Theory and History

Fallism and Chiang Kai-Shek Statue Removal in Taiwan as a Means of Mobilization

Midterm elections are around the corner and there has been a plethora of ballot box issues to choose from that will prove decisive in key races: from Indigenous issues, incumbents’ COVID response, alleged corruption, and so on. But one issue that is not going to feature at all will be that of transformative justice and the unresolved issue of the biggest symbol of authoritarianism: the bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. Which begs the question of the purpose of political iconoclasm, or image breaking, as a form of performative democracy...

David Harvey and Richard Wolff Romanticize China Out of Orientalism, if Nothing Else

It has proven odd that leftist thinkers, such as Marxian economist Richard Wolff and Marxist geographer David Harvey, have proven unusually praising of China in recent comments. Wolff and Harvey have both expressed the view that China’s economy represents something fundamentally different from western capitalism; this view is based on the claim that socialist legacies in China persist from the Maoist period, and this has pushed contemporary China to become something qualitatively different from western capitalism...

Baodiao and the History of Postwar Taiwanese Leftist Thought

Discourse in Taiwan has long been one that contrasted the pro-unification left with the pro-independence camp, implying a lack of (traditional) leftist politics on the part of pro-independence forces. This has been exacerbated by pro-unification left voices having often been given more prominence in the English-speaking world and taken as representing the Taiwanese left. Since many of these issues can be traced back to the 1970 Baodiao Movement, a preliminary look at the history of postwar Taiwanese leftism since then can help shed a light on some of the paradoxes and shortcomings of both the pro-unification left and the pro-independence camp, as well as teach valuable lessons for alternatives for a Taiwanese left moving forward...

早安,香港:「我們」的責任

哲學家列維納斯(Emmanuel Lévinas)身為經歷過二戰、曾被監禁集中營的人,深知倫理的重要性。他最為出名的概念是「臉」:當我們看到他人受苦、哀傷的臉的時候,他人的臉代表著一種訴求,要求我們不得就這樣讓他人死去。有著尤太背景的他,也說過驚為天人的話:上帝不在天上,那裡是空的;上帝存在於我與他者的關係之中。而只有我們在承擔起責任的時候,倫理才會開始,神聖才會出現。...

What Will Happen If Progressive Taiwanese Civil Society Is Defeated Through The Referendum?

Referendum reform has historically been pushed for by progressive civil society groups in Taiwan, as a means to resolve longstanding issues blocked by the KMT and other conservative forces. Progressive civil society groups were finally victorious in amending the Referendum Act last year, lowering the benchmarks needed to hold a referendum in Taiwan. But what if the results of referendum voting tomorrow indicate that, ironically enough, conservatives have managed to hijack the referendum and to use it against progressive civil society?...