Citizens’ Movements in Taiwan
Introduction
Ming-Sho
Ho (Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University)
Special Issue Article
1. From
Ethnic Justice to Environmental Discourse: Frame Transformation of the Tao
Anti-nuclear Waste Movement
Shuling
Huang (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Technology,
National Chiao Tung University)
2. Campaign
for Public Television after Taiwan’ Second Power Transfer in 2008
Lihyun
Lin (Professor, Graduate Institute of Journalism, National Taiwan University)
3. Disabled
Citizens’ Movement: Glocalization of Rights Discourse and Social Model in
Taiwan
Heng-Hao
Chang (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taipei
University)
4. The
End of Stigma? The Challenge to Epilepsy Group
Jui-Hsien
Wang (Associate Professor, Department of Education, National Pingtung
University)
5. Environmental
Protests under the Ma Ying-Jeou Government (2008-2012): A Protest Event
Analysis
Chun-Hao
Huang (Ph.D. Student, Department of Sociology, Tunghai University)
Ming-Sho
Ho (Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University)
☆ Thought and Words https://www.facebook.com/taw1963 ☆
Special Issue Article
From Ethnic Justice to Environmental Discourse: Frame
Transformation of the Tao Anti-nuclear Waste Movement
Shuling
Huang (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Technology,
National Chiao Tung University)
The Tao anti-nuclear waste movement has been entangled between
environmental movement and aboriginal movement over the past three decade. From
1987 to 2002, ethnic justice had been used to mobilize potential participants. Since
2011, however, the master frame has transformed to the right to environment.
This article adopts framing theory to examine such transformation and the
mechanisms behind it. In particular, it emphasizes the importance of
generational differences and social contexts. In the past, the diagnostic
frame, prognostic frame and motivational frame were colonialism, autonomy and
ethnic extinction, respectively; since2011, those frames have become
environmental rights, no nukes and localism. This reflects competition between
activists of different generations, the wax and wane of both aboriginal
movement and environmental movement in Taiwan, as well as the change in Orchid
Island’s economy. It also indicates that the goal of nationalism pursued by
early activists has been partially accomplished though the construction of
collective identity in the process. As a result, the right to environment is
used to reignite enthusiasm for internal mobilization as well as expand
external support for the movement.
Keywords:
Framing, Environmental Movement, Ethnic Movement, Tao, Orchid Island
Campaign for Public Television after Taiwan’ Second
Power Transfer in 2008
Lihyun
Lin (Professor, Graduate Institute of Journalism, National Taiwan University)
In Taiwan’s first transfer of political powers, some media academics
grasped political opportunities, launched the movement for transforming the
terrestrial television stations into public ones. However, after the second transferring
of political powers in 2008, as the KMT government failed to provide policy
visions and its political control triggered confrontations and the crisis of
the governance of Public Television Service (PTS). With the shrinking of
political opportunities, did the campaign move on or decline?
According to related studies, political opportunities and social
movements are not in simple and mechanical relations, but contextualized. If
participants have shared belief systems and social networks, they would move on
even without political opportunities.
In this case, the decrease of political opportunities did pose
restrictions, yet the campaigners continued to propose reform proposals. When
the budget of public television was frozen, the they attacked the political
control, and suggested the PTS to establish accountabilities mechanisms. When
the PTS was in governance crisis, they demanded open and transparent mechanisms
in selecting the board of directors.
Future researchers can continue to observe if the campaigners can
continue to achieve their goals, given the increase or decrease of political
opportunities.
Keywords:
Media Reform Movement, Public Television, Social Movement, Power Transfer,
Political Opportunities
Disabled Citizens’ Movement: Glocalization of Rights
Discourse and Social Model in Taiwan
Heng-Hao
Chang (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taipei
University)
This research explores Taiwanese disabled citizens’ movement since mid-2000s
and focuses on the campaigns and discourses of two disability rights
organizations, “Accessible for All” and New Vitality Independent Living
Association. Unlike the charity-oriented NPOs in the past, this paper shows the
new disability rights movement organizations are mainly organized by disabled
people, emphasized on self-advocacy of disabled people and advocated for
breaking down the social-structural barriers. Global rights framing allows the
disabled activists to contest the disability politics in public sphere and to
bring foreign disability policies and practices to negotiate the conservative
narrative of the government official. Newly disability rights protests use new
tactics from everyday life practice like “take a walk” and “move out” to
contests the existing social barrier and familist-baed care policy. Rights
discourse and experiences of resistant in everyday life also transform the
identity of disabled activists and formulate disability rights consciousness.
Finally, this research shows the discourse of social model and disabled
people’s rights were localized in the disability politics in Taiwan.
Keywords:
Disability, Social Model, Independent Living, Rights, Globalization
The End of Stigma? The Challenge to Epilepsy Group
Jui-Hsien
Wang (Associate Professor, Department of Education, National Pingtung
University)
Epilepsy is a specific illness with physical, mental and social
phenomenon, in wake with the five major features of unpredictable, chronic,
myth, stigmatization and concealment. Comparing to those various minorities of
disability, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, epilepsy is regards as an individual
suffering, not social issues, which was concerned by medicine caring, and
physiological counseling categories, not sociology. That makes epilepsy becoming
as hidden and disadvantaged minority.
This paper deeply interviewed 17 persons with epilepsy and other
related persons, which argues social realities that persons with epilepsy
confronted in the dimensions of objective and subjective separately. In the
objective reality, the paper presents the rationalization process in the
epilepsy medicine, and emphases the de-myth and de-stigmatization which the
cognitive-psychological oriented that epilepsy self-help group reflects. In the
subjective reality, the identity management by epilepsy patients and their
families who are afraid of being exposed immediately after their diagnosis
results in self-stigmatization as a survival strategy. The epilepsy patients’
groups fail to adopt politic action since these organizations are mostly led by
medical experts, social workers, and hospital management who discouraged the
patients to adopt a more assertive role. As they focus on health education and
social education, little attention is paid to the issue of how to challenge the
social oppression on the people with epilepsy.
Keywords:
Epilepsy, Stigma, Disability Studies, Medical Model, Social
Environmental Protests under the Ma Ying-Jeou
Government (2008-2012): A Protest Event Analysis
Chun-Hao
Huang (Ph.D. Student, Department of Sociology, Tunghai University)
Ming-Sho
Ho (Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University)
Ma Ying-Jeou’s victory in the 2008 presidential election brought
about changes in the political opportunity structure under three dimensions: a conservative
shift of policy orientation, the closing of policy channels and the opposition
party’s pro-environmental turn. The existing literatures on the environmental
protests under Ma Ying-Jeou government are either focusing on the dynamics,
process, and consequence by single-case studies, or concerned with the normal
aspects of environmental justice, democratic values, human rights, alternative
agricultural production, as well as the problems with the developmentalism and
land speculation, etc. However, what has been absent is an overall description
of the environmental protests under the Ma Ying-Jeou government.
This paper analyzes the development of Taiwan’s environmental
protest since the second power transfer in 2008. We apply the method of protest
event analysis by using the journalistic reports in United Daily and Liberty
Times, with special focus on the dynamics of protest, event number,
mobilization scale, protest repertoire and the composition of participants. We
maintain that the Kuomintang’s return to power radically alerted the political
opportunity structure. Our study reveals that environmental protests and their
scales were on the rise under Ma Ying-Jeou government. Protests against new
pollution and resource extraction became the new major themes. The emergence of
ethnicity-based and occupation-based protests was also a new feature.
Keywords:
Ma Ying-Jeou government, Developmentalism, Environmental Protest, Protest Event
Analysis
Social Network