Student factions and some activist groups into their 17th day of protest outside the legislature have formed a breakaway group called the “Jianmin Liberation Zone” (賤民解放區), as ideological differences and dissenting voices emerged against the core leadership within the Sunflower movement.
Although some view it as a major rift within the movement, others see the development as the movement’s vibrant and healthy outgrowth, to encompass a wide diversity of people, ideas and aspirations.
The breakaway group on Wednesday set up its own assembly space for crowd-gathering, speeches and group discussions southwest of the legislature on Jinan Road, in front of the National Taiwan University Alumni Building.
The group was initially composed of 23 students who said their voices were not being heard, as they also advocated fighting against free trade and globalization, in addition to opposing the cross-strait service trade pact.
Since then, they have been joined by some activist groups and labor organizations, including the Taiwan International Workers Association (台灣國際勞工協會), the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories (全國關廠工人連線) and the Taiwan Alliance for Victims of Urban Renewal (台灣都市更新受害者聯盟).
Calling their own forum the “Jianmin Liberation Zone,” they say they mean to represent the “deprived,” the “unheard voices” at the bottom of society.
The term jianmin (賤民) usually refers to India’s lowest caste, the “Dalits” (known as “the Untouchables” in the past); but it has also been used to denote the highly discriminated against, lowest social classes of China, Japan and the Koreas.
Their “manifesto” says that they are against the elitist approach, saying that the movement should not be led by a few “elite” leaders, and that nobody can purport to speak for a whole group of people.
It is a direct challenge to and criticism of Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), the two “media stars,” as the two most prominent leaders of the Sunflower movement.
The manifesto also says: “This is not just a student movement. Many protest participants come from all sectors of society, from all occupations. There are laborers, farmers, office employees and many others who have not been able to take part in the decisionmaking process.”
Responding to the development, Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting turned up at the breakaway group’s assembly late on Wednesday, as the two student leaders listened to criticisms and different viewpoints.
According to news reports, Lin gave an embarrassed grin when some people called out to Lin to say he was being “deified” and being turned into a “hero celebrity” by the media.
In a conciliatory gesture, Lin took instructions from speakers and joined the audience to show that he was together with the “Jianmin” group.
In an interview afterward, Lin said: “The student movement does not belong to any one person, and does not belong to one certain group. We do not see this as a split in the movement. I was there to hear the different voices. This is important for taking reflections during the process of a social movement.”
COMMITMENT: The world’s biggest contract chipmaker said that its new 2nm chips, as well as next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4nm chips, will be produced in Taiwan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that the majority of its most advanced chips would continue to be manufactured in Taiwan and that it is boosting advanced chip packaging capacity to catch up with fast-growing demand driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications like ChatGPT. Deeply rooted in Taiwan, TSMC is expanding production capacity for its most advanced 3-nanometer (nm) chips at its Tainan fab and is building new plants to produce new 2-nanometer chips in Hsinchu and Taichung in 2025. The chipmaker also plans to produce next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4-nanometer chips, which are currently under development, at home, it
Former US president Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former US president to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw. The US Department of Justice was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week amid a presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump is convicted. It also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump
PASSAGE DISPUTE: A US and Canadian transit was a provocation and an attempt to ‘exercise hegemony of navigation,’ China’s defense ministry told a forum in Singapore The Ministry of National Defense yesterday urged the Chinese Communist Party to avoid provocative behavior after a Chinese navy ship crossed the paths of a US destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait. A Chinese ship on Saturday “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of [the USS] Chung-Hoon,” an American destroyer, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The vessel “overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards [137m]. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 [knots, 18.5kph] to avoid a collision,” the statement said. It then “crossed Chung-Hoon’s bow a second time
HARD-WON FREEDOM: Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters has not been and should not be forgotten, as China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, Lai said Taiwanese enjoy democracy and freedom and have multiple ways to express their creativity, and hopefully young people in China would also one day have the freedom to sing and express themselves, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Yesterday was the 34th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s bloody crackdown on student-led protests in Beijing in 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident. Tsai posted a photograph taken in March in a subway station in Guizhou, China, where hundreds of young people gathered to sing People With No Ideals Don’t Get Hurt (沒有理想的人不傷心), saying that they