Manifesto

Anargument for democracy in Taiwan

The Editors of Taiwan
(Translator's note)

Four General Values Fallen intoCrisis

8 In today’s Taiwan the gap between rich and poor has widened precipitously, the “misery index”has shot up, the war clouds over the Taiwan Straits refuse to disperse, the curse of the unity–independence split will not go away, there is a lack of sense of direction on the part of society as a whole, and the majority of the population feels powerless—yet the Blue and Green camps¹ remain intoxicated in their bitter struggle for power. The street talk and intensive activity that hover over this impasse are heard virtually everywhere, but because they lack an appropriate means of expression, they get trapped in the discursive conventions of the impasse itself—that is, in the language of the Blue–Green power struggle. On the surface the Blues and the Greens are engaged in a clamorous antagonism, but under the table they are playing the same game—it is a mutual opposition based on a vexatious predicament, which is how to invigorate a largely powerless public. In the process of carefully examining this urgent predicament, we have determined four key general values that are in deep crisis: social justice, the common political realm, equality of [ethnic] identity, and cross-straits peace. The predicament having been thus created, our only goal for the moment must be to the fullest extent possible to seek out its roots and find ways to transcend and overcome it. The new political regime that came to power in 2000 must take a good deal of responsibility for the present state of affairs, something implicit in the notion of responsible party government itself. The new political regime, however, is not an historical accident, but an organic part of the history of Taiwan and the [East Asian] region over the past 50 years. Because of this, to break out of the current predicament, we must place the new regime in the context of a long discourse of opposition under an authoritarian structure of power.

An Anti-Democratic Notion of “AMature Democracy”

From the time of the “non-party”[movement] of the early 1970s on,² the core of the oppositionaldiscourse was to “use a nativist democratic movement to oppose anexternally imposed Kuomintang authoritarian regime.”After the“party shift”of March 2000, this democratic movement produced ageneral consensus on the notion of “a mature democracy”: sincethe external political regime had stepped down, the ultimateachievement of democracy was no longer in question. This consensusrevealed a previously undeclared feature of the discourse of the“non-party”opposition: democratization was dependent uponnativization; it did not constitute an independent entity in itselfand even lacked any value in itself worthy of the name.

Thisconcept of “a mature democracy”signaled, in fact, the end ofdemocracy in substance. The new regime that at the same time activelybroadcast this consensus and passively inherited it was its actualbeneficiary—it used the consensus to legitimate itself. But theregime was similarly the victim of this consensus—self-satisfied inthe illusion of the achievement of democracy, it abruptly forsook itsideals (consider for a moment the abandonment and helplessness ofvarious social movements under the new regime). The idea of “amature democracy,”having reached the position of hegemonicdiscourse, now more often than not serves merely to bewilder thepopulation. On the one hand, do not the media, politicians, andscholars all say that we have left authoritarianism behind and becomea democracy? On the other hand, however, from any perspective thesocial reality on view is chaotic, hollow, and substantially unfair.Under the giant inscription of “democracy,”society’s actualface is indistinct and disordered amid a confusing din ofvoices.

The Price of “Democratization Based onProvincial Identity”

The root of the problem lies inTaiwan’s unique “democratization based on provincial identity.”In the 30 years since the inception of the non-party movement in the’70s of the last century, the nativist democracy movement took ashortcut: by means of a popular mobilization based on provincialidentification, it managed to replace the old regime. It did not,however, choose the more arduous, slower path of “enlightenment”and popular education built upon the process of a public discourse ofthe citizenry. Of course, choosing the “provincial path”arose ofout certain unavoidable historical conditions, and it did have itsunique achievements. So while we should sympathetically understandthe movement, this understanding should not prevent us fromreflecting upon its huge price, a price that has been the long-termlistlessness and immaturity of the Taiwanese political public sphere.Since neither the citizen body nor the public sphere was opened up,the only option left to the political realm was scheming for powerand bitter fighting—all clinging to the axis of provincial originand national identity, spiraling down to a bitter end. Although werefer to them as two parties, politics never veered from a strictlyself-interested course, characterized by a battle to the deathbetween irreconcilable foes (that is, between opposing communities).In such circumstances rational debate, public discussion,cooperation, even political dispute along a left–right politicalspectrum were all impossible. The abolition of the Garrison Command³and the power of the Strongman were great achievements of themovement for democracy in Taiwan, but they were still not enough tobring into being a political public sphere—the only touchstone oftrue democracy.

Three Periods of Authoritarianism BeforePost-Authoritarianism

The situation today can only becharacterized as post-authoritarian. It is not the antithesis of theauthoritarian period, much less does it transcend that period. Inorder to fully understand our times, they must be put in the contextof the history of the structure of authoritarianism on this islandand clearly set against the numerous continuities and fractures withthe various periods of authoritarianism that came before. Prior topost-authoritarianism we had a period of classic authoritarianism(Chiang Kai-shek), one of reform authoritarianism (Chiang Ching-guo),and one of populist authoritarianism (Lee Teng-hui). If we use thefour norms of social justice, cross-straits peace, a common politicalrealm, and equality of [ethnic] identity as a baseline from which tounderstand the relationship between post-authoritarian times and thethree preceding periods of authoritarianism, thenpost-authoritarianism not only does not represent relative progress,but in many important respects is seriously retrograde. Since ourspace here is limited, let us say very roughly that thepost-authoritarian period not only inherited certain ones of thebackward and reactionary features of authoritarianism, but alsoshrank or abandoned the few relatively progressive attributes of theauthoritarian period. History must be regarded dialectically and thedevil given his due. In the eras of Chiang Kai-shek’s classicauthoritarianism and Chiang Ching-kuo’s reform authoritarianism,politics took precedence over private capital, the state had aleadership position in and power over economic development, andnational policies—considerations of motive left aside—such aspublic education, public health, and basic labor law had the effectof maintaining basic social equity. In regard to cross-straits peace,the regime of Chiang Ching-kuo, even burdened as it was by itsanti-communist legacy, still sought to break out of the Cold Warframework and gradually thaw out the antagonistic cross-straitsrelations that had endured for so many years; at one point it evenseemed as if there were hope for bringing peace both to the straitsand to the region as a whole. The populist authoritarianism that cameinto being in 1993 reactivated communal divisions, renderedcross-straits relations more tense, stifled the movement for socialautonomy, actively tilted in the direction of big capital and, in abizarre political move, began to reprivatize [public assets] in thename of the people. In spite of this, however, if one once againleaves motives aside, this system was able to bring into being thegreat contribution toward social justice of comprehensive healthinsurance.

The Regressions ofPost-Authoritarianism

From this perspective, the newregime resulting from the change of political parties in March 2000was not really new: it carried on the exclusionist communal politicsof the previous authoritarian systems, narrowed the public spherethrough its populism and made cross-straits hostility the norm. Itwas new, at least, in scrapping a number of relatively progressivevalues and institutions. In the three years since 2000, we have seennational tax and development policies that even more openly favor therich at the expense of the poor—the great concentrations of capitalhave satiated themselves on all sorts of preferences and exemptionswhile ordinary people have borne a heavy burden of taxation. Theregime has initiated a discourse of education as the realm of privateinvestment, and even the health-insurance program set up during theperiod of populist authoritarianism has repeatedly been shrunk in thename of the euphemistically named “health-insurance reform.”Theonly positive achievement of post-authoritarianism has been theretreat of Strongman politics to a place beyond the horizon. The truemeasure of the actual nature of our post-authoritarianism, however,has yet to be determined, but let us repeat once again that thestandards of evaluation must in the end be social justice, the commonpolitical realm, equality of [ethnic] identity, and cross-straitspeace. If there is no substantial progress, then the populationliving under post-authoritarianism may not even be able to resist thetemptations of authoritarianism and end up retreating back towards anend to post-authoritarianism. The repeated summoning of the image of“Mr. Ching-kuo”of late can perhaps be understood as amanifestation of this.

Relations of People Across theStraits

If we want to overcome the hollow values, thesubstantial inequality and the potential for the restoration ofauthoritarianism in our post-authoritarian situation, we must movebeyond the negative achievement of a democratization based onprovincial identity to actively democratizing and expanding the senseof the public. The sense of the public—that is to say discourse,activity, and intervention [in politics] on the part of the majorityof the population that is sustained and thoroughgoing—is the resultof a long process of learning and struggle. It is, however, only byrelying on this that we can get beyond the mire of the nasty strugglebetween the Blue and Green camps and locate the inspiration we needto find a new direction. But this work of public reconstruction has acrucial knot that needs to be unraveled, and that is relationsbetween the peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Our pointhere is simple: in some essential way democracy on the island is anextension of the relationship of the peoples on both sides of thestraits. This is because if Taiwanese society locks up popular energy ina perpetual state of readiness against an “external enemy,”thenauthoritarian politics will eventually become an inseparablecompanion. In the context of populism, a politics of the publiccannot develop, and any discussion of social justice or cross-straitspeace will be displaced into a struggle over independence vs.unification.

The Four Goals of a DemocraticLeft

“Moving toward a public sphere and overcoming post-authoritarianism”is a plan of the democratic left that incorporates the four great goals of peace for people on both sides of the straits: a common political realm, equality across a number of possible social identities, and a sense of social justice. In calling for democracy, we emphasize our refusal of the seductions of any version of authoritarianism and our belief in and support of the ability of ordinary people to develop political subjectivity in the process of daily life. In stressing our leftism, we are expressing our refusal of any exploitation, oppression, or discrimination; our challenge of the myth of the market, of merely formulaic democracy, and of all sorts of cultural hegemony; our pursuit of social justice and individual liberation; and our capacity to take historical initiative. Today, as Blue-Green mainstream politics have joined hands to draw the political map of Taiwan and to monopolize and stifle its capacity for political imagination, our plan for a democratic left must from any perspective stand as a counter-proposition to the vulgarity, hyperbole, contortions, and corruption of the political mainstream. The democratic left under no circumstances stands in opposition to the Blue-Green mainstream but represents rather the transcendence and defeat of that sort of politics; it does not wish to compete for power against them but rather to eliminate this sort of contest for power; it does not seek to compete with them for popular support but to create a discourse in support of the people and that will transform the people. We call upon all those individuals and groups—including ourselves—who retain faith in these goals to cast off our depression and sense of impotence and learn to play our public roles. In this way we can discuss the implementation in this time and this place of such values as justice, equality, diversity, and freedom, overcome post-authoritarianism, and create history. This is where the real contribution of the experience of Taiwanese democratization to human civilization will lie. <

Notes

¹The colors of the Kuomintang–People First Party and the Democratic Progressive Party of Chen Shui-pien respectively.

²The name for the Taiwanese opposition in the days of the Kuomintang dictatorship.

³The Garrison Command headed the constabulary responsible for enforcing the martial law that was in force between 1949 and 1987.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

While little-reported in the Western media, political and military tension in East Asia has mounted palpably over the course of 2004. Much of this increasing tension stems from the March 20 presidential election in Taiwan, in which the incumbent president Chen Shui-bian, of the Democratic Progressive Party, a party historically rooted in its commitment to independence from China, was re-elected by the narrowest of margins. This result, complicated by a mysterious assassination attempt on Chen the day before the election, confounded all the pre-election polls. More ominously, the result also thwarted confident expectations in Beijing that the current incarnation of the Kuomintang Party—the Kuomintang Party–People First Party alliance—with its less obdurate stand on the question of moving Taiwan away from unification with the mainland, would be returned to office. As spring became summer, sharp statements from all sides (including hints of intervention in Taiwan’s defense from Japan and the United States) combined with substantial military maneuvers by China, Taiwan, and the United States to roil already troubled waters in the western Pacific.

The essay printed here, originallytitled “Moving Toward an Idea of the Public; TranscendingPost-Authoritarianism,”first appeared on October 3, 2003—longbefore the onset of the present crisis—in the China Times (Zhongguoshibao), arguably the best newspaper in the Chinese-speaking world.In the wake of the election, it was reprinted in Reading (Dushu),themost important journal of intellectual opinion in China. Thestatement is based on a much longer analytical essay written by theeditors of Taiwan: A Radical Quarterly in Social Studies, a journalfounded in 1988—just after the end of martial law in Taiwan—by agroup of engaged scholars and activists devoted to the study ofTaiwan’s long-term development and position in the world. Thecollective statement, offering a social critique from the perspectiveof the democratic left, took stock of recent political history inTaiwan and the prospects for the future on the 15th anniversary ofthe founding of the journal.

It is impossible to include inthis shorter version the detailed research that underlies many of theclaims made here about recent trends in Taiwanese society. But themost important of the group’s arguments stands out in high relief:that the major political parties’ attempts over the past decade tocreate an exclusive ethnic consciousness among Taiwan’s variouslinguistic communities has led to a social and political dead end.In effectively foreclosing access to any meaningful public sphere inwhich true social alternatives can be discussed and implemented,identity politics have brought other forms of political life to astandstill and undermined the progress of democracy.

In many ways,the problems observed in the following critique will look familiar toan American audience: the monopolization of political discourse bytwo political parties that identify themselves more in opposition toone another than through serious attention to the grass roots; arelentless retreat of the public sector in favor of private interest;and, above all, mobilization of political support through constantharkening to a looming offshore threat. But rather than just abackhanded confirmation of Francis Fukuyama’s thesis of a worldconverging after “the end of history,”the essay traces a clearprogression of just how these impediments to a healthy democraticpractice grew up so quickly in what has been celebrated as a vibrantnew democracy, not even 20 years old.

This essay demonstrates how locally based resistance to despotism eventually found it necessary to focus its attention on identity politics above all. For instance, after Chen’s initial election in 2000, many who were disgusted with the corruption and cynicism of the old authoritarian regimes looked to the new government as a vehicle of radical political renewal. But instead of tackling the myriad social challenges that it inherited, the Chen government single-mindedly pursued a course of political and cultural separation from the mainland. While this paid off in the short term—the percentage of the vote for Chen went up from under 40 percent in 2000 to slightly over 50 percent in 2004, and the percentage of people in Taiwan who no longer think of themselves as “Chinese”went up at an even higher rate—the grinding social and economic inequality that accompanied the rapid economic growth after 1970 went unattended. But above all, in light of the steadfast and irreconcilable positions of the two governments in Taipei and Beijing, Chen’s determination to take the path of ethnic exclusionism may lead to disastrous consequences, especially if the American government allows itself to be maneuvered into the fray.

—Theodore Huters

Theodore Huters is a professor in the department of Asian languages and cultures at UCLA.

Originally published in the October/November 2004 issue of Boston Review.