2020 saw street protest erupt in multiple countries around the globe, sometimes responding to local oppression, sometimes provoked by experience protesters had in common, such as racial injustice or police impunity. Many of these movements mobilized without a centralized leadership or hierarchy, causing some to dub them ‘leaderless’ even though they were able to pack a powerful punch on the ground; Hong Kong’s democracy movement was a case in point, bringing the territory to a standstill with occupations and strikes. But can a decentralized movement reach beyond its immediate locale and build powerful support internationally? We discuss that question with someone who played a prominent role in the Hong Kong mobilisation - Ching Yin Johnson Yeung, formerly the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front and past deputy general secretary of the Federation of Students in Hong Kong.
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu interviews rights activist Ching Yin Johnson Yeung about how the Hong Kong democracy movement was – and wasn’t – able to win international solidarity
- The Coda: A Mexican poet and nun tells men what she really thinks of them – 300 years ago
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