Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Civil Disobedience: Taiwan and Hong Kong

This is the follow up after our mini unit on self-immolation (previous post) as Civil Disobedience. 

Taiwan has such a rich history of Civil Disobedience dating back to Japanese occupation, but I will begin with Cheng Nan-jung because it just tied in better with our self immolation and CD in Taiwan.

There is still so much we don't know, so many unsung heroes due to decades of martial law. Thanks to my co-teacher Ali for helping me piece together some of the finer details on the movements, the section on Yilan and helping me with finding some of the videos on the first three heroes. 

We began the unit with writing a KWL chart on the back of my handout. After the unit, we played a review game and then they completed the L (learned) section of their KWL as a plan for their final project.


I. Civil Disobedience in Taiwan
A. Early Democratization 早期民主化


                                                    


  1. Cheng Nan-jung 1947-1989

    Nylon Deng; was a Taiwanese publisher出版者 and pro-democracy民主 activist激進主義分子. He was the founder of the Freedom Era Weekly. He is most known internationally for setting himself on fire in support of freedom of speech言論自由. (Video) Read an  article about Freedom of Speech Day here. There is a museum dedicated to him in Taipei, as well as storyboard for students to recreate this historical event.
  2. Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) Free Taiwan Party 自由台灣黨

    October 2008:  University Professors have a hunger strike絕食抗議 outside the Legislative Yuan立法院  building in support of public referendum公投 on Taiwanese independence. The 24-hour protest ended up turning into a 5 year-long event. By January 2010, he had been fined more than NT$800,000 for taking public space during the sit-in靜坐 protest. In late February 2014, about a week before the 67th anniversary of the February 28 Incident, Tsay led a group of fellow Taiwan Referendum Alliance members in removing a statue of Sun Yat-sen孫中山  from Tang De-jhang  湯德章 Memorial Park in Tainan, a park named for a local lawyer executed處死during the military crackdown which followed the February 28 Incident.

    蔡丁貴
  3. Lin Yi-hsiung 林義雄 


    林義雄
    He was a major leader of the democratization  民主 化 of Taiwan.
    1979: Lin was arrested in December for his involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident高雄事件.
    Family tragedy:家庭悲劇: On February 27, 1980 Lin Yi-hsiung was arrested and beaten severely毆打嚴重by the police. The next day someone stabbed his mother and 2 twin daughters to death. Eventually, he helped found and was the president of the DPP 民主進步黨 which he left in 2006. Lately, he has been involved with the anti-nuclear movement 反核運動 in which he did a hunger strike. 
  4. The Wild Lily Movement 野百合學運 March 16 to March 22, 1990:

     was a six-day student demonstration in 1990 for democracy. The sit-in at Memorial Square in Taipei (since rededicated as Liberty Square.) The students were from National Taiwan University and soon participation quickly grew to 22,000 demonstrators. They were protesting the parliament at that time, which weren't elected by the people, but were mostly old men from China.  For example,  Taiwan's president and vice president were chosen by these old Chinese elites, not by the Taiwanese people! These old men were trying to extend their term to an extra 3 years. The newly elected President Lee Teng-Hui supported the protesters. Protesters wore white Formosan lilies and created giant replicas of the flower as a symbol of democracy and freedom. 

    The Wild Lily student movement marked an important turning point in Taiwan's transition to pluralistic democracy. It was the first time people could publicly criticize the government without a violent backlash of beatings, death, imprisonment or disappearances. Eventually, the presidential term was reduced from 6 to 4 years (1992) and in 1996 Taiwan finally achieved direct elections and representations.  Democracy supporters still continue to gather at Liberty Square every March 21 to commemorate the event. Officials affiliated with the Taiwan Solidarity Union have advocated the movement of Taiwan's Youth Day to March 21 in recognition of the students' achievement, as well as were a visible presence in subsequent movements. 
  5. The Wild Strawberries Movement 野草莓運動

    November 6, 2008 China’s chairman 中國海協會會長陳雲林 visits Taiwan and people protests of displaying Taiwan’s National flag was suppressed by police. This prompted a group of 400 students in Taipei to begin a sit-in in front of the Executive Yuan in protest of Taiwan's Parade and Assembly Act (集會遊行法). Six other protests sprang up around the island at all major cities.
    The students demanded:
    1.       a public apology from Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan 劉兆玄for police misconduct
    2.       immediate resignations of National Police Agency Director-General and National Security Bureau Director-General
    3.        an amendment on the Assembly and Parade Law to ensure the right of peaceful assembly and expression
Full Video (no English subs) here

Effects and Consequences:
November 2008: An old KMT man self- immolated in protest of Ma's attitude.

The Assembly and Parade as of yet still ha snot been amended, but the top judge ruled it partially unconstitutional.

B. The Sunflower Movement 太陽花學運 



Was a student and civics group公民團體  protest movement protested the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA海峽兩岸服務貿易協議) by the ruling party Kuomintang (KMT國民黨) without clause-by-clause 逐條 review 審查. The movement marked the first time that the Taiwanese legislature立法機關has been occupied 佔領的by citizens公民. The protesters were afraid that the passing of the agreement would be a disaster for Taiwan. It would open up Taiwan to massive Chinese investment and make it easier for China to unify with Taiwan.
Sunflower太陽花 symbolizes hope. This term was popularized after a florist gave 1000 sunflowers to the students outside the Legislative Yuan building. The movement is also known as the "March 18 Student Movement" (318學運) or "Occupy Taiwan Legislature" (佔領國會事件). The movement's anthem is Island’s Sunrise by the indie band Fire Ex from Kaohsiung. At the peak of the protest, over 500,000 protesters had joined.

Events:


September 2013 both parties agree to have 16 public hearings over the details of the trade agreement. During these hearings when academics and business sector representatives gave their opinions, the KMT said the agreement had to be accepted in its entirety. Gridlock followed.

March 17, 2014: The KMT pass the trade agreement, by force without their promise of reviewing with opposition party (DPP).

March 18, 9:00 p.m: Crowds of students, academics, civic organizations and other protestors climbed over the fence at the legislature building. A window was broken, a police officer hurt. Hundreds of protesters stayed outside the building, but about 300 protesters occupied the legislative floor overnight and successfully stopped several attempts by police to kick them out. The protesters demanded that the clause-by-clause review of the agreement be reinstated, otherwise they promised to occupy the legislature until March 21 (when the Yuan had scheduled to vote and pass the CSSTA). The authorities cut water and electricity to the building. Thousands of riot police 鎮暴警察 from the National Police Agency警政署 were mobilized across the country to surround the protesters.


March 24 Police evict protesters: During the 10-hour eviction process, around 1000 riot police and other law enforcement personnel reportedly used excessive force過度的力量, including water cannon高壓水砲 and baton警棍strikes to the head against the nonviolent protesters, while journalists and medics were ordered to leave. More than 150 people were injured and 61 were arrested. The Association of Taiwan Journalists accused the police of using violence against the media during the eviction process and violating違反 freedom of the press新聞自由, citing more than 10 cases of attacks on media reporters.

Student protester continues to occupy the Legislative Yuan building up until April 10th!


The Effects/ Consequences of the Sunflower Movement:
1.     The KMT lost the presidential election
2.    DPP win (Tsai Ying-wen) presidency
3.    Many students and protesters in the Sunflower movement run for office 參加競選 
EX: Freddy Lim 林昶佐, , and Huang Kuo-chang 黃國昌, his speech against Ma and Trade Agreement
4. Yellow Party (NPP) 時代力量 They won 5 seats in the 2016 election. 
EX: Hung Tzu-yung 洪慈庸




Freddy Lim: Meets the Dali Lama, TED Talks, music









Videos:
· Civil Disobedience in Taiwan” a film trailer (Chinese 2.5 mins ) several clips of different movements in Taiwan, including sunflower movement, forced land grabbing plan, free Tibet… The full film 50 minutes in Chinese
 C. No Nukes
     No Nukes Taiwan: Sit-in and march in Taipei city  (English narrative 2mins) 

D. Yilan

1. LIN Yi-hsiung  林義雄 1941 ~    and Lin Family Massacre
Chilin Educational Foundation慈林教育基金會 

English: Its a museum of democratic development 


2. CHEN Ding-nan  陳定南 1943-2006   
Former Magistrate of Yilan County and Minister of Justice

II. Assessment/Project
 Choose your favorite activist or movement and then choose which project you want to make.
  1. Bumper Sticker 保險杆貼紙 Design a bumper sticker with a catchy slogan.
  2. Wanted Poster 通緝 Make a wanted poster for a person.
  3. Comic Strip 連環漫畫 Draw a comic strip that shows examples of figurative language.







III. Hong Kong civil disobedience

· Occupy Central: Hong Kong civil disobedience planned after China breaks democracy promise  (Chinese & English Subtitle 2 mins)
· BBC: Occupy Central: Hong Kong democracy row in 60 seconds - BBC News  1 mins
· Hong Kong civil disobedience  (Chinese 2 mins)
· Why Is Hong Kong Protesting Against China?  (English subtitle 3 mins) it analysed more details and mentioned the history of  Tiananmen Massacre in 1989


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