The DPP, KMT, and PFP have failed to take action to curb scams masquerading as religious organizations with the passage of the Financial Group and Corporation Law after its third reading in the Legislative Yuan...
As Taipei 2018 mayoral elections approach ever closer, it remains an opaque question as to whether the DPP will back Ko Wen-Je. In the meantime, one can divine something of the shifts in the DPP’s position going into 2018 elections as compared to 2016 from the continued debate over whether the DPP will endorse Ko this year...
A demonstration was held by LGBTQ groups this morning to demonstrate the Central Election Commission passing a referendum pushed for by anti-gay groups. The referendum seeks to overturn a judicial ruling in favor of the legalization of marriage equality in Taiwan by the Council of Grand Justices last year. In particular, the demonstration serves as the start of what will necessarily be a longer campaign by LGBTQ groups...
Electoral politics in 2018 elections and beyond stand to be shaken up by the recent formation of the “Formosa Alliance”, which intends to push for reform of the Referendum Act in order to allow for a referendum on amending the name of the nation and settling long-standing issues regarding independence/unification. This referendum push could pose a challenge to the DPP in terms of seizing its traditional base...
The declaration by Third Force parties, along with former presidents Chen Shui-Bian and Lee Teng-Hui and other influential figures, that they intend to seek a referendum on Taiwanese independence poses a significant challenge to the DPP...
Amending the so-called “Birdcage Referendum Act” has long been a demand of Taiwanese activists. In particular, holding a nationwide referendum was seen as a way to settle long-standing domestic issues in Taiwanese politics, such as with regards to the usage of nuclear energy in Taiwan, as well as the fundamental issue of independence versus unification, which goes to the heart of Taiwan’s unique political situation in global politics. It may not be too surprising, then, that calls for referendum have now become an object of political contestation on a number of issues. At least four campaigns for referendum are now under way in Taiwan that have been launched in the two months since changes to the Referendum Act in December of last year...
Looking back on recent demonstrations against the Tsai administration’s planned changes to the Labor Standards Act, it may do well to review some of the reasons as to why protests did not spark anything on the scale of the Sunflower Movement, and why these demonstrations were, in that way, ultimately unsuccessful. Namely, these demonstrations in many ways replicated the dynamics of the Sunflower Movement, just less successfully. Perhaps this ultimately returns to structural shifts in Taiwanese society since 2014...
Outrage against the Tsai administration’s changes to the Labor Standards Act is notably on the uptick since they passed, despite the fact that these changes have not yet taken effect...
Although it may have failed in preventing the changes from passing in the end, demonstrations against the Tsai administration's changes to the Labor Standards Act developed a unique visual language. Namely, in the past few years, a sign of the “maturity” of any social movement in Taiwan is that movement developing a unique visual language of its own. We might examine the characteristics of protest art during demonstrations against the Labor Standards Act, then...
With the passage of the Tsai administration’s planned changes to the Labor Standards Act this morning, it seems that organized labor, Taiwanese youth activists, and Third Force parties have suffered a defeat. But this may return to the present challenge of Taiwanese politics—to break with the DPP in a manner which advances the progressive politics which the DPP no longer is the standard bearer of...
