Concerned Student 1950

apj9@duke.edu — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 20:47:17 +0000

Description:

The main student protesters’ from the University of Missouri's 2015 protest was a group called Concerned Student 1950, which refers to the year the first black students were admitted to the university.

Goals:

Concerned Student 1950 demanded that Wolfe be fired and that diversity training be established on campus. On October 20^th, Concerned Students 1950 and their supporters asked for more representation of minorities among the University of Missouri’s staff. The protesters gave the university eight days to respond to their requests.

Historical/Political Context:

The group was created during racial struggles, incidents and rejection at the University of Missouri and under then-President Tim Wolfe's authority.

Structure:

Concerned Student 1950 was a student led organization on campus that was comprised of students at the University of Missouri.

Genealogy:

On October 20th, Concerned Students 1950 declared their goals to the rest of the University of Missouri, as well as local media.

On October 24, a Nazi swastika was drawn using excrement on the wall of a hall bathroom. Two days later, President Tim Wolfe met with students of Concerned Student 1950. No plan was established to answer their demands or punish those who were the source of racist slurs and acts on campus.

Concerned Student 1950 dissolved throughout the Spring of 2016.

Campaigns:

Concerned Student 1950 used social media and Jonathan Butler's hunger strike to campaign against The University of Missouri's administration.

Ideological Composition:

The group was mostly constituted of Black students.

Communication Strategy:

The group organized on campus and was very active online during the timeframe of the protest, using hashtags and tagging other users in its posts.

Created New Spaces:

Concerned Student 1950 enabled students at the University of Missouri to organize protests, camp outs on the lawn and peacefully stand on the campus with banners.

Oppositional Forces:

The main oppositional force to Concerned Student 1950 was the administration of The University of Missouri who they were fighting against, as well as racist White students on campus.

Type of Organization:

Tatics Used:

social media hashtags

social media statements

Hashtags:

#ConcernedStudent1950, #MizzouHungerStrike

Twitter

Web Exhibit Created By:

AnnaPJ

Public:

true

Caption:

Scholarism

jl783@duke.edu — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 20:27:35 +0000

Description:

Scholarism was a pro-democracy student activist group that fought for reform to Hong Kong's educational curriculum and political policy. It was founded May 29, 2011. It was reported to have around 200 members in May 2015. However, Scholarism was dissolved on March 2016 to merge together to form a political party called Demosistō. Demosistō takes many, if not all, of the beliefs and ideals Scholarism sought to enact. Demosistō was established on April 10, 2016 and is led by Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, Nathan Law, and Oscar Lai. The Demosistō Facebook page currently has over 55,000 likes. Most of the leaders express their beliefs over social media to their followers. Their Facebook pages campaign for their pro-democratic ideas. Nathan Law, Joshua Wong, and Agnes Chow Ting

Goals:

Advocates for a referendum in 2047 to determine Hong Kong's sovereignty since 2047 is when the "One Country, Two Systems" policy is supposed to expire
An established petition system which provides a place for residents to have direct political discussions and to form their own proposals of political changes through a bottom-up approach
Wants Hong Kong to be liberated from the rule of Communist Party of China
Fights for Hong Kong people to have the right of self-determination
Hong Kong history should be objectively and fairly taught to the public and the education system
Protection for sexual minorities, youth in society, racial minorities, and those who need protection
Aims to organize a "Charter of Hong Kong" which would have a self-governing constitution and new socio-political order for the city

Historical/Political Context:

Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997 from Great Britain. As it operates under the "One Country, Two Systems" policy with China meaning that China still owns the territories of Hong Kong and Macau but the two regions have a high degree of autonomy. Scholarism/Demosistō believes that Hong Kong has been exploited under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. Scholarism was involved in the anti-Article 23 rally in 2003 and the anti-High Speed Rail movement in 2010 which protested against Mainland China asserting more control over Hong Kong.

The anti-Article 23 rally was against Basic Law Article 23 which stated that Hong Kong could enact laws to prohibit any act of treason against the Chinese Communist Party while the anti-High Speed Rail movement opposed the creation of a high-speed train linking Shenzhen (closest city in Mainland China to Hong Kong) to Hong Kong. Scholarism gained recognition during the 2012 protests against the education reforms to Hong Kong and was successfully at forcing the Hong Kong government to repeal their decision.

Structure:

Through evidence like surveys and samplings , a significant portion of the individuals involved in the Umbrella Movement were young people. The numbers are not surprising due to the widespread student presence during the Umbrella Movement from Scholarism to teenage student organizations like the Hong Kong Federation of Students. The Umbrella Movement was heavily supported by individuals under the age of 40 that usually were educated to the university level. Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Agnes Chow, Oscar Lai, and the other members in Scholarism/Demosistō are all young student activists. The leaders are all in their 20s and push for a pro-democracy agenda. Their political position is skewed to the left with their ideology focusing on direct democracy. There is no singular leader of Scholarism/Demosistō but the core members plan to enact change in the Legislative Council. The members tend to work together towards a collective goal through speaking at conferences or pushing for political change.

Genealogy:

Scholarism was established by Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam. Created in May 2011, it formed to retaliate against the "Moral and National Education" school curriculum pushed by the Hong Kong government. The "Moral and National Education" policy painted the Communist Party of China in a favorable light and ignored controversies of the Communist Party such as the Tiananmen Square massacre. Scholarism sought to distance Hong Kong's education policy from Mainland China's influence, specifically Pro-Beijing views. In 2012, the group protested at the Hong Kong government headquarters to pressure the government to retract the "Moral and National Education" policy. This protest is what spread the influence of Scholarism as it rose to prominence during the Umbrella Movement. In September 2014, the Scholarism group organized a class boycott for all university and high school students in Hong Kong. The members of the group became heavily involved in the protests and occupation of Central during the Umbrella Movement. In 2016, Scholarism merged to form a new political party in Hong Kong called Demosistō. Demosistō won a seat in 2016 for the Legislative Council with Nathan Law being elected to the seat. However, in 2017, Nathan Law was disqualified and imprisoned for his involvement in the Umbrella Movement. Demosistō still continues to enter the political landscape of the Hong Kong Government.

Campaigns:

Occupy Central with Love and Peace: a civil disobedience campaign headed by Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, and Chu Yin-ming to pressure the Chinese Central Government to reform the electoral process to guarantee universal suffrage. It began on September 28, 2014 at 1:40am when Benny Tai announced the official start. That night, the protests in the Central district were marked with high levels of police brutality. Tear gas and pepper spray were used against protesters. The use of tear gas was highly significant as it was never used before in Hong Kong since 2005. The brutality of police response led more citizens to get involved as the police and government were attempting to silence the protests. https://oclphkenglish.wordpress.com Class Boycott Campaign: student strike that occurred between September 22 and September 26, 2014. It gave rise to the Umbrella Movement. It protested the Standing Committee decision on the election of Chief Executive. The campaign was jointly organized by Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students. The protest mostly included university students but expanded to include high school students on September 26. The Goal of the boycott was to demonstrate the extent of discontent from students over the government decision. Approximately 5,000 people participated in the boycott campaign. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29306128

Ideological Composition:

The ideologies of the group tends to be more liberal and radical than the majority of the population. There is an ideological split between those who want Hong Kong to be completely independent from China--breaking the One Country, Two Systems--and those who want China to limit its influence on Hong Kong with more freedoms and reforms. Scholarism/Demosistō wants Hong Kong to be completely liberated from China and to have it be its own country.

The leaders of Scholarism and the Umbrella Movement reject China's ideology of communism. Tensions have sparked when the People's Republic of China attempted to impose its communism ideals on Hong Kong through education reform and political leader in power. Hong Kong along with Macau, another special administrative region of China, have a capitalist society. Hong Kong under British rule has the ability to conduct its own economic system and mimicked some aspects of the British economy. The activists in the Umbrella Movement and Scholarism follow liberal-capitalism and do not want the government to have control over the economy. This creates a huge tension with the Chinese Central Government as the government officials want to exert more control over the Hong Kong government.

Communication Strategy:

Communication was spread to channels of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Messages on social media were translated from Cantonese to different languages like English and Spanish to lower the language barrier of the activists. The Facebook page for Scholarism has over 300,000 likes and followers. Their social media sites typically post protest information, press conferences, pro-democracy messages, and speeches. Some of the videos posted on the social media sites have English subtitles and some posts have English translations. Other than social media, the group holds press conferences and engages with the Hong Kong media to spread their message through traditional means. Their conferences are usually attended by masses of reporters and regular citizens.

Created New Spaces:

Scholarism allowed for pro-democracy activists to have the ability to bring change such as the creation of the political party, Demosistō that fights for autonomy and the liberation of Hong Kong from the People's Republic of China.

Demosistō created a place for pro-democratic people to voice their own opinions and to seek to change the legislation enacted by the Hong Kong Government. The political party has also allowed for students and young people to make a difference in the official legislative body in Hong Kong.

The occupation sites have also served as spaces for people. Protestors used colorful tents to occupy space in the Central district, the busiest business neighborhood in Hong Kong. The use of these tents to occupy space expressed the critical discontent with the Hong Kong government and the Chinese government. These tents blocked high-volume traffic and drew widespread attention to the Umbrella Movement.

Incorporated Cultural Forms:

Artwork was an integral part of the Umbrella Movement. It expressed and documented the demands of what the activists wanted. The concept of why the movement is known as the "Umbrella Movement" was because of the prominent presence of umbrellas used by protesters to block pepper spray and tear gas used by police. There was artwork around Hong Kong during this time that ranged from calligraphy to chalk drawings to sculptures. The places of these art pieces were usually in sites where protestors were heavily occupying such as the Central District and Admiralty.

Other than uplifting artwork highlighting the advances of the movement, there has been caricatures of leaders such as CY Leung and Xi Jinping. Cardboard cutouts of Xi Jinping, the President of the People's Republic of China, where he's holding a yellow umbrella were placed throughout Hong Kong in high-volume occupation areas like Causeway Bay and Admiralty. A well-known 10-foot statue called Umbrella Man was created by an artist, Milk. The statue is a wooden-textured man that holds a yellow umbrella. It became an icon associated with the movement as photographs circulated around the world on the front page of newspapers and on websites. Many pieces of artwork during the Umbrella Movement criticized the Chinese Communist Party. For instance, artwork depicting the Chinese Flag raining down on umbrellas exhibited the rejection of Hong Kongers against Communism. The protests were nicknamed as the Umbrella Movement due to protestors using umbrellas to block tear gas and pepper spray attacks by the police. Thus, umbrellas were used in many variations of art afterwards.

Oppositional Forces:

Chinese Central Government
Pro-Beijing officials in the Hong Kong Government
Communists

Social Movements - students

Concerned Student 1950

Scholarism