Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Brian Hioe
SEVERAL HUNDRED demonstrated today against the continued existence of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. In particular, demonstrators called for the dismantling of the memorial, with the view that Taiwan does not need a monument to an authoritarian dictator in the present day.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
The demonstration began shortly after 1 PM, with a number of stalls set up underneath the Liberty Plaza archway. These were mostly groups working on issues ranging from advocacy for Tibetans to youth empowerment and transitional justice.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Around 1:50 PM, demonstrators set out to protest in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial itself. This took the form of protesters marching across the space between the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. Slogans against the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial were chanted, and a number of protesters wore photos of individuals who had been executed during the White Terror.
After arriving at the base of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, speeches were held. Speakers included surviving relatives of White Terror victims, student activists involved in transitional justice efforts, and others.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Speakers touched on a number of topics. There were criticisms of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial as a blemish on Taiwan, as a democracy, especially when it has become a tourist site. Speakers suggested that this depicts Taiwan as a country that worships dictators. Given how the statue of Chiang Kai-shek seems to be modeled after the Lincoln Memorial, this would seem to convey the view that Taiwan greatly esteems Chiang. As such, an aim of the protest was to make tourists from abroad or Taiwanese visitors aware of social views on Chiang.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
To this end, speakers criticized the statues and portraits of Chiang are still commonplace in Taiwan, and many roads are named after him. Speakers brought up that education about Taiwan’s authoritarian period is still lacking, and with most surviving victims of the White Terror being elderly, it is unlikely that redress will occur in their lifetimes. In this sense, speakers framed transitional justice as a race against time, criticizing government inaction, while young people seem to be increasingly unaware of the White Terror. In this vein, speakers also criticized how some have taken to framing the White Terror as measures necessary for the times, or attempt to dismiss traditional justice as simply stirring up past ethnic conflicts.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
After the speeches, demonstrators climbed the stairs of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, each step of which symbolizes a year of Chiang’s life. At the top of the memorial, which was shut and guarded by police, demonstrators chanted slogans before descending. A red banner was unfurled by demonstrators covering the inscription of the KMT logo on the monument, reading “Dismantle.”
In closing, speeches and talks continued after the demonstrators returned to under the Liberty Plaza archway—the walk to the archway symbolizing the walk to freedom. Demonstrators vowed to return next year and the year after, for as long as it took for the monument to be dismantled.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Dismantling the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial was one of the final recommendations of the Transitional Justice Commission before its dissolution in 2022, with the view that the memorial is structured as a temple to Chiang. Yet this proves easier said than done, with the KMT likely to resist, and the Lai administration not necessarily wanting to rock the boat on symbolic issues. But, as recent controversies, such as regarding the movie “Murder of the Century”—whose plot justified the killings that occurred during the White Terror, it may be that many younger people are simply unaware of Taiwan’s authoritarian past.