tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post6432581079061340911..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: When will the American Left learn about Taiwan? Eli Clifton in The NationMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-85768292830023802412014-03-27T11:35:13.447+08:002014-03-27T11:35:13.447+08:00I came across this article in a Google search. Tod...I came across this article in a Google search. Today is Mar. 26, 2014, more than a week into the student occupation of the Taiwan Legislature. Now here's a people practicing direct democracy, taking their government to task and opposing bogus "free trade" that would only benefit Big Capital... and not a PEEP from DemocracyNow.org or TheNation.com?!? I did a bunch of searches and found nothing. Seriously?! This is beyond reprehensible.<br /><br />As a lefty-anarchist in the U.S. (former community and union organizer) I still value the commentaries from these programs/sites. As a Taiwanese-American lefty, I can't help but feel betrayed by my comrades here. It seems that for them, if the revolution doesn't come out of China, it doesn't happen at all.<br /><br />I understand that these self-professed vanguard of the Left don't want to be caught backing the wrong horse. They need to vet the protests for astroturf or entitled Venezuelan bourgeoisie. But COME ON! This time in Taiwan it is SO clear-cut!<br /><br />China has since decades ago entered its nationalist (hence terminal) stage of the Chinese dynastic cycle. The old KMT did get humiliated on the battlefield by the CCP. But it was the Taiwanese progressives that stamped it out. When Chinese kids get on freenet and watch Taiwanese kids opting not just for representative democracy, but for direct democracy under a KMT government, they're watching Taiwan complete the revolution their grandpas started. Don't the Taiwanese deserve some solidarity for that?<br /><br />But this is the nature of the beast... Taiwan is kind of doomed to fight its own fights. And it will need to do so more often as the Communist Dynasty in China descends into its final hours of total-batshit-crazy nationalism... remember the Boxers and the xenophobic religions at the end of the Qing Dynasty?<br /><br />The yoke of Confucianism is addictive and immersive. And no amount of cultural revolution is going to knock a continental country out of its cycle. Islanders can do better, and do not need to be along for the ride.Liovushkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02485260109477371318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-92034615936342889532013-07-01T11:46:31.129+08:002013-07-01T11:46:31.129+08:00I find that many on the right also view Taiwan thr...I find that many on the right also view Taiwan through a cold war lens. Of course since the people on the right were more opposed to communism that tends to translate in to support for the ROC, but too often it is support for the good "China" rather than an understanding of the aspirations of the Taiwanese people. Readinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-12852102509657229262013-07-01T11:01:58.553+08:002013-07-01T11:01:58.553+08:00Michael, as always, another trenchant and timely r...Michael, as always, another trenchant and timely reminder that it is so difficult for someone who is a liberal in america to find support from the "left" of taiwan.<br /><br />Greg Haohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805996565667458046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-88571012204787084742013-06-29T08:59:29.391+08:002013-06-29T08:59:29.391+08:00This is off topic, but I read your article titled ...This is off topic, but I read your article titled "Teaching at a University in Taiwan" and I just laughed. It is probably very true and accurate, and the observations that are made of the Taiwanese educational system by a foreigner are critical but hilarious. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com