Street activism is not enough: Joshua Wong, forms political party
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Apr 11: Joshua Wong, the 19-yr-old Hong Kong student activist has launched a new political party called Demosisto, saying street activism is not enough.
His arrest in September 2014 sparked an unprecedented pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong which lasted for 79 days. But the protest, aimed for a genuine universal suffrage, failed to receive any concessions from the Chinese government.
“Street activism is not enough if we want to fight for a better future,” Mr Wong told BBC’s Hong Kong correspondent Juliana Liu and added, “In order to drive forward the movement for self-determination, we have to enter the system to shape the political agenda.”
Mr Wong has disbanded his student activist group Scholarism recently to form the new party with him as the General Secretary.
Unlike other traditional pro-democracy parties, Demosisto lays its emphasis on self-reliance and insists for a legally binding referendum to allow voters to determine Hong Kong’s political future through self-determination.
As Mr Wong is too young to run for the office, three fellow party leaders will stand for seats in the Legislative Council election in September.
The student activist, for his part in pro-democracy movement was named one of the TIME’S most influential teen and nominated for TIME’S person of the year in 2014 and listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the greatest leaders in 2015.
