Some thoughts on why people oppose the storming of the legislature, and why such opposition is wrong

I've heard a lot of talk on both sides about the protests currently going on - which, if you hadn't noticed, I wholeheartedly support to the point of going down there 2 days in a row, with a sign, and even giving a speech.

If people are going to oppose these protests, I do hope they'll do so on their own merits and not on grounds that are simply not true.

With that, here are the main reasons why those opposed to the protests feel as they do, and why they're wrong.

1.) "these protests are anti-free trade, which shows that they don't know what they're talking about"

The protests are not anti-free trade or even anti Fu Mao (although it is true that most of the protesters have serious reservations about Fu Mao). The protests are about the way it was forced through the legislature. At this stage it doesn't actually matter what's in Fu Mao, because the people don't know (the KMT has not seen fit to tell us - hmmm....I wonder why. Perhaps because they know it'll be good for them and their cronies but bad for Taiwan?) - what matters is that it was passed in a despicable, underhanded, dictatorial, autocratic way that is simply not acceptable in a democracy.

The fact that the protesters don't know the details of Fu Mao is precisely the point - the KMT hasn't told the public. The public need to know. It is their right. How can they be expected to support this black box?

That is what's being protested - the way Fu Mao was rammed through. Nothing more, nothing less. What's in Fu Mao can be discussed and protested or supported later.

If you're going to oppose the protests, oppose it based on what is actually being protested, not some "they hate free trade" bogeyman.

2.) "the students are silly, they don't know"

Well, again, **that's the whole point**. They don't know because the KMT has purposely kept the Taiwanese in the dark about what's in the pact.

And if you go talk to those students and their supporters, you'll find that they aren't silly at all. They're knowledgeable, politically astute, and they want to discuss issues in calm, rational ways. Spontaneous discussion groups have formed on the street during these peaceful protests - I've been in some of them - and what's being said is quite knowledgeable and fluent in the issues facing Taiwan. The speakers at the open mic in front of the Legislative Yuan - which is just beautiful, an open mic for the public to speak in front of the office of a governing body that is meant to follow through on their voices, not quash them - were eloquent and knowledgeable as well.

If you're going to oppose these protests, don't pretend it's because the protesters are idiots. They are not. It's not just insulting and rude to say so, it's also ignorant.

3.) "they're egged on by the DPP"

NOT TRUE. They're alienated by both parties and keeping the DPP at arm's length. The DPP supports them, but did not instigate these protests and they're self-sustaining, not being egged on by outside political forces. (In fact the protesters are not really happy with the way the DPP seems to be taking over some of the protesting - this isn't a green or blue thing - this is a citizens' concern thing).

How insulting, to suggest that anyone with the will to protest must be the pawn of some political party. As though intelligent, concerned citizens - including students - can't have minds and voices of their own to speak out. In this case it is simply not true, and that's one of the most important and significant things about this protest. In fact, the speakers who took the open mic in front of the Legislative Yuan (it must take a lot of anger, or at least a lot of concern, to get people to come up and speak as they have - it's not like Taiwanese culture is known for speaking out when you are upset!) many said openly that "this isn't about green or blue, and I'm not loyal to any political party."

If you're going to oppose these protests, don't pretend it's because they were "organized" by the political party you don't like.

They weren't.

4.) Sure, protest if you want but don't take over the Legislative Yuan! That's selfish/crazy/embarrassing/whatever.

Nope.

The legislature serves the people, not the other way around. A democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people (to borrow an American cliche). That building belongs to the people, and those who work in it serve the people. The people have every right to it.

Under normal circumstances it would have been better to go through more directly democratic means to make your voice heard, but come on. This was a bill that was shoved through the legislature in a despicable way. It's easy to ignore street protests - which I think is precisely why opponents say "you can protest in the street, but don't take over the Legislature". Yeah, you can protest in the street, but nobody in power is going to pay one whit of attention. And those who support this view know that. They don't actually want anyone to pay attention to the concerns of the people, because they want this bill to pass so that they and all their rich friends can start making ca$h money as soon as possible.

Protesting in the street would never have forced Fu Mao out of passage and back into a clause-by-clause review. The students did what they did because they had to - there was no other way to insist that democratic process be followed in this particular case.

5.) These protests are undemocratic.

Wrong.

Protesting is a democratic right. Civil disobedience is what forces reform on a government that has ceased to hear the will of the people. It's what turns dictatorships into democracies and brings about civil rights reforms for minorities and the oppressed. There is a place for it in any healthy democracy.

Or would you prefer dictatorships never be overthrown, civil rights never be passed, and have apartheid still in existence?

If you want to point your finger at something undemocratic, point it straight at the legislators who pushed this bill through.

The Voices That Matter

I love the smell of civil disobedience in the morning!

I wrote two posts ago that there seems to have been a little-noticed sea change in public discourse regarding Taiwan as a result of the student movement currently occupying the legislature (currently? I haven't heard that they've been kicked out yet anyway), and I think it bears repeating. In fact, I think it deserves its own post. So here ya go.

There's a lot of talk in the English language media about Taiwanese politics, the future of Taiwan, cross-strait relations etc., but it seems to be mostly foreigners - some knowledgeable, some dilettantes like me, some who are basically morons (you know, like any civic discourse) - talking about a country they are not from. Some may live there, some may be long-term, some may even be citizens. Many have probably just visited, and a few have never been here at all. I'll be the first to admit that I also do this: I enjoy pontificating from my little blog that pretty much nobody reads.

Then there's healthy public debate going on among Taiwanese, mostly in Chinese (because duh), on local BBSs (BBS = bulletin board system), forums, blogs and Facebook groups. Due to both cultural and linguistic barriers (cultural meaning, I bet we all know expats in Taiwan who don't even have one Taiwanese friend. I've met 'em), foreigners have little or no access to these avenues of discourse, and to some extent, the converse is also true. Many Taiwanese lack access, due to language barriers, of international English-language media - even though English is widely spoken and often spoken quite well, plenty of people speak English but still find the language in those news and media outlets to be far above their comprehension level: "news talk" can be like that.

So discussion about Taiwan, so far, has been ghetto-ized, with foreigners in one corner talking to each other and Taiwanese in another talking to each other. I'm in many discussion groups on Taiwanese issues on LinkedIn and elsewhere, and all of them are populated with other foreigners. Articles about Taiwan written by foreign experts (some quite thoughtful and incisive, some blithering idiots, you know, like all news commentary) have comments by foreigners, discussions on LinkedIn groups are populated by foreigners. If you like a Taiwanese activist Facebook page or log into a BBS, however, you are likely to be the only foreigner there.

Side note: with the BBSs, that's not just a cultural or linguistic barrier - BBSs are kind of an outdated technology that most foreigners wouldn't even think to access, nor do they have the programs capable of doing so.

This isn't healthy - more for the foreign commentariat than the Taiwanese. When your voice goes out and the only voices that come back are other people like you - other non-Taiwanese interested in Taiwanese affairs, generally (but not always) from affluent Western countries - rather than the voices of the people you are talking about, then you can't get a full understanding. It puts you in a bubble. It may cause you to think that your voice is as important, if not more so, than the public discourse of the citizens of this country. It may cause you to think the public is generally on your side - or not - and that the commentariat have reached a consensus when, in fact, the Taiwanese engaged in public discourse may deeply disagree.

It also feels like it has something of a racial component to it. Educated white guy writing from his nice apartment in a big city? You get to be in the New York Times! The Washington Post! The Guardian! The Whatever Whoozit Times Post! Educated Taiwanese dissident with equally valid views but imperfect English? Shoosh. It sucks. It's a whole new arena for white privilege, full of white people who don't even realize they're privileged. (To be fair, some of these educated white guys are pretty thoughtful, and I do at times enjoy reading the better-thought-out pieces. I don't mean this as an attack on some fantastic voices like Frozen Garlic and J. Michael Cole among others).

With these new protests, however, this seems to be changing. Part of it is that the activists out there fighting for democracy and due process seem to have lost the old, stereotypical "shyness" about speaking out in English - yes, that's a thing, mostly out of fear of having one's grammar or vocabulary be wrong or embarrassing - and are blowing up Facebook, CNN iReport and various other media outlets with their views, in their voices. The Taiwan-based LinkedIn groups I subscribe to all seem to have more local commenters. Some of their voices are knowledgeable, some are in the middle, and some are idiots (again, normal public discourse).

And I love it. LOVE IT. When nobody wants to give you the international media spotlight, commandeering it through the million tiny lights of Facebook posts and online comments? AWESOME. Talking openly about your country and what you want for it, in a second language, on the international stage instead of arguing in a BBS? GREAT. This is what we need. These are voices that matter. Or at least, the voices that matter that until very recently, in the intermational media, hadn't been heard.

Look at these violent protesters being violent

Wow, such violent protesters, talking about how revolution is their duty. So violent.




Not my style of sign but I appreciate telling Ma Ying-jiu to call 1-800-GO-FUCK-YOURSELF...hee hee



THE VIOLENCE! Such violent dangerous agitators...sitting! And talking! VIOLENCE!



I know I look a bit drunk...but this is the best photo of my little sign that there is.



Violent protesters being violent by wearing stickers

It's so violent for student activists to create and maintain walkways so people can go back and forth while supporting their cause.



Violent, agitating elements doing aggressive anti-government anarchist things like talking and discussing the issues of the day. This must be stopped.



THOSE VIOLENT PROTESTERS GAVE ME VIOLENT CHOCOLATE




So dangerous. Really I just feared for my life what with all the sitting and laughing and sticker-wearing.






Ma Ying-jiu's last name means "horse" in Chinese, and he recently said something dumb about deer antlers being the hair inside a deer's ear...I don't really get this at all but this is a way to make fun of what an idiot he is.



VIOLENT protesters telling people to please keep walking ahead...VIOLENTLY. Remember, violent protesters always say "please".



OH THE VIOLENCE FROM THESE DANGEROUS ELEMENTS



Watch protesters on the news violently sitting, violently holding signs and violently letting newscasters report on the protest.





Protesters buying snacks at 7-11, many of which are meant to be passed out and shared with the crowd...VIOLENTLY



VIOLENTLY WAITING TO AGITATE IN THE BATHROOM! Watch these anarchists STAND IN LINE like the dangerous elements they are!

Something Something Something Protests

I feel like it would be appropriate to say something here about the protests going on right now - photos possibly coming later as I'm intending to go support the students tonight (with a friend - this is one time when I don't want to go to a protest alone, although it's supposedly quite peaceful).

First, I'm really happy that this happened. Not happy at the events that precipitated it, but that, when those events occurred, this, rather than passive melancholic acceptance, was the result. It shows that the younger generation considers themselves truly Taiwanese (not necessarily Chinese), that they have a strong love for their country and a political conscience with an activist streak - exactly what Taiwan needs in my opinion.

Second, the students seem to realize quite rightly that this is serious business. Marching up and down Ren'ai Road or holding signs up on Ketagalan Boulevard is all well and good and a way to release and express frustration with the political process, but considering how useless those protests have been (in part because those in power  - *cough* the KMT *cough* - don't listen and aren't accountable - and in part because the protesters themselves have kind of sucked at activist follow-up, most noticeably in the aftermath of the Hong Zhongqiu protests), it's kind of a child's game. But occupying the legislature - the most representative arm of your own democracy - that's no game. That's real. You don't storm the Legislative Yuan just because some KMT guy called some DPP woman a 'shrew' and she purposely misinterpreted it as 'skank' and slapped him (true story). You storm it because something is seriously fucking wrong with democracy and accountability in your country. You storm it because you rightly have realized that you have no other way of making your voice heard. And the students know it. This is no game. This is the people's truest voice. This is the song of angry men (and women).

Thirdly, I love how deftly the activists mobilized social media to make this happen in the face of an international media that doesn't care about Taiwan (they really don't, unless they're either being intellectually lazy "realists" or writing about hot springs) and a domestic media out to slander them (the pro-green channels and papers generally haven't, but haven't shown strong support either, with the possible exception of the Taipei Times which is an English language publication, but the pro-KMT news outlets, which is what most Taipei folks consume, has painted them in brushstrokes taken straight from the Chinese Communist Party playbook - hmm).

People talk about Twitter and Facebook mobilizing protests in Egypt and Iran, but the international media would have covered those anyway. They were important outlets to organize people, but those people didn't need to get the news out - they were immediately seen as newsworthy. Taiwan, on the other hand, has to fight for its news coverage, which is both deeply unfair and probably a result of a generally pro-China (or at least not-critical-enough-of-China) international media.

This is one of the first times I've heard of at least when the people making the news used social media not just to mobilize, but to get word out in the face of news coverage that is generally against - or apathetic to - them. They took the spotlight by lighting up Facebook, and they did it with both sincerity and media savvy. They wrote blog posts, status updates and CNN iReport stories without worrying that, using English as a second language, that they may contain language mistakes - notable because often people shy away from writing or saying too much out of a fear that their English isn't good enough. They got a widely-shared status update translated into several different languages asking for the world's support. I'm impressed.

Fourthly, this is the second consecutive protest across political boundaries in Taiwan (Hong Zhongqiu was the first) - and I hope that trend continues. While I'm quite open about supporting the generally pan-green side (although I would not call myself a full-on "DPP supporter") and opposing the pan-blue side, I do think partisan politics has got to come to an end in Taiwan, and now, over the past few years, it seems as though that may finally be possible in a way that is still impossible in the country of my birth (it's hard to say "let's stop this partisan bickering" when one party's line is basically an endless stream of bigotry - Taiwan has a lot of bad cards in its hand but it doesn't have that). I would dearly like to stop having to point my finger at the KMT, and I bet the people of Taiwan share that sentiment.

Finally, the whole thing has me thinking a lot about the spirit vs. the letter of the law. The students may have violated the letter of the law by occupying the legislature, but protests are a democratic right. What they did adheres beautifully to the spirit of democracy, which is the spirit of any laws passed under that democracy. At least a few others have already noted that without civil disobedience - again, which is a democratic right whether democratic governments want it to be or not - Taiwan wouldn't be a democracy now.

The politici - - I mean the KMT may have adhered (I guess) to the letter of the law (although I have my doubts about that, as I'm no legal scholar I'll let others sort through that mess) but they deeply violated the spirit of it.

Who's in the right? Well, I'm on the side of the spirit of the law. I don't have a lot of patience for bureaucratic, parochial, condescending nonsense.

All we can do now is wait and see what happens - or if you can, go support the students. I want to go just to be one of (hopefully) many foreign faces there to let the world know that the international community in Taiwan by and large supports them. And I want that to be loud and clear: to the students, activists and protesters: the international community in Taiwan supports you!

What I hope for the future is that there will be some follow-through on this. That they'll make something happen. That they'll win. That they'll at least get someone with the power to do something to actually do that thing. That they'll change the face of democracy in Taiwan into something more transparent and more accountable, and force the powers-that-be (*cough* the KMT *cough*) to undertake some serious, long-awaited and much needed reforms.

Some links regarding the protests:

Taiwan Explorer's Facebook page has a lot of good reading material linked to it
J. Michael Cole reports for The Diplomat
"Ridiculous Politics"
BuzzFeed was one of the first news outlets popular with Westerners that broke the story - it took CNN and BBC quite some time to catch up
Some great photos here
Students issue a statement - I wish they'd just printed the statement in its entirety
Is there a better way to voice your opinions than occupying the legislature? (Short answer: no. Long answer: Noooooooooooo).
The original CNN iReport on the protests (notable because it seems clear the protesters themselves wrote it - when they were initially denied the spotlight, they made their own light with the blink of a million social media posts)
Frozen Garlic is always good for this sort of thing
Damn media and their BS!

Bago and Mt. Kyaiktiyo in Photos: Last Stop in Burma

For our last stop, we took an overnight bus down a winding, horrible road from Nyaungshwe to Bago - I was fine though, hopped up on Dramamine and no longer sick. The bus provided us with blankets in a horrifying pattern:



GAAAHHH!!

Otherwise there's not that much more to say about our trip to Burma, so this post will be mostly photos.

Updated Post: Atmospheric Coffeeshops in Taipei

Here you go - enjoy!

Added: a new address for Zabu, Yaboo Cafe, Cafe Prague, Flying Cafe/Cafe Classic, and Anhe 65.

There are a few more I want to add - each one in a temple. The one in the Confucius Temple has re-opened, and there's one you can visit in a temple near Wufenpu Fashion Market. Finally, Dihua Street has had a few coffeeshops open ever since the area's renovation. I can only hope art venues, good restaurants and cafes will take over the new spaces before the "same old same old" souvenir stores can get there.

But I don't have full information on those yet, so that'll have to be another update.

Here Is Some Sexist Bullshit For You

So I take a lot of taxis. Some of these taxis are nicer than others - on any given day, I might get Old Chen's taxi, which has one chair hanging at an odd angle on rusty hinges, has so many amulets and charms hanging off the rearview mirror that I'm surprised they don't all swing forward in one aggregate whoosh to crack the windshield when he stops too hard, his ID card photo was taken in the 70s and he's totally got Han Solo Hair, I can practice my Taiwanese listening skills by paying attention to some radio show where someone is yet again saying that Ma Ying-jiu sucks (I agree with these people, by the way, he does suck, it's just that that's all they ever talk about), and the whole taxi smells like the darkest recesses of Old Chen's armpit.

On any other given day, I might get into Little Luo's taxi (Little Luo being six feet tall), which smells pleasantly of synthetic vanilla and has some stargazer lilies up front, and his taxi has a little TV embedded into the back passenger's seat. The passenger can then watch, at low volume, models skulking down catwalks wearing hideous outfits, a commercial for something having to do with penises (I don't know if it's health related or just phalloplasty, but it includes a pun on the Chinese word for "blue bird", which in Taiwanese means, well, "johnson". Package. Junior. Eggs&Sausage. It's definitely got to do with schlongs or something), repeated entreaties to touch a Happy Face, Neutral Face or Angry Face to thereby rate your driver, commercials for blenders that blend whole fish, commercials for fitness "exercise machines" that don't work (a hula hoop that you hold in place while you sway your body? And it looks totally dirty when you do, especially when the camera pans over women doing that motion? No thanks) and commercials for HTC that involve some pop star I've never heard of.

And then there's this one commercial that makes me want to go all OH NO HULK ANGRY HULK SMASH!!

I can't find a video online of the commercial in question (because I don't know the name of the product), nor have I had the chance to take a video of it myself, but I've got my camera at the ready now every time I hop into a taxi with one of those annoying TVs at the back.

But, basically, it goes like this.

Attractive woman has adorkable boyfriend. Woman is at work and has her head cradled in her hands. She then finishes work (while the sun is still up so you know it's not Taiwan) but having her head in her hands has - oh noes! - caused temporary reddish indentations in her face. Quel horreur! Adorkable Boyfriend looks at her and his expression changes from adoration to disgust. Ewwww, what's wrong with your skin? Rather than doing the sensible thing and punching him in the face, she looks ashamed for some reason.

Then she's at work again, or surfing the Internet (same thing, really, at least it was for me), and she's wearing a scarf or something. The scarf leaves more creases on her neck. Or maybe she's just Creaseface McWeirdo. I dunno. She's all excited for her sweet date with Adorkable Boyfriend! Yay! She can't wait!

So she goes out to meet him, and his big adorkable nose crinkles up. Ew! Your face again! What's wrong with you, having human skin that reacts when stuff touches it? Rather than doing the sensible thing and punching him in the taint, she looks like she's going to cry.

But then - oh good! - she gets some makeup! So she can cover her terrible imperfections and look perfect for her Adorkable Boyfriend, because of course how could he possibly love her when EW GROSS HER SKIN HAS TEMPORARY CREASES FROM TOUCHING FABRIC THAT WILL TOTALLY GO AWAY IN FIVE MINUTES? Even if her problem weren't so transient in nature - perhaps a weeklong zit, or - heaven forfend! - a birthmark - Adorkable Boyfriend simply cannot be physically attracted to a woman whose skin isn't rendered so flawless by makeup that it glitters slightly.

So ladies. I SAID LADIES. Your job is to be physically perfect in every way for your Adorkable Boyfriend (he can be imperfect, that's OK, the looks that matter are yours, he's probably got something else going for him, like he's smart or earns money or something) or HE WON'T LIKE YOU. This is your job, ladies. Take it seriously. And if he crinkles up his nose at you because you have a crease imprint on your skin? That's your fault and don't you forget it!

And now that you feel terrible about yourself and really insecure that your boyfriend won't like your human skin, spend your money on this makeup! Look! A concealing foundation so you can hide yourself!

This girl used it, and now her skin is perfect and glittery and Adorkable Boyfriend is gazing at her adoringly! BUY IT NOW.

Ugh.

Seriously.

I realize that makeup commercials are of a kind, and that a lot of advertising (especially advertising aimed at women) relies on making someone feel inferior or subpar before convincing them that their flaws can be healed if they buy this Shiny New Thing, but this particular commercial makes me so much angrier than the usual bullshit. At least other bullshit tries for a veneer of being about "empowering women (with makeup you can buy!)" or "maybe she's born with it" or "be a new sexy you with plumper eyelashes (because your current eyelashes are hideou - - I mean because you deserve to be sexy, it's all about what some guy thinks of yo - - I mean GIRL POWER!)".

But this commercial is really the worst - it just goes straight for the jugular of insecurity. It doesn't even put up a pretense of "this is for you, to look your best" or "our product is really high quality" - it dives right into "if your skin is imperfect in any way, your boyfriend will gasp in horror at the sight of you!" It's straight-up telling women that it's their job to hide imperfections and look perfect for men (not for themselves - you never see this girl crinkling up her own nose in the mirror - it's so male gazey it physically hurts to watch), not men's job to understand that women are real human people and sometimes look imperfect, and that they're just going to have to deal with that fact or be very, very lonely.

And it's struck a chord with me, and made me think about how I could complain about sexism in Taiwan after seeing this steaming heap of crap on taxi TV (seriously, bring back HTC pop singer guy or something, or the penis guy in his shiny blue suit whistling his bluebird song), but really, I can't.

I can only think that this is still a problem worldwide. Back in the USA I still see similar commercials. In any given country - including Taiwan, which is otherwise not a bad place in Asia to live if you're female, compared to the rest of Asia anyway - and any given culture, it's still seen as women's responsibility to look good, and those they're expected to look good for are the other half of the population, not themselves. I could imagine seeing such a commercial on TV in the USA. Even though I know that there is a greater pressure on women in Taiwan to take care of their appearance, or a greater feeling of responsibility for maintaining their looks.

Complaining about it - even directly to the sexist marketing folks who scripted this utter tripe - isn't going to do much. I can only hope that I'm not the only person annoyed by this fistful of garbage, and that prospective customers just don't buy the product in question.