A vigil was held today in Liberty Plaza in Taipei to memorialize those who died in the deadly Wong Fuk Court fire on November 26th that killed at least 159 and injured 79. Several hundred were in attendance...
Thousands of strangers island-wide worked together with remarkable efficiency so that the Great Recall Movement would succeed. Despite its failure to recall any of the targeted politicians from office, the Great Recall Movement holds lessons for how to rapidly mobilize civil society in response to impending threats to Taiwan’s democracy...
A vigil for Palestine was held in Liberty Plaza in Taipei today, on the second anniversary of the attacks conducted by Hamas on October 7th, 2023. After the attacks, the Israeli government began an extermination campaign directed against Palestinians in Gaza, with over 60,000 killed since then, and the decimation of infrastructure across Gaza, including all hospitals. Around fifty were in attendance...
The aftermath of the recalls is gradually taking shape. In particular, the pan-Blue camp is likely to persist with further attempts to attack the DPP. A new proposal from the TPP, which is supported by the KMT, would tie national referendums to elections. This would likely drive up turnout in a way that would make it more likely that referendums would meet benchmarks to be binding...
The second and final round of recalls took place across Taiwan today, with seven KMT legislators facing recall. Likewise, a national referendum on the issue of whether to extend the lifespan of the Ma-anshan nuclear reactor took place...
A recent op-ed in the Washington Post by Vincent C. Chen–“The hypocrisy of recognizing Palestine but not Taiwan”–criticizes Western countries for moving toward the recognition of Palestine but not Taiwan. The article proves a remarkable exercise in nationalist parochialism. Rather than take the view that Taiwan should see its cause in a similar light to Palestine’s and that the two causes support each other, the suggestion is that Palestine is undeserving of recognition, and Taiwan is more deserving...
