Social Movements

Protests Mark Chinese National Day In Hong Kong On October 1st

Protests marked Chinese National Day in Hong Kong on October 1st earlier this week, with 40,000 taking to the streets in order to demonstrate the worsening condition for human rights and the deterioration of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong. Protests saw some clashes with police and pro-China groups, including the arrest of youth activists from Demosisto after being attacked by pro-China demonstrators. What comes next for Hong Kong, however, remains to be seen...

Lessons For Taiwan From The Catalan And Kurdish Referendums?

In past days, youth activist and civil society groups in Taiwan have expressed support of Catalonia following the Spanish government’s use of brutal force to put down the Catalan independence referendum. This is not too surprising, seeing as youth activist groups in Taiwan see a sense of shared cause between the Catalan people’s struggle for self-determination and Taiwan’s own struggle for independence. Yet the outcome of not only the Catalan referendum, but also the recent Kurdish referendum in Iraq, offers lessons for Taiwan regarding its own aspirations towards using referendum to settle longstanding questions regarding Taiwanese independence...

Rally Against ROC Constitution Held In Liberty Plaza By Pro-Taiwan Civil Society Groups

A demonstration to call for normalization of Taiwan’s international status was held at Liberty Plaza tonight, calling for the removal of Taiwan’s status as a “province” of China in the ROC constitution and the permanent connection of Taiwan and China enshrined in the ROC constitution through the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area...

Lee Ming-Che Trial Provokes Outrage, But What Now For Efforts To Secure His Release?

Outrage broken out in Taiwan with the appearance of detained Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-Che in Chinese courts yesterday. Lee pled guilty to “subverting state power” and undermining the authority of the CCP in attempting to encourage multi-party in democracy. But what now for efforts to secure Lee's release?...