One can almost hear the old guard of activists step aside for these young people better able than their forebears to harness sophisticated modern technology and have limitless creativity to get their message across effectively and extensively. It’s hard to argue with this sentiment when others of this “new generation” like Time’s Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg of Sweden, are not afraid to speak truth to power, or to act on their words, even when that power seems unassailable. 288 pgs.Īi Weiwei writes in the preface to Unfree Speech that Joshua Wong “represents a new generation of rebel A generation whose world view is markedly different from that of the established capitalist culture fixated on profit above all else”. Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act, Now, Penguin, 2020. When we stay silent, no-one is safe: when we free our speech, `they can’t stop all of us’.Joshua Wong with Jason Y. Hong Kong is the canary in the coal mine. It is a rallying cry for all of us to rise up and fight together for our freedoms. Part-manifesto, part-memoir, Unfree Speech is Joshua’s powerful and urgent call for all of us to stand up for democracy, wherever we live. Now, for the first time, this is Joshua’s story straight from the frontline of activism. His efforts have garnered him mass global news coverage, a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and over 100 days in jail. Since then, Joshua has led the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 and now the ongoing Extradition Bill protests which are hitting our news headlines daily. While the adults stayed silent, and China threatened to change their education policy, Joshua staged the first ever student protest in Hong Kong against the oppressive regime: and won. At what point do you stand up to power? Aged 14, Joshua Wong made history. Unfree Speech : The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act, NowĪn urgent manifesto for global democracy from Joshua Wong, the 22-year-old phenomenon leading Hong Kong’s protests - Nobel Peace Prize nominee and TIME, Forbes and Fortune world leader.

Unfree speech by joshua wong