After occupying the legislative chamber for 24 days in protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement, student-led protesters last night peacefully withdrew from the Legislative Yuan with a heart-warming rally in which participants shared their thoughts on the action and expressed gratitude for all the support they had received.
While the protest at the legislature might have ended — although more challenges are likely to be made to the President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration’s work on the controversial pact — one thing is certain: The Sunflower movement has won the hearts and respect of many older Taiwanese.
Until not so long ago, people born in Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s were commonly mocked as belonging to the “strawberry generation,” in reference to a perception that they were work-shy, soft and unable to deal with pressure. Some adults, disappointed by a seemingly apathetic attitude in young people, have even come to call them the “ice-cube generation,” implying that they will melt without any dramatic change in the environment.
However, the negative perception of young Taiwanese has substantially changed with the Sunflower movement — to the extent that some people have jokingly said that they feel like yielding their seat on the MRT when a young person boards as a show of respect.
The large number of college and graduate students who are part of the Sunflower movement have done many people proud, demonstrating a remarkable level of resilience, maturity and organizational skills, and most importantly, an acute sense of awareness about the various challenges they and the country face, as well as displaying a depth of understanding for the country’s democratization.
One aspect of the movement that has touched many people is that the protesters joined it out of a genuine belief in democracy and a sense of duty. They wanted to do their part for the protest without desiring the media limelight as politicians often do.
Consider the case of Ku Liu (谷琉), a 19-year-old freshman at Pingtung’s Meiho University, who during the occupation of the legislative chamber was assigned to guard the No. 6 door. For the past 21 days, he dutifully attended the entrance without seeking media attention by standing quietly next to student leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), upon whom the media have largely fixed their attention.
In the past, youngsters have been criticized for enjoying the fruits of democracy, which was hard-won by their pioneering elders, without thinking of how they might contribute to or solidify these achievements.
However, through the Sunflower movement, they have showed this criticism to be unfounded.
Student protester Chiang Chi-chi (江其冀) said that after the withdrawal from the Legislative Yuan, he wants to pursue a master’s degree in economics “and become an economist who is not manipulated by politics,” while 22-year-old Keng Hsiang-hsuan (孔祥瑄), a member of the Black Island Nation Youth — the group responsible for spearheading the siege of the Legislative Yuan — said that “the Taiwan in my mind is a free and democratic nation. Our parents have failed to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy for us, but we would rather die than let our children grow up in a land without democracy.”
It is encouraging and comforting to hear words of maturity and wisdom from young people, and Ma’s government officials should listen well rather than occupying themselves with attempts to portray them as rioters.
While the Sunflower movement last night expressed its gratitude to the public for their support, Taiwanese in return ought to thank the protesters for drawing attention to issues of critical importance and increasing awareness and civic engagement.
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
The international community was shocked when Israel was accused of launching an attack on Lebanon by rigging pagers to explode. Most media reports in Taiwan focused on whether the pagers were produced locally, arousing public concern. However, Taiwanese should also look at the matter from a security and national defense perspective. Lebanon has eschewed technology, partly because of concerns that countries would penetrate its telecommunications networks to steal confidential information or launch cyberattacks. It has largely abandoned smartphones and modern telecommunications systems, replacing them with older and relatively basic communications equipment. However, the incident shows that using older technology alone cannot
RSS