised the problem.
He just think that
they need to use the style
of the authoritarian regime
to rule Hong Kong.
I would like to thank you all for coming
to support us in the early morning,
even when you may have to work.
We will update you guys
on Scholarism's Facebook page.
In 2015, we will keep on fighting
for political reform and true democracy.
I'm going in now.
Thank you so much.
After the Occupy movement ended,
I'm still having a lot of meetings
with different people
and try to think about the next step
to continue the movement.
But I still know that
I could not turn back to a normal life.
I've been charged
with inciting unauthorized assembly,
participating in unauthorized assembly,
obstructing a police officer,
and contempt of court.
The maximum penalty
is to be put into jail.
Mentally, I already expected
to face the penalty,
maybe be put into prison,
but I'm not really ready for it actually.
Somebody needs to pay the price
for the movement,
and I've already expected...
to pay this price.
I believe that in the Central Government
there's a file that thick about me,
because we were the leaders
of the movement.
We're afraid, and we're scared
about this kind of issue happening again.
It's not really safe
if you're an activist in Hong Kong.
My parents pretended
they are not scared,
but I think...
they are worried about me, of course.
I can't ensure I will not be disappeared
in the future.
But what I can do is to fight
and to reduce the chance
for myself and my peers to be disappeared.
This one.
You can sit here.
Testing. One. Two.
Hi, everyone,
we'll begin the press conference now.
Today's press conference
is about the end of Scholarism.
Hi, everyone, I'm Derek, from Scholarism.
This is the last time for me
to introduce myself in this way.
I hope when Scholarism's name
is heard in the future,
people will recall some beautiful moments.
We were a bunch of kids
fighting hard in the streets.
I understand
that this news is hard to believe.
To be honest,
we've been discussing
the end of Scholarism for a long time.
This is a difficult decision.
But for us, we cannot let sentimentality
decide the future of Scholarism.
Instead, we need to think rationally
about what political action is needed
for the future of Hong Kong.
Last summer we began discussing
the future of Scholarism.
We discussed how a political party
and a student group could develop.
We are planning
to launch a new political party
and planning to run in the election
to get a seat in the Legislative Council
and to let the voice of the new generation
to enter the institution.
The Umbrella Movement proved
that if you only work on the street,
it's not enough,
because when you occupy the road,
the government
will not give a shit about you.
If we really want to do the real protest,
we have to stop the government.
And the way we can stop the government
is to get into the Legislative Council.
We have a very clear political aim
of fighting for Hong Kong
because we believe that Hong Kong people
should have the right
to decide our own future.
I believe we can win a seat
in the election.
Cheers to our wasted youth!
Each of us should say some
sincere words to Joshua.
Why don't we play another game?
Shut up!
What should I say to Joshua?
You're a really shitty video-game player.
How can you be so bad at it?
You rarely beat me.
I met Joshua when I joined.
At the time I thought,
why is this guy so arrogant?
Then I found that Joshua
is a good guy to work with.
He's a trustworthy guy.
He won't betray you.
I know this in my heart.
I'm really glad
that I was a member of Scholarism before,
because if I did not enter Scholarism
four years ago,
In Scholarism,
I have a lot of good memories
and I have a lot of good experiences.
I guess it's time to start something new.
And we can't keep saying that
"I'm a student and I am so pure."
Now we have to face the real politics.
It is a little bit sad,
but it's just like growing to be an adult.
I believe that the government
are really scared of the new generation,
because we are the ones who can
really pressure the Chinese government.
The Chinese government is scared of us
because we never give up,
and we have unlimited energy
to fight against them.
It's Hong Kong.
And, yeah, we have to try to save it.
They can't stop all of us.