Words matter. These are the best Joshua Wong Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
People may recognize me as some sort of superhero, but it’s different. Spider-Man and all these other superheroes, they get superpowers and do what they want to save the city. If we need to save Hong Kong, we can’t rely on superpowers, we can just rely on the people.
Hong Kong might be a small place, but its people make it unique. The iconic images of skyscrapers in this bustling metropolis are famous around the world, but it is the people of Hong Kong, standing up for their city on the streets, who make it truly great.
We recognize Taiwan as the beacon of Asian democracy.
I am one of the facilitators, helping to make the voice of Hongkongers heard in the international community. I also organize student class boycotts and provide assistance for high school students.
The fight for democracy is a long-term battle.
I’m a Christian and my motivation for joining activism is that I think we should be salt and light.
There’s no doubt that the Chinese government is waging a full-fledged crackdown on Demosisto.
If the Internet or air traffic of the financial center of the world shuts down, of course the world needs to have a say on it.
When I was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, I felt that this should go to all of the Hong Kong people who fight for democracy.
I have the responsibility to tell everybody that I am not the only political prisoner in Hong Kong and that there will be more coming.
The police force has repeatedly demonstrated an inability and unwillingness to carry out its fundamental mandate: to serve and protect the people of Hong Kong. It has been reduced to a mere instrument of repression subservient to the political agenda of Beijing’s regime in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is different to mainland China. We protect our freedoms. We ask for free elections to elect the leader of our city.
In 2011, when I established the activist group Scholarism, I could have not imagined that a year later, 100,000 people would take to the street and occupy for a week to urge the government to withdraw the national education curriculum.
The Umbrella Movement was a legacy, not a victory, because there weren’t any concrete policies or systematic reforms after it.
I hope to make clear that involvement in small scale community work can make a difference in our city’s politics.
Hong Kongers deserve universal suffrage.
What I hope is that politics shouldn’t be dominated by the pro-Chinese elite; it should be related to everyone’s daily life.
Having grown up under Chinese rule, I don’t have any memory of colonial Hong Kong or feel any attachment to it.
Carrie Lam is a proxy leader.The final decision-maker is President Xi.
Historically, Hong Kong has served as an important bridge between China and the world. Our freedoms, stability and the rule of law have been the reasons for our success.
I have been fighting for democracy since I was 15 when I organised a strike to oppose the Hong Kong government’s plan to introduce the Chinese patriotic school education; 100,000 people surrounded a government building with students asking for democracy for every citizen.
If I don’t commit to fighting for the future, 20 years later, 30 years later, after the end of the expiration date of the joint declaration, Hong Kong will be more at risk and in greater danger.
Detention cells in Hong Kong are not pleasant. In Thailand they are even worse. In Hong Kong you are at least allowed to see your lawyers.
Hong Kong’s government needs to bear most of the responsibility for the Fishball Revolution.
The anti-extradition movement is larger and much more organised than the Umbrella Movement in 2014.
We do not want to see a Hong Kong that enjoys freedoms on paper, but whose autonomous status conceals the workings of a totalitarian state beneath.
Hong Kong is the city with the highest degree of freedom of all the Chinese territories.
The fight for democracy relies on community support.
During the Umbrella Movement, the police force wasn’t in control, and the police ignored the law and tried to use extreme force to hurt people.
Some people say that given the government’s firm stance against genuine universal suffrage, our demands are impossible to achieve. But I believe activism is about making the impossible possible.
In 2014, we were opposing President Xi Jinping. Five years later, we are opposing Emperor Xi Jinping.
Being famous is part of my job.
For generations of Hong Kongers, the only means of upward mobility and the only way to meaningfully contribute to society have been to obtain a respectable university degree (preferably in business administration) and a professional accreditation (in finance, accounting, law or medicine).
Many issues are closely related to politics and I think Hong Kongers should pay more attention to politics.
I have never criticised the Thai government. I was only invited there to share my experiences of being a young man who took part in the umbrella movement. And this led to me being detained as soon as I stepped off the plane and being treated in a way that goes completely against human rights and the law.
I think even pro-China legislators would not believe I’m really a CIA agent.
We deserve to elect our own government.
We long to have a home where civil freedoms are respected, where our children will not be subject to mass surveillance, abuse of human rights, political censorship and mass incarceration.
I believe elitism in politics is over, and a new path to achieving democracy should be charted by young people who have the most at stake in the future of our city.
The Umbrella Movement can be described as an encyclopedia. Politicians and student leaders wrote it, and let the masses read it and react passively.
You don’t need role models to be part of a social movement as long as you care about the issues.
In a world where ideas and ideals flow freely, we want what everybody else in an advanced society seems to have: a say in our future.
Truth be told, relying on ‘one country, two systems’ to preserve our values is a lost cause.
Carrie Lam is not the leader elected by people of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has always been a symbol of the vibrant and free exchange of cultures, commerce and ideas. This reputation is threatened, however, in the face of China’s efforts to increase its authoritarian control within its sphere of influence.
We do not want to see a Hong Kong that enjoys freedoms on paper but whose autonomous status conceals the workings of a totalitarian state.
If Hong Kong could exercise democratic self-governance under the sovereignty of China, it would not be necessary for us to take this step on the path toward independence.
We do not believe in authoritarian rule.
My generation could be the first in Hong Kong to be worse off than our parents.
The police have the right to prosecute people, but not use violence.
It may take a generation to achieve democracy. But our generation must accomplish this and not pass the buck to the next.
Adversity will only sharpen our wits and make us more strong-willed, resulting in the political awakening of more Hong Kongers, not to mention the international community’s support.
Beijing’s imperial reach extends far and wide, from Taiwan and Xinjiang to the South China Sea and beyond.
The education system of Hong Kong has often been slammed for marginalising a lot of people.
I do not lead the Hong Kong protests, because no one person leads the protests.
Being cut off from the outside world is scary.
My generation, the so-called post-’90s generation that came of age after the territory was returned to China, would have the most to lose if Hong Kong were to become like just another mainland Chinese city, where information is not freely shared and the rule of law is ignored.
If a mass movement turns into worshipping a particular person, that’s a great problem.
As I reflect on the successes and failures of our push for democracy, reading widely in search for a path out of authoritarian rule, I’ll keep writing to encourage myself and those on my side.
We will continue our protest with our course on free elections.
