Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act, Now
About this audiobook
Brought to you by Penguin.
- Introduction by Ai Weiwei -
An urgent manifesto for global democracy from the leading 23-year-old Hong Kong activist - Nobel Peace Prize nominee and TIME, Forbes and Fortune world leader.
At what point do you stand up to power?
Age 14, Joshua Wong made history. While the adults stayed silent, Joshua staged the first ever student protest in Hong Kong to oppose National Education – and won.
Since then Joshua founded Demosisto, led the Umbrella Revolution and spearheaded the Extradition Bill protests, which have seen an estimated 2 million people – more than a quarter of the population – take to Hong Kong’s streets. His actions have sparked worldwide attention, a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and over 100 days in jail.
In Unfree Speech, Joshua tells his story for the first time. Composed in three parts, Joshua chronicles his path to politics, collects the letters he wrote as a political prisoner under the Chinese state, and closes with a powerful and urgent call for all of us around the world to defend our democratic rights.
Hong Kong is the canary in the coal mine. When we stay silent, no-one is safe: when we free our speech, they can’t stop all of us.
© Jason Y. Ng and Joshua Wong 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Joshua Wong (Author)
Joshua Wong was born in 1996. He has been named by TIME, Fortune, Prospect and Forbes as one of the world’s most influential leaders. In 2018 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his leading role in the Umbrella Revolution. He is Secretary-General of Demosisto, a pro-democracy organisation which he founded in 2016 that advocates for self-determination in Hong Kong. Joshua came onto the political scene in 2011 aged 14, when he founded Scholarism and successfully protested against the enforcement of Chinese National Education in Hong Kong. He has been arrested by the Chinese state numerous times for his protesting and activism and has served over 100 days in jail. He has been the subject of two documentaries, including the Netflix original documentary, Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower. This is the first time his work has been published in English.
Jason Y. Ng (Author)
Jason Y. Ng is a lawyer, activist, newspaper columnist, former president of PEN Hong Kong and author of three acclaimed books charting Hong Kong’s post-colonial development, HONG KONG State of Mind, No City for Slow Men, and Umbrellas in Bloom. He has followed Joshua’s story from its beginnings in 2011, and has continued to report and advocate for his cause ever since.
Ai Weiwei (Introducer)
Ai Weiwei is one of the world's most important living artists. Born in 1957, he lives in Cambridge, UK.
Allan H. Barr is the author of a study in Chinese of a literary inquisition in the early Qing dynasty, Jiangnan yijie: Qing ren bixia de Zhuangshi shi'an, and the translator of several books by contemporary Chinese authors, including Yu Hua's China in Ten Words and Han Han's This Generation. He teaches Chinese at Pomona College in California.
