Scholarism was a Hong Kong
pro-democracy
Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...
[Wilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, ]CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
br>Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle
28 September 2014 student activist
Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...
group active in the fields of Hong Kong's education policy, political reform and youth policy.
It was reported to have 200 members in May 2015.
The group was known for its stance on defending the autonomy of Hong Kong's education policy from Beijing's influence.
["(Joshua
) Wong formed a group of students in Hong Kong called Scholarism to stop the territory from implementing a mainland-designed "national education" policy that ignored the Tiananmen massacre and pushed fealty to the Chinese Communist Party."] It was also the leading organisation during the
2014 Hong Kong protests
A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014.
The protests began after t ...
, better known as the "Umbrella Revolution".
Founded by a number of secondary school students on 29 May 2011, the group first came to media attention when they organised a protest against the Pro-Communist "
moral and national education
Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012.
The subject was controversial for its stance on the Chinese Communist Part ...
" put forward by the
Hong Kong government in 2012. At the height of the event, 120,000 students and members of the public attended the demonstration and forced the government to retract its plans to introduce "moral and national education" as a compulsory subject in schools.
Scholarism ceased functioning in March 2016. Core members including
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 la ...
, Oscar Lai and
Agnes Chow formed a new political party
Demosisto
Demosisto (stylised Demosistō) () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secre ...
in April.
History
Anti-Moral and National Education movement
Originally formed as "Scholarism – The Alliance Against
Moral & National Education", Scholarism was the first student
pressure group that protested against the "Moral and National Education" school curriculum
put forward by the Hong Kong Government in 2012. The controversial subject ignored the
Tiananmen massacre
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
and tried to present the
Communist Party of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
in favourable light.
The group was one of the few organisations that took part in the protest outside the
Central Government Liaison Office after the
1 July March 2012.
In August 2012, members of Scholarism launched an
occupation protest at the
Hong Kong government headquarters to force the government to retract its plans to introduce "Moral and National Education" as a compulsory subject. Fifty members occupied the public park beneath the government offices, and three of the protesters began a
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
. The protest lasted until September 2012.
Hong Kong democratic movement
After rising to prominence during the movement against the "Moral and National Education" the pro-democracy students remained active in the social and democracy movement in Hong Kong.
On 23 June 2013, Scholarism issued a statement which stressed the necessity of
civil nomination for the
2017 Chief Executive election.
By late August, Scholarism drew up a charter and began lobbying democratic Legislative Councillors to sign it, which would commit their parties to make civil nomination through universal suffrage the number one priority during the coming campaign for the 2017 Chief Executive election. The charter was signed by
People Power,
League of Social Democrats
The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliame ...
,
Neo Democrats
The Neo Democrats was a pro-democracy, localist political group in Hong Kong composed mainly of former and disenchanted members of the Democratic Party New Territories East branch after the 2012 constitutional reform proposals. It had held ...
, and
Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre. The
Civic Party
The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong.
The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the ...
signed on with reservations, and the
Democratic Party,
Labour Party and
Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood refused to sign it as they disagreed that public nomination should be the only way to put forward candidates.
Umbrella Revolution
In September 2014, Scholarism launched a
class boycott with 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 ...
(HKFS), protesting against the
National People's Congress Standing Committee
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...
's (NPCSC)
decision on the restricting nomination procedure of the election of the
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of ...
.
On 26 September, the class boycott was held on
Tim Mei Avenue and the square outside the
Legislative Council Complex
The Legislative Council Complex (LegCo Complex) is the headquarters of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The complex is located at 1 Legislative Council Road, Central, Hong Kong.
Construction of the LegCo Complex commenced in 2008 and was ...
, as an organisation applied to hold a celebration event of 65th anniversary of the People's Republic China at the
Tamar Park
Tamar Park () is an urban park in Admiralty, Hong Kong covering around with the design concept of 'perpetual green'.
The park occupies 80% of the Tamar site public space and is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of th ...
. It was also the day on which Scholarism hosted the class boycott movement for secondary school students.
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 la ...
, leading activist of Scholarism, pronounced the boycott statement. At 10:30 p.m. when the assembly came to the end, Joshua Wong, all of a sudden, called for the crowd to "retake" the Civic Square, around which fences were built two months earlier. Led by members of HKFS, hundred of protesters climbed across fences and tore down the barriers around the flag stage. The police surrounded hundreds of protesters, and then further mobilised towards the Civic Square and clashed with the protesters. The police
pepper-sprayed them and displayed their batons. In chaos, it was reported a protester was having a heart attack. The police force originally refused to let the medics enter, and later permitted under the protesters pressure. At 10:52 p.m. police handcuffed and arrested Joshua Wong for forcible entry to government premises, disorderly conduct in public place and unlawful assembly. As visible wounds were found, he was sent to
Ruttonjee Hospital
Ruttonjee Hospital is a district general hospital in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is affiliated with the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Hong Kong, and provides clinical attachment opportunities for the u ...
for medical inspections before sent to the Central Police station. Many people on site were sent to the hospital because of injuries or feeling unwell. The police and protesters fell into stalemate later on.
The raid on the Civic Square triggered the massive occupy protest in the following days, as more protesters were called in support of the students being carried away from the Civic Square.
At the night of 27 September, HKFS and Scholarism organised another assembly. Having declared the
assembly unlawful, police blockaded Exit A of
Admiralty MTR station and bridges outside the Central Office Complex until the size of the crowd caused the police to lift the blockade. At 1:30 am, 28 September,
Benny Tai
Benny Tai Yiu-ting (; born 12 July 1964) is a Hong Kong legal scholar, political figure, and democracy activist. He was an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong.
From 2013, Tai launched and is known for his initiation of ...
, co-initiator of the
Occupy Central with Love and Peace
Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) was a single-purpose Hong Kong civil disobedience campaign initiated by Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man on 27 March 2013. The campaign was launched on 24 September 2014, partially l ...
movement, declared the official launch of the "Occupy Central" campaign. In the afternoon, as more and more people flooded to Admiralty in support of the students, the police completely blockaded the access to the government headquarters. Later, the protesters began to occupy
Harcourt Road which police responded by using
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
, triggering
widespread occupations at Admiralty,
Mong Kok
Mong Kok (also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK) is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok.
Mong Kok is one of the major shopping areas in Hong Kong. The area is characterised ...
and
Causeway Bay
Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...
.
Although the protests were fruitless in the end, Scholarism remained its leading role in the following 79-day occupy movement.
Dissolution
In February 2016, Oscar Lai Man-lok, a core member of Scholarism, revealed that he, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow Ting planned to form a political party and field at least two candidates to run in the
Legislative Council elections in September. Lai subsequently quit Scholarism to support
Civic Party
The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong.
The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the ...
's
Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu
Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu (, born 5 June 1981) is a barrister and politician in Hong Kong. He is the former Leader of the Civic Party and former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing New Territories East after winning the 201 ...
in the
Legislative Council by-election for
New Territories East, as Scholarism refused to officially endorse a candidate between the pro-democratic Civic Party and the
localist
Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...
Hong Kong Indigenous
Hong Kong Indigenous is a localist political group established in 2015. It is known for its hardline localist stances and militant methods of protesting. It has been actively involved in protests and engaged into violent clashes with police, ...
's
Edward Leung Tin-kei in the election.
In March, an online news outlet IBHK reported that the group, would be disbanded. Scholarism's Facebook page said on 16 March that it was at present working on its future direction and would announce if it reached any decisions.
Scholarism officially ceased functioning on 20 March 2016. The group had a sum of HK$1,450,000 in its bank account, of which HK$700,000 was transferred to a new student activist group and the other HK$750,000 was transferred to a legal assistance fund to assist the lawsuits. Core members including
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 la ...
, Oscar Lai and Agnes Chow went on to form
Demosisto
Demosisto (stylised Demosistō) () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secre ...
.
See also
* ''
Lessons in Dissent'', a documentary film
* ''
Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower'', a documentary film about Joshua Wong and Scholarism.
References
External links
學民思潮 ScholarismScholarismat Facebook
{{Umbrella Movement
Organizations established in 2011
Organizations disestablished in 2016
Political organisations based in Hong Kong
Education activism
2011 establishments in Hong Kong
2016 disestablishments in Hong Kong
Student protests in Hong Kong