Fighting for Democracy:
Learning from the Umbrella Movement

About this webinar

Watch this webinar with Johnson Yeung, one of the organizers behind Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, a massive civil resistance movement fighting for democracy. He analyzes and shares the movement cycle of the Umbrella Movement, key learnings around escalation in their 15 month campaign of civil disobedience, lessons in how they framed their issue, and how their tactics worked or didn't work.

Johnson shares about the critical role of mass movements for democracy and human dignity, and from the experiences and reflections of being a key organizer of the Umbrella Movement.

Johnson Ching-Yin Yeung was an organizer of the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement and currently works on international human rights advocacy. He works on mass demonstrations calling for electoral reform and political rights, was the spokesman of Civil Human Rights Front, a platform of Hong Kong NGOs and pro-democracy political parties; and Deputy Secretary-General of Federation of Student, an alliance of college students that led the Umbrella Movement.

He started as a student activist and was politicized by a land justice movement, when a group of villagers was forcibly evicted because of an express rail link project. From his experience in the movement, he believes in the power of the people, and the ways that mass movements can not only improve political and economic systems but also change our conception of living as a community. Johnson is still reflecting on his experience in one of the largest movements in East Asian history, and believes the lessons can lead us to victory. He is a trainer with Momentum.