The Umbrella Network
How Hongkongers took to the web to keep their protests from folding
Series
This series explores how we maintain relationships with our loved ones when they are far away.
When pro-democracy protests began in his hometown, Hong Kong, in early September of 2014, Jeffrey Ngo was glued to his screens. The New York University student monitored the news and his social media feeds night and day. His phone buzzed with messages from his friends back home and abroad at all hours.
It was a tense month for Ngo, a 19-year-old history major. He had to watch his home city struggle from afar.
Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when it became a specially administered region of China. The city now belongs to China but is governed by a different and democratic political system, and therefore enjoys more civil liberties than the mainland. Over the years, the Chinese government in Beijing tried to introduce more and more policies that would restrict Hong Kong’s independence, said Ngo. Hong Kong residents were promised democratic elections to vote for a Chief Executive in 2017. But on Aug. 31, 2014, Beijing announced that it would limit the pool to candidates chosen by a committee heavily dominated by Chinese officials. That was when the protests started.
This decision enraged many Hong Kongers — at home and abroad. Thousands took to the street. Then on Sept. 27, 2014, Hong Kong police threw tear gas at the protesters gathered on the city’s streets, sparking even larger demonstrations. Ngo, too, could no longer just witness the protests from afar. He felt compelled to act.
“That really surprised a lot of people. There were some peaceful protesters, mostly students, and they were treated this way,” said Ngo. “It was like people just felt like they had to come out and to support. These are the events that caused the people who used to not care as much to be more involved.”
Changing his Facebook profile to support the pro-democracy movement was no longer enough. Ngo started to talk to other expatriate Hong Kongers in New York and in Washington, D.C.
Then a name popped up in his Facebook chat window. Angel Leong.
“hi jeffrey.”
And thus began his involvement in a global protest movement.
Anatomy of a protest movement
Leong, 34, is the founder of a Facebook group called United for Democracy: Hong Kong Global Solidarity. A communications professional in Hong Kong, she roamed the streets and participated in a few protests during the calmer phase of the movement.
Like Ngo and many others, Leong felt compelled to act when she saw the police using pepper spray against Hong Kong protesters. She and her friends were waiting for someone to organize a global group to support the protesters when they realized they could do it themselves. “Why not us?’’ she said.
They started a small Facebook group, spreading it to their immediate circle of friends. But as the movement grew, so did the Facebook group. It now boasts more than 58,000 followers from at least three continents.
Protesters who met through the Facebook group and chats organized a Google Form to monitor activities held in solidarity with the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Activists organized events in at least 86 cities in 26 countries.
A global movement
Source: Data courtesy of Jeffrey Ngo / United for Democracy: Global Solidarity with Hong Kong Facebook group
Planning a revolution via chat
Jeffrey Ngo allowed Al Jazeera America to analyze his Facebook data to shed light on his political activities online. Below is a chart showing 10 chat rooms on Facebook that involved Leong, Ngo and other activists. Friends of friends would introduce one another on Facebook in these chat rooms, said Ngo. Soon chats became more formalized, with the ninth chat room being used by the most active leaders.
Source: Facebook data courtesy of Jeffrey Ngo / United for Democracy: Global Solidarity with Hong Kong Facebook group
Note: The data reflect only conversations in which both Leong and Ngo were involved between Sept. 17, 2014 and May 20, 2015. The chat rooms are numbered in chronological order. The majority of these conversations — nine out of ten — included Leong and Ngo as well as a number of other Facebook users.
Leong and Ngo were involved in chats with at least 79 other protesters around the globe. Over time, some stayed very active, others stopped participating. The most active people emerged as leaders in their respective home towns. The table below shows the 10 organizers who sent the most messages in these chats and became some of the most active protest participants in their city.
| Organizer | Number of messages |
|---|---|
| Organizer in Vancouver | 7,420 |
| Angel Leong (in Hong Kong) | 5,718 |
| Jeffrey Ngo (in New York) | 4,986 |
| Organizer in Toronto (at the time) | 4,287 |
| Organizer in Hong Kong 1 | 1,208 |
| Organizer in Toronto (at the time) | 869 |
| Organizer in New York | 490 |
| Organizer in Hong Kong 2 | 316 |
| Organizer in London | 266 |
| Organizer in Hong Kong 3 | 188 |
Source: Facebook data courtesy of Jeffrey Ngo / United for Democracy: Global Solidarity with Hong Kong Facebook group
Note: The data reflect tallies from conversations in which both Leong and Ngo were involved from Sept. 17, 2014 to May 20, 2015. To protect the identity of other protestors not interviewed for this story, we removed their names.
In December of 2014, 11 weeks after protesters first took to the highways of the island city, the movement ended with police dismantling the last few protest sites. Post-it notes with encouraging messages scribbled on them were removed. The tent sites returned to being heavily trafficked roads. Most of the protest decor — stickers, posters, umbrellas — disappeared from the walls and pathways in Hong Kong.
Ngo still convenes over lunch with friends whom he met through the protests in Washington, D.C., or New York City. Every so often, they go to karaoke together, watch Hong Kong cinema in New York. And, of course, the group is still chatting online, planning their next steps.
“u all kn the Hong Kong Free Press rite,” Angel wrote on May 18. “we as GSHK [Global Solidarity Hong Kong], can have a column there. can Jeffrey write the first piece? hahaha”
“Fine,” Ngo responded.