Wed, Jan 14, 2004 page8

• On social justice, talk but no action

  • By Chang Tieh-chih 張鐵志
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  The Democratic US presidential candidate Howard Dean currently holds a strong advantage over his competitors in the run-up to the Democratic primaries. This is not only due to his strong antiwar stance or because his unique campaign methods have created grassroots enthusiasm. More important, he has proposed a new vision for the US.

  During US President George W. Bush's three years in power, tax cuts and other policies benefitting the wealthy, as well as Bush and his policy team's close relations with the capitalist network, have transformed US politics into the very image of money politics.

  Dean wants to put an end to money politics by focusing the US public's attention on basic fairness and justice in order to rebuild a moral vision of politics.

  Looking at Taiwan, which also is facing a presidential election, the "rich dad, poor dad" campaign ad war going on between the two sides, although very innovative, is only a war of words.

  The ads display not only the shallowness of advertising, but also reflect the narrowness and weakness of political discourse in Taiwan.

  Along with national identity and the debate over the Taiwan-US-China relationship, the economy has for the past three years been the topic most on the minds of the pan-green and pan-blue camps.

  This is of course due to the poor economy during the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) first two years in power and the DPP's past proximity to social movements, which has caused it to be portrayed as anti-business.

  The party has therefore been eager to demonstrate its determination to stimulate the economy. It is not that the DPP hasn't tried social reform during these three years, but the implementation of reform has not become part of the party's main political discourse or fundamental political values.

  Similarly, although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) recently has issued campaign promises concerning labor policies, this is still not the focus of debate between the two parties.

  In mid-2003, the Alliance of Fairness and Justice (公平正義聯盟, 泛紫), or the pan-purple alliance, attempted to push the social justice issue into the political agenda, and even though the attempt received a lot of attention, it hasn't really forced any serious response from the major political parties.

  Simply put, we do not see a comprehensive discourse on social justice or social justice policies in mainstream Taiwanese political discourse, nor do we see the moral vision of politics that would be necessary for such a discourse.

  Dean has reminded the US public that the US is not only built on business interests but also on the ideals of grassroots democracy and social equality.

  In fact, indulging the market for the past 10 years has resulted in money politics that has led to scandals such as Enron and problems such as the increasing gap between rich and poor.

  Dean has not only proposed policies to fix these problems, but he is also setting a personal example by refusing to have anything to do with big money (even though he comes from a wealthy New York family) -- most of his campaign funds come from small donations averaging US$77 per person.

  Taiwan's political culture contains the seeds of such social justice. The people of Taiwan have always had a very strong feeling for justice.

  Before coming to power, the DPP used slogans against money power and in favor of a social foundation built on small and medium-sized enterprises and workers to make its contribution to social advancement the discourse on democratization.

  The New Party often cooperated with the DPP in legislation against money politics. However, the importance attached to opposing money power by these two parties has not been turned into concrete policy objectives or a political discourse. The DPP's advocacy of the welfare state (福利國), for example, was not complete, and was quickly abandoned.

  Although many people feel that the New Middle Way (新中間路線) proposed by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when he came to power is an insignificant Western implant, there are also those who hope that, regardless of whether or not Anthony Giddens is followed slavishly, the DPP government will really be able to find a middle way between economic development and social justice.

  Unfortunately, we have not seen a continuing development of this discourse during the past three years.

  Nor has the KMT directed its efforts toward social reform. It has only criticized former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for singlehandedly creating money politics, without addressing the fact that they all at the time were part of the framework of accomplices. Thus, Taiwan's political and social values are overly influenced by the importance of economic growth, which has led to the public's becoming increasingly indifferent toward social injustice.

  Although they oppose the money politics of special interests, there are no loud calls for changing socioeconomic structures.

  They are willing to tolerate an unfair tax system, a delayed annual pension and legislative procrastination over sunshine legislation.

  Taiwan of course needs to clarify the framework for cross-strait relations, work toward gaining international recognition and implement thorough constitutional and political reform. Taiwan of course also needs to improve its economy, because we live in a difficult era with the challenges of globalization.

  But it is also globalization and large China-bound capital flows that on one hand create a serious unemployment problem and on the other hand increase the political power of capitalists. This leads to money politics, which is why we are in even more need of redefining the meaning of concretely realizing social justice.

  Bringing our social justice values into politics is not only crucial to directing policies toward solving concrete issues, it is also the greatest motivating power for stimulating public enthusiasm for participation in democracy and for initiating social advancement.

  Chang Tieh-chih is a doctoral student in the department of political science at Columbia University.

  Translated by Perry Svensson
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