My friend Lars, dressed like a Western tourist might, emerged from Tokyo station’s ticket gate yesterday to be suddenly swarmed on by three police officers. “Are you a tourist?” Lars answers, “Umm, No.” Then they ask, “Do you work here?” and Lars replies, “No. I am a graduate student [at Waseda University]” The police officers then asked him for his “Foreigner Identification Card” He handed it over but asked, “Can I ask why I have been approached?” They told him, “There has been a terrorist attack.” Lars asked, “Where?” to which they replied, “Spain.” Lars then replied, “Oh really? When was it?” The police then replied, “Several months ago.” They soon let him go and Lars then went on his way, wondering what a terrorist attack that happened in Spain several months ago had to do with him walking out of a train station. This happened to my Canadian friend Andrew, also at Waseda studying engineering a few months ago as well. When Andrew asked why he was stopped by a police car when walking down a street, he was just told that, “We have a lot of crime. Foreigners often commit crime.”
Category: Politics
Korean Media and the Political Pendulum
Joel at Far Outliers mentions an article about a trend towards the “suppression of free speech” in South Korea. In addition to the harassment that a “free North Korea” group has apparently gotten from “self-styled ‘progressive'” protesters discussed in the article by Aidan Foster-Carter, Joel mentions the recent bizarre (and inexcusable) banning of online blogs by the South Korean government in an attempt to prevent distribution of footage of the recent beheading of a Korean hostage. He refers us to the great blog NKZone which also has a posting on this (pretty much any blog related to Korea has been talking about this of late).
My only concern with the Foster-Carter article and the sometimes rabid responses to the recent censorship and current left swing of Korean politics on the usually deeply conservative English-language blogs about Korea (in particular Marmot’s Hole and Flying Yangban over at GOPKorea – I should take care to note that despite my own raving liberal politics, I still read these two blogs, which are often excellent sources for recent Korea related news) is that I believe they are portraying Korea—and Koreans—as emotional slaves to political fashion who swing from one political extreme (authoritarian dictatorship and anti-communist ideology) to the other (a pro-unification, pro-North Korean regime) without conceding the exceptionally complex adjustments and changes that are going on in Korean society. One person whose opinions I respect the most on this are those of my friend Lim Jaehwan. His most recent posting on the Korean media emphasizes the continuing dominance of conservative newspapers in Korea, even as populist or left-leaning alternative media sources like OhMyNews are growing in popularity.
The “free North Korea” and “pro-America” segments of Korean society didn’t just die overnight. Nor, for all its faults and recent blunders, does the young and more radical government of South Korea mark the establishment of a North Korean puppet in the south that will crush all voices of “freedom” and dissent. The pendulum has surely swung, but it swung partly as a result, I believe, of a number of contingent political factors (the recent impeachment crisis, desire for reform, etc.) that may not consistently serve the current ruling party in the future. The new Uri Party has had, and will surely continue to have, its share of political excesses, but if it survives another election, it may undergo a process of “professionalization” similar to what is happening with the Taiwanese ruling party now. The adjustment from a party made up of old protesters who, upon gaining power, gathered in the halls of government to sing old anti-government protest songs (Jae – I’m waiting for you to post the details about this!) to one that can function with the bureaucracy, make level-headed and long-term policies, and appeal to mainstream voters in a time when a mass reaction to a political crisis is no longer available—all this takes time.
Continue reading Korean Media and the Political Pendulum
Untermenschen
Media Matters, a great source for a little breakfast rage against conservative media madness.
Today, there was an entry about the whack Michael Savage’s comment about the Nick Berg incident,
“Nick Berg, an American, not military, over there building transmission towers, was captured by the Untermenschen the sub-humans, who wrap themselves in a religion. He is seen saying his mother’s name, his father’s name, sister’s name, his brother’s name and then the smiling Arabs cut a living human beings head off as he screams. It’s a blood-curdling scream that you’ll ever hear again. You’ll never get it out of your mind if you’re a normal person, or you’re not given to murder or you’ve never been around murder. Uh, it’s something you’ll never forget, not should you ever forget it and you can thank the Democrats, you can thank the Senate Arms Services Committee for their hysterical hearings. You can thank John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Biden, The New York Times, the alphabet channels and The Washington Post for this atrocity because they caused it.”
(My bold) My jaw dropped. Untermenschen – is he actually using that term for Iraqis? It has certainly appeared a lot in the media lately, but did he miss the fact that it was popular in Nazi propaganda? It would be the ultimate irony if this term caught on amongst commentators in the US as the term for Iraqis.
Dresner on Korea and Taiwan
Jonathan Dresner wrote an interesting article on HNN which talks about democracy in Korea and Taiwan. In a later posting on Cliopatria he lists three “landmark moments” for democracy (first transfer of power to the opposition, first peaceful transfer of power to another party, resolution of first major constitutional crisis) and says Taiwan is struggling with both 2 and 3. A few thoughts below…
Continue reading Dresner on Korea and Taiwan
A Day of Protests
There has been a day of full protests here in Taipei. After lunch, Sayaka and I headed downtown to see what was going on. Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall and the surrounding area was pretty empty but a few thousand people were protesting in front of the KMT headquarters and the red presidential building. You can download all my pictures I took from today’s protests and last night’s victory rally near the DPP headquarters here (18 MB) but I’ll take them down eventually.
Opposition leaders Lian and Song are ready for a post-election war. After Chen Shuibian was elected for another term by a razor edge lead, opposition leaders Lian and Song declared the election invalid and their intention to sue for irregularities in the votes, etc. The votes are going to be recounted and the investigation into the assassination attempt on the 19th continues.
The protests on TV were getting out of hand with some rioting and violence around the country. What we saw was quite calm by comparison, with snack booths set up, songs being sung, and drinks and sandwiches being passed out to protesters. The government buildings were cordoned off by barbed wire and police lines on all sides, but individuals could pass through the 2/28 Memorial Park to get behind the police lines.
The riot police were friendly, that is, those who were still conscious. The police had been there since late last night when the protests started. They seemed to be rotating between those manning the lines and the dozens who were sleeping in their riot gear along the edge of the park or, if awake, enjoying a relaxed coffee in the park’s cafe. Some waved, one yelled in English, “Welcome to Taiwan” and I spoke a bit to one exhausted riot police officer surounded by the rest of his sleeping unit. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact we were wandering around in their carefully cordoned off area or that stray KMT protesters were wandering in from the park. I did hear however, that apparently this area was closed off more tightly later in the day as the protesters grew in number.
Later in the day TV showed more scenes of violence (a KMT truck tried to break through police lines somewhere) which my KMT friend assured me was rare (indeed we were puzzled at one TV shot of a man shaking the fence near where the above police line picture is – he could have just walked around if he wanted to get to the other side. The media was definitely looking for anything juicy) and there have been lots more photos released of Chen Shuibian’s exposed belly button, dazed face during his surgery, and various medical files all designed to put to an end questions about the assassination attempt.
The Day After the Election
Things are getting crazy here in Taiwan, much more so than yesterday (the election day). The opposition is out of control with anger and there are protests everywhere, some violence. Sayaka and I are going down town to see how things are in Taipei. This is sooo sad. I’ll be blogging here throughout the next few days and will update this entry today as I see things…
More than Palm Trees in Common
The Taiwan election is officially over and Chen Shuibian has won another term. I’ll be reading the various newspapers tomorrow at nearby coffee shops (which Taipei has an abundance of). The opposition KMT party has disputed the election, the suspicious facts surrounding the assassination attempt yesterday, hundreds of thousands of invalidated votes, etc. Whether or not foul play is proved regarding the assassination, or if some of the invalidated votes were done so unfairly, the dispute of the election is a blow to Taiwanese democracy and rings all too familiar. More on this at NYT and BBC in English. It would be very sad to see this get ugly in the next few days.
Taiwan Election Results
The election polls closed 48 minutes ago. All the TV channels are showing the votes adding up on screen. I don’t understand what is going on. Of the four channels we are flipping back and forth from, there are 3 different vote counts being displayed for the two sides (Blue and the President Chen’s Green). Two Channels have the KMT etc. (Blue) in the lead by 20,000 votes or so, one channel has it in the lead by 100,000 votes and the fourth channel has President Chen’s DPP etc. (Green) in the lead by 20,000. I don’t understand why there are these different counts…because of the way the numbers differ, it not just a matter of time lag. I’ll update this through this evening as I continue to watch. See the updates below:
Blue=KMT etc. (Lian and Song)
Green=DPP etc. (President Chen Shuibian)
- 16:50 TTV is showing KMT in the lead by 400,000 votes, TVBS shows KMT in the lead by 15,000, CTI shows KMT in the lead by 6,000 votes…
- 17:10 Channel 37 (?): Green by about 50,000 TVBS: Blue by about 15,000 TTV (Channel 40): Blue by about 350,000 CTI: Blue by 40,000 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 25,000 SET: Green by 100,000 TTV (Channel 44?) Blue by 350,000
- 17:30 Channel 37 (?): Blue by 3,000 TVBS: Blue by 200,000 TTV (Channel 40): Blue by 400,000 CTI: Blue by 40,000 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 50,000 SET: Blue by 80,000 TTV (Channel 44?) Blue by 410,000
- 18:00 Channel 37 (?): Blue by 60,000 at 5,324,264 TVBS: Blue by 18,000 with 5,346,171 TTV: Blue by 150,000 with 5,634,425 CTI: Blue by 200,000 at 5,589,979 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 130,000 at 5,078,662 SET: Blue by 70,000 at 5,494,622 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 1000 at 5,470,696 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 50,000 at 5,933,906 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 50,000 at 5,383,564
Referendum Results Got more than the 50% it needs to count, Minshi Xinwen scores show overwhelming support for both measures. - 18:30 Channel 37 (?): Green by 17,000 at 6,162,565 TVBS: Green by 116,000 at 5,745,747 TTV: Green by 54,000 at 6,162,551 CTI: Green by 50,000 at 6,312,241 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 100,000 at 6,018,878 SET: Green by 30,000 at 5,954,745 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 3,000 at 6,261,157 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 51,000 at 6,179,834 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 23,000 at 6,085,621
- 19:00 Channel 37 (?): Green by 60,000 at 6,306,247 TVBS: Green by 52,000 at 6,399,558 TTV: Green by 42,000 at 6,359,133 CTI: Green by 40,000 at 6,441,478 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 52,000 at 6,194,353 SET: Green by 90,000 at 6,334,543 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 7,000 at 6,359,499 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 51,000 at 6,179,834 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 50,000 at 6,239,652
Notes: People seem to be getting crazy now as the number of uncounted votes are dwindling, massive partying by the DPP, referendum votes are overwhelming for the two measures (strengthen defense and conduct dialogue) but Reuters is reporting there is probably not enough of the electorate voting in the referendum for it to count. - 19:30 Channel 37 (?): Green by 130,000 at 6,514,209 TVBS: Green by 27,000 at 6,469,171 TTV: Green by 31,000 at 6,453,162 CTI: Green by 27,000 at 6,469,187 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 80,000 at 6,324,697 SET: Green by 36,000 at 6,466,477 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 21,000 at 6,421,698 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 28,000 at 6,454,888 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 100,000 at 6,312,654
Note: The vote number I’m giving is the amount of votes for the winner and the number of votes they are ahead is only approximate. - 20:00 Channel 37 (?): Green by 23,000 at 6,463,568 TVBS: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,517 TTV: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,516 CTI: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,517 Minshi Xinwen: 89,000 at 6,393,918 SET: Green by 34,000 at 6,471,700 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 27,000 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 27,000 at 6,470,786 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 33,000 at 6,476221
The 20:00 TV update will be my last. Sayaka and I have been watching this since about 16:30 this afternoon, with snacks in hand, and while at least all the channels now seem to agree that the president is going to slide into a second term, many still have different numbers. We are now going to head over to the DPP election headquarters (競選總部) here in Taipei where, at least on TV, there seems to be one massive happy victory party going on. The heading at the bottom of CTI TV channel right now says, 陳水扁輕傷，國民黨重傷 (Chen Shuibian received a minor injury, the Nationalist party has been badly injured) referring to the assassination attempt yesterday and the current grim election outcome for the KMT party. The KMT crowds look pretty miserable and their horns are not blowing with much enthusiasm any more, but their party spokesman (who I believe uttered the above line) says “we will never leave the KMT” Personally, I would like to see the party, with its long and marred history, dissolve and a new political scene develop in time for the next election. Ok, we are off to find the party…
Chen Shuibian and VP shot
Wow, my first full day in Taiwan and the President and VP have been shot (with one bullet?). They are in the hospital but not in critical condition. The election goes ahead tomorrow.
UPDATE: This happened about 13:45 this afternoon and special editions of the newspapers, evening papers and TV have been saying all sorts of contradictory things throughout the day. The presidential election, which was one of things I was looking forward to observing, will continue tomorrow as the VP and President seem to be fine but both sides have temporarily stopped campaign activities. Some articles on this in the Western media: CNN, New York Times, and BBC. UPDATE: Here is a Taipei Times (pro-DPP/president newspaper) article on the wound itself, including gory shot of his belly-button, wound. The military has been put on alert after the assasination attempt. Cries of a pro-DPP conspiracy abound (in other words, wounding their own candidate to get a few percent extra sympathy vote) amongst KMT supporters especially.
Dean
In my posting Dean against the Incombent I was extremely confident Dean was going to sail through the primaries and face a tough battle against Bush. After Dean’s failure to win a state so far, and especially his losing Washington, it looks like I was completely off the mark. He did amazing things for politics in the US and I think he would have brought an excited new army of voters into the election. We can now only hope that Kerry will be able to generate some of the same passion in the electorate that Dean has. To be honest, I’m very depressed about this election…