Youth Movements are Changing the World

By Ying-Xuan Lai, from Taiwan

If we removed the pandemic from 2020, what would we have left? Even though the pandemic has brought all of humanity to a standstill, people continue to strive to move the world forward to a better place. Political movements continue to arise in many corners of the world because, for many people, ideas like freedom and equality are more indispensable than life itself. 

Hong Kong has experienced the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement since 2019. Surprisingly, it was students rather than adults who started this social movement and have been trying to express their demands through strikes. They ask, if there is no hope in our society, what is the point of studying hard? 

In 2020, the pandemic slowed down the protests, but the Chinese government’s suppression of dissidents has not stopped because of this. At the end of June 2020, the National People’s Congress ignored public opinion, almost unanimously approved the Hong Kong national security law, and arrested protesters on charges of secession, subversion of state power, and terrorism or foreign intervention, yet without sufficient evidence or proper trials. 

Although the pandemic made it difficult to organise large-scale demonstrations, young protesters continued to use social media and online forums like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, to make decisions. They hold protests without any leader to prevent anyone from being subjected to accusations or any form of punishment. 

Similarly, from the beginning of 2020, demonstrators in Thailand, mainly young people and students, held demonstrations when the Constitutional Court of Thailand disbanded the Future Forward Party, which is popular with young people. They also want the government to respond to and improve on issues such as freedom of speech, economic issues, the education system and LGBT rights. Their long-term dissatisfaction with the military government has not diminished because of the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand. 

They use hashtags and memes to successfully attract the attention of young people in Thailand and around the world. Through various interesting themed movements, like Hamtaro, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, they not only found a way to creatively express their thoughts in a society that doesn’t allow freedom of speech, but also spread their demands throughout the world. 

The waves of demand for human rights and democracy didn’t stop at Asia. In May 2020, residents of Belarus hit the streets to voice their outrage at the possibility of Aleksandr Lukashenko being elected for the sixth time. In the election held in August, Lukashenko claimed to have obtained 80% of the votes, which was regarded by the Belarusian people and many Western governments as a false election. Since then, protesters across the country have continued to protest, despite the fact that they have been severely suppressed by the police. Security forces used tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets and batons to crack down on demonstrations. The government also arrested or exiled opposition candidates, interrupted Internet services and interfered with the print media.

Belarusian students started a strike in protest against the totalitarian government. On the first day, more than ten thousand students participated in the strike, showing their country as well as the rest of the world that their demand for freedom knew no fear.

In the United States, an African-American George Floyd died in Minnesota due to police malpractice through the use of excessive force on 25 May 2020. Within a few days, a wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations swept across the country and the world. 

At first, it was a peaceful demonstration to protest the police’s prejudiced treatment of the African ethnic group for a long time, but it quickly turned into large-scale looting and damage. Although violence cannot bring peace, if peace cannot change anything and induce anyone to listen to one’s voice, then what options are people left with?

While the outbreak of Covid-19 might have slackened physical demonstrations, the Internet and social media on the other hand accelerated and expanded the movement. People can easily participate in discussions and express opinions through sharing and hashtags, and also provide information and video materials beyond mainstream media. 

At a time when unity is most needed, tags have become a way to easily distinguish and define people. We no longer need to communicate well; we can “know” a person’s thoughts and identifications with just a label. 

I believe that nothing can stop people from pursuing human rights and better lives, whether it is a totalitarian government, military power or any kind of virus. So now we can see that the Burmese are fighting for their ballot even though the pandemic shows no sign of stopping. We can see that the voice of young people is becoming more important in these movements. As teenagers and students, in addition to being in the classroom to get an education, we also have the right to take to the streets to protest because we are not only children, but citizens.

Through these movements, we can see the importance of freedom, equality and human rights for people, and we can also see the blood, tears and lives that people are willing to pay for these values in the past, the present, and, I believe, the future also. 

Maybe we can’t decide what kind of society we have to face, but we can decide what kind of world we want to leave to our future generations, and we have the power to make bad things end and good things happen in our hand. So when we see all these kinds of movements, what movement can we do?