Being an activist is not easy.
— Joshua Wong
I hope those who previously only thought of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee regarding Hong Kong would now realise that the city is also a place fighting for democracy.
The education system of Hong Kong has often been slammed for marginalising a lot of people.
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).
From horrific incidents of police brutality and complicity in indiscriminate attacks by triads on citizens to arbitrary mass arrests and the banning of demonstrations, the government has employed nearly every weapon in its war chest to intimidate Hong Kongers into silence and to suppress their popular struggle for democracy and freedom.
We should, through civic referendums, determine our own pathways and political status after 2047, because in this lies the future of our democratic movement. 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.
In December 2014, during the final days of the Umbrella Movement, prominent signs proclaiming We'll Be Back sprang up along Harcourt Road, one of the three major thruways occupied by peaceful pro-democracy protesters for nearly three months.
The anti-extradition movement is larger and much more organised than the Umbrella Movement in 2014.
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 love the sense of belonging in Hong Kong. I love that it is such an international city. I love our food and our language. The people are energetic and passionate. I just really love this city.
In 2014, we were opposing President Xi Jinping. Five years later, we are opposing Emperor Xi Jinping.
It may take a generation to achieve democracy. But our generation must accomplish this and not pass the buck to the next.
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.
Our city finds itself in an uncomfortable place: on the frontline between freedom and auto_cracy.
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.
The Lantos Human Rights Prize is intended to serve as a beacon of hope, justice and human decency in a world too often covered in a shroud of darkness.
I hope to make clear that involvement in small scale community work can make a difference in our city's politics.
I think even pro-China legislators would not believe I'm really a CIA agent.
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.
We desire and thirst for freedom, democracy and the rule of law just like anyone else. And we are prepared to fight tooth and nail for all of those things.
Having grown up under Chinese rule, I don't have any memory of colonial Hong Kong or feel any attachment to it.
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.
Beijing's imperial reach extends far and wide, from Taiwan and Xinjiang to the South China Sea and beyond.
If a mass movement turns into worshipping a particular person, that's a great problem.
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.
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.
I have experienced threats. Not just to me, but to my family.
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.
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.
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.
Beyond the barricades we long to see a Hong Kong free from tyranny and a puppet government.
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.
The fight for democracy relies on community support.
My phone and email have been hacked, I've been arrested by the police and followed by the pro-China people or the photographers from the pro-China newspapers.
I think Hong Kong people's struggle for democracy is similar to David versus Goliath. But this struggle is not just about me.
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.
I do not lead the Hong Kong protests, because no one person leads the protests.
Even if the CCP is willing to stick with 'one country, two systems' in principle, no one can say for certain whether Hong Kong's freedoms of speech and the press would survive in reality.
China is dead set on making Hong Kong more like it.
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. We stand with all the free peoples of the world and hope you stand with us in our quest for justice and freedom.
Hong Kong people do not keep silent and I urge people around the world to keep their eyes on Hong Kong and the passion with which people are fighting for basic rights. We never give up and we will not be silenced.
I am a pro-democracy activist asking for free elections in Hong Kong.
Will Beijing really send out the army to suppress our protests? Never say never.
Truth be told, relying on 'one country, two systems' to preserve our values is a lost cause.
My generation could be the first in Hong Kong to be worse off than our parents.
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.
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.
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.
I'm convinced democracy will grow from the ground up, from the community.
