Sayaka Chatani

Report on Taiwan: 2.28 (① the DPP campaign)

2.28 is a date of historical tragedy for the Taiwanese; in 1947 the KMT killed hundreds (or thousands) of civilians who protested against the KMT rule over Taiwan, and this incident apparently lead to the declaration of the Martial Law, which had been in effect up until 1987. Here, I am not examining what happened 57 years ago, but I am more curious about what is happening now in Taiwan. I went to see both DPP's and KMT's political rally on that day, and it turned out to be an absolutely fascinating experience...

The organization 手護台灣大聯盟, founded by Li Deng-hui (and his fellows) and supported by the DPP, launched "手牽手 (holding hands to make a long human chain)" campaign, and people formed a 500 kilometer human chain from the northern tip to the southern tip of the island. I went to 2-28 Peace Park in Taipei to see a part of the chain. It is actually very bizarre to see a huge crowd of extremely excited people making two lines at the center of the main street of the governmental district of Taipei. Nobody doubts that 2.28 is a very good opportunity for the DDP to remind people of the dark side of KMT history, and they actually made the best use of this historical date in my opinion. They were successful especially in creating a strong visual effect by gathering thousands of people and making the human chain right in front of the KMT headquarters, on which a huge campaign poster of the KMT party president is painted.

I saw how a "nation" can be formed and expressed during this event. The participants all looked full of energy and joy, sharing the sense of "being a part of one community", which is exactly what a "nation" brings about. They shouted "陳水扁 當選！", "Taiwan, No.1!" and "台灣獨立！" like crazy. Their energy and power made me quiver. The whole site was very noisy and somewhat chaotic so I could not really tell the timing, but according to the news report, they shouted "Taiwan Yes!" at 2:26 and "China, No!" at 2:28. Right, this is another phenomenon of the birth of a "nation," which is the denial and seclusion of other groups. Some might say the denial of and emotional outburst against Mainland China is natural since Taiwan has been militarily threatened by China. True, it is quite natural that they choose China as the object of enmity, HOWEVER!!! an example of an extreme expression of this by some young people that I happened to see later this day is nothing but the dark and sick aspect of rising nationalism.

Later that day I went to see the KMT political rally at Chang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall, which is right across from 2-28 Peace Park. Since there were some people left on and around the main stage that the DPP used that day for the human chain campaign, I went to take a look at what was going on. There was a rock band of young people playing hard-rock and doing performances. Short after I got there, they started this performance, which was so disgusting that I could not believe my eyes. The band men made one young guy sit in the middle of the stage and forcefully made him eat made-in-china food. The music and the performance escalated and now they squeeze food into the mouth of this guy, shouting "Isn't it delicious?! Isn't it delicious?! This is made in China! Stupid Taiwanese! Stupid Taiwanese! You guys are our pigs!" In the end they put this guy into a big garbage bag and dragged it off of the stage. I should not become emotional where an objective analysis is required, but the whole affair was very unpleasant. What relieves me a little is that the audience all looked shocked and disgusted. I do not blame the DPP for this particular event, however, since it is probably an unavoidable side effect of nation-building.