Last year was a busy year for social movements. Basic wages returned to the level they were at 14 years ago. Nobody would have guessed that after being re-elected, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration would turn around and become the first Taiwanese government to openly list increasing the number of foreign workers and keeping the minimum wage down as major policies for national development.
At the same time, Ma appointed a premier who believes the minimum wage should be scrapped and who is busying himself with setting up a new processing and export area in southern Taiwan to lure back Taiwanese businesspeople from China, saying this is a good way to spur industrial upgrading and boost employment.
On the other hand, the Presidential Office seems to have disappeared into thin air and is not taking any concrete action. For example, the Presidential Office is allowing administrative bodies at various levels to ignore court decisions and lets them continue with their development of industrial and scenic areas. And faced with monopolization of the media, the government has completely given up on its role of control and monitoring.
We should realize that the government has a very consistent logic when it comes to which policies to promote and which to scrap. Government policy is ruled by the desires of large corporations, with economics and finance officials applying neoliberal ideas when it suits them. This does not mean that past presidents distanced themselves from the wishes of capitalists, but in the past, we seldom saw such a lack of discretion in who they were listening to and the way they were pampering to and acting on the opinions of capitalists.
Therefore, the social movements we have seen this year have been characterized by their challenges to the control large corporations have over the country. Mass protests against the forced eviction of the Wang family from their home in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) in connection with the Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) urban renewal project, the construction of the Miramar Resort Village in Taitung County, the debate about the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), media buyouts and the recent freezes of the minimum wage can all be seen as reactions against the power of corporations by civil society.
This force for justice has become very strong and as a result, we have seen a second phenomenon emerge in social movements: Different civic groups are engaging in mutual dialogue and supporting and cooperating with each other.
The movement against media monopolization has not only resulted in the mobilization of groups supporting media reform, but student and labor groups are also taking part. In addition, many different groups from around Taiwan are participating in the anti-nuclear movement that started after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Apart from such open collective action, many previously silent workshops, symposiums and training camps have also engaged in dialogue and discussion on a large number of cross-issues. Issues like build-operate-transfer contracts and government land expropriation have become part of the agenda for social movements in a wide variety of spheres.
The Internet is increasingly being used as a tool for mobilizing the public and those involved in the gay and lesbian rights, environmental and labor movements are gaining more experience in using it for this purpose.
A recent example can be seen in the recent strike by workers at textile producer Hualon Corp. In the past, this sort of movement would never have gained much attention outside of labor circles. However, in the recent Hualon strike, students played a prominent role, helping the strike staged by the workers to gain strength during the more than 100 days of its duration, giving mainstream media no choice but to report on the issue.
In addition, cyberspace is also making it easier to start collective actions. A recent example of this can be seen from the protests held by students on school campuses against media monopolization.
Looking back, we can see that the interaction of the real world and the Internet has strengthened public resistance to the government.
Finally, more people are realizing how important it is to make donations in support of lively civic groups. In the past, public donations mostly went to faith-based charity groups and political parties. However, faith-based charity groups are not willing to get involved in the deeper structures of our society and after the Democratic Progressive Party’s efforts on many social issues were ignored by social movements, the public has started to realize the social significance of civic groups and to donate to them. This has led to the strengthening of many social movements. The experience of many democracies has shown that a strong and independent civil society is a prerequisite for a democratic and fair society.
The average citizen must overcome a perceived lack of political power and learn to pay attention to a greater number of public affairs issues. People also need to make donations, work as volunteers and join organizations to take concrete action.
This year, this trend has become clearer than in the past. As our political and economic systems become more influenced by neoliberalism, it would not be surprising if groups of powerless citizens were to join hands to form larger and stronger social movements.
Chiu Yu-bin is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Development at the National Pingtung University of Education.
Translated by Drew Cameron
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath