Joshua Wong, the teenage Hong Kong student activist leader who came to global prominence during the 2014 Hong Kong democracy protests, has announced that he is disbanding his Scholarism student group and setting up a new political party.
Mr Wong, who at 19 years of age is not eligible to vote in Hong Kong’s limited elections for another two years, became the poster boy of the Occupy Central movement, when millions blocked the streets for weeks in 2014, demanding direct elections of the city’s chief executive.
Making the announcement on the group’s Facebook page, Mr Wong said the new political party will contest at least two seats in legislative elections in September. This could pitch the new party of young activists against the old-school democrats who have dominated Hong Kong’s political life for decades.
“In nearly a year of discussion and reflection, we’ve realised that Scholarism needs to change its way of inter-crossing political movement and student movement,” a statement ran.
The group has struggled with its activism, because it is officially a student body, not a political movement. Under its new structure, it will encompass a student group and a regular political party, concentrating on elections and democracy.
Mr Wong founded Scholarism when he was at secondary school in 2012, and it was instrumental in a campaign in Hong Kong to have a pro-Beijing national education curriculum shelved.
The arrest of Mr Wong in 2014, along with two other activists, triggered a major change in the protests, with thousands taking to the streets to demand electoral reform.
The protests lasted for 79 days and brought Hong Kong’s business district to a standstill, but failed to win any concessions from the Hong Kong or mainland Chinese governments.
Under the Basic Law introduced when Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, the territory is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy, but a series of recent events, including the apparent rendition of controversial booksellers by mainland Chinese security forces, are seen as a sign that Hong Kong’s cherished freedoms may be under threat.
During Chinese New Year in February, a radical group of young activists called Localism were very high profile when a demonstration by street hawkers protesting against a crackdown on illegal food stalls in Mong Kok turned into a running street battle.
Another student leader calling for independence from China took tens of thousands of votes in a recent poll, and business leaders, including the territory's richest man, Li Ka-shing, urged democrats to abandon separatist calls, saying Hong Kong cannot function alone.
Hong Kong's limited democracy is the only form of pluralism allowed in China, and the ruling Communist Party in Beijing is keen for no contagion from the south. Its response has been tough and the central government is tightening controls on the freewheeling city-state, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
“Hopefully in the near future, we can still see each other on the streets,” Scholarism said in a statement.
