![Alex_Chow_Yong-kang](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Alex_Chow_Yong-kang.jpg)
Alex Chow Yong-kang (; born 18 August 1990) is a social activist from Hong Kong and current
doctoral candidate in
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
[Incoming UC Berkeley doctoral candidate jailed after leading pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong]
''The Daily Californian''. Retrieved 13 May 2020.["Bearly Political Ep #1: Alex Chow and the Hong Kong Protests"]
''Berkeley Political Review''. Retrieved 13 May 2020. He is a former
secretary-general
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of the
Hong Kong Federation of Students
The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...
and a former Vice-President (External) of the
Hong Kong University Students' Union
The Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU; ) was a students' union in Hong Kong registered under the Societies Ordinance founded in 1912. It was the officially recognized undergraduate students' association of the University of Hong Kong ...
.
Occupy Central
![Occupy Central 2 October 2014 - Alex Chow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Occupy_Central_2_October_2014_-_Alex_Chow.jpg)
Chow was one of the main organisers of the
Occupy Central campaign.
On 1 July 2014, following an annual pro-democracy rally, he organised a sit-in on
Chater Road
Chater Road is a three-lane road in Central, Hong Kong named after Sir Paul Chater. It begins at its intersection with Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road Central in the west, and ends at Murray Road in the east. It divides Statue Square into a s ...
in central Hong Kong which was forcibly dispersed by police.
511 people were arrested. He was quoted as saying at the time that "It’s not enough to repeat the march and the assembly every year. We have to upgrade it to a civil disobedience movement." He later wrote that "In the past 30 years, the democracy movement has been too slow and too painstaking. The power of civil disobedience lies … in the blood and tears of everyone who is behind the struggle."
[
]
Umbrella Movement
In the early stages of the Umbrella Movement
The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to dispe ...
, he was an influential organiser and speaker. He was reported as announcing to protesters, "This is not a student movement; this is a Hong Kongers' movement"; he told ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that "residents may occupy various government departments".[ On 5 October, when the Federation of Students agreed to enter into dialogue with the government, Chow announced that the talks would be called off if attempts were made to forcefully remove protesters. In a speech at the main protest camp, he explained, "A dialogue is not a compromise. We will start arranging talks with the government, because we understand that there are people in both the government and here who want to solve society’s problems. We will not back down."]
Having attempted and failed to organise meetings with officials through local channels, Chow and two other students were prevented from travelling to China to petition mainland government officials when they attempted to leave on 15 November. The group, consisting of Chow, Nathan Law
Nathan Law Kwun-chung ( zh, link=no, t=羅冠聰; born 13 July 1993) is an activist and politician from Hong Kong. As a former student leader, he has been chairman of the Representative Council of the Lingnan University Students' Union (LUSU ...
and Eason Chung, learned from airline officials that mainland authorities had revoked their Home Return Permit
The Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, also colloquially referred to as a Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit , is issued to Chinese nationals who are permanent residents of or settled in Hong Kong and Macau as the ...
s, effectively banning them from boarding the flight for Beijing.
Chow and two other prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong
Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō until it disbanded following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law ...
, were convicted on 21 July 2016 of unlawful assembly (incitement in Chow's case) at the Civic Square
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
, Central Government Complex at Tamar, during a protest that triggered the 79-day Occupy sit-ins of 2014. He was initially sentenced to three weeks of imprisonment over a suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
on 15 August. A year later, his term was increased to seven months following an appeal to the High Court by the government. The appeal by the government drew condemnation from overseas politicians and rights campaigners, who called the three "political prisoners
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
". Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...
, former governor of Hong Kong, said their names would be remembered "long after nobody can remember who I was, and perhaps nobody can remember who President Xi Jinping was". The conviction, if not overturned on appeal, would result in Chow's disqualification from standing for election to the Legislative Council until July 2021.
In February 2018, Chow, Law and Wong won an appeal at the Court of Final Appeal to overturn their jail sentences, after a five-judge panel said those sentences applied a new standard "retroactively". The trio was previously given lighter sentences, with Wong and Law completing community service and Chow receiving a suspended prison term. Human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
researcher Maya Wang said the Hong Kong government used this case to see how far it could go in pursuing political prosecutions and "redoubled efforts to weaken pro-democracy voices", adding that "no one should be prosecuted for a peaceful protest".
At the time of Chow's imprisonment, the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, at which Chow had been studying, reached out to both the UK and the Hong Kong government to seek reassurances over Chow's well-being after a petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
gathered close to 5,000 signatures. Chow was about to go to the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
to start a doctoral program when he was unexpectedly imprisoned in August 2016. Chow began a master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. at the London School of Economics in 2016, followed by a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, Alex
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong democracy activists
1990 births
Living people
HKFS people
Hong Kong expatriates in the United States
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni