British sociologist Anthony Giddens yesterday got a taste of what one official called "a form of Taiwanese democracy" as dozens of university students protested outside the venue for Giddens' speech yesterday.
"Stop killing Palestinians," read one placard lying on the ground outside the Civil Service Development Institute in Taipei where Giddens was scheduled to give a talk on globalization yesterday.
Before entering the hall, Giddens stopped to have a brief conversation with Lee Cheng-pan (李鎮邦), a National Taiwan University student who organized the campaign. Lee shouted: "We are against American and British imperialism."
"You've just witnessed a form of Taiwanese democracy," a Taiwanese official told the British scholar.
Giddens did not comment on the incident when he was questioned by reporters as he made his way past the protesters.
In his speech, Giddens denounced what he called a neo-liberal simplistic view of globalization, stressing instead the multi-faceted nature of the trend, using the term "interdependence" to define the force that underpins today's world.
"There is no single force of globalization," argued Giddens, director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, adding that he believes the communications revolution is the most important driving force behind globalization.
"It has transformed not only the personal life, but structures of the institutions in the world," Giddens said, adding that such a communication transformation has also underpinned the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the apartheid in South Africa, as well as the emergency of democracy in Taiwan.
Giddens also said that even anti-globalization activists, such as those whose protests rocked the Seattle WTO meeting in 1999, "make use of the new technology such as the mobile phone and the Internet."
He said that while anti-globalization activists represent those who were excluded in the process of globalization, their attention to problems emerging from globalization, such as global inequality and an imbalance of power, is quite positive.
While describing globalization as an "open-ended process," Giddens also said the idea of US dominance only has "limited validity." He said although the US in geo-political terms is indeed powerful, the nation is also challenged by the rise of other global powers, such as the EU and China.
A firm supporter of multilateralism, Giddens in a press conference after his speech also reiterated his views on US unilateralism. "I think collaboration, for me, should be the order of the day," Giddens said, adding that issues such as global terrorism would require multilateral cooperation.
Although he said it is premature to tell which path the US administration will follow, Giddens said: "It is worrying that the Americans have not signed some of the most important treaties, which represent the illustration of the emerging world community," such as the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Protocol.
On his first trip to Taipei, the Londoner frequently referred to as British Prime Minister Tony Blair's "guru," has carefully avoided any direct comment on the issue of Taiwan.
"The reason I don't want to comment on Taiwan is I don't think I've known enough about the country to be reported saying things which were neither within my expertise nor might have effects which I don't think I should be responsible for," he said at the press conference.
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