This is not how we fight for Democracy

Oops they’re brawling again in the Taiwanese legislature. What is it now, who’s to blame and how do we stop this embarrassing spectacle?

Taiwanese legislature or zombie movie? That’s the question we’re asking ourselves…again…today. How is it possible that the country that produces the globe-beating TSMC is also the country that produces beatdowns between lawmakers more reminiscent of the WWF? Should we start drafting legislators like basketball players next?

Of course, each side is accusing the other of impropriety, disrespecting democracy, trampling procedures etc etc. They spilled the water on the speaker! But that’s because THEY barricaded the meeting room. But that’s because they occupied the speakers dais. But that’s because THEY stole the laptop. It’s really hopeless to try and parse the blow-by-blow. Should we just say then that both sides are equally to blame?

No. In this case, the KMT/TPP alliance have the votes. In a sane system where physical violence has not been normalized in the nations lawmaking body, they would just…vote. This is largely what happened during the previous 8 years when the DPP had the majority. I’m not saying the KMT lawmakers didn’t throw the occasional jamboree (who can forget the pork guts flying through the legislature during the ractopamine vote). But in general, the DPP were able to pass the laws they want without much fanfare.

This time around, the DPP seem to be operating in a state of continuous denial about the fact that they’ve lost the legislature. Together with the TPP, the KMT has a solid majority. It’s been an embarrassing Groundhog Day of endless obstructionism from the DPP while crying bloody murder to the international press that they’re being oppressed by the KMT who are in league with the CCP.

I should mention that in this particular bill, the TPP and KMT were not a solid block. The KMT wanted to raise the threshold for recalls. The TPP agreed to some of the measures but not others. Had the DPP worked with the TPP, perhaps they could have peeled off enough legislators that the KMT did not have a majority.

Bluebirds Flying

Bluebird protestors busting through police barricades

In addition to the drama going on inside the legislature, we also have an encore performance from the Bluebird demonstration: DPP-aligned protestors outside the legislature to bring additional pressure. At one point, they busted through some police barricades and it seemed touch-and-go whether they were going to actually try and occupy the legislature.

The right to protest in a democracy is not in doubt. But we should make something clear: protesting is different from a mob threatening to stop the nation’s elected bodies from working. That’s January 6th territory. Fortunately, we didn’t get there today. The Bluebirds stopped at the gates. But it got intense. The crowd was chanting “Stop the meetings” and rushing the barricades while the police tried to push them back.

DPP Legislator Huang Jie appears to encourage the crowds to storm the legislature. Replying to a post calling for Bluebirds not to use the word “storm”, Huang replied “Our country is almost destroyed. Should it matter if we walk or storm? In a revolution, should we be careful not to step on the grass?”

Social media post by DPP legislator Huang Jie: “In a revolution should we be afraid of stepping on the grass?”

To me this kind of rhetoric is deeply irresponsible. In a mature democracy, rallying the mob to obstruct lawmaking should absolutely off the table. This clear distinction is unfortunately muddied by the Sunflower movement in Taiwan where a group of students DID rush into the legislature and occupied it for about a month. The Sunflower movement achieved their political aims and are now frequently lauded for blocking a controversial trade deal with China. Without unpacking whether that was a good or a bad thing, I hope we can agree that their methods should absolutely not be normalized.

In fact, the practice of brawling in the legislature in Taiwan originated from a place of genuine grievance. The year was 1988. The “Thousand year congress” was still in session. This meant “legislators” from places in China very much not under KMT control like Xinjiang, Beijing etc still sat in the legislature…and still had votes, a farcical charade and obviously frustrating for newly-elected DPP legislators who are forever condemned to being outnumbered. That was when Ju Gao-jeng (nicknamed “Aircraft Carrier of Democracy”) hopped on the speaker’s podium for the first time and swung the first fist.

The first brawl: DPP legislator Ju Gao-jeng in 1988

I don’t want to judge Ju’s actions that day. After all, Taiwan was freshly out of martial law and it seems callous to condemn Ju for violence when the country was freshly emerging from decades of state-sanctioned violence and still burdened by blatantly anti-democratic institutions like the Thousand-year Congress.

But what I can say is the legacy of that first brawl still lives with us to this day, and it’s a bad thing for Taiwan. When institutions are broken, even for reasons that might seem justified at the time, the legacy of that decision might last well-beyond the contemporary circumstances. The Thousand-year Congress is long gone, abolished in 1989. But still the legislators in Taiwan brawl.

If democracy is indeed worth fighting for, so are democratic institutions. Without absolving the KMT for their part in the shenanigans, it is in fact the DPP right now that has the power to bring the whole circus to a halt by just letting votes take place without undue obstruction. If we truly want to defy the CCP, let’s model what it means to be a democracy.