Catching up
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| Taiwanese students rally in support of Hong Kong's democracy movement |
I have been
thinking about blogging again for quite a while now. So, instead of just
thinking about it, I thought the best way to go is to just shut up and start
writing.
It’s been a year
since the Sunflower Movement. I observed an obvious fatigue among the social
movement activists after the Movement and the anti-Nuclear Power Plant No.4
protest. I must say, I felt tired and drained, too, after tracking social
movements in Taiwan for the past few years. Many students and young activists
told me they felt a sense of loss, as if something was missing, or the feeling
of losing direction.
Some young
activists were angry, because they thought April 10th, 2014 was not
the right time to exit the Legislative Yuan (LY). They thought they should
continue to occupy the Legislature until the LY dropped the Cross-Strait
Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) altogether. Some activists complained the
decision making process to exit the LY was too authoritarian. There were also complaints
about a selected number of movement “leaders” receiving more attention than
others and were utilizing their popularity to further their own cause.
The students and
young professionals then split into many groups to advocate for the causes they
care most for (I plan to write about the splinter groups in a future article).
The activists called such move “diverging advance and converging attack (分進合擊)”.
Critics of the activists say the “diverging
advance and converging attack” strategy was merely an excuse for the activists’
own infighting and inability to collaborate with each other. To be fair, the
Sunflower Movement was never a unified group. It was an “umbrella” mechanism at
best. The Movement consisted of fifty-some different student groups, NGO and
civil society and social groups. Therefore, it is more fitting to describe one
of the aftermaths of the Sunflower Movement as an emergence of additional
social groups and then, political parties now known as the “Third Force”.
What’s been happening?
Even though, compared to 2013 and the beginning
of 2014, the frequency of street protests has dwindled significantly, it does
not mean the cases I have been following became stagnant. Here are some
updates:
Dapu, Miaoli (苗栗大埔)
Ms. Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), Widow of Chang Sen-wen (張森文) of the
Chang Pharmacy (張藥房), and the three other families, whose homes were torn down by the
Miaoli County government on July 18th, 2013, were due in the
Taichung Superior Court on June 25th, 2015 for their cases against
the Miaoli County government and for the returning of their land and rebuilding
of their homes.
Ms. Peng is now a regular at the monthly farmer's market on the National Chengchi University campus is Taipei. She has her own booth where she sells ginger candy, tofu dessert and jam.
Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), the graduate student from National
Tsing Hua University who threw his shoe at Miaoli County Commissioner, Liu
Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) was found guilty by the Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court on
June 25th, 2015. However, the court also decided that Chen did not
have to serve any sentence or be reprimanded in anyway. In the verdict, the
High Court also criticized the Miaoli County Commissioner for using harsh
measures to expropriate the Chang family’s home and land and acted callously
when he insisted to go to the Chang’s temporary home to “pay his respect” to
Mr. Chang, who was found drown in a ditch near his home.
Huaguang Community (華光社區)
May 28th, 2015 - Five defendants stood
trial for obstruction of justice for the April 24th, 2013 forced demolition
of homes in the Huaguang Community. On April 24th, 2015, two years
after the initial demolition, members of the Huaguang Community, the five
defendants and student supporters took to the streets again to plead with the government
to drop the charges and to assist with settlement and lives of the former Huaguang
Community residents.
May 12th, 2015 – Huaguang Community residents and advocates
protested at the Taipei City Government for the Da-an district police
department blocking the road leading to the community a day before the scheduled
demolition. The fences erected by the Da-an police department around the
community also prevented other residents of Huaguang Community from going back
to their homes.
Losheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院)
The advocates demanded 1) Consultation of the Sanatorium residents, experts of historical artifacts and the Ministry of Welfare and Health should be held before renting the structure; and 2) the money earned from renting the location should be used for the preservation of the Loshen Sanatoirum buildings.
Meanwhile, the cracks on the grounds of Loshen Sanatorium continue to widen.
For information on Losheng Sanatorium: Afternoon Tea at Losheng
Yuanli Township in
Miaoli and Wind Turbines (院裡反瘋車)
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| Uncle Ching-jin at protest in Taipei |
After a year and half of protesting and 7000 hours
of guarding the seashore, Infravest Wind Turbine Co. and the residents of
Yuanli reached a compromise. Last September, Infravest agreed to remove two of
the four wind turbines in Yuanli Township. The criminal cases against the
Yuanli residents were tried and most of the residents were found not guilty.
Except for Uncle Ching-jin (清金阿伯). He was found
guilty of the crime of coercion and sentenced to ten days in prison for
blocking an Infravest Co. truck for mere nine seconds.
On the other hand, some positive did come to the Yuanli Township: 1)
members of the
Yuanli Self-Help Group ran in last November’s local election,
and Zoe Chen (陳薈茗), resident, activist and daughter of the
leader of the Yuanli Self-Help Group, is now the borough chief of the Fang-li
Borough; 2) residents of Yuanli and supportive youngsters started two
organizations to promote their agricultural products and community services.
The organization for the promotion of Yuanli’s agricultural product is named
“Seawind of Yuanli (苑裡掀海風)”, and the organization for community service
and the promotion of the township is called the “Yuanli Sealine Family (苑裡海線一家親)”. I bought their “Filial Rice” and dried raddish at the farmer’s
market. They were very good.
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| Uncle Ching-jin at his farm Photo credit: 苑裡掀海風 |
I wish I could say, from now on in Yuanli, everyone lived happily ever after, but that would be far from the truth. Last week, Infravest Wind Turbine Co. filed civil lawsuits against the student activists and asked for two million dollars compensation for property damage.
For information on what happened in Yuanli: Wind Turbine Troubles
The Taipei Dome and the protection
of trees (松菸護樹)
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| Farglory Co. workers blocking tree protectors |
After more than a year of protest and the election of Dr. Ko Wen-je as
mayor of Taipei. The Farglory Construction group is still struggling to finish building
the Taipei Dome. The Taipei City government launched a series of investigations
on the possible corruption, safety issues and problems with preservation of
historical artifacts on Farglory Construction Group. After many very public
back and forth critiques between Farglory Construction Group president Chao Teng-hsiung
(趙藤雄) and Dr. Ko and meetings between their teams,
the story of Taipei Dome continues, and the trees are still there, for now. As
someone who was born in that neighborhood and lived there until my family
relocated to the United States, I am watching with interest and attention.
Participating and Observing (and what to watch
out for)
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| DPP presidential election candidate Dr. Tsai Ing-wen in Washington DC |
In the following months, look out
periodically for the Participant Observer’s "Election Edition" as Taiwan moves toward its 2016 presidential and legislative elections, as well as the
continuation of my observation on social movements in Taiwan, among many
things.
Lastly, I wrote an article last year on the
“minor adjustment (課綱微調)” of textbooks proposed by the Ma Ying-jeou administration.
The issue is again making the news as students from more than two hundred high
schools came together to demand the Ministry of Education to abolish the
changes in their text books, which will be introduced in classrooms this coming
Fall.
There will be a street protest on July 5th
So, lots of events happening in Taiwan worth
paying attention to, and I will do my best to document them and to share my
experience.
(For information about the minor adjustment of high school textbooks:Party-State Reemerges Through Education in Taiwan)
P.S. We adopted a new puppy after my dog of 16 year, Mr. Snuggles, passed away a year ago. Her name is Hanji, Taiwanese for "Sweet Potato".
