Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Democracy In ACTION

Okay, okay, after some commentary on legally-sanctioned politics, I had to add some pictures of rabble-rousing. I really wanted to get the Reds in action doing their thumbs-down "Ah-Bian Xia Tai!" (Depose Ah-Bian!), but they kept being too quick for the camera.

The Reds (depicted) are made up of supporters of the Pan-Blue Coalition (as opposed to the current President's Pan-Green Coalition). Pan-Blue leans from hard-line reunification with China -- Kuomintang (KMT), to a softer support of the status quo -- People First Party and the New Party(who are a smaller contingent that is more radical about attaining independence).

President Chen Shui-Bian's Democratic Progressive Party is only the second Taiwanese government ever to be elected directly by the people of Taiwan. Because of the infant status of Taiwan's direct democracy, the recent Red protests have unparalelled significance for this little island.

Chen Shui-Bian's government has been plagued by money-related scandal (much like the recent sponsorship scandal in Canada) and infuriated the people. The current political situation is nicely summarized by Wikipedia:

In 2006, due to the Pacific Sogo Department Store scandal, the pro-KMT Pan-Blue Coalition moved to impeach the President but failed to obtain the requisite number of votes in the legislature[9]. This failure led to current "Down Ah-Bian" campaign, which seeks to pressure the president to resign from office. The campaign began on September 1, 2006 and is still ongoing. Campaign organizers claim that the first day of the strike attracted 300,000 people in Taipei, while the police estimated the number to be closer to 90,000[citation needed]. The "Down Ah-Bian" event is being led by activist and politician Shih Ming-te (施明德) as a peaceful sit-in around the capital, besieging the presidential residence. While the protests have been largely peaceful, there have been isolated incidences of violence associated with the campaign, including fist fights between Pan-Blue and Pan-Green (pro-DPP) legislatures. The "Up Ah-Bian" event was organized to counteract the "Down Ah-Bian" campaign. On October 13, 2006, the Pan-Blue Coalition attempt again to pass a recall motion against Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, which also failed to garner sufficient votes in the legislature.[10]
On November 3, 2006, prosecutors in Taiwan stated that they have enough evidence to indict Chen's wife on corruption charges in connection with her handling of a secret diplomatic fund. According to the prosecutors, while Chen would not be indicted while in office, there is a possibility that he would be indicted after he leaves office.

Devoted Reds have been a common sight downtown in front of Taipei's Main Train Station (on Brian's route to work), chanting their mantra: "Ah-Bian Xia Tai!" (Step Down Ah-Bian!) Ah-Bian is Chen Shui-Bian's nickname. After the initial launch of the protests in September, such special occasions as Taiwan's Double Ten Day (Taiwan's Constitutional Birthday on October 10) have brought out renewed support, with Reds traveling in from all parts of the island to flood the subway system and close off major downtown intersections. The Taiwanese people's political fervour can be explained as such: the effectiveness of this campaign is a first test as to how genuine their direct democracy, still in its toddler years, really is. If they fail, uncorrupted democracy in Taiwan sees its symbolic death too.

Though the movement has not been successful so far in deposing the President, in a foreigner's eyes it has at least established free speech and peaceful protest as a proven civil right - police, though on patrol at protest sights, were unarmed observers, relaxed and unconfrontational. To me, that in itself is quite significant for a breakaway province of China, especially considering the weapons used by the Canadian government in similar peaceful protests back home.

On a side note, here is also an intriguing commentary on the political significance of colour in Taiwan today: http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=335105&lang=eng_news&cate_img=83.jpg&cate_rss=news_Politics_TAIWAN

I leave you with a Red icon, one of our first sights upon landing in Taiwan:

2 Comments:

At 8:32 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

What? The red people are supporting the blue people who are against the green people? I didn't know politics could be so colourful!

 
At 9:37 PM, Blogger Pamplemousse said...

Yup! Did you read the linked article?

 

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