Youth Movements in Contemporary Asia

In recent years, young activists across Asia have forged creative alliances to confront authoritarianism and oppression. Despite the distinct political contexts of Burma, Thailand, and Hong Kong, these movements have found common ground in their shared resistance to autocracy and in many cases also to Beijing’s growing influence in the region and the world. The Milk Tea Alliance, a loosely defined and largely online constellation named for the iconic drinks of their respective cultures, symbolizes this transnational solidarity.

In this talk, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a specialist in Chinese and Hong Kong studies who has lately begun to engage with Southeast Asian as well, draws from stories and arguments in his forthcoming book, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing. He will bring up materials from interviews he has done with activists who have stayed in their places of birth, such as Thailand’s Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, and exiles, such as Burma’s Ye Myint Win (aka "Nickey Diamond"). The talk will focus on how figures such as these two, and their Hong Kong counterparts such as Agnes Chow and Gwyneth Ho, have been learning from and influencing one another and how their movements have alternately converged and diverged. Some references will also be made to transnational connections between activists in different parts of Asia in the past and to how the Milk Tea Alliance relates to current struggles by Tibetans and Uyghurs.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor's Professor of History at UC Irvine. The author of past works such as Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China (1991) and Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (2020), his next book, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing, will be published by Columbia Global Reports in June.

Host or Publisher Northeastern University Asian Studies Program