Violence and politics: a 13-year-old Hong Kong protester’s lessons from 6 months of social unrest

“Joe” is a 13-year-old secondary school pupil who asked to join his parents at protests in Hong Kong after he first saw hundreds of thousands of people dressed in black take to the streets in late June 2019. Though he had taken part in the 2014 Occupy Central movement, Joe had been reluctant to discuss politics. But during the past summer of unrest, he joined his father at most of the authorised protests that took place. Now, Joe says he is more outspoken and shares his father’s certainty that…