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.
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.
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.
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刺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.
The Wild Lily Movement 野百合學運March
16 to March 22, 1990:
was
a six-day student demonstration in 1990 fordemocracy. Thesit-inat Memorial Square inTaipei(since rededicated asLiberty
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 whiteFormosanlilies 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 theTaiwan Solidarity Unionhave 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.
The Wild Strawberries Movement 野草莓運動
November 6, 2008China’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 inTaipei to begin asit-inin front of theExecutive
Yuanin protest of Taiwan'sParade
and Assembly Act (集會遊行法). Six other protests sprang up around the island at all major
cities.
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 theCross-Strait Service Trade Agreement(CSSTA海峽兩岸服務貿易協議)
by the ruling partyKuomintang(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 isIsland’s Sunriseby theindieband Fire Ex fromKaohsiung. 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 theNational 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 usedexcessive force過度的力量, includingwater 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
· “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)
